Free The Path of Destruction (Rune Breaker) by Landon Porter Page B

their society around it. In those mountains, there was precious little ambient energy around; not enough for proper spellwork. Instead, the Matul Garu specialized in casting from their own reserves; quickly and efficiently. They were masters of the quick-cast, to the point that most of their conflicts were resolved in the hiuldar , a battle of non-lethal spells. The first to score a definitive hit on their opponent was the victor.”
    Ru watched her partially turn toward him, studying him with one eye, and he wondered if she was seeing his memories again: the stark halls built of ancient and weathered wood, sunken into the stone so that from the outside it was impossible to tell how a person could live inside one without having a permanently hunched back. The chalked out hiuldar floors that took up a room in every generational home. His first few weeks living among the Matul Garu, in which he got intimately acquainted with those floors from meeting them at high speed...
    He coughed and continued, “There was an occupation among them: a representative of sorts, who could be paid to stand in one's place at hiuldar . Among the masters of the quick-cast, these were the most mighty. They were called traccas , or Scarred Ones.
    “That is what the scars were for, Miss Taylin. They are scored into the flesh through a coating of plaster and herbs and the pain is immense, but once it’s done, you can use that pain and the memory of the patterns the scars make to instantly recall and string together fragments of spell arrays with no incantation or pattern drawing required. Back in Daire, I snapped a Chaos Lance at Immurai with barely a second thought; a spell so complex that it is typically used only for demonstration purposes, because it takes upwards of a minute to chant in combat.”
    Taylin turned back to face the army fully again. “So you can't change shape instantly anymore.”
    “Heh.” the laugh came out dangerous and cold. “Miss Taylin, I would not have been cooperative or forgiving if that was taken from me. I am a shapeshifting master. I've earned that. And violent death awaits anyone that would seek to relieve me of it.”
    As soon as he said it, his eyebrow shot up at what he felt in the link. Her guilt had been slowly evaporating and now it was fully replaced by pride. Pride in what she saw as standing up to her. It was all he could do not to curse. To him, it felt as if he were a small dog getting petted for not wetting the floor.
    “I'll be going then.” She said and that same pride stained her words.
    “And I will remain here.” He said through clenched teeth. But as she spread her wings in preparation to fly, he recalled something. “Wait a moment.” He cut her off. With a few sweeps of his fingers, he drew out a pattern of void in the air and reached into the folded space he used for storage in lieu of filling Gaddigan's saddlebags. It was crude compared to Kaiel's portable library, or the House, but it served his purposes: storing his books, scythe and his favored red silk shirt, as well as one other object.
    Taylin stopped and watched him drag forth from the folded space a familiar weapon, still in the same poorly made leather scabbard as it had been in the night Layaka betrayed them and Motsey was taken.
    “It is no longer merely a handy bit of sharpened steel.” He said, offering it to her hilt first. “It is now Novacula Kuponya. One translation would make it: Razorblade of Remedy. Take it. It may be of use.”
    An avaricious light came into her eyes when she saw the weapon and was soundly quashed by her better decency and inquisitive nature. “This is the sword you gave me...” She couldn't bear to say what happened, “That night. You were surprised by something about it.”
    Ru continued to hold out the sword to her. “Indeed. Part of its design is to use some of the wielder's personal energy to fuel a powerful spell of disruption. This is meant to happen over time, and yet it charged