Read Online Sword's Call by C. A. Szarek - Free Book Online Page A

the wizard, ignoring curious looks from Avery and Cera. “ You’re Hadrian . . . Mother spoke of you often, though she thinks you dead . . .”
    “Your mother was always beautiful, yet she never had much faith in wizards, or magic, for that matter.” The elf chuckled and waved his wand.
    Four goblets materialized and settled into each of their hands as if they had reached for them.
    Jorrin focused on the old elf’s face. Intelligent pale blue eyes, so pale they were almost clear, stared out from under the brim of the hat.
    “You should have finished your training, lad,” Hadrian admonished with a shake of his wand in Jorrin’s direction. “Your powers are greater than you know.”
    He ignored the comment and muttered thanks for the drink. Cera and Avery did the same. “Where’s my father? You left to find him . . .”
    “Aye, you were just a baby. He and your mother were my dearest friends. I owed it to her to find him.” Hadrian shook his head. “But I never did.” His sorrow hit Jorrin’s magic, making him wince.
    “But you left to find him, and you never returned. Mother mourned you.”
    Sorrow shifted to regret, and Jorrin’s heart ached for the elf wizard. Though he’d never admit it, Hadrian was lonely and sad. He had no desire to talk about Jorrin’s father, but he felt it was necessary.
    The rush of emotion was more than Jorrin normally felt from someone he didn’t know well, but the wizard’s mind was open. And he was aware of the information Jorrin had just absorbed from him.
    “I searched and searched for him . . . not far from here is where I sensed him last. There’s a small village nearby, on the outskirts of Berat, but you know that.” He glanced at Cera. “I decided to settle here temporarily, in hopes he’d return. I meant to go back to the mountains, to Aramour, but I had nothing to lose by staying here. I had nothing there . . . I’d lost my lifemate, my child was gone . . .”
    “But you had us. You promised my mother. You could’ve sent word . . .” Jorrin clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles smarted.
    “The pain was too great. My gift is animals. I can heal, as well as understand them, and the villagers often call upon me. I was fortunate to have found a place that does not mind our kind. I settled here, trying to forget what I had lost, trying to forget Aramour. The battle was more than I could deal with, and I was wrong to promise your mother I could find him. He had to run, you know. Did she tell you that?”
    “Yes.” Jorrin’s whisper was bitter.
    “I looked for him, Jorrin, using magic and tracking alike. Whenever I sniffed him out, the trail was cold. He was just gone. When I got here, I felt a sort of finality about it, and I knew until he wanted to be found, he’d not be, by friend or enemy. His powers were as great as my own.” Hadrian chuckled. “When I train someone, I do my job well, even if they are not born an elf.”
    “You were his closest friend.” Jorrin swallowed hard. “He always promised to come back when it was safe. Mother said he held me for hours before he left. That used to comfort me . . .”
    “He left to protect you,” Hadrian said.
    “I would rather he stayed, so I could know my father.”
    “You might have been killed. With him gone, he knew his family would be protected.”
    “Yes, well he entrusted that to you, his closest friend, but even you left.”
    “She made me promise to find him, you know that,” the wizard snapped. His fists clenched and his blue eyes flashed.
    Jorrin had hit a nerve, but he didn’t feel guilty. He leaned forward, glaring.
    Cera laid her hand on his arm to keep him in his seat, and he glanced at her—half grateful, half annoyed.
    He didn’t take a moment to revel in her touch. “Something you’ve struggled with?”
    “I see you have talent as an empath,” Hadrian said.
    Jorrin nodded.
    “He was a great empath, you know. Quite a strange natural trait in a human