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

mage. And may I say, you favor him, in height and coloring. Of course, your mother’s ears and eyes may give you away. Yet, that doesn’t seem to bother the lovely lady here.”
    Cera blushed scarlet, yanking her hand from his forearm.
    Jorrin let her reaction go, his stomach fluttering. He wanted to save her embarrassment, but wished he could reach for her. Their kiss danced into his mind, but he pushed it away.
    Not now.
    He cleared his throat and met the wizard’s pale eyes. “So, why were you waiting for me?”
    “Because you have to find your father. He will be needed.”
    “He’s not dead?” Jorrin held his breath for the elf’s answer.
    “I never said he was dead. I just said I couldn’t find him.”
    “I left Aramour against my mother’s wishes to find him, Hadrian. It’s been three turns . . . I have yet to come across the smallest clue to his whereabouts. How can I find him, and why will he be needed?”
    “Only you, his son, can find him. He’ll be needed, of course, to help her cause.” The wizard pointed to Cera with his wand.
    “ What?” Cera, Jorrin, and Avery exclaimed at the same time.
     

Chapter Six
    “But we have to get to Tarvis now. We can’t wait,” Cera argued for what seemed the thousandth time. She looked at Avery, who was nodding. At least her cousin agreed. “The more time we waste, the more damage Varthan will do. We have to go now.”
    “I’m afraid it would do you no good,” Hadrian’s tone was quiet, but firm. “The lad’s father is your only hope.”
    Jorrin sighed, his chest heavy, shoulders slumped. How was he supposed to find a man he’d been looking for since he’d left home three full turns earlier? He hadn’t run into any signs.
    Hadrian was master of magic, and he couldn’t find him . . . so how was he, a half-trained mage, supposed to?
    When he’d left Aramour, finding his father had been the original plan, but his search for months had proved fruitless, the task near impossible. He’d refused to crawl home, proving his mother right, so he’d focused on living. Moved around from place to place, feeling for magic, continuing to half-search, but finding nothing. He hadn’t exactly given up, but his search had fallen into the background.
    He had to eat, so he picked up coin any way he could: tracking, and selling himself as mercenary a time or two. Jorrin had even lowered himself to performing magic tricks in busy parts of the cities he’d been to, though that was only when he had been especially desperate. He wasn’t proud of it, and definitely wouldn’t admit it aloud.
    Of course he wanted to find his father; that fact had never changed, but never in a million turns did he think Cera would play a part in the search.
    Time was everything right now; he had to agree with her about that.
    Gray eyes wide, her desperation poured from her, making his magic ache.
    The last thing Jorrin wanted to do was hurt her. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.
    She deflated, and his heart skipped a beat when her eyes welled with tears.
    “Cera . . . don’t . . .”
    “Wait a moment . . .” Avery broke in. Three pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly, “Hadrian, do you have spell books?”
    “Of course, but why?”
    Avery’s expression was sober and serious, more so than Jorrin had ever seen him.
    “In some reading I’ve done in the past, I’ve come across some spells that allow wide geographical scrying. Maybe we can leave a message tuned to Jorrin’s father that only he can see.” Avery sounded so grown up, Jorrin saw him in a new light.
    “Hmmm, that may be possible, but it’ll take some time. I know a few spells, but you’re right to want to look in a book. There’re many variations. Maybe we can find something more powerful than I’m familiar with. Or fashion our own?”
    Crafting an original spell that would work was tricky. The words, tone, rhythm all had to line up to form a powerful incantation.
    Could the wizard and