His laugh was genuine.“Opal, what story is this?”
“The sky hunters!Sev told us one of the stories.Don’t you remember?”
“No.I must have been on watch that night.”
It didn’t surprise him that Sev had told them some Eldrin legends, but the image in the book did.There was some resemblance, especially with the long gold hair flowing around the warrior’s shoulders.His gaze was focused and intent as he stared out of the pages.
“The legend of the sky hunters has many stories about their winged warriors,” Charmaine said, a smile in her voice as she explained.“This is their leader, Raiden.”
Connor’s response caught in his throat.Oh, Daya.He couldn’t help but grin as he stared at his namesake.
Chapter 29
Hannelore Mountain, Realm of Eldridge
Lightglowedsoftlyagainstthe walls as Daya wandered through the guardian sanctum searching for her protégé.After communing with the mountain, she’d returned from the meditation chamber to find that Veda was not where she’d left her.
Peace flowed through her as she walked.The earth above her head and surrounding her dampening the energy of the outside world.But where had Veda gone?There were not too many rooms to explore below.
Veda, where are you?she asked.
In the sunroom,Veda said.
Veda had taken to calling rooms by their purpose—like the herb room they spent so much time in.What was she calling the sunroom?
Which room is that?Daya asked.
The one way in the back of the windy passage on the main level.
There are no rooms that far into the mountain.
There are now!Veda sounded like she was smiling.
Shaking her head in confusion, Daya made her way down the dead-end hallway.As she curved the last bend, she came to a halt and stared in amazement.What she had always known to be a blank wall now held the imprint of a door.
A radiant sun was emblazoned at its center.Most rooms were entered through a permanent opening in the wall, but a few were like this.She pressed her hand to the emblem marking the presence of a room behind it.Heat and magic tickled her palm until the wall disintegrated into an open entryway.
Stepping over the threshold, she was shocked to find a fully outfitted room.A large stone table graced the center of the space.Shelves holding books, huge rolls of parchment, and some cartography tools stood before her.
“Veda, what… how did you find this?”
“I was waiting for you by the pool, but then I felt the pull to come exploring this way, so I did.”Veda shrugged.“Isn’t this amazing?I’ve never seen so many books!And look, these rolls are giant maps.”
Vestiges of unfamiliar magic drifted on the air, having been locked away for generations.She gingerly reached out to touch a book.The sense of someone she’d never met rose.A comforting connection that shouldn’t have existed, yet somehow did.
“Want to see the neatest thing?Come here.”
Veda grabbed her hand and pulled her toward one end of the rectangular room.
A square basin of sand rose from a pedestal.Rising on her toes so that she could see over the top of it, Veda stretched her hands out to cup the air around the pile of sand at the center.
Rousing her magic, Veda’s fingers flexed and moved.Sand started to swirl between her palms, reshaping to form a lifelike model.Ridgecrest rose out of the sand, shaped into its current garden existence, Veda’s tree prominently at the center.
“How did you know what to do?”Daya asked, not sure she would have thought to do the same.
“I was just playing and let my magic do what it wanted.”Veda removed her hands and smiled up at her.“Can we open one of the maps?How old do you think they are?”
“Pretty old.It’s been at least several hundred years since this was open.”
