Free The Game of Fates by Joel Babbitt

taught me perhaps only the most basic bits of magic, which were not much
less than she knew.  Apparently your mother didn’t teach her much.”
    Lady
Karaba smiled.  It was interesting to her to see how history changed depending
on who was doing the telling.
    “Well,
it’s not that my mother didn’t teach your mother much.  It’s more that she
never had much of an interest in it,” Lady Karaba corrected her.  “Your mother
was always more interested in the goings on of the gen than in the greater
powers of her station.”
    Kiria
was a bit taken aback.  In her mind her mother was perfect, frozen in time to
when Kiria was nine.  Though she’d imagined that her mother had faults, still
it was a bit of a shock to hear someone talk about them.  She promptly decided
to get the conversation back on track.
    “What
she did teach me I’ve used.  But I am finding that the little powers that I
have aren’t much help, except through the odd twist of the Fates.”
    “Ah,”
Lady Karaba’s eyes lit up a bit, “you’ve come seeking greater powers?”
    “Yes,
Aba.  Do you have more that you could share with me?”
    Lady
Karaba nodded her head.  “Your mother gave me her mother’s book of spells
shortly after her mother’s death.  She said she thought she’d never have a use
for it.”  Lady Karaba shook her head as she stood and walked over to the
bookshelf.  “I always thought you would eventually come looking for it.”
    Grabbing
a large book, one with a cover of formed leather, died blue and edged in golden
relief, she thumbed through it, a thin smile on her face.  After a few moments,
she brought the book over to her young niece.
    “This
is the spell book your mother gave me.  It belonged to the lady of the gen
before her, and it is your duty to pass it on to whomever becomes Karto’s
lifemate,” she said, referring to the older of Kiria’s little brothers.
    Kiria
stood and took the tome from her aunt.  “Oh thank you, Aba,” she said, giving
her a hug.  “Thank you for this piece of my heritage!  I will study it
thoroughly!”
    “And?”
Lady Karaba prompted her.
    “And
I will pass it on to whomever becomes lady of the gen,” she said dutifully.
    The
wistful look in Lady Karaba’s eyes passed unseen before the excited young
female.
    As
Kiria left the chambers of her aunt and uncle, dreams of the magic that she
would uncover within the pages of her grandmother’s spell book swept her back
to her room in the caravan drivers quarters.  Though it was difficult, she did
eventually get to sleep that night.
     

     
    That
night the dreams of the members of Durik’s Company were not as peaceful as they
might have wished.  Though the caravan drivers quarters were mostly peaceful,
the noise of tossing and turning warriors could be heard throughout the night,
punctuated by the occasional cry of imagined alarm or remembered strife. 
    At
one point Jerrig Queen Slayer sat up with a defiant scream, the events in the
ant queen’s chambers replaying in his head.  His hands were focused in front of
him in the shape of a triangle and a searing point of light filled the room as
a bolt of intense fire formed between his upheld hands and shot across the
room, cracking the log of the outer wall of their quarters. 
    As
his mind stopped wondering where the ant queen had gone, and the realization of
where he was slowly dawned on his awakening mind, he stopped looking around
desperately and instead got very quiet.  The log he had cracked was directly
above Arbelk’s still sleeping form.  On the pile of furs across the room Keryak
lay rubbing his eyes.  Jerrig lay back down hurriedly, in case by some strange
chance Keryak hadn’t noticed the whole episode.
    Seemingly
in answer to Jerrig’s whispered prayers to the Creator, Keryak didn’t notice
the warm spot on the logs above Arbelk, and after a couple of moments he laid
back down and rolled over.  The utter exhaustion of the last several days