The Callindra Chronicles Book One - First Quest Read Online Free PDF

trail and tried to slow
his hammering heart. What the hell had happened to the Weave back
there? He had never felt it surge like that before; it was as
though it wanted to be harnessed. At least he knew it wasn’t his
skill as a hunter that had been causing him to miss the deer; the
presence of a large cat would keep them far away.
    The animal had stopped twitching; Glarian had
respect for those razor sharp claws. He poked it with his unstrung
bow to make sure it didn’t have any nerve reflex left and then
lifted it to his shoulders. At least he could bring the girl a
project. If she was anywhere near as good skinning and tanning a
hide as she was working with leather that had been cured she might
be able to make something amazing with this skin. If not at least
she would be occupied for a few days.
    When he emerged into the clearing around the
house, Glarian could feel the presence of another magic user.
Cursing his luck, he backed carefully into the shelter of the trees
and considered. This was likely a spring visit from The Order;
however the Inquisitors weren’t often this careless with
broadcasting their abilities. There hadn’t been a challenger for
three or four years now, most people had forgotten he existed after
he had taken down his Tokens of Challenge. Glarian was betting on
an Inquisitor.
    He stowed his sword behind a tree, set the
headless cat down and crawled up to the open window on his belly.
Voices from within were easy to hear from his vantage point beneath
the window.
    “ I’ve been here for almost
five months now.” Callindra was saying, her voice the peculiar
monotone of one who had been charmed.
    “ During these five months
tell me anything you have seen that seems strange.” Glarian knew
that voice; he was Shojin, one of the most tenacious and
ill-tempered Inquisitors the Order had ever produced. He was using
some sort of compulsion spell to wring information from her
brain.
    “ Glarian is a mystery. How
the he has managed to survive this long on his own baffles me. He
can’t hunt, he can’t sew he is worthless in the kitchen and I even
beat him at chess on occasion.”
    Shojin laughed, “At least we can agree on
that.”
    “ There is a hidden side of
him. I cannot see what it is, but he has something inside himself.
It gleams like the sun behind the leaf of a tree.” Her voice
dropped to a whisper, “It fascinates me.”
    “ Is that why has the Weave
been misbehaving around here lately? Even as we speak it spikes and
flares. What in the world is he doing?”
    “ I do not know. He does not
seem to do anything.”
    Shojin snorted, “I think I’ve learned all I
can. As always Callindra, forget I was ever here.”
    There was a brief rumble of thunder and
Glarian let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. He
quickly walked back to where his blade and the dead puma were. He
risked Callindra seeing him carrying the sword, something that
could be dangerous if Shojin was poking around, but it was
necessary unless he wanted to leave Sakar out in the damp until
after she went to bed.
    He stowed the sword and poked his head
through the doorway between the lean-to and the kitchen.
“Callindra, I’m back. No venison but I have something you might be
interested in.” The thump and scrape of her crutches reached his
ears and she rounded the corner from her bedroom.
    “ Still no fresh meat? How in
the six hells have you survived all this time old man, on twigs and
grass?” Her tone was as harsh as ever he noted with a sigh,
although the edge seemed to be dulled a touch.
    “ I thought you might be able
to make some more durable clothes for yourself out of this.”
Glarian said, lifting the puma onto his makeshift skinning hooks.
“You’ll need them once you heal up.”
    “ How did you cut off the
head?” She was looking at the perfectly clean slice. “You even cut
through a vertebra, what kind of knife could possibly do such a
thing?” Her eyes traveled to the long knife