Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,71

Eva; I was explaining it to you.”

He chuckled. “And now there’s another strange magical person running around the city . . . and doing what?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure if it’s a person or just enchantments—or if Eva is even a person.” She trailed off as she said it.

He frowned at her. “What would she be, then?”

“According to one of the sources I have, she might be a magical creature. Some of the stories say the Ashara are shapeshifters that can take on human form. Or they work for some creature and are empowered by them. Either way, it’s concerning.”

“Not human, but they can take human form? Jayna, there isn’t anything like that.”

“Just like there isn’t anything like her injury. Or her magic.” Jayna shrugged. “I can’t say I have all the answers, but I can tell you the Academy doesn’t have all the answers either—and the Society certainly doesn’t have them.”

“I see,” Char said.

“I’m worried for her.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“When I first came across the other one like her, I found him standing over a sorcerer.”

Char’s eyes widened. “Jayna—”

“Before you go too much into that, you should know he was a dark sorcerer. I could feel the magic he was drawing on, and I saw one of the markers for the Order of Norej on him.”

And the Society might have had an opportunity to see that if the body hadn’t burned.

“They’re all gone,” he said.

“Not all,” she said. “I have a hard time thinking that we would have removed all of them from the city, even if we tried. The Order is still here. The Celebrants of Asymorn are still out there. And . . .”

She didn’t want to push it too hard, but she suspected there were other dark sorcerers still in the city too. They had to be—still active and still posing a danger to them.

“And what?”

““According to one of the sources I have, Eva might belong to the Ashara. They might be magical creatures. I don’t know if this other Ashara mimic is after sorcerers or dark sorcerers.”

He frowned. “I’ve heard that name before. I know why.” He cocked his head to the side and rubbed at one of his temples for a moment. “I’ll be right back.”

He stepped out of the library, closing the door behind him.

While he was gone, Jayna began to sort through books, reaching for the one with the inventory of the enchantments and slipping it into her pocket. Maybe that would be useful in the future. She didn’t find anything else. Most of these really were about Nelar, trade routes, and other things that were more political in nature; they weren’t the sort of books she’d expected the Sorcerers’ Society to have: ones tied to lessons and power. None of these were spellbooks.

But what she was looking for was a different kind of knowledge—it was an understanding—and perhaps finding out about history and politics would help her understand the founding of the Society. Maybe this would lead her to the answers she was looking for.

She had worked about halfway down one of the shelves when she turned to the door. Char had been gone for a long time.

He wouldn’t have left her here that long.

And the linking spell didn’t reveal anything.

That wasn’t surprising, but what had happened?

He would have known she wouldn’t have wanted to stay here, not by herself, not within the Society, and certainly not when there was a potential for a greater danger.

Something had happened to him.

16

Jayna stood in the doorway, hesitating. She wanted to go after Char, but she didn’t dare venture too deep into the outpost or she might risk running into one of the other sorcerers. The sorcery behind her continued to glow, putting off enough light to see out into the hallway, though shadows lay beyond its illumination.

Her mind raced.

The linking spell between them wasn’t as strong as it normally was. She knew he was here somewhere, but couldn’t track him with that old spell.

She could use sorcery. Within the Society outpost, she wouldn’t have any reason not to, and she could attempt a tracking spell to try to find Char, but she wasn’t sure if using that kind of spell would even work here.

That left the Toral ring.

Drawing upon that kind of power had its disadvantages; she ran the risk of somebody within the outpost recognizing her use of the Toral power, and that was dangerous.

She had to go find Char.

She looked out into the hallway and saw no one there. She