Blood, Honor and Dreams (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #2)

“Why didn’t you just heal it?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jala stared at him a moment and looked up to the sky and then back to him. “Because I’m an idiot and I didn’t even think of healing myself,” she admitted in disgust. “It’s really no bother though. It’s not a deep cut,”

Sovann looked away with a nod and it was obvious he was fighting back laughter. “That’s beautiful. You heal my brother from near death, repair his eye and then forget you can heal when you yourself get hurt.” He shook his head slowly as he spoke in obvious amusement.

“So what are we going to work with today?” she asked in an effort to change the topic.

“I thought we’d try a bit of channeling. I think you are closer to a weaver than a Channeler but we will see. Since you can draw off of Barllen, it’s obvious you can channel, so let’s see what else you can draw from,” he replied with a smile.

“All right, sounds easy enough. What first?” Jala asked as she dropped her bag down into the grass and stretched her shoulders.

“Let’s try something basic at first. Getting magic from something magical,” he said, producing a mage stone from his pocket. Tossing it lightly to land in the grass he looked back at her and smiled. “Typically you hold a mage stone and draw it into you as it is intended to be used. This time I want you to try to channel some of the magic out of it. It’s a mage stone you yourself created so that should make it easier.” With a slight gesture of his hand, he motioned for her to begin.

Taking a deep breath Jala focused on the stone and tried to pull magic from it. After a long moment she held her hand outstretched toward it as she had on the battlefield in Rivana. Putting her will behind it she pulled again and then frowned at Sovann. “I’m doing exactly what I did in Rivana,” she said with a sigh.

He chewed on his lower lip for a moment and nodded slowly. “You were desperate there,” he said quietly and seemed deep in thought. “Maybe it was because you didn’t have any magic at all of your own,” he said after a moment and fished in his pocket again producing a dull grey stone. “If you don’t mind filling a mage stone this early, we can see if that is the difference.” He offered her the stone with a shrug.

Jala nodded slowly and took the stone, looking down at the rock with dread. Filling stones always left her a bit light headed and she had a long day ahead of her. “If you let me keep this stone to recharge before I see Neph this evening, you have a deal,” she said, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“As long as you wait a bit before you reabsorb it there shouldn’t be a problem. You don’t want to flux your magic from full to empty and then back again too quickly. It isn’t good for the body,” he warned.

Nodding her agreement, she focused on the empty stone in her hand and felt her magic pouring into it. When they had first started doing this two weeks ago the stones she had filled had been about the size of her little fingernail. This one was the size of a small bird’s egg. Sovann had said her reservoir was building quickly and if this stone’s size was any indication he believed it had grown again. The stone began to pulse in her hand and turn a dull violet shade, slowly darkening to a deep rich purple that seemed to glow from the inside. Her head began to spin as the color darkened and she had second thoughts about spending half the day in this weakened state. If not for the knowledge that Marrow and now Emily would be with her the entire day she never would have agreed to this.

At last, she nodded to Sovann and handed him back the stone. She could feel only the barest wisps of magic remaining to her and Sovann had warned her too many times for her to drain that off as well. To drain all of her magic meant the risk of what he called burn out, where a mage could no longer access his magic at all. She had never actually pointed out that she had already drained her magic completely once before and hadn’t burned out. She knew him too well. He would simply point out how stupid she had been to do it at all.

Looking down at the stone in his hand, Sovann glanced back up at her and nodded. “I had a feeling you had built it up more. You didn’t drain yourself dry did you?” he asked with a bit of concern.

“Of course not. I listen to your warnings,” she replied, her voice faint to her ears. “Give me a minute and I’ll try again. I’ve got the spinning-head thing right now.” With a sigh, she leaned back against a tree and waited for her body to adjust and then stood again, giving Sovann a nod. Stretching her hand out toward the stone once more, she tried pulling on the magic she knew it held. “Damn it,” she hissed and refocused herself, pulling with everything she could. The stone remained untouched, without so much as a trace of its magic coming to her. Dropping her hand in frustration, she looked at Sovann. “Why can I draw from something no one else can but I can’t draw from something everyone can?” she asked, hoping the frustration she felt didn’t carry into her voice as well.

Sovann frowned down at the stone and looked up to her with a slight shake of his head. “I have no idea,” he admitted and searched the garden, his gaze thoughtful. “Close your eyes and try channeling. Focus on whatever you can and try to draw in magic. Maybe it’s that you have no affinity with the stone, though you should since you are the one that created it,.”

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