Son of Soron Read Online Free Page B

Nathan paused for a second to gather his thoughts.
    “Nathan, Ava is a beautiful girl. It is natural for you to like her, I just hope—.”
    Nathan looked at his mother “What? No, mom. That is not what I am talking about. Nothing happened between Ava and me."
    Velaina gave a sigh of relief; whatever Nathan was going to tell her now was not nearly as terrifying as where she had thought this conversation was going. “Sorry son, I thought we would be having a birds and bees conversation. I’m glad to hear it is not time for that yet... Now what was so weird?”
    Nathan gave her a funny look. The birds and bees? What was she talking about?
    She laughed, sensing his discomfort at this idea. “I’m sorry son. Continue your story.”
    He cleared his voice before continuing. “We were sitting on opposite sides of the ponds just playing around when Ava tells me there is a wolf behind me. I turn and there is a big grey timber wolf sitting there watching me. I stare back at it just watching. Then it slowly walks right up to me, sits there for a few minutes, sniffs me a couple times then turns around and walks back into the forest. That was the weird part. What do you think it means?”
    Velaina’s heart raced, despite her calm exterior. She had expected that one day she would have a conversation like this but still was unprepared now that it was happening. Pretending to be calm and indifferent, she replied.  “Well it means that the wolf did not feel like having you for lunch, and for that I am grateful. If something ate you, who would make me such nice jewelry? Now let us pack up, it’s time to head home,” Velaina replied as she gave her son a big hug. Picking more herbs would have to wait. Velaina needed have to have a discussion with Nathan’s father before she admitted the truth of the wolf to her son.
    …
    Later that night while Nathan slept, Velaina shared with Soron the news of Nathan’s encounter with the wolf. She relayed the event as Nathan had described to her, along with her sense that Nathan had held back explaining the full story. “It is likely that the wolf sensed magic and was attracted to him. It will probably happen again with other animals.”
    Soron absorbed this information. They had talked about the possibility that this might happen one day. Velaina was a’kil, an Ingla word for magic blood. She had gifts the villagers knew nothing of, such as the ability to sense people’s emotions. This ability was how she always knew when Nathan was lying. Soron’s family also had a history of having a’kil among them. The chances of their son being born with magic blood had always been a concern. Being a’kil was not bad, most born with the gift were happy to have it. However, it also came with great risk.
    The problem was that most Solotinians feared magic and over the years most a’kil were killed or driven off.  Most a’kil hid their talents or moved to safer, more magic-tolerant lands. Velaina and Soron had chosen to live in a small village outside of any of the kingdoms partly for that reason. If Nathan was a’kil, it was better to live in a small village where hopefully no one would fear him if he started to show signs of magic. Even in a small village, there were many who shunned magic as evil. Nathan’s life would be changing drastically soon.
    As Soron pondered the repercussions of this information, Velaina continued to think about Nathan’s encounter with the wolf. Animals being attracted to and forming bonds with a’kil did happen, so the wolf was a very good indicator that Nathan was in fact an a’kil. Soron had already known that Nathan might be magic blood, like her and others of his own family. Lately, Soron had been thinking that Nathan’s ability to make black steel and how easily he shaped it were much too good for someone his age and size. Being a’kil would explain this.
    “Your bracelet that Nathan made is far better than any fourteen-year-old should be able to make.