Chapter Two
Rain decided tograb the bag of books she intended to donate and take a brisk walk around the upper city of Ash before breakfast. Daric would wait for her, probably reading newssheets and cajoling the kitchen staff into making his favorite berrybread, and King Wilder and Queen Marla never emerged as early as Daric and Rain did. Rising early wasn’t Rain’s preference, either, but Dariccouldn’t seem to stop himself from waking her up in the morning.
Two guards fell into step behind her the moment she left the castle, which wasn’t unusual but also wasn’t truly necessary. Nothing would happen to an Ash in Upper Ash. The royal soldiers kept their distance even after she entered the busiest part of the city, and Rain spoke with passersby and shopkeepers who were opening up forbusiness. Despite the brave front they put on, there was little in the way of foodstuff or wares in general. And hardly anyone buying. People were just scrambling to survive, especially after the harsh winter. Leathen was dying, choked by years of drought. Daric would be its saving breath.
Trying not to project too much melancholy since that wouldn’t help the people of Ash or Leathen, Rain handedout the books she’d collected from the castle. Illanna Nighthall had been clear: the royal family of Ash would come to Raana with little more than the clothes on their backs, reinforcing their position as beggars.
She gave a set of novels to the Carpenter’s Guild, although she feared the young apprentices would burn them in the place of firewood; poetry to the baker, knowing his wife would enjoyit more than he would; and a book of fairy stories to the cobbler’s daughter. Now empty-handed and ready to go home to join Daric for breakfast, Rain turned and saw an elderly man racing toward her.
“My lady!” He frantically waved at her. “Stop!”
Rain waited and reached out a hand to steady him. “Are you all right?” She was concerned about how hard the old man was breathing.
“I finally understood…Prepared my student…” He doubled over, gulping down air. “Needed to find you… Or Prince Daric.”
“Catch your breath,” she said soothingly as she waved her guards away. She didn’t need protection.
His hunched shoulders rose and fell on wheezing pants. Grizzled hair hung in stringy clumps down his narrow back, revealing a cloak that was torn in places. He spoke again without looking up. “Leathendoesn’t have to become one with Raana. You must find the Barrow Witch. She has the strength.”
Rain’s heart leaped in her chest. “Not unite with Raana? The Barrow Witch?” She’d never heard of the woman, but sorcerers were best avoided—especially for her.
The man straightened, and unease jolted through her. His eyes swirled with the madness brought on by using too much magic.
Rain turned coldall over as a swift and powerful response rose inside her. Instinctively, she beat it down. The only magic anyone needed from her was gone. What remained served no purpose other than to make her different from everyone else.
“Go to the castle and ask for Non. She’ll feed you.” Stiffly, Rain backed away from him.
“I’m not hungry, my lady. You need to listen.” He closed the distance she’d putbetween them, and it was all Rain could do not to unleash something that could hurt them both.
He gripped her arms, his fingers like talons. “Isme dolunde vaten crew.”
Magic snapped through her, itchy and hot. She didn’t know the language of sorcery, at least not anymore, but thefeelof his sentence still grew into an imprecise thought. Something about an offering. The idea chafed and hollowedandhurt.
“Release me!” Panic thumped inside her, trying to wrench open places she’d locked up. Rain struggled for control over magic that wanted to burst out and expose her to the world. She couldn’t imagine what people would think if she let it out, especially Daric.
“Mockweed. Alderbank. The Blood of Braylian,” the sorcerer said, adding new riddles to the foreign words still banging aroundinside her as if searching for an opening. She didn’t understand them, but something told her shecould.
Her two guards swooped in and lifted the old man away from her. Rain gasped in relief, and then Soren himself appeared from out of nowhere. King Wilder’s personal guard growled like a hallerhound as he swept her behind him and shielded her.
“Soren?” Rain clutched the back of his cloak. “Whatare you doing here?”
“Buying boots,” he answered, still half snarling as he turned to her. “We’ve a long journey ahead of us.”
To Raana. Her insides dropped like a stone.
Rain swallowed and released her white-knuckled grip on Soren’s garment. She had no desire to think about leaving. For the second time, she’d lose everything she knew and loved.
Soren still loomed protectively over her, amuscle ticking in his jaw as his narrowed gaze swung back and forth between her and the sorcerer. In a voice so gruff it scraped like an angry plow over parched fields, he asked, “Are you hurt? What did he say?”
Rain shook her head. “No. And I don’t know. He made no sense.” The guards still held the sorcerer between them. Soren would question him, but she needed to question him first.
She steppedforward, still shaken but now firmly in control of the part of her that wanted to answer magic with magic. Soren followed.
“What Barrow Witch? Where?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”
The sorcerer’s gaze darted to Soren before coming back to her. “It’s a curse.”
Rain frowned. Everyone believed Leathen’s absent springtime was a curse. They just didn’t know how to break it.
