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“Nightmare!” I grab the little teal-eyed tarthill and pull him to my chest. “I missed you.”
Nightmare chitters and rubs his nose on my neck.
Two sharp knocks sound at the door before Trix lets herself in. The High Healer of the Terraguard Court makes herself right at home, plopping a rather lumpy bag at the base of the chair nearest to the fire. She pulls out her knitting, not appearing to notice me.
“Um, hi Trix.”
She waves a hand. “Hello, human.”
My head jerks backward. Okay. “…what are you doing here?”
Trix clicks her knitting needles together. “Waiting for you to ask me something. Come out with it already.”
Well then. I guess we will skip the “How are yous” and “Boy, the weather is really something, isn’t it” platitudes and jump right in. I make myself comfortable on the couch. Nightmare jumps to my lap and nips at my arm to suggest that if I stop petting him, I’m in deep trouble.
The ancient not-human human peers at me from above her spectacles. “Go on then, girl, ask me about the stones.”
My jaw unclenches. “You know about them?”
“Of course I do.”
“We are talking about the same thing, right?”
“The three stones that once combined have enough power to perform unimaginable amounts of magic?”
Nightmare bites my hand. I start scratching him under the chin. My gut churns with a knowing feeling. Like I was supposed to be here and learn whatever information she’s about to tell me. I lean forward. “Tell me everything.”
Trix huffs and stabs her knitting. “Perhaps I’ll start at the beginning. As a specialist in Old World histories and Healer, I’ve picked up a thing or two over the years. I’ve only told this story once before. It starts with the three—”
“—Stones! I’m telling you,” Lark says to Bennidix on the other side of the table. “The keeper of all three will have powers like never seen before” Lark’s face is slightly hollowed, eyes bulging with excitement.
Bennidix is equally enthralled and holds out his hand. Lark places a small, creamy white stone in his hand. It doesn’t seem extraordinary unless you look at the way it almost appears to glow from within as it passes through the beam of light from the rafters above. Bennidix grabs the stone from Lark. “And you’re sure this is it?”
“Yes! I believe him. This is the moon stone. It has to be. Can’t you feel it?”
The room buzzes with a sense of energy, like a spring coiling tight, compressing in and in and in before it releases.
Bennidix shivers. Loose blond curls shade his eyes. “I can.”
“See?” Lark snatches the stone back from his friend’s hand. “We have two now! I can’t believe it! Now we need the last one.”
“Are you sure you can trust your visions?”
Lark contemplates for a moment. “I’m positive. The stars never lie. They told me the Marfik is a powerful moon stone, known for harnessing and capturing energy.”
“So what about the others?”
“The sun stone is for protection. One of the strongest barriers one can cast.”
Bennidix flicks his hair back. “The Helios Blessing?”
“Right!” Lark slaps a hand on the table for emphasis. The bags under his eyes are more apparent than usual, like he hasn’t been sleeping.
“Good thing we already have that one then, too. So what’s next?”
“The star stone. The Cebalrai can only be found during the equinox.”
Bennidix beams with delight, not a shadow of a doubt in his mind, for they are adventurers. The Watchers that became the most powerful of all. Future heroes of a great Tale! “This is going to make for such an epic Telling one day. The most powerful channeling stone on the continent… ours!”
