Eyes of the Alchemist Read Online Free PDF

off with it.”
    The shadow of Cabrilan had turned dawn into dusk. The storm howled around them as they readied themselves for flight, and before too long their heads were bowed before the fury of it. Bent almost double they shuffled forward. Lightning crashed to the ground, setting fire to dry vegetation and rotting flowers. The desert bloomed with fire and roared with the sound of fury.
    The cave they’d headed for was set high in an overhang of porous rock its surface pitted and scored from countless such storms.
    They didn’t see the rock goat until it charged from the entrance, its curved, sharp-pointed horns lowered. Tiana shouted an order and the Pitilan launched itself at the goat’s throat. Gibber monkeys screamed a warning. It was over in an instant for the goat, its neck broken in one snap. The kid it had been defending bleated with fear. One flick of the Pitilan’s head tossed the goat’s carcass down the slope.
    Tiana paled when she turned towards Sybilla. Split open from chin to chest, her mentor was soaked in glistening blood, blood the grit-dusted surface absorbed the instant it touched, taking the nourishment it afforded for itself. Her fingers pressed against Sybilla’s pulse, seeking signs of life. But her mentor’s heart had been sliced in two.
    “Sybilla!” Her anguished shriek was lost in the maelstrom of wind as she plunged her hands into Sybilla’s chest and frantically held the shattered heart together. She bowed her head and concentrated on the healing, intoning a mantra over and over.
    “ Sybilla, mother mentor, take my strength for your own, let me feel your heart pulse. Don’t leave me, little mother. Take my life and use it, it’s useless. I’m useless, not worthy of the honor of your choosing. Allow me to die in your place.”
    Tiana didn’t know how long she knelt there. Black clouds descended around them, blotting out the light. She heard Sybilla’s voice inside her head.
    My spirit needs to seek rest .
    She ignored it. Grit swirled to sting her eyes and flay her skin. Her back began to ache.
    Others will need my guidance.
    Gradually the storm intruded on Tiana’s meditation and Sybilla’s voice grew faint.
    Let me go Tiana. You tire, and my body is too old and too damaged to heal . Believe it when I say we will meet again in the future.
    Sybilla was growing cold and her blood had been soaked up by the earth. Tiana had failed, but she’d known right from the start that she’d fail. She covered her face, wrapped her arms around her body and rocked backward and forward, moaning in her grief.
    Sybilla had known, she’d tried to warn her they would part, but hadn’t she said others would need her in the future? Calm stole through her, filling her heart with peace. She must not mourn. Sybilla had left her this last wisdom and she must prepare her for the journey forward, where her skills would be used to heal the wounded while she grew in wisdom. She knew now that she would meet Sybilla one day. She would follow her mentor’s teachings and make Sybilla proud of her.
    She grinned a little as she thought, would she never be rid of her vanity? She must try harder.
     The monkeys had gradually fallen quiet. Only the baby goat kept bleating. She understood its distress and drew its trembling body gently into her arms. “I’m sorry, little goat,” she whispered. “You will not survive without a mother to defend you. The desert hawks will eat you alive.” After a while it stopped bleating and nuzzled contentedly against her.
    The monkeys must have picked up the aroma of fruit for they darted forward, snatching at the contents of the basket. She slipped some fruit into her sack and let them squabble over the rest.
    Tiana comforted the kid until the storm abated and then took it to its mother’s body. Coating the bloated, leaking udders of the carcass with a potion from her sack, she put the kid to the teat. After a while the kid stopped sucking and fell asleep against its