The Weaving of Wells (Osric's Wand, Book Four) Read Online Free PDF

teacherly tone of the small, furry tyrant he was used to working for.
    “Well, the first one seems to be leaching the levitation gift from my blood as we speak. It’s like a charm, always active.”
    “Remind me to tell Largrid I was wrong. That device is amazing; I didn’t even notice that with my gift.” Gus turned his attention to Kal’s hand, which now rested between the scope and the sword.
    Tendrils that almost escaped Gus’s gaze waved through the air as if blown by a breeze. Yet, when they contacted Kal they would fill with the pale yellow color that filled the hundreds of deposits throughout his body. Kal’s gift would then be channeled through the life strands, where they slowly began to build a new ring at the hilt end of the wand.
    “Even now it grows more powerful. It finally makes sense. It’s grafting your gift into the wand’s makeup as we speak.”
    “So that thing is growing more powerful all the time?” Willam stepped forward with a look of sheer envy.
    “It sure looks like it,” Gus answered. “And, for safety’s sake we should probably have Kal here teach Osric how to use the levitation gift before it surprises him in battle by asserting itself as a fully matured gift. The Invisibility gift was probably a bit easier to manage the first time, I’m sure.”
    Then he watched as the same tendrils, this time from the third ring of the wand, reached out to both Willam and Kal. Each time they journeyed to the two men and back, the tendrils carried a small sample of the magics within subsequent rings and deposited them within the bodies of the two men. Gus was astonished to see that along with partially formed gifts appearing in their bodies, there were also somewhat tenuous life strands twining around and adding to the life strands of both Kal and Willam. Gus was actually watching their power grow right before his eyes—no longer would the old saying “One gift, one measure of magic” hold true for these young men.
    The wand was literally initiating the growth of new gifts on those around it. He wondered if the amulet-like segment in the wand was as choosy about whom to implant gifts in as Bridgett’s amulet was about whom to endow with greater power fed directly to their gifts. Gus focused on the way the tendrils moved, hoping he could see the intent of the magic in the pattern of its movement—did it shy away from some, or did it favor some more than others?
    “I just want to hold it.” Willam grasped at the hilt greedily and pulled it out from under the strand-sight device.
    “Just wait, boy,” Gus said impatiently as he looked up.
    The sword twisted slightly as it was pulled, causing it to draw the recently honed blade on the flat of Kal’s hand.
    “Ah!” Kal cried out. He turned a frustrated expression toward his friend as Willam tripped over his own feet and hit his head on the floor, lying limp where he landed. “Patience! You cut me, you prat!”
    Gus blinked in shock, shaking his head. “He’s dead.”
    “No he’s not, he just took a tumble.” Kal stood and pushed his fallen friend’s legs with his feet. “Get up, Will. This isn’t funny.”
    “I saw it happen when he cut you.”
    “Get up!” Kal dropped to his knees, shaking the limp body. He screamed at the others in the room, “Somebody help him!”
    “We never even had a chance to save him,” Gus spoke in a sorrowful tone. “Blood causes an immediate transfer of every gift within the sword. I was still using my gift as it happened. I saw it. Willam’s life strand just snapped as his body was flooded with the new gifts and the power that came with them.”
    “No, that doesn’t make any sense,” Kal cried. “Osric has fought with this blade for months. He’s cut guys in half with it, and it didn’t kill him! Will can’t be dead.”
    “I’m sorry Kal, but he is dead. Osric only acquired one gift at a time. He already had all the others whenever he used the sword, and each one made him stronger. The