Page 31 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

“Why don’t you borrow my example for your first few attempts?” Sulla gestures to the arching lines of Kosmel’s sigil. “You could start with the godlen who guided you here, since he deserves some recognition for that. But take some time to simply meditate on your intentions and how you want them to play out first.”

“Right.”

I scoot over so I can rest my hand on Kosmel’s sigil. Closing my eyes, I picture its shape in my mind.

I also imagine the shrub on the other side of the platform. The breeze licking over the leaves I’m going to channel the backlash into. The sun gleaming off their pale green surfaces.

Breathe in, breathe out. Steady the thunder of my pulse. Convince myself that I really can harness my magic.

It’s only one small act. Even if I screw it up, no one should get hurt. But it doesn’t even sound that hard.

When I’ve built up enough certainty inside me, I form the images in my head—the grooves of the sigil digging deeper into the stone, the leaves on the shrub growing bigger in return.

My magic tugs at me, eager to join in. I crack open the walls around it just slightly.

Just enough for a faint tingle to shoot through my arms, shaped by the pictures I’ve drawn in my mind.

My pulse skitters, and the images waver. In a sudden panic, I jerk my power into me so forcefully I rock backward.

When I lift my hand, the sigil looks lopsided. I pressed one side of the symbol a little deeper but didn’t manage the whole thing.

One of the shrub’s leaves has expanded about twice as large as the others. It looks rather ridiculous.

It’s all right, Julita says. It was great for a first try.

I let out a bark of a laugh, but Sulla takes on a reassuring tone too. “That was an excellent start. See if you can hold your will firmer next time.”

After periods of steadying meditation, I attempt my carving twice more. The second time I manage to even out the sigil, but I crack the tip of one of the curved lines.

Sulla has me focus on sealing the crack while snapping a twig off the shrub. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt as victorious as when the rough edge beneath my fingers vanishes alongside a light crack of broken wood.

I glance around the platform, newly energized, but Sulla holds up her hand. “That’s enough for one session. Even minor magic adds up. We’ll find other ways to occupy ourselves for a few hours, and then we can return to practice in the afternoon.”

I clamp down on the impulse to protest. She knows the safe limits of our magic far better than I do.

And the fact that I’m excited to keep going is a warning in itself.

Ten

Alek

The impact of Stavros’s sword clanging against my dagger rattles through every bone in my hand. Possibly my entire arm.

I restrain my flinch as well as I can and sidestep the way he’s shown us. The goal is both to block the blow that might follow and to put myself in a better position to find an opening.

My feet stumble on the rocky terrain. My arm whips out to steady myself, but I realize I’ve left my torso completely open with the same motion.

Stavros pauses, lowering his sword. “I think that’s enough for today.”

I straighten up, flushing with shamed relief and the lingering exertion. My hair clings to my forehead and the back of my neck, damp with sweat. My skin feels sticky beneath my shirt despite the cool mountain air.

I need to learn how to fight. It might be the only useful thing I can do out here without a vast library and records to turn to, without much in the way of practical skills beyond my ability to glean information from a page.

How could I stand against an army of scourge sorcerers with only book learning anyway? There are so few records that give even brief accounts of the old practices of the illicit magic.

But knowing how to do a thing and teaching one’s body to actually do it are leagues apart.

I swipe at the perspiration on my brow, managing not to cringe at the texture of my uncovered scars, and glance toward the main Haven building. My relief deepens when I see that Ivy isn’t even watching our current sparring match to have noticed my stumble.

---