A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) by D'Artagnan Rey (best romance ebooks txt) 📗

since he first received it, but he still had no idea what it did. A weapon you could not wield properly was not the most dependable.

While the trainees continued to chat, their mentors, Zier, Wulfsun, Freki, and Vaust, were seated at another table across the dining hall and discussed the mission.

“Well…I understand the logic,” Freki conceded, although his scowl clearly showed his hesitation. “But this could be far more than they can handle right now.”

“The grand mistress agrees,” Vaust stated and sipped from his gourd, frowned, and shook it. He grimaced when he realized very little of its contents were left. He sighed, placed it on the table, and looked at the wolf wildkin. “Which is why I’ll shadow them.”

“You will?” Zier seemed surprised. “I would have thought you would be on another mission by then.”

“This is my mission,” the mori replied. “Technically, it would be much too dangerous for them. But we currently do not believe anyone knows that the item is out in the open yet. Sending three younglings to retrieve it would raise less suspicion, but we cannot be sure that won’t change between then and now so I will be on standby and observe them.”

“Who got in touch with us?” Freki asked.

“A hunter’s guild in the Britana Kingdom,” Vaust revealed. “Or I should say the Hunter’s Guild of Britana.”

“That means Henry’s boys and girls, correct?” Wulfsun asked and received a nod in reply. “Huh, why not get it to us directly? They are in good standing with us. I know the Britana anchor point is a little out of the way but—”

“The grand mistress asked the same thing,” the mori interjected. “And it would be one of the reasons I am going. They didn’t only find one item. There was another but the team sent to retrieve it never returned.”

This caused the jaws of his comrades to clench around the entire table. “Any more information?” Zier asked.

“Only that the search party never found them. And a couple of other individuals in the guild have gone missing,” Vaust explained. “They cannot rule out that they are followed or watched. Even if they did use the portal to get here, they could be attacked before that happened or the enemy could use a spell or majestic to keep the portal open and thus allow whoever is interested in that item to enter.”

“And we have so many in storage—not that it would be easy for them to steal in the abyss,” Wulfsun grumbled and ran a hand through his wild mane. “Damn. It feels like I’m hearing more tales of people looking for those cursed things than merely stumbling upon them now.”

“Should we tell them?” Freki asked with a hasty glance at Zier. “I’ve only mentioned them to Asla as I didn’t want to frighten her, but does Jazai know?”

“I’m sure he has some idea of what they are, given his father’s work,” the scholar replied and sipped his wine. “Although he has been reticent about whether he knows much about them or not, I’m almost certain it means he at least knows of them. I have told him to keep any rumors or specifics of his father’s work to himself. He is cheeky but he wouldn’t cause a fire he couldn’t put out.”

“They will be instructed to keep the box closed and secured,” Vaust assured them. “And as I said, I will be there to make sure everything goes well. Think of this less as a dire mission and more like a test similar to what Devol recently went through.” He scooted his chair back far enough to place his heels casually on the table. “After all, they are gifted students, but what good are those gifts if they don’t get a chance to use them?”

Freki looked down and sighed. “What good are those gifts if they are killed?” he responded grimly and looked up to see the concern on the faces of his comrades.

“Come now, Freki,” Wulfsun chided. “You’ve been training Asla for a few months now. Not only that, you’ve seen them working together over the past week and they aren’t pushovers.”

The wildkin nodded slowly “I know, but…”

“I, for one, am excited to see what my apprentice accomplishes on his own,” Zier admitted and surprised the others. “What? Jazai is intelligent and can be a help when he bothers to apply that intellect. But after working with him all this time, I know that unless something drastic changes in his demeanor, the path of the scholar will not be his first choice. If anything, he may take a path similar to his father, something I think Ekon is aware of. So this will be an interesting trial for him.”

“And Vaust will be there,” Wulfsun stated and hoisted his stein. “You have confidence in your comrade, right?”

“Keep it down, would you?” Freki asked and gestured at his ears before he nodded. “Of course I do. It’s only… It can be hard to send them out like that when you’ve grown attached.” He bit his lip. “I’ve known Asla since she was a child and hated the fact that I wasn’t there to help her when she needed it. If I was, maybe she wouldn’t be here at all.”

“You cannot continue to dwell on that,” Vaust stated and surprised the wildkin. “She is coming into her own now and even before, has she ever done something she didn’t wish to? I am sure that if she had an issue, the grand mistress would have been happy to find another place for her to grow. But Asla remained here—with you and to find her path. This is her taking another step and if you care for her, you will see her as a sister-in-arms, not as a child to shelter.”

Zier chuckled as he finished his wine. “I would never have thought I’d hear something so profound from you, Vaust.”

“Hey, the kids are leaving,” Wulfsun told them as the trio left their plates and glasses at the cleaning area and