Read Online Halfstone: A Tale of the Narathlands by Daniel White - Free Book Online Page A

his hands.
    “The look on your face tells me many of your thoughts,” she said,
studying him. “Thoughts I am sure will take time to rationalise.”
    “Rationalise? None of this has a place in the realm of the
rational!” he exclaimed. “Wizards, or wielders, as they are called—I was so
used to imagining them in stories of old and distant lands. I never imagined
they were a part of my own life. Jon, my parents… me? I am one of them?” He
stared blankly forward, shaking his head at every impossible notion.
    Télia sat beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Just
remember that nothing Jon or I tell you changes who you are. I know that sounds
foolish but it’s true. The whole ground doesn’t disappear beneath your feet.
You are the same person you have always been. Only, there is more to your
story. Everyone you know, including me now, is ever willing to find your head
upon their shoulders. I am your aera, Aldrick. I remain here—at your side.”
    Her words were kind and calming, though not nearly calming enough.
Aldrick managed a faint smile of appreciation before his mind caved in to the
weight of his thoughts once more.
    “I will continue, if that is all right,” said Jon, who had been
observing him mindfully. “I understand that what I have said is difficult to
accept, Aldrick, I do, but there is much more that needs telling, and there is
no better time than now, with food in our bellies and the rain falling outside,
to tell it.”
    Aldrick took a deep breath. “I’m listening.”
    “Excellent! But wait… I have lost myself yet again.” Jon squinted
down at the floor, stroking his beard. “Ah yes! You have the abilities your
parents did! That is why Selayna wants you dead.” His eyes widened. “Oh, but
no. Selayna is not the one who wants you dead. Oh no. No, no, no! She does the
bidding of another.” He looked upon them gravely. “There is another who wishes
your demise, one whom your parents knew well—Selayna’s brother. His name is
Malath.”
    Aldrick heard Télia gasp beside him. Cold radiated from her. There
ensued a deathly silence in which only the faint flicker of flames and
occasional crack of heated wood could be heard from the hearth.
    “Malath is also a wielder?” Aldrick asked finally. “My parents
knew him?”
    “They did, only too well.” Jon waved his hand aggressively and the
fire roared, brightening the room and vanquishing the chill in the air. Aldrick
stared. “He was their friend—a valued member of the wielding community. Malath
Jayther, the great and damned foolish!” Jon’s pacing quickened. Anger fuelled
his steps. “Your parents trusted him with their lives, as anyone might have. No
one had ever heard of such a distinguished wielder turning so foul. Arrogant—yes,
but sour, bitter and resentful? No. No, Malath was one of a kind, a
well-privileged idiot!” Jon halted and turned to Aldrick. “He led your parents
to their doom.”
    Aldrick swallowed. He had often wondered about his parents of
late, but only now did he realise that hearing their story inevitably meant
learning how they died.
    “Tell me what happened,” he said.
    Jon seated himself in an armchair by the fire.
    “This all began many years ago,” he started. “Gilthred, Isobel and
Malath were scholars of Delthendra—the wielder’s lyceum in Galdrem, a place
Télia is familiar with I’m sure.” Télia nodded. “Well, that is where they came
to know each other. They were each very wise and astute, but Malath was more
powerful, as was he ambitious. As a young man the Synod adopted him and—”
    “Wait… the Synod?”
    “The Synod is an order of ‘highly esteemed’ wielders in Galdrem. I
was once associated with them myself.”
    Aldrick could tell Jon held no high opinion of them. “I see.”
    “As I was saying, they adopted Malath and installed him as
chancellor of Delthendra. This gave him great power and position over not only
novice wielders, but humans alike.” Jon