The Purifying Fire: A Planeswalker Novel Read Online Free

Stars?”
    “Yes.”
    “Full of extremely valuable objects?”
    “It sure looked that way to me.” Chandra was not a thief by trade, however, so the valuation of objects was hardly familiar to her, particularly in the rush of stealing the scroll.
    “It sounds as if they were quite prepared to kill to retrieve the scroll—and, indeed, to tear their own realm apart to find it … Well, their behavior certainly confirmsthat the scroll is important.” Luti paused. “And whether the previous owners of the scroll employed that planeswalker to come after it, or whether he followed you and retrieved it for his own reasons …”
    Chandra said, “I see your point.”
    “Sometimes thinking things through logically is beneficial.” Luti’s voice was dry.
    “Yes, Mother.”

    That night, Chandra dreamed of fire.
    Not the fire that exploded from her in the battle with the mind mage. And not the intoxicating heat she drew from the red stones of Mount Keralia.
    The fire in her dreams tonight wasn’t the flickering seduction of a new spell. It wasn’t the spine-tingling flame of her growing skill that lapped at the edges of her mind tonight. And it certainly wasn’t the heart-pounding art of boom she loved so much, with its showers of fire and light.
    This was the fire of sorrow and grief, the fire of shame and regret. This was the fire that consumed the innocent.
    In her sleep, she could hear their screams, as clearly as if it were happening all over again. She could see their writhing bodies. She whimpered as the stench of burning flesh assailed her nostrils. Her throat burned with sobs that wouldn’t come out. She tried to move, but her limbs were immobile. She wanted to scream, but her lips moved without sound.
    And when the blade of a sword swept down to her throat, she awoke with a gurgled scream of horror and shot upright, gasping.
    She was trapped in smothering darkness. She instinctively threw up her right hand and called forth flame, to ward off danger and illuminate her surroundings.
    Squinting against the sudden light of her fire magic, Chandra looked around in confusion.
    Then she realized where she was; her bed chamber in Keral Keep. Her heart was pounding. Her skin was slick with sweat. She was shaking. For a moment, she thought she would vomit. Her teeth chattered a little as she focused on breathing.
    In, two, three. Out, two, three. In, two, three. Out…
    She shook her hand to douse the flames before she wrapped her arms around her knees.
    She swallowed. She would not cry. She would not think.
    She would not remember.
    As she rocked back and forth, trying to calm herself, she started reciting her favorite passages from the Regathan sagas, at first just in her mind, the words flowing through her brain in a rapid tumble.
    Then, as she regained some control of herself, she started saying them aloud, and after a while, it worked, as it usually did. Her heart slowed to a normal rhythm. Her hands stopped shaking. Her teeth stopped chattering. Tears stopped threatening to fill her eyes.
    But she wouldn’t sleep again. Not tonight.
    So she rose from her bed, removed her simple linen shift, and started donning her clothes as if the garments were armor against her dreams.
    Chandra put on her leggings and her thigh-high boots. She pulled her calf-length tunic over her head. It was split from hip to hem to allow her free movement. Her clothes were reddish-brown, the material simple. They were the working garments of a woman with too much magical power and too much serious intent to waste time on fripperies and frills. But since it was nighttime and she wasn’t going anywhere, she left off her gauntlets and the leathervest she usually wore. The armor she needed right now was mental, not physical.
    Her bed chamber was small and simple, like everyone else’s at the monastery. It had a narrow wooden bed with linen sheets and rough wool blankets, a small table, a single chair, and a modest trunk. And this was all she