Healer's Ruin Read Online Free PDF Page A

meant.
    'Well,' he began, with a shrug. 'I always had an affinity for magic. I liked the feel of it, you know? That resonating note, silent but strong, in your veins, when it's flowing through you... there's nothing like that in all the world. But I didn't want to see battle. Not on the front lines, anyway. So, I chose the Vital Gourd.'
    'You could have been a Scryer.'
    'Scryers always go mad before the others do.'
    'True. But though their lives are short, they live them far from carnage and chaos.'
    Chalos smiled thinly.
    'Had I the choice again, right now I might take another path.' He waved a hand dismissively. 'Anyway, what about you, Samine? Why did you choose to be a Dread Spear?'
    'I was good at it,' she replied without hesitation. 'And I knew that we would be marching on Riln. I wanted to be one of the first to cross the ocean.' Her eyes were fixed ahead, sparkling. 'Imagine, the history books telling of Samine, the great mage, who helped the Ten Plains King conquer the northern empire! I would die happy if I knew I would be remembered for my prowess and deeds.'
    One of the pavarine made a low sound and started to move askew, butting the beast next to it. A sherdling prodded it back into place with a tapering wooden pole. The beast snorted with indignation but allowed itself to be hammered back into formation.
    'Then this mission is a great opportunity for you.'
    'Yes!' Samine grinned. 'We will soon overtake the Gilt Plates, the most celebrated shock troops in the Unified Plains, and usurp their position as the vanguard of the army. Then, we will have both battle and adventure. Who knows what mysteries lie ahead? What terrible foes?'
    'Be careful what you wish for,' said Chalos. 'Something battered the Gilt Plates into submission. Not many have done that over the centuries.'
    'Exactly!'
    'That doesn't frighten you?'
    'It's a chance to show our mettle. To prove ourselves first to Jolm, then to the Duke, and then to the Fenc. And once we impress those grey veterans, our names will make it to the ear of the King himself. Then we will be immortal.'
    'And live like heroes,' Chalos said. 'Or die like them.'
    She laughed with open-mouthed delight and shook her head.
    'You are a dark one, Chalos. Don't you want to die for your kingdom?'
    He knew the answer he wanted to give. It burned on his tongue like an acid. In what way is it, or could it ever be, my kingdom? But he knew nothing would puncture her inviolable sense of duty. Dread Spears were all the same. There was something about having all that firepower to hand that made them live in the moment, hankering after the next excuse to unleash absolute mayhem. They did not ruminate deeply like healers did. They just dreamed of destruction and of the awe on the faces of friends, or the terror on the faces of foes.
    Healers were different, he knew. They could be seduced by the world of magic – lost in their mirrors as the expression went – like any other slinger, be seduced by the strange song of that other world where magic swam in the air like a scent. But there was no release for them. Scryers lived for uncovering new lands, new treasures. Wizards for unlocking new abilities and crafting new powers. Mages like the Dread Spears who had not yet achieved the mastery that differentiated true wizards from the rest simply enjoyed their dalliances with the other world, and the power it lent them in the real one. But for healers, the release came only in the wake of tragedy. They impressed others by setting bones, eradicating infection, closing cuts, restoring burst eyeballs or smashed brain matter. The only time they got to use their powers was when the blood ran in rivers and the screams filled the night. There was no adventure for healers, only woe.
    She's right. I'm a dark one.
    'Look alive, Chalos.' Samine's voice snapped him back to reality.
    A black shape coursed down over the column, its long-beaked head ducking left and right, as if looking for something, or someone.