Glyphbinder Read Online Free Page A

line in the middle of the path, tails raised and twitching noses pointed. At them.
    Someone big swept Sera off her feet. Kara spun to face the threat as the squirrels scattered, dashing off into the Commons grass. She gasped as she remembered a grayback lunging for her head.
    This was no grayback, no threat. It was Byn Meris, squirming as he spun with Sera in his arms. He was being an idiot again.
    “I caught a mermaid!” Byn laughed as he fixed Kara with playful brown eyes. “Can we keep her?”
    “Drown me, Byn!” Kara shoved him and he stumbled back, Sera eep ing as he nearly dropped her. “You put that poor girl down.” Her heart still pounded.
    Byn just laughed as Sera swatted his chest, forcing him to put her down, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide. She did love Byn. Kara loved him too, even if she wanted to kill him sometimes. Having a brother felt like that.
    “I’m sorry.” Byn sobered as Sera found her feet and shoved him. “I just wanted to surprise you. What did you think of the squirrels?”
    Byn was the same height as Kara, but his wide farmer’s frame could lift one of Sera in each thick arm. His uniform was cut differently, with shoulder pads and a raised collar. He had a round face and a nose too big for it, but he carried himself with grace.
    Kara took a breath. “It’s a good trick.” So far as she knew, no instructor in Byn’s Beastruler school dealt with squirrels. Byn had figured this out on his own, and useless as it was, it did impress her.
    “You all right?” Byn stepped closer. “You look pale.”
    “I look like someone just scared me half to death, Byn Meris.” Kara always used his full name when she wanted to be cross with him, just like his mother. “We’re going to get food now and I can hardly walk, let alone wrestle you, so you can come with us or go have dinner with your squirrels.”
    “Well, that’s ridiculous.” Byn squeezed her shoulder. “You don’t have to walk. I’ll carry you. C’mon, hop on.”
    “Try it and I'll break both your arms,” Kara said, but a grin split her face despite her best efforts. She struggled to stay angry at him and failed. Byn just made you want to like him.
    Sera took their hands and dragged. “Food, now. No more stalling.” She pulled them both along. “Why squirrels?”
    “Because it made you look.” Byn pointed at a squirrel hopping its way across the Commons. "It's harder than it is with horses, if you can believe that. Their little minds don't think about much more than running and eating."
    Kara snorted. “I see why you get along so well.”
    “Hey now. Just hope one doesn’t climb your lovely braid.”
    Kara reflexively grabbed at her hair and then cursed Byn’s name. Being with her friends made the horror she had faced in the woods seem far away, a bad thing that had happened to someone else. She took Byn’s other hand, and he didn’t stop her.
    The three of them walked hand in hand until they reached the central square, then separated. Public displays of affection were frowned upon at Solyr. No point in starting rumors.
    The circular fountain at the square’s center reflected towering columns that formed a complicated protective glyph. It felt safe inside the square. Warm. Students sat on blankets spread across its dark cobblestones, laughing, reading, and resting.
    Kara measured her breathing as they exited the square. The Path of the Makers stretched ahead, a road of solid black stone. Hundreds of flowers in dozens of colors bordered that road, but the statues among them were the true spectacle. The pride and power of Solyr.
    Solyr’s founders had formed these statues of The Five Who Had Made the World. The effort had required great skill and a generous amount of blood. Each statue looked formed of white marble, but Kara knew appearances meant nothing. Not with blood magic.
    Life came first, praying and frozen in crystalline ice. Heat came next, smirking as he crackled with living fire.