Wind Rider Read Online Free Page A

true, the Kriek live but a three day’s journey away.”
    Woltan nodded. “We must
make haste, as we leave the city undefended. But I see no other option.”
    Karsten smiled. “I will
pack food for a two days journey, and we will supplement it with what we find
on the way.”
    Kara shook her head. “We will move fast enough to
get there in two days. We must hurry, or we Kriek will not be able to help your city.”

III

 
    We met in the city center, under
dark clouds that rumbled at us and threatened worse. Everyone looked uneasy,
and I could only hope it was the weather. The others had some kind of rain hat and
green coats to repel the water. Woltan gave one to me
and I put it on.
    “Good both to avoid water and enemy eyes,” he
said.
    Elias seemed to have become our boy leader, or at
least our scout. He arrived last and nodded at everyone. The sky darkened further
and there was a rumble of thunder from far away.
    Let’s go. We have about a minute more in this
city, and the quicker we go, the better the chance we will see it again.
    Then we were following Elias’s small nimble feet.
We all wore small daypacks: we’d split up the provisions and each of us had a
change of clothes and some cooking supplies. There was no camping here in the
old city, since none of the residents had been out of the city in their
lifetimes. But there was a small forest, inside the gates, and sometimes people
would cook outdoors and eat the wild foods that grew in it; so much I had
gleaned from Karsten .
    We all bore a sword as well, and Cullen had a
portable forge, ingenious in its design, but of course heavy. Elias had a
dagger a little longer than his cousin’s Karsten’s hand; it was small but glowed fiercely when I opened my third eye. There were
other magical blades as well — my own; Kara’s blade, which had proved its worth
in battle; Woltan’s sword, which had never seen real
fighting; even Karsten’s and the smith’s blades
glowed in the darkening afternoon.
    On one day of my training Woltan had told me: “Everything is magic in this city.” Looking at our weapons I had
to believe this. The ground, the buildings, the path we followed: everything glowed
with its own living energy. There was energy everywhere in the world, I knew,
but here things glowed brighter. There was so much energy all around – if only
I could do as Elias did, and just reach out and grab it. Woltan had told me that some wizards with careful practice could learn to do what
Elias did naturally, but it was difficult for the best of wizards and
impossible for most.
    As we walked along the stone cobblestones that
shone beneath my feet, I reached out with my aura and grabbed; I felt a tug on
everything around me and then there were shouts and everyone had stopped and
they were all looking around, to see what had happened. And I felt energy
buzzing in my ears and teeth and it had nowhere to go.
    Then Elias was laughing. Not like that Anders,
like this. An image flashed into my mind, reaching out and pulling at the
stone, at the trees, deep into the earth; I realized that I’d grabbed
indiscriminately, and everyone had felt their auras being manhandled. I only
hoped most of the energy had come from the stones and the air around me; it
felt unclean to steal energy from my friends, from anyone living. You need
to have somewhere to send the energy — you can’t store much in your own body.
You probably could put some in your sword.
    “Be careful, Anders.” Woltan scowled. “And stop laughing, Elias, it’s not that funny.”
    Maybe he was right, but it felt good to hear Elias
laugh. The boy was too serious for someone so young, and he had just
experienced a great loss.
    Then we were walking again, with Elias in the
lead.
    My hand fell to my sword and the energy flowed
into the hilt. I heard a feminine voice then. Thank you Anders, and Woltan is right, be careful, but you did well for a first
attempt. Next time, try when we are alone. Then the buzzing