The Education of Brother Thaddius and other tales of DemonWars (The DemonWars Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to me. I had big plans for you, young Sadye, but alas, by the time I came to trust in you, time had already run short.”
    Sadye couldn’t help but tilt her head at that, though she knew that she was perhaps revealing too much of her intrigue. Never play your hand — that was the lesson she had learned on the streets.
    “Did you move quickly enough to put it away this time?” Orrin asked, and he grinned at her and narrowed his gray eyes. “Or did you simply tuck it behind the crate again?”
    “I know not of what you speak.”
    A burst of laughter escaped Orrin, mocking her where she sat. Sadye instinctively glanced all around, seeking some escape route, should she need one.
    “You know indeed,” said Orrin. “I have heard you play.”
    “Play?”
    “Sadye….”
    She couldn’t resist his disapproving look. It made her feel little, like the look her father used to give her before the rosy plague had taken him. At the same time, though, and in a strange way, that look from Orrin now offered her some measure of comfort. For there was no maliciousness in it, and no promise of retribution. Orrin seemed almost amused.
    Without any further hesitation, Sadye reached behind the crate on her right and produced the delicate lute, bringing it across her lap. She couldn’t help herself, and gently touched its strings, sending thin notes into the air.
    “You like it?” Orrin asked.
    Sadye smiled and nodded.
    “It is very valuable, you know,” the old man remarked.
    Sadye stopped touching the strings and looked up at him, suddenly fearful that she had overstepped her place here.
    “You do not even understand its worth, do you?” asked Orrin.
    “It is beautifully crafted.”
    “Look deeper.”
    Sadye rolled the lute in her hands, feeling its weight and balance, running her fingers about the carved and delicate neck and the meticulously crafted pick-ups and ties. She saw the small gray stones set into the instrument, edging the circular hole beneath the strings. They didn’t sparkle like rubies or diamonds, and hardly added to the beauty of the lute.
    “Now you see the truth,” said Orrin, and Sadye looked up at him curiously.
    “Gemstones,” Orrin explained. “Hematite, which the monks name the soul stone.”
    Sadye looked back at the gray edging of the hole, her fingers gently feeling the smoothness.
    “They are enchanted, of course,” said Orrin. “Abellican stones, brought from an island in the south Mirianic.”
    “The lute is magical?” Sadye asked, looking up at him once again.
    Orrin paused and looked at her hard, then looked all around as if he was torn. Sadye, ever perceptive, sensed that he was trying to decide whether or not to let her in on his secret, and judging from the intensity of his expression, she figured that secret to be no minor thing!
    “You looked through the crates, though I told you not to?” Orrin said at length.
    Sadye didn’t answer, figuring the question to be rhetorical.
    “Of course you did, for the lute was near to the bottom, I believe,” Orrin went on. “Most of the goods are what they appear to be: instruments and tools, trinkets and the like. But did you not notice that several were set with gemstones?”
    “Ornamental.”
    “Magical,” Orrin corrected. “Every one. The Abellicans are tight with their sacred stones, so it’s said, but in truth, they’ve sold many of them over the years. Merchants pay quite well for them, you see, especially for the ones set in that lute. Soul stones can heal various maladies; it is no accident that many of the wealthy folk of Honce-the-Bear live longer than the peasants.”
    “They use Abellican magic?” Sadye looked back down at the lute, at the soul stones, with even more curiosity.
    “They try to,” said Orrin. “Using the stones is no easy trick, even for those so trained. And few are trained, for the Abellicans guard those secrets even more tightly than they control the stones. That is where we come in.”
    “We? You