Chapter 10: Cold and Quiet

Valina sat quietly on her bed while Chalea paced back and forth. She had only seen her teacher this concerned twice before.

“Did you find anything out?” Chalea asked.

“Old wives’ tales, mostly,” Valina said. “A monster out in the woods, the ghost of an old Bloodsold that haunts the valley, forest goblins that roam around in tribes. Nonsense, basically.”

“I see. I might have to look into this myself.”

“At least we found him. What do we do about Tavin?” Valina asked.

“It’s become more complicated. Baelon has made a pact with the God of Death, and the form the magic has taken puts us in a bad spot.”

“How so?”

“I once heard about a Bloodsold to Noben who had a power like that once before, when I was still a novice myself. It rots things. Plants, animals, people. Even worked timber rots and falls apart. And he seems to have a sophisticated level of control over it.”