Read Online The Dreamer's Curse (Book 2) by Honor Raconteur - Free Book Online

off evil. “Don’t you remember what happened to us the last time we
did that?”
    She did. Vividly. With a grim smile she assured him, “Trust
me, when he learns what we’re up against, he won’t mind.”
    Sarsen paused, his miniature looking up at her in suspicion. “Sev… just how bad is it? ”
    “If this goes wrong, it’ll rearrange the landscape of
eastern Windamere.”
    His hand flew in a quick gesture, making a silent prayer of
safety. “I’ll raid his storerooms tonight before leaving. Just call Master
and explain why. I trust you’ll fill me in completely when I get there?”
    “You’re not going to be of much help otherwise. And I’m
half-hoping that you’ll think of a solution that I didn’t.”
    “Me? Out-think the Artifactor prodigy?”
    “Hey, miracles happen!”
    “Now I know you’re desperate. Call Master. I’ll pack and
get there in two days.”
    The Caller went still and she picked it up and plopped it
back into her pocket. She wanted to get off this cold, hard stone and in a more
padded chair before calling Master. He’d keep her talking for at least an hour
on the details, knowing him. Rising, she stretched both arms over her chest
before bending and retrieving her ceramic tankard from the ground. “I’m going
to bed. After all, I’ll have to get up early and go to someone’s rescue. If the
gods are kind, or at least listening, it won’t be another squawking child
either.”
    Decker grimaced in sympathy. “From your lips to the gods’
ears. In that case, good night, Artifactor.”

Master foiled her plan to get to bed early by keeping her
awake for three hours talking about the problem. He was worried, justifiably
so, and traded information and ideas with her freely on possible solutions. In
the end, he gave Sarsen free reign over his storerooms and let them have
whatever they thought they would need. She would think him generous if he
hadn’t looked so obviously shaken by her descriptions.
    Of course, Decker woke her up early that morning to play
fetch. The dreamer had gone to the island of Ence, of all places (why would anyone
dream of that gods-forsaken place?). Ence sat on the very eastern edge of
Windamere. In fact, any further, and you fell right into the ocean. It took
most of the day to fetch the old woman back, and while grateful for the quick
rescue, the matron did not appreciate the method. Sevana’s mini-skimmer
scared the living daylight right out of her and she clung and prayed the entire
way home.
    By the time they touched down in the main square, two hours
or so of daylight were left, and not enough of the day for her to really dig
into the problem and do any real work. The skimmer made soft scraping sounds as
its full weight came to rest on the cobblestones and the two women became
almost swamped with people. Mostly the old woman’s family, judging by the hugs,
tears, and overlapping inquiries of “are you alright?!”
    Sevana quickly unbuckled and wiggled her way through the
press of bodies until she could get free. Once there, she took in a deep breath
and looked around for Decker. The next time that he sent her harrowing off on a
mission to rescue someone, he needed to warn her they were afraid of
heights!
    She spotted him quickly, coming toward her from the Hall’s
main steps. Following him on either side were two men she didn’t recognize with
Gid trailing along behind the group. One of them middle-aged, scrawny looking,
with a receding hairline and the thickest glasses she had ever seen on a human
being. He looked well-dressed, however, and neat as a pin. More interesting, he
had a magic pouch resting on his belt. Magician of some sort?
    The other man stood a head taller than either of the men he
walked with—quite the feat as Decker couldn’t be considered ‘short’ by anyone’s
standards—but had a very massive and solid build , as if he were a walking
barrel. His skin had tanned so dark as to almost make him look Sa Kaoan, but
his bright