Sorceress Awakening Read Online Free Page A

deeper. His mind rushed down into the earth, probing for
the smallest tendrils of power. He continued until the smallest scrap, every
little fragment, no matter how small, was returned to the hamadryad.
    After he reinforced the wards on the
hamadryad’s larger wounds, he healed the small punctures his talons had made.
Those larger wounds would need intensive healing, but must wait for now. Mending
the tree would be useless if…
    No, he would not permit failure.
    Returning to the prone dryad, he sat on his
hunches and lifted her into his lap. He licked at her face. Feeling her skin’s
clamminess and noting her pale coloring, he knew he didn’t have long to prepare
for healing.
    Before he began the arduous task of healing
her, he’d need to find a shelter more defendable than this maze. He
repositioned the small dryad in his arms and broke into a ground-eating stride.
He navigated his way free of the leafy corridors and emerged into a lush
garden. The serene shadows beckoned to him, offering a way to hide from the
sun’s revealing rays, and he summoned a weaving of invisibility.
    He exited the gardens and encountered a
stone home, large and spacious but surprisingly empty of people. He wondered
where the servants were, and the guards. There should have been some defenses
guarding this house, yet he detected nothing.
    After one more probe of the house and
surrounding lawn, he tightened his hold on his lady and entered the stone
cottage by a back entrance. As a precaution, he placed a ward around the entire
structure and keyed it so only he could pass. Then as an added measure, he
mentally scanned the area immediately around the building. Still no one.
    With the house as safe as he could make it,
he turned his attention to the inside of the dwelling. A stone-tiled floor
stretched out under his talons. He made a soft clicking sound with each step. A
large table of polished wood sat at room’s center, and a counter stretched
around two sides of the room in an L shape. The table held a loaf of
freshly baked bread and a basket of sweet-smelling fruit. It lacked a hearth,
but if he were to guess, this was a kitchen of some sort.
    He laid his burden upon the table. The
rapid beat of her pulse worried him and her breathing was too shallow. Dropping
into a deeper trance, he summoned his magic. At his silent command, the magic
flowed out from his body. It was less than he’d hoped, lacking the wild
turbulence he was accustomed to, but it would be enough to heal the Sorceress.
It had to be. He bowed his head until his muzzle touched her breastbone and he
breathed more power upon her.
    Nothing happened. His magic didn’t even
penetrate her skin. What had the Battle Goddess done to her when she was a
helpless child that his power could not now meld with hers?
    Panicked, he leapt upon the table and
hunched closer, willing the power into her. She jerked awake, her chest heaving
as if a nightmare suddenly gripped her. Her eyes focused on him and her
expression softened in recognition.
    A shaky hand caressed his muzzle, then
reached back into his mane, circling his neck. Still she didn’t take what he
offered, power she desperately needed. He bumped her face with his muzzle and
licked at her skin, but was careful not to sip the smallest drop of her dryad
blood for fear of losing his concentration.
    She moved. Her arms tightened around his
shoulders as she nuzzled the underside of his jaw. Her fingers grasped his
shoulders and clung there a moment before sliding down one arm, grazing the
slashes from one of the dire wolves. Gentle fingertips paused in their downward
descent and reversed, gliding back over the broken skin. Light caresses turned
to a savage prod, and he grunted more in surprise than pain, but her hand
dropped away in the next moment.
    Slowed by his shock, his reflexes didn’t
spur him into action until her bloody fingers were halfway to her lips. She no
longer looked at him. Instead her gaze riveted to the bright smear on