Page 23 of The Shadow Wand

If Mage Elloren Gardner,

heir to the power of the Black Witch,

demonstrates magical capabilities equal to

or exceeding those of her grandmother,

she is to be executed immediately.

CHAPTER ONE

THE BLACK WITCH

ELLOREN GARDNER

SixthMonth

Central Agolith Desert

I stare out over the desert, the Wand of Myth clasped in my hand, as I pull in a long, bolstering breath, my nerves alight with tension.

A sudden, fierce longing to have Yvan here with me for my first true wandtesting fills me.

Where are you, Yvan?I wonder, my heart constricting as I take in the sea of barren red sands before me.Have the Vu Trin brought you to a desert somewhere as well, to find out the full extent of your power?

I’ve been separated from Yvan for weeks now, as I’ve traveled east with the Vu Trin military through an elaborately constructed runic portal and then for many days on swift horses to get here, a secret, deserted location in the Central Agolith Desert. A place where they can test my power and teach me how to wield it.

A place remote enough to hide the fact that the true Black Witch has been found.

The ruddy sands of the Agolith Desert are colored a deep russet by the bloodred sun that’s close to setting, the air on my face and hands already cooling as twilight starts its descent, the desert world swiftly letting go of the day’s brutal heat. Clusters of small purple cacti, scrubby plants, and a few arcing stone formations dot the harsh landscape, but mostly there’s just the sea of sand.

Everything is quiet and empty, except for a lone bird circling high overhead.

I grip the Wand harder as I run my thumb over its cool, spiraling handle, a sense of grim anticipation building within me.

Turning slightly, I glance over my shoulder at Commander Kam Vin, her sister, Ni Vin, beside her, both of them dressed as I am, in the black garb of the Vu Trin military. Six other stony-faced Vu Trin sorceresses stand beside them, watching me and waiting. Four of these sorceresses are young, but two of them, white-haired Chi Nam and bald Hung Xho, are Lo Voi—powerful crones adept at both rune and portal sorcery.

Runemaster Chi Nam, who leans on her rune-marked staff, watching me intently, is the most powerful sorceress of them all.

They all continue to wait, tension thick on the air.

I glance back at the empty desert before us, as the desire to have Yvan here with me in this moment leaves a longing in my heart so strong I can barely breathe.

He was with me the last time I did this. The time we both realized we were each two points of the Prophecy. But somehow with him I believed everything would be okay. That we’d make it through this. That we could make the world a better place. But as I stand on the precipice of finding out the true extent of my power, I’m not so sure.

I’m frightened.

Frightened that I might, in fact, prove to be the destructive being predicted by the Prophecy.

I desperately want to believe, as Yvan does, that prophecies are dangerous, often self-fulfilling superstitions. That the power growing inside me isn’t twisted like my grandmother’s. But even the sparse desert trees here—it’s clear that they sense something irredeemable in me.

Black Witch, the trees called out ceaselessly on the wind, low and accusatory, every time we passed through forested land. Ever since I blasted a forest into flame and Yvan and I discovered what I really am, the trees have been sending their aura of hate through me with a mounting intensity, so much so that it was a relief to finally portal out of the hostile forest and into this more barren landscape.

What if it’s true?I agonize as I ready the Wand of Myth. What if I’m at risk of becoming just like my grandmother if I harness this power?

What if I’m a danger to Yvan and everything good on Erthia?

I look back down at the Wand, suddenly filled with an overwhelming reluctance to use this wand, even though it’s been dormant since we rescued Naga. Even though my brother Trystan could no longer wring the simplest candle-lighting spell from it.

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