Page 112 of Into the Isle

Within seconds, the sun magnified on the glass, and the grass underneath it began to smoke. A moment later, with a puff and pop, the grass sizzled, on fire.

Randi let out a squeal, losing her concentration, and the disk dissipated into nothingness. She stomped on the tiny fire, putting it out.

I clapped, beaming at her. “That was amazing, Ran.”

Her dark face flushed. “I can’t do much yet, but it’s better than nothing. I’m trying to make my Shapes purer, so I can get the glass less cloudy. Once it’s crystal-clear, I’ll be able to magnify and potentially burn things much better.”

I nodded, feeling a sense of longing, jealousy, and pride at what my friend could do.

“Now it’s your turn to try,” she said. When she saw my grimace, she added, “It’ll be okay, babe. Just mirror my hand movements.”

I nodded, bracing myself for failure. My heart thumped as I tried to trace the air with the marks of the runes, to Shape the fabric of space around me.

Runeshaping was fascinating to me—the potential seemed limitless. Yet with me, there was no potential. Unlike Randi’s motions, which followed every curve and slash with a dim illumination to signify the movement had been a success, my motions gave me nothing.

I just looked like a crazy person trying to write in the air with my fingertips. I got no sparks, no surge of power—nothing to tell me I was doing things right. Just more disappointment and slumping shoulders.

Randi frowned at me, repeating, “It’s okay, Ravin. It’ll just take some time. I’m sure your magic will come.”

It was so damned frustrating. I wanted to lash out, but at what? It was no one’s fault I couldn’t do this, except for the fault of my tainted bloodline.

“I’d better hope it shows up soon, or else I’m screwed.” I didn’t expand on the fact I had one term to figure this out, or I’d be exiled. I didn’t want to burden Randi with that info, or stress her out.

Randi sifted through a book on the ground, hunched over it. “You know, there are some historic examples of people forcing their magic to the front. Usually it comes from some, uh, miracle, I guess. Some act of the gods that didn’t really seem to have anything to do with the runeshaper. Maybe you could try some of it?”

I shrugged, wanting to put it behind me. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll try that.” Then I grabbed my spear from the ground, spinning the worn, comfortable wood in my hands. I felt useful again, with a wicked smile curving along my lips. “Ready for your turn?”

We were doing a trade-off: She’d try to teach me runeshaping, I’d teach her better combat maneuvers.

Returning my grin, she swiped two daggers from the ground. “Oh hells yeah.”

Though she preferred different weapons than I did, the philosophy and basics were the same. For an hour, we trained, and I showed her where her footwork could improve. Our weapons never got close to touching skin. We went through drills and practices Swordbaron Korvan had shown me growing up.

Randi was a quick learner. She was sprightly, determined to get better, and an excellent student.

About an hour into practice, a voice behind me stopped us. “Already showing improvement, Randi.”

I spun around to see Grim lumbering toward us from further down the meadow. My body reacted strangely to the sight of the huge man in the afternoon sun. He reminded me of Thor, god of thunder, ripped and stacked with muscle. His messy brown hair, shorn on the sides, was different than the typical ginger roots of the Thunderer, but the overall build was the same.

The quiet, brooding man walked up to us. “Not bad, a week after sparring Rolf.”

“I don’t want to let that happen again,” Randi said.

I recalled how Rolf had thrown her over his shoulder like a ragdoll to end their duel in front of Hersir Axel.

“Where’s Magnus?” Grim asked me.

I shrugged. For some reason I felt tongue-tied in the moment. Possibly because of what I did last night in bed, and how this man ravaged my thoughts. I was embarrassed, worried Grim could read my dirty mind.

“How should I know?” I asked, more defensively than I’d meant to. “Sorry. Um. Why do you want to know?”

Grim frowned, crossing his arms over his barrel chest. “Makes sense for training. You’ll be doing a pack battle for midterms.”

I glanced at Randi, both of us showing surprise.

“Oh shit, really?” Randi chirped.

Grim nodded. “It would benefit us to have all three trainees together.”

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