Glyphbinder Read Online Free

Sera pulled back. “Are you feeling all right? Is there anything I can do?”
    “I’m fine. Perfectly fine. What are you doing here?”
    “Waiting for you.”
    “You didn’t have to do that.”
    “I didn’t have a choice. Landra wouldn’t tell me when you were getting out.” Sera wore the same shirt and pants that Kara did, an outfit common to all initiates. “What happened to you out there? How did you burn so much blood?"
    Sera’s long dark hair hung in wavy curls, framing her narrow face, and her green eyes were wide. Kara couldn't tell anyone about the Tellvan battlemage or the graybacks that he had sent to kill her. That news had too many dire political repercussions.
    “I found a man half dead. Bleeding. Either bandits got at him or he tumbled off a cliff.”
    “Really?” Sera raised a slim eyebrow.
    “I did what I could to stop his bleeding. It took some blood. Then I had to drag him back here. He weighed as much as a dead boar.”
    “I see.” Sera snorted and rolled her eyes. “It's okay. I know you'd tell me if you could.”
    “I did tell you.”
    “Bloodmender. Remember?”
    Kara winced and looked away. Bloodmenders learned everything about the human body. They knew it intimately, caught lies without meaning to, and Kara knew no way she could lie to Sera. Not about the woods. How could she explain?
    “Listen.” Kara looked up. “I wish I could, but—”
    “Shush.”
    “What?”
    “I don't care if I ever get the whole story. It doesn’t matter. I'm just glad you're alive and here, with me.”
    "Really?"
    "Really. Now walk with me. It's the best way to get better. We're going to go to the cafeteria and get some food in you right now."
    Sera pulled her out onto the grassy Commons. Her friend had a healer's voice when she needed it, confident and brooking no argument. They had been friends since Kara first came to Solyr.
    In addition to mending skin and organs, Solyr’s Bloodmenders were able to transfuse their blood into patients at a slow rate. Saving people. Mages like Sera were rare, even at Solyr, as only those with pure blood could transfuse it into others. Those without pure blood could harm those they tried to heal, even kill them.
    Small cuts took minutes to heal. Larger wounds took days. The man Kara had saved would be in the infirmary for at least a week.
    "Byn's waiting at the Path of the Makers," Sera said as they walked. "A horse went lame today, and he spent most of the afternoon tending it. The poor thing's much better now."
    Kara smiled at the thought of Byn tending a horse. They had grown up together, playing and wrestling the day away and getting into more trouble than most children thought possible. They had spent many summers away from Solyr braving the waters of the Northern Sea in Byn’s rickety fishing boat. Until a few years ago.
    Kara still went home every summer, but she now spent her time tending to her mother. The debilitating disease that afflicted Ona was mysterious, resilient, and agonizing. Little worked, but Ona was stronger than Kara was. She was the strongest woman Kara knew.
    Kara felt a lump in her throat and fought it. Now was not the time. As she and Sera passed other students in uniforms like their own, Kara focused on the academy to block out all else.
    Solyr’s builders had placed benches of smooth marble and stone throughout the many poplars, some sheltered by awnings of light-colored wood. The buildings surrounding the Commons were stone and brick covered in panels of treated wood. Candles burned inside their windows, unadorned stone portals with glass frames.
    As they neared Solyr’s central square, a squirrel ran into their path and stopped. Squirrels were common in Solyr, of course, but this one looked different. Purposeful.
    Sera stopped. "What's it doing?"
    The squirrel stood at attention like a tiny sentry, nose straight and bushy tail raised in salute. Then another joined it, and another. Soon six squirrels were arranged in a straight