Maylin's Gate (Book 3)

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Authors: Matthew Ballard
haystack.
    “I need to talk to you. Alone.” He pushed himself from the haystack and hobbled toward the open door.
    Rika moved in beside him. “Let me help you.” Rika guided him to the stable door and pushed it open.
    A shock of frigid air washed over his face and body distracting him from the pain.
    A dozen yards away, soft light flickered inside the frosted panes of Mistress Henley’s cabin.
    He squeezed Rika’s hand and pushed the stable door closed behind them. “Rika, wait a second.”
    Rika shook her head unwilling to meet his gaze. “I’ll not let you send me away.” Her voice trembled. “I don’t work without you. You know that.”
    “It’s not that simple.”
    “You’ve channeled magic a thousand times and you’ve never harmed me.” Rika’s gaze met his. Starlight reflected from tears flowing down her cheeks.
    “It’s different now. I’m different.”
    “What happened on the pass was an accident,” Rika said. “You weren’t channeling Elan’s magic.”
    “I don’t think you understand Rika. I’m changing inside. I think the headaches are a sign.” He dropped his gaze and stared at the packed snow beneath his boots. “I’m terrified.”
    “Then let me help you,” Rika said. “I love you. That’s what people do when they love each other.”
    “You’re too important.” He couldn’t look at her. “You’re everything to me. And the baby….” A hard lump formed in his throat and he choked on the words.
    “What if we need you?” Rika said. “What if we’re all dead when you come home?”
    The thought sickened him. “You can find me at Moira’s,” he said. “Or, Dragon’s Peak, but please don’t follow me.”
    Rika didn’t speak for a long moment. “What do you want me to do?”
    He gazed into Rika’s eyes and smiled. “I want you to find Sir Alcott. He’s excavating the ruins in the Trinity Range where Danielle found the Book of Order.”
    Rika nodded.
    “Tell him what’s happened here. Tell him what I’ve done.”
    Rika squeezed his hand. “What then Ronan?”
    A shiver raced along his spine and his eyes drifted down the mountain pass toward Ripool. “Raise an army.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    Around the Forge
     
    The sharp ring of a blacksmith’s hammer rose above the construction noise. Carpenters stood atop ladders hanging rafters across the Citadel’s new roof. Their apprentices measured and sawed sixteen-foot sections of hard oak.
    Danielle pulled her cloak tight and stepped around piles of fresh sawdust and stacked boards.
    The ringing grew louder and heat waves radiated from the forge’s open doorway.
    Warmth. She hurried forward eager to drink in the forge’s heat. After her time in the desert, she never thought she’d welcome heat, but winter had taken a toll.
    Ayralen’s mild year-round climate had spoiled her. Winter stirred memories of festiveness and celebration among the forest people.
    A hard pang tugged inside her chest. She’d never experience another Heartwood winter.
    The ringing grew louder and she paused inside the forge’s open door. Welcome heat washed over her face and hands. She untied her cloak and draped it over her arm.
    Arber’s bald head glistened. The guardian stood over a black anvil pounding a piece of red-hot steel.
    When the steward told her she could find Arber in the forge, she thought the man mistaken. Arber Stroman hadn’t spent ten minutes inside a forge during his years in the Heartwood.
    “That’s it. Turn it over and work the hammer near the guard,” a second man said. “You need to flatten that section.”
    Arber nodded without looking up.
    She suppressed a smile. Had Arber taken up an apprenticeship?
    Arber moved sideways and dipped the blade in a water barrel beside the anvil.
    She started to speak and froze.
    The second man appeared when Arber moved. The smith’s blond beard disguised his features, but she would recognize the man anywhere.
    “Jeremy?” She said.
    Jeremy’s head

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