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Stoneslicer wasn’t even looking at hi in his belt-purse, he produced a round piece of obsidian He raised it in his hand Evvy backed up "I need to see if you are truly gifted and how far your talents extend," he said coldly "I cannot rely on the testiave Briar would have curdled milk
Once more Briar locked his hands behind his back He was very unhappy to realize he didn’t want to give Evvy up to this man Jebilu didn’t knoho Evvy was or where she’d come from If he had a kinder side, Briar had yet to see it While none of his or the girls’ teachers had ever laid a hand on them -- Rosethorn’s threats to the contrary -- Briar knew sos made lessons stick Could he trust Jebilu not to hurt Evvy in body or spirit?
If he beats her, I’ll kill hi not to reone And a real stone e Doesn’t he?
Jebilu pressed the obsidian circle to Evvy’s forehead For a lare was as intense as the light Briar had seen Evvy give off the day before
Jebilu ht faded He tucked the circle into his belt-purse and drew out an egg-shaped clear crystal "Bring light to this," he ordered, holding it out to Evvy
She didn’t say "Oh, that" -- she siht appeared in the crystal’s depths, growing until the whole stone gave off a steady glow
Jebilu closed his hand around the crystal By the tiain He offered her a s heat to this," he ordered
Evvy took it, then handed it back "That isn’t real stone," she objected "It’s hard, but it isn’t stone"
Jebilu snorted "Petrified wood," he grumbled
"May I see?" Briar asked Coal, he kneas made of plants, but he hadn’t realized that wood could be ical tool, Pahan Moss," he snapped "Not a toy for curiosity seekers"
Briar bit the inside of his cheek He counted silently to fifty in Ilobe someplace uncomfortable
Jebilu put the petrified wood in his purse and pulled out a dirty white stone "Use this What is your na the stone "Evu" She turned the stone over in her fingers "There’s cracks in this I ht break it"
"No one can break dia" Jebilu made her name sound like an insult "Heat it up Pahan Moss told hed, and closed her eyes Briar saw the pale brilliance of herinto the diaht, he realized She went hoot better And she was still alive, so she had been able to keep her power under control He felt an absurd sense of pride in her flower in his chest
Her ic entered the stone To Briar’s eyes the heart of the stone shian to ricochet inside the rock, bouncing through an internal network of cracks and faces Slowly real, visible white light began to pour froathered at her te first at him, then at the stone in her hand, Evvy increased the flow of her power Briar watched uneasily as her h the stone’s heart "Evvy, an
"Silence!" barked Jebilu "You are not to teach her, so let me test her as I see fit!"
Evvy flinched and lost control of her power It flooded the stone The crystal blazed, then shattered Evvy cried out and dropped the pieces on the floor She was hurt: blood welled from a cut in her pale and a bottle of cutbane fro hand by the wrist, Briar bit into the cork that sealed his lotion and yanked it free He poured the liquid over her wound
Though she was tre, she still found the nerve to quip, "Don’t youthat doesn’t stink?" The flow of blood thinned, the slashed skin in her hand closing under the Cutbane’s influence
"I like aloe, and I’ll thank you not to insult e firh layers of cloth around her palm, he ordered the linen to part, and the loose threads to weave thee It wouldn’t co, he saw Jebilu on his knees, holding the three diaments up to the sun that streamed frolittered with fire like a faceted crystal, only ray under its sallow tone He wrapped the three pieces in a handkerchief, and stowed theer than he is, Briar realized, uneasy And he knows it
What would Rosethorn have done if he’d been stronger when he cae, stifling a snort No one was stronger than Rosethorn Even if Briar had been stronger than his teacher, he didn’t have Rosethorn’s years of study and practice