“I could feel your use of power, but I could do nothing about it.”
“You couldn't come?”
She tried to hide the hurt, but it was difficult. She served him, and would've expected him to come when she needed him. Since he hadn't, and had left her to deal with it alone, perhaps he might not care as much as she believed.
“I tried.”
She waited, thinking he might say something more, but he didn't.
Tried.
It meant Gabranth had cut him off, beyond blocking her from reaching him.
“He's gone,” she said.
“I know.”
“I'm sorry. I know you wanted me to capture him, and I tried, but I couldn't—”
Ceran arched a brow, cutting her off. “You did well, Jayna Aguelon. I know you thought you needed my help, but you did it.”
“I could've used your help. I might have been able to save him.”
He frowned. “There are some who cannot be saved.”
Did he mean Gabranth . . . or Jonathan?
“I have the dwaring trapped in enchantments. I figured you should dispose of them.” When he nodded, she went on. “Did we stop it?”
She thought about the way the sky had looked, the darkness. There had been a tear in the sky itself. She had tried to stop Gabranth before he had succeeded, but there was a part of her that feared she hadn't been fast enough.
“I don't know,” Ceran said. “Asymorn has always been a challenge. One of the more powerful of his kind.”
“So there are others.”
“There are,” he said.
“Twelve?” It was what Eva had remembered from stories. And if there were twelve like Asymorn, did that mean Ceran intended her to be involved in keeping them from escaping?
“Something like that.”
“Why don't you tell me what I need to know?”
He breathed out slowly, and he seemed to turn away from her. “They were imprisoned long ago. The prison should have been powerful enough to hold them, but there are those like Gabranth who have come to learn secrets that should've been lost to time. They have attempted to release what should never have been released: seals that lock Asymorn and the others like him in place.” He looked over to her. “I cannot say whether you succeeded in stopping Gabranth from releasing Asymorn. We will have to be vigilant. I will help, and I will continue to train you, but we must be ready.”
“I'm sorry.”
He frowned. “Do you think I am disappointed in what you did? You succeeded where others might not have.”
“The power—”
“Is the power.” He nodded to her. “I told you that most cannot withstand it. Very few, in fact. That you might be able to is part of what drew me to you.”
He fell silent.
Jayna was exhausted still, but she felt as if she still needed answers from Ceran, and she didn't often get him talking like this.
“Can you keep teaching me?”
He turned to her, and a small smile curled his lips. “I believe I have been.”
“If I'm going to face the Celebrants of Asymorn, and the Celebrants of others like him—”
“They do not go by the same name.”
“Well, then whatever they are. I want to be prepared. I want to know as much as possible. I want to be able to stop them.”
“I will teach what I can, when I can. Some things, as you have seen, you must do on your own. I'm afraid another time may come when you will be left to your own devices.”
“Why?” She took a step toward him, and for a moment, she thought Ceran wasn't really there with her, despite how solid he appeared. Then he stepped away. “Why can't you work directly with me? You gave me this ring, and you gave me this power.”
“I only gave you access to the power,” he said, his voice soft, “and now I need to do something much worse.”
He reached for her, touching her ring, and there came a sudden surge of power that flashed and flared within her mind before fading altogether.
Then he turned away, disappearing into the forest before she had a chance to ask him anything else. Having faced Asymorn, having seen that dark power, she knew it was beyond her ability to handle. Or very nearly so.
The dark energy that flared in the ring with Ceran’s touch left her worried.
How much more would Ceran prepare Jayna to face?
The next book in The Dark Sorcerer: A City in Ruin
Strange fires threaten to destroy the city of Nelar that Jayna alone can’t stop.
After stopping a powerful dark sorcerer, Jayna finds herself a target. Not only does the Sorcerers’ Society think she uses dark magic, the Celebrants of Asymorn want vengeance for her interference. She’d leave the city, Ceran has shown her that something worse is still to come.
When it does, she’s still unprepared.
Nearly killed by a strange fire even her dark magic could not extinguish, she needs to find those responsible before the city is destroyed—or worse, plunged into war.
Even stopping the fires might not be enough. The dark sorcerers have begun to move, and Jayna might need to surrender to her magic in order to stop them.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Festival of Mourn. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.
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D.K. Holmberg
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Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Chain Breaker World
The Chain Breaker
The Dark Sorcerer
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
Elemental Warrior Series:
Elemental Academy
The Elemental Warrior
The Cloud Warrior Saga
The Endless War
The Dark Ability Series
The Shadow Accords
The Collector Chronicles
The Dark Ability
The Sighted Assassin
The Elder Stones Saga
The Lost Prophecy Series
The Teralin Sword
The Lost Prophecy
The Volatar Saga Series
The Volatar Saga
The Book of Maladies Series
The Book of Maladies
The Lost Garden Series
The Lost Garden
Festival of Mourn (The Dark Sorcerer Book 1) Page 29