“But why do you care? How did you even know Sara-Kate and I were up here yesterday?”
“It was one of my wards that I put in place.” He hesitated before continuing. “This area in the school is one of the few relatively safe places for me to leave books like this, so I warded the top of the stairs. It sends out certain vibrations to let me know who has crossed the threshold, and I’ve been particularly in tune to your vibrations lately. And I care about you because it turns out you were meant to be my . . . apprentice.” He spoke the last word carefully, reverently, but almost as if it were a placeholder for something else.
“Then why did you ignore me before? If you were so ‘in tune’ to me?” I tried not to let the hurt filter through my voice, but Alaric winced in response.
“I was trying to protect you.” He finally admitted.
“Protect me from what?”
“From them. The Stonebound.”
“That word again. What are these Stonebound? My uncle mentioned them but refused to go into any detail.” I was exasperated. “I need answers, not more questions.”
He looked down at the book, turning several pages until he got to a specific page with a handwritten explanation of what the Stonebound were. The page looked weathered and ancient; the ink smudged in certain places, making it hard to decipher. Below the lettering was a charcoal drawing of a tall, humanoid creature, except instead of skin, it looked like its bones covered its entire body, looking more like a living statue with bone for armor. A bone-carved mask with only slits for the eyes and mouth obscured its face. Its fingers were long and thin, sharp at the ends like talons. In the background was a gravestone and an empty grave, as if the creature had just climbed out of the earth. Beneath the image were the wordsThe Warden of the Stoneboundetched in elaborate calligraphy.
“What is that?” I asked, my eyes trailing over the ancient words, but remaining stuck on the eerie image. “A zombie?”
“Not exactly. The Stonebound were once Bloodwrights many, many years ago.” Alaric began. “Did your uncle tell you how one becomes awakened?”
I nodded. “Usually when someone you are blood-related to and love dies. The grief can awaken the gene.”
He continued. “That’s right. Bloodwrights have been around for as long as the earth has, their magic being born of grief, causing them to become a vessel between the veil of life and death. While our abilities as Bloodwrights are magic, most do not wish for this type of fate. To lose someoneand then become a vessel of grief . . .” He paused, swallowing hard as he glanced down at the ring on my finger. “It’s a burden.”
I nodded, urging him to continue.
“But then there were some who wished to harness this power, these abilities to read death echoes, to be the balance between those still alive and those who have moved on. The Rogue Bloodwrights began to seek out potential Bloodwrights and force them to awaken.”
“And by force, you mean?”
“Slaughter their entire family to ensure an emergence.”
I sat back, shocked, finding it hard to believe that anyone would do such a thing.
“Mostly, these Rogues sought children from specific Bloodwright family lines, killing everyone in order to recruit the child and train them to be their magical warriors.”
“How awful.” I mumbled, my hands going cold at the thought of a small child being forced not only to awaken but to become a soldier too.
“The Ancient Council, a member of each of the major Bloodwright families around the world, came together to create a sort of blood covenant to not only punish the Rogues but to protect future Bloodwrights and their families. The punishment for these Rogue Bloodwrights was worse than death. They were forced to bind their souls to ancient relics, becoming wardens of death and hunters of any who tried to commit rogue and unsanctioned magical practices, like forcing an awakening. They are not fully alive, but not fully dead; their sole purpose is to seek out rogue magic and destroy it.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” I questioned. “It sounds like they were trying to help.”
Alaric smiled sadly. “At first, yeah, it was a good thing. It punished those who were murderers and kept the others in check. But as centuries passed, the leader of the Stonebound, the Warden, one of the former heads of the Ancient Council who had been the one to lead the Rouge Bloodwrights in revolt, was then sentenced to oversee the Stonebound. Over time, he became warped in the mind. Soon, they began punishing any Bloodwrights for any magical disturbances, even from newly awakened Bloodwrights who came into their powers naturally but were struggling to maintain their control. That’s when the mentor comes in to help the apprentice gain a deeper understanding of their abilities and how to control them, while also learning the Blood Covenant.”
“So, the Stonebound started punishing anyone who started showing signs of emerging as a Bloodwright?” I inquired, the sketch of the Stonebound sitting between us, its presence, though not real, still filling the air with tension.
“The Ancient Council tried to reason with the Stonebound and the Warden, to get them to back off and only attack when theCouncil called for it. But the Stonebound began to see any magic as evil, an abomination that must be eradicated. So they destroyed the Ancient Council a thousand years ago and began hunting down all Bloodwrights since then.”
“How are there still Bloodwrights alive today? How are you here? Me? My uncle?”
“Families went into hiding, some moving to far-off places, keeping to the shadows and trying to ensure no one in their family emerged if they could help it. There are maybe a thousand or so Bloodwrights that exist today, and that number is generous. But recently, there has been an uptick in the number of awakenings, especially here in North America. I’m not sure what’s causing it, but where a Bloodwright emerges, a Stonebound and the Warden are not far behind.”
We sat in silence, while I processed everything, trying to piece together what exactly all of this history meant for me.
“So, the Stonebound knows I’m here?” I whispered, tucking my knees closer to my chest, trying to make myself smaller in this corner of my new and foreign world.
“They can sense the vibrations, just as other Bloodwrights can. So, yes, they know who you are, Mari, and where you are, but that ring,” he pulled my hand out, squeezing it in reassurance. “Makes you invisible to them.”
“For now.” I countered.
