Myar Mal tensed up. “What do you mean?”
“They’re empty. Like they were never part of a living being. I tried a dozen different methods, looking at both magical signature and vital energy. To no avail.”
“Could magic sever such connection?” asked Kiarn At, frowning slightly.
“I’ve never heard about anything like that. I did some research when our usual methods failed, spent a lot of time in the library, but… ” She waved her hand.
“You found nothing,” guessed Kiarn At.
“Did you try reanimation?” asked Myar Mal, looking over her shoulder, to the large steel table cluttered with charred bones.
“I’m a serious researcher, not a folk-tale villain.”
The fire in her voice made him tear his eyes away from the bones. Her lips were pursed and cheeks flushed.
“Sorry,” he said automatically. “I don’t know much about necromancy.”
Lygia No huffed and fixed her glasses. “Such spells, if they’re even possible, are exceedingly rare. I’ve never met anyone capable of casting them successfully.”
“What about unsuccessfully?”
“Cautionary tales.”
Myar Mal grunted in frustration. This was his main question. Anyone capable of resisting the most powerful sorcerers’ Dahls had in stock deserved special attention. Particularly if Tarvissian threats were turn out to be more than words.
“That’s not all,” added Lygia No after a moment’s hesitation. “I tried to rearrange those… bones. No magic, just good old-fashioned anthropology. At first glance, they seem human. But they’re not. In fact, they don’t match any sentient species.”
Myar Mal tensed even more, doing his best to keep the boiling frustration from spilling out.
“But these are bones, right?”
“Technically, yes. Though they have no growth rings. It’s almost like they were… fabricated.”
Myar Mal felt like the ground broke beneath his feet. Ever since the battle, he poured all of his hope into those bones. They were his answer, his foe.
They were useless.
“What are you suggesting?” he croaked, wishing she could say anything other that she was about to.
“You didn’t see the sorcerer dying.” She looked him in the eye. “You said there was a fire… and this is what we found.”
“A false trail to throw us off,” added Kiarn At, “while the real culprit went into hiding.”
Afterword
Thank you for reading my novel! I really hope you enjoyed it. I poured a lot of heart into writing it. Many of Aldait Han’s behaviors and misadventures were based on things happening in my own life, so as you can imagine, putting it out for the whole world to see was scary. But I grew to love him and love my side characters and now I can’t imagine how my life would look without them.
No matter what happens now, one thing is certain: the war has just begun.
If you enjoyed The Outworlder, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
You can also visit my Website for more delicious content.
Also by Natalie J Holden
Other Worlds: Short Story Collection
http://mybook.to/NJHOtherWorlds
Humans or not, men women, or others, sorcerers, soldiers, or savages, we all face the same major challenge.
Living with each other.
Octopus Song: A Fantasy Novella
http://mybook.to/OctopusSong
If someone asked, Tayrel Kan would gladly admit he was the bigger laheer that ever laheered. But no one asked; they were just throwing it at him as if it was an insult.
The Outworlder Page 22