reach, and they will be trapped in their dreams until the sorcerer is killed or
ends his spell. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
Disappointment tore at me, but at least we could prevent anyone else
from getting hurt.
Then all we had to do was kill Kahanov.
I met Jaxson’s steely gaze and knew he was thinking the same thing.
“What is it you want us to do?” I asked.
Cavra had an unabashedly predatory look on her face, and worry spread
through me like a sickness. I had a sinking suspicion that whatever she was
going to ask, we wouldn’t escape unscarred.
“The payment I request is a bloodstone known as the heart of the forest.
If you retrieve this for me, then I will cast the blocking spell.”
“What is it?” I asked, warily. “And why do you need us?”
Cavra was a being of immeasurable power. It had to be a suicide mission.
She lifted my chin with a claw. “So suspicious.”
Jaxson’s eyes dilated, but I met her gaze without flinching.
Her eyes flickered with desire. “The heart is located on a basalt pillar in
the center of the Glen of Shadows, not far from here. It is the one place in the
Vale that my magic is useless, and as such, I’ve never been able to reach it.
You, on the other hand share a certain kinship with the darkness, if I’m not
mistaken.”
I pulled the shadows around myself in answer, and she released my chin.
“Good. It’s almost like the fates sent you to me.”
Even though I didn’t trust the fates for a second, shadows were at least
one thing I could control. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.
“A darkness inhabits the glen,” Cavra continued, “and if the shadows
catch you, they’ll drag you down into the earth, where you will slowly be
devoured.”
I was wrong. We were screwed.
Maybe we didn’t need to do this after all. Finding and killing Kahanov