Free Valley of Embers (The Landkist Saga Book 1) by Steven Kelliher Page A

claw and tail, the Sentinels are cunning and deadly. Some say they even control the Night Lords themselves.”
    Nathen’s eyes widened, no doubt thinking of their moonlit stroll.
    “Why have they not come before?” he asked. “I thought the Dark Kind came through in waves—through rifts.”
    “Not the Sentinels,” Linn said, seizing on the covered fear in the room. “They’re too powerful to make it through, too easy for the World to mark and destroy upon entering. They need to be let in.”
    “Now you believe the Sages have turned their eyes on us, just because Kole says so?” Jenk asked. He looked far from convinced. “He doesn’t know what he saw when the Night Lord caught him in its gaze. And he’s not one known for being objective when it comes to the Sages.”
    “The attacks are getting worse every year!” Linn shouted. “And now we have Night Lords and Sentinels in the Valley. The World Apart skirts no closer now than it’s ever been before. This is direct. It’s just like the stories.”
    There was a silence.
    “I hear Reyna was more than injured when they brought him back.”
    The speaker was Fihn. Her voice was high with a sharp edge.
    “They say his eyes are black pits, staring out at nothing.”
    Linn was about to speak, but Larren cut her off.
    “I heard his screams echoing from the tower on my way over.” He looked around the chamber. “That boy is stout. He is Ember. It is troubling, Ve’Ran.” He looked at her hard. “But solutions lie in preparation, not rash action. What is it you want us to do? Why is it you called us here, out of sight and out of mind of Doh’Rah, Ninyeva and the First Keeper? You saw what happened to Reyna for chasing demons in the woods. Why would we do the same?”
    Linn swallowed. She had to tread carefully here.
    “Kole said he sensed the White Crest.”
    Everyone in the room shifted at that.
    “He couldn’t decide which of his hated Sages he saw,” Larren said, and Kaya snorted her agreement, earning a withering glare from the Second Keeper that put her back in her place.
    “Kole is an Ember,” Jenk said, speaking slowly. “We have powers, yes, but none of them stray into anything like the sight of the Landkist native to this land—of the Faeykin. If Ninyeva had said so—
    “She may as well have,” Linn said, her words short and clipped. Steam from the grates clung to her brow, sticking her dark bangs and giving her the uncomfortable feeling that she looked very much like a little girl fresh from a bath. “Ninyeva did not dispute anything Kole said, not even when the White Crest was brought up.”
    “The White Crest is dead,” Baas said, his tone flat. His people held no love for the Sage or his legacy. After all, it was his battle with the agents of the Eastern Dark that brought down the passes over the heads of his grandsires. It was not so long ago. The White Crest had not been seen or heard from since.
    “Kole says he is alive,” Linn said, her voice growing desperate. “I know what it must sound like, especially to those of you who don’t know him like I do. But Kole,” she paused. “He has this sense about him. He’s had it ever since—
    “Ever since his mother fell in the Steps,” Larren cut in. “Sarise A’zu was as strong an Ember as there’s ever been in the Valley. I have no shame in admitting that. Her loss was keenly felt, by that boy most of all. But the sense you’re talking about is obsession. Sarise was killed by the Dark Kind. They’ve always been thicker in the north of the Valley, especially around the Deep Lands. She was a fool for having gone. Had the White Crest been present, he’d have protected her.”
    “He is alive,” Linn said, though her voice was now soft as a whisper. “He has to be alive. Ninyeva knows it.”
    Larren looked about to speak, to cut her words down again, but something in her expression gave him pause. He swallowed and looked away.
    “The old bird gave him leave to find out what