Dead Letter Read Online Free PDF Page A

yours. You must have a touch
of weather witch in your blood.”
    “ Mayhaps you’re right. My oldma ran with Reik wanderers over
the range when she was more cake and less crust. Whatever the
reason, I thank you. Next time you want to cross, find me. No
charge, and we can zip across again, hmm?”
    “ I’d like that very much.” Kettna returned his thanks with her
forehead on his hand.
    “ Oh, no, no. Please, Mistress, you give me too much honour.
You go now and find your fortune in the Calimska. When you return,
find my flag, red crab on yellow sand. If you see that, you find
me.”
    “ Farewell, Ferryman.”
    “ Be safe. The City of Gold ain’t all shine.”
    Kettna
took her leave, marched down the pier to where her adept escorts
were waiting. Without a word, the novice past them by, taking Lake
Road toward the barbican of Silk Gate. Who were these three adepts,
treating such a kind man with disregard? Even if the ferryman had
been without good humour, surely they could have afforded him more
decency.
    Lanuille
caught up, matching Kettna’s long stride. “You shouldn’t have done
that.”
    “ Are you going to report it? Are you going to haul me back
across the lake so Mother can punish me?”
    “ I should. That was a serious violation.”
    “ Ash! It’s anything but serious. Drop the pretence. The elders
aren’t watching.”
    “ You know it’s against the law to wield upon a citizen like
that.”
    “ I didn’t intend for that to happen. I was just probing the
weave and the ferryman happened to have the gift. I couldn’t summon
a gust like that on my own. Besides, he didn’t mind. I made his
day.” As soon as Kettna said it, she wished she had kept her smart
mouth shut.
    Lanuille
pulled Kettna aside. “What? You used him?”
    “ No, it wasn’t like that.”
    “ The commandments are all that separate us from poachers. You
are the daughter of the Archmagus! How could you? You’ll be
expelled.”
    “ Don’t get me started about the commandments, and don’t twist
this up and liken me to a poacher. I took nothing from him, I
swear. I’d never poach another person and endanger their life.”
That was mostly true.
    “ Then how do you explain such a display? If it wasn’t you and
he has only a gift with no bond to the spell’s articulation, what
then? Do you suggest the gods are at play here?”
    Kettna chose her words with care. She didn’t want to enmesh
her true crimes buried in the past with her present indiscretions.
“I’m sorry. My response was short and impolite. I shouldn’t have
spoken to you, my senior, with disrespect. I only employed an old
technique that Calim’s disciples used on new settlers when they
were trying to find talent amongst the common folk. You know, the
one in Illuprine’s
Memoire ? He calls it a Gather .”
    Adept
Lanuille scrutinised Kettna. “I’ve never heard of such a
thing.”
    “ You’ve not read Illuprine’s
Memoire ?”
    Lanuille
faltered. “No.”
    “ The Gather isn’t exactly a spell. All a mage needs to do is focus
connections in the weave to the subject and see if the subject can
spontaneously grasp a thread and manifest their talent.”
    “ Is the ‘technique’ on the approved list for a
novice?”
    “ No. However, it’s not on the prohibited list
either.”
    “ It’s a thin rope to traverse,” said Lanuille, raising her
finger in admonition. The adept’s tattoos pulsed, flexing her
talent in Kettna’s face.
    “ You might be my senior, but you are not my judge. The Order
has not instructed me to recognise your authority on any matter.
You have your edict and I have mine. Do what you must, just don’t
get in my way.” With that, the novice stepped around Lanuille and
walked on to the city. Damn that woman if she thought she could
bully her with threats of expulsion. What would she know? She’d
never have to walk the line of supplementation. Never have to sneak
a potion just to get through a practical, or stoop to worse to pass
an