The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (year 7 reading list .TXT) 📗

different towns. Her mother seemed well-traveled, often adding tidbits of interesting information about each place. Apparently, there was a serial murderer who wreaked havoc on three of the towns for a few years during King Oquin Calloum’s rule. He was later discovered to be a dteria sorcerer who used to be employed by Oquin before there had been a dispute between them. Rumors said this sorcerer had been promised a marriage to a noble, which was later taken away from him.

It reminded me that there had been darker times than now, and that was why my father had decided to take our family north, away from all of this.

I asked Mora if she’d heard any stories about my father. She only knew of one, and it was the same story Leon had told me, though Mora hadn’t known the name of this sorcerer who’d murdered the thieving dark mages who’d taken all of his coin. I was about to tell her that this man was now our instructor, and only because the current king had let Leon out of prison under the agreement he would teach us sorcery, but Kataleya gave me a look that stopped me from bringing it up.

It was later, when she was taking me to the church to meet her father and the townspeople who needed healing, that I asked her how it could be that her mother didn’t know our instructor was this sorcerer.

“Because I have never told my parents.”

“Why not?” I wondered.

“It’s not that I care if my mother finds out. I just don’t want my father to hear it.”

“I thought he and the king worked closely with each other.”

“They do. Father knows all about Leon, but he doesn’t know he’s that sorcerer.”

“So he doesn’t know that Leon was in prison for murder?”

“He doesn’t know Leon was in prison at all. He never would’ve let me stay at the castle if he did. I’m sure the king has kept it from my father purposefully and told Leon never to divulge the truth to us. I bet the king doesn’t even know that Leon blabbed.”

“What about Reuben’s parents?” I asked. “Don’t you think Reuben has told his father about Leon’s past?”

“I imagine he hasn’t, either.” She squinted with a glance. “I know you were close with your father, but I don’t think it’s regular for a sorcerer to want to divulge that information if they wish to retain their position.”

“Maybe not for nobility,” I commented. “I don’t mean to offend,” I added. “I just think I’m realizing that noble families work a little differently than most others. It’s almost as if the patriarch is king over the land he owns and the people in his life.”

She looked down, making me wonder how accurate my words were.

“I’m no expert,” I said. “If you tell me I’m wrong, I’ll believe you.”

“I’m not sure. You are at least accurate about my family, but my father is a good man. He cares about the people of his city and of Lycast. He can be a bit austere, but he only wants what’s best.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

I would try to, at least. I couldn’t so far.

We came upon the church. Livea was the largest city I had visited after leaving Newhaven, and yet the line of people waiting for healing was shorter than most.

“Hmm,” I mused.

“What is it?”

“I would’ve expected more people would need healing. The line was longer at most other places.”

“I told you, my father cares about his people. We have a number of competent doctors in the city.”

Kataleya’s father motioned for me to come to him as he stood in front of the open doorway to the church. There was a young man at the front of the line. He was only a couple years older than me, though he was so thin he looked as if his legs might snap under a little more weight. He seemed to be in pain as he stood slightly doubled over.

“He can’t keep anything down,” Whitley explained with an empathetic look on his wrinkled face. “It’s been this way for weeks. The doctors here have tried everything, but he’s only gotten worse. I made sure he was at the front.”

“And I thank you for that, my lord,” said the young man.

“Let me see what I can do.” I could already feel that something was terribly wrong within his stomach. I put my hand over it. He winced.

I pushed my mana out and gasped at what I felt. The problem was deep and extensive. The farther my mana traveled through his body, the more it found. I didn’t know what this was exactly, some sort of illness. It was like an infection, but it seemed worse. It was like his body didn’t know what to do with it. Even my mana seemed to tell me this was not something it could fix.

I straightened my back and put my hand over my chin.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” asked the young man with glistening eyes.

“Yes, I’m going to need some time. Let me focus for a while.”

What followed was a long conversation between me and my mana.

I began trying to heal, but it turned out to be too soon. All I had managed to do was bring out a few painful yelps from the young man. After a while of this, I started to lose hope. Perhaps his body had been altered so drastically that my mana didn’t know how to restore it to what it once was.

The few dozen people were getting impatient as this went on for a quarter of an hour. I eventually had the idea to try something else. Rather than let my mana do all the work with me only casting the healing spell, I had to communicate an additional message. I didn’t just tell my mana to heal. I had to let my mana re-familiarize itself with the internal workings of my own body first—a body that was working correctly.

Something seemed to click when I let