by Bryan Davis
“What’s wrong?” Elyssa asked. “Are you sick?”
Keeping her stare downturned, she nodded.
“The disease?”
Koren drew her cloak back from her arm, revealing a line of sores from her wrist to her elbow. “They popped up a short time ago. I’ve been feeling sick deep inside for a while, but these are the first sores.”
“Oh, Koren!” Elyssa embraced her and whispered into her ear. “Go to Deference. Maybe she knows of something that will slow it down.” As she drew back, she gave Koren an encouraging smile. “Maybe Uriel has already figured out something, and all he needs is the genetic material.”
“Yes.” Koren’s head drooped again. “Maybe.”
Elyssa hooked her arm around Jason’s. “Are you ready? Or am I skipping steps?”
“No need to explain.” He drew his sword from his hip scabbard and checked the blade. “There’s no time to lose.”
“Are you feeling well enough to march?”
“Even if I had to walk barefoot on broken glass.” After sliding his sword back in place, Jason lifted Koren’s wrist and kissed her hand. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Elyssa tightened her hold on his arm. “You mean we’ll be back.” “We?”
“Of course. Did you seriously think I was going to let you go without me?”
Smiling, he shook his head. “I guess that was pretty—”
“Chivalrous.” Elyssa pulled back and wagged a finger at him. “And you’d better stay chivalrous, or I’ll tell your father what you said to me at Miller’s Creek when we were six years old.”
“Six years old? I don’t remember that. What did I say?”
Half closing her eyes, Elyssa crossed her arms over her chest. “Just keep being a gentleman, and no one will ever know.”
Koren hooked Jason’s other elbow. “Will you take me, too?”
“But you’re sick,” he said. “You should—”
“Elyssa’s the healer, so I need to stay close to her.” Her bright smile lit up her face. “Besides, maybe I’ll be able to sneak a look into a certain event that happened at Miller’s Creek. I’m terrible at keeping secrets, you know.”
Jason tightened the elbow hold. “Okay, that settles it. Koren’s coming, too.”
Elyssa locked gazes with Koren. For a moment, it seemed that they probed each other, each gifted young woman searching for a light, a connection, a meeting of the minds.
Finally, Koren smiled. Elyssa smiled back and slid her hand into Jason’s. “That sounds good to me.” She nodded toward the north. “Lead the way, warrior.”
About the Author
BRYAN DAVIS is the author of the bestselling fantasy series Dragons in Our Midst, Oracles of Fire, and Echoes from the Edge. He and his wife, Susie, have seven children and live in western Tennessee where he continues to cook up his imaginative blend of fantasy and inspiration.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Other books by Bryan Davis
Dragons of Starlight series:
Starlighter
Warrior
Echoes from the Edge series:
Beyond the Reflection’s Edge
Eternity’s Edge
Nightmare’s Edge
Dragons in Our Midst series:
Raising Dragons
The Candlestone
Circles of Seven
Tears of a Dragon
Oracles of Fire series:
Eye of the Oracle
Enoch’s Ghost
Last of the Nephilim
The Bones of Makaidos
ZONDERVAN
Diviner
Copyright © 2011 by Bryan Davis
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EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-40480-4
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Cover illustration: Cliff Nielson
Interior design: Carlos Eluterio Estrada
Interior composition: Greg Johnson, Textbook Perfect
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