Free The Dreaming Hunt by Cindy Dees

impatient apprentice. Stubbornly, Will held his tongue. As the silence stretched into a contest of wills between them, amusement glinted in the elf’s golden gaze.
    â€œSo much like him,” Aurelius finally muttered in disgust.
    Will took the remark as a great compliment. At one time, his father, Sir Tiberius De’Vir, had been the premier battle caster in the entire colony of Dupree and a dragon of the Celestial Order of the Dragon in Dupree. At least he had been before Tiberius, Aurelius, the landsgrave of Hyland, and a nulvari assassin called Selea Rouge had infuriated Anton Constantine by trying to find the Sleeping King. Before Tiberius had taken the fall for them all, been sentenced to annihilation by Constantine, and been forced into hiding with his wife and infant son.
    Aurelius continued, a note of resignation in his voice. “Tree Lord Stormcaller and his hickory grow in Shandril, which lies within the kingdom of Waelan. On Koth.”
    Another tree lord? Like Bloodroot? Will’s gaze shot to his staff as the rest of Aurelius’s words registered. His weapon hailed from Koth itself? The distant continent, home of the Kothite Empire, loomed mysterious and sinister in his mind. And he possessed a tiny sliver of it?
    Aurelius took on a lecturing tone. “Stormcaller is said to have been infused with copper by giants. Infusion is a magical process whereby two unlike substances are bonded together at the most fundamental level. The resulting substance retains properties of both original elements. In this case, the copper within the wood conducts energy with great efficiency. Ty must have suspected that you inherited his talent for channeling magic.”
    â€œChanneling?” Will frowned.
    â€œCasting magic through yon staff. Like a lightning rod in reverse.”
    Understanding burst through him. He had spontaneously sent blasts of magic through the staff toward foes when his life was in mortal danger, but without really knowing how he’d done it. “Can you teach me to do that on command?”
    A sardonic smile curved one corner of the elf’s mouth. “Now that you fall under the auspices of the Mage’s Guild, I can teach you anything the guild has control over. Which encompasses the entirety of magic, excepting healing, Will Cobb.”
    Eagerness flashed through him, along with caution. The use of his assumed name was a sharp reminder from Aurelius that he could never claim to be his father’s son, never use the name De’Vir within the Empire, no matter what talents he might have inherited from his father.
    The guildmaster looked up at him gravely. “What is this weapon’s name?”
    Will frowned. “Why would a glorified stick have a name?”
    â€œBecause this stick is well on its way to becoming an artifact. Discover its name and you will command its special powers.”
    â€œWhat kind of special powers?”
    Aurelius shrugged. “I have no idea. This weapon is not listed in any inventory of artifacts that I have ever seen. I could not begin to guess what abilities the staff’s original maker imbued into it. It is possible, of course, to enchant items after the fact of their creation, but it is difficult, expensive, and usually temporary. This one appears to have been gifted at the time of its making. Given where that wood comes from, and who has handled it over the years, there is no telling what it will do when fully woken.”
    Woken? “Will it be … sentient?” Will asked in dismay. He already had one sentient being within him to deal with.
    â€œNot in the way you mean.” Aurelius surprised Will by gathering a fair bit of magic between his golden fingertips and murmuring an incant Will had never heard before.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” he asked.
    â€œHush. Watch and learn.” Aurelius concentrated intently upon the weapon and began to feed the mass of magic he’d gathered carefully into