Changespell Legacy Read Online Free PDF Page B

uncertainty, he patted her back, looking over her head to Jaime with a plea in his eyes.
    Jaime, mystified along with her concern, came alongside Cesna to rub a gentle circle on her back; Jess soothed the gelding with a pat, and then gave a slight jiggle of the reins to tell him he still had to mind his manners—along with her toes. She said nothing; she had seen Cesna upset before, but this time . . . this time, a strange, unfamiliar clenching in her stomach told her this was not the same. This was more. This was . . . profound.
    After a moment during which Cesna's sobs only grew in intensity, Jaime said, "Maybe we should find Natt?"
    Cesna shook her head emphatically enough that Carey had to withdraw or take a hit to his jaw, and then she said into his shoulder, "Natt's talking to Siccawei. He's trying to find out what happened—"
    "Cesna," Carey said, a hint of frustration, of needing to know behind his concern for her, "what did happen?"
    She looked up at him, revealing a face Jess found to be alarmingly red with emotion. "We all felt it," she said. "So many of them . . . all the apprentices felt it."
    "Cesna," Jaime said, exchanging a glance of trepidation with Carey, " what ?"
    "They're dead," Cesna said, clenching Carey's lightly padded jacket; it wasn't enough to keep her from sliding to her knees, and he went down with her, gripping both arms in an attempt to slow them. "They're all dead ."
    The shock of it hit Jess like a buffeting wave of air, making everything else distant and remote. Cesna's sobs faded away; Jaime's stunned comprehension barely touched her. Even Carey's grim and obvious denial meant nothing to her. The apprentices felt it . They're all dead. The Council, that's who she meant. It's who she had to mean. The untouchable, the powerful, the core of all of Camolen's magical protection. The Council.
    The Council and Arlen .

Chapter 4
    D eath.
    Arlen reeled on his horse. He could not feel the form of death nor the details in the sickening wave of weakness that swept over him; he clutched the saddle pommel, fumbling the reins.
    The horse plodded onward. It felt not death or weakness, only the desire to reach the next home barn of the livery ring.
    Death . Arlen found himself shaking, as if a myriad cold tendrils worked their way through his jacket layers and wrapped themselves around the heart of him. He swayed; his thoughts went grey and distant.
    But he clutched the saddle and he didn't fall; the horse kept moving, lurching slightly with each step as it broke a path through the snow.
    Everyone else knew enough to wait out the morning chill before heading the short distance between one settlement and another . . . but Arlen had planned to reach the travel booth in Amses this morning, and from there to warmer Anfeald and Jaime— The Council.
    Only with the Council did he have such close ties, forged by years of personal communication over distance, years of arguing and working together.
    Death . . .
    Had it been all of them?
    He loved none of them, he respected most of them, he on occasion wanted to slap some sense into one or two of them. Eighteen Council wizards including himself, seven with precinct holds like his own . . . and then there were those touchy western provinces over the Lorakans whose senior wizards kept to themselves.
    Sherra? he thought, reaching for her, reaching despite this distance from which she was unlikely to respond or even hear him unless expecting him. Darius? Tyrla? Even less likely to respond, without the history of casual chatting he had with his close neighbor Sherra.
    And respond, no one did.
    Their silences didn't mean anything . . . or so he told himself. Not at this distance. Arlen took a steadying breath, watched it plume out in the air before him, and gathered his reins; one had looped almost to the horse's knee, but it hadn't appeared to notice as it lowered its head to navigate the snow, its single-minded intent carrying it closer to an accustomed herd and