Delver Magic Book VII: Altered Messages

by Inlo, Jeff

  "Anything else?"

  "What we're doing now, we have to do more of this too. We have to be seen together. The people need to know we can work together. You might think you and Sy had your differences, but you agreed on a lot more than you probably realize. He trusted you, and he knew you trusted him."

  "What about you?" Ryson wondered aloud, as he directed his delver curiosity toward the new captain of Burbon's guard. "Do you trust me?"

  Klusac did not respond immediately. He knew he trusted the delver, but he had certain reservations. If they were going to work together, he couldn't lie to Ryson, or himself.

  "Yeah, I trust you, but I also worry about you. I don't know what it's like to be a delver, but I know you've been in the middle of just about every crisis ever since the magic came back. Sometimes you go searching it out—maybe because you can sense it—sometimes it finds you, but your life has hardly been calm and settled over the past few seasons."

  "I can't argue that," Ryson admitted.

  "What I'm worried about is that right now this town needs some calm. It's kind of a tricky situation. We need you to help keep the town safe, but no one wants to see you running off to fight monsters or magic casters. It may sound like I'm trying to keep you from being a delver, but that's the last thing I want to do. I'm just hoping you won't go looking for trouble that doesn't need to find you. I know you don't have any control over what happens, but I wanted to be honest with you."

  "Well, in all honesty, I could use a little calm myself right now."

  "That's good to hear. I guess we can both hope for that. I'm not kidding myself. Losing Sy hurts, both emotionally and physically."

  And it did hurt Ryson, it hurt just to think about his friend being gone, but he couldn't allow that pain to effect his opinion of others, especially the man that had to replace Sy Fenden.

  "So what happens now?"

  "Now? You use those delver senses of yours and you keep this town protected like you've done all along. Help out the guard, help the people. Work with us. I talked about trust before, you have to accept it, all of it. The people, the town guard, everyone... they trust you. That can be a heavy responsibility. Don't get me wrong, you can make mistakes, but you have to remain the Ryson Acumen that the people of this town have come to believe in."

  And with that, Ryson understood—not only what Klusac was requesting of him—but what the serps had tried to take from him and failed. Holli was right. Whether consciously or not, they wanted to change him, to break his beliefs and turn him into something he was not. They almost succeeded, but in the end and with a great deal of help from his friends, he remained who he always was.

  He didn't understand it all. He certainly didn't understand why Sy had to die. He wasn't sure if it was because of mistakes, if it was some random occurrence, or if it was part of some larger plan he could never grasp. Maybe it was a mix of it all.

  He was going to miss his friend. That couldn't be avoided, but he needed to remember what Sy stood for as well. The captain believed in protecting others, and above all else to guard those who put their trust in him. Ryson faced that same burden, but it wasn't really a burden at all. It was a bond of faith.

  A Final Note from the Author

  Even though Ryson Acumen is hoping for some rest, I'm already working on ideas for the eighth book in the series. It's going to be difficult to write another story without Sy Fenden. He served as a strong anchor. I think Ryson is going to face a bit more isolation, but sometimes that's what happens.

  If you have a comment about any of the Delver Magic books, please don't hesitate in sending me a note. Also, please let me know if you encounter any difficulty with the formatting. Contact information can be found on my web site at www.sitelane.com. Please consider my other novels, including Soul View, Soul Chase, Counterproductive Man, When Do I See God? and Alien Cradle.

  Jeff Inlo lives in New Jersey, USA with his wife, Joan, and their dog, Jilly.