Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2) by B.T. Narro (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .txt) 📕

“Just exhausted now. I’ve almost healed myself completely.”

“Nox’s blade!” Reuben exclaimed as he looked into the room. “Who’s that man?” He pointed.

“He said his name is Henrik, but he told me many lies.” Feeling a tiny bit better now, I walked back into the room and finished off my healing with a muffled scream.

I started to search the man’s body, ignoring the dagger in his skull as I gave Michael and Reuben a quick recapitulation. While I told them the short tale, I found a coin purse with a few silvers that I handed over to Reuben to give to the king, mostly so he wouldn’t give me a hard time about possibly keeping it. Then I found what I was looking for: the man’s identification papers.

“What the hell?” I said. “His name really is Henrik Plumb, unless these are forged.”

“Let me see.” Reuben took them from my hands. “No, these are real.”

Michael suggested, “Maybe he just uses his real name and made up the rest about his relationship to the innkeeper.”

“And the fact that they share the same last name is a coincidence?” I asked skeptically.

Michael pursed his lips. “I didn’t know the innkeeper had the same last name.”

“We need to report this to Byron,” I said. “Someone should stay here to make sure no one comes into the inn as we wait for guards to investigate and clean up.”

Michael and Reuben both gave me a similar look of concern. No, they gave my clothes this look. I glanced down at myself. I was covered in blood, so it was probably best if I didn’t walk through the city like this.

“Fine, I’ll stay. Just be quick.”

“Are you sure there’s no one else coming for you?” Michael asked.

“Unless he had a callring that I never saw, then no other enemies should know I’m here. They had clearly prepared a trap in case I came, but it didn’t seem like they knew exactly when I would arrive. They expected Henrik to…take care of me himself.”

“Lock the door after us,” Reuben said. “I’m going to pick up a cloak for you after we get Byron, for the walk back to the castle.”

“Thank you. I’ll pay you back for it.”

“There’s no need.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It was Byron himself who arrived sometime later while I searched the inn for anything that might offer a clue as to what happened to Mathew Plumb. All I found was what seemed to be a blood stain in one of the bedrooms. It was on the floor and didn’t appear too old, strategically covered with a rug that didn’t look like it belonged there given how it didn’t quite fit in the space allotted.

I did also locate a hammer, which I used to dismantle the crossbow from the short wooden bar holding it to the desk.

Byron and Michael met me in the same room, where I’d fought and killed Henrik. I still felt numb to the whole thing. A few other guards, who’d come with Byron, started searching the rest of the empty inn while Reuben was out buying me a cloak.

I looked forward to getting back, changing out of these clothes, and checking my wounds to make sure I’d healed them all properly. Phantom pain seemed to be lingering, as had happened to my ankle after I’d healed the broken bones caused by Cason.

“They really were cousins,” Byron informed us as he gaped at the body. “I almost can’t believe that Henrik was working with Cason. I just spoke with him yesterday. He was aggressively defensive about his cousin’s safety.” Byron glanced at me, specifically at the blood all over my clothes. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I am, but are you completely sure they’re cousins?”

He nodded. “I investigated to make sure. They were.”

So Mathew had reached out to his tough cousin for help, yet his cousin had been working with Cason for a long time. I felt immense pity for the innkeeper. He had been scared for weeks…before his worst fear had come true. No, worse than his worst fear. He’d probably never thought that his own family member would be the one to kill him.

I couldn’t believe someone would do that. Even with dteria warping their mind, what kind of callous person would be fine with murdering their own cousin who reached out for help?

Perhaps I had underestimated the corruptive strength of dteria. It made me wonder if even Cason was someone completely different before he started using it.

Then I started to wonder who, among my peers, might be headed down the same dark path. Dteria was right in the middle range of mana, close to fire and water. That made it easier for mages like Remi and Kataleya to use it, because they were already familiar with notes around that range, but I didn’t put it past the other sorcerers who might’ve lied about their range since the beginning of all of this.

“What about the crossbow?” I suggested. We made our way over to the desk, stepping around the body and the pools of blood. The crossbow was painted black. I didn’t know anything about crafting such weapons, except that no two crossbows were the exact same.

“Yes, the crossbow is our biggest clue right now,” Byron said. “Somebody made this weapon, and that person sold it to one of our enemies. I know someone in Tryn who might be able to identify the craftsmen if it originated from there, but given all the recent activity here I have a feeling it was made closer to Newhaven, maybe even within the city. It’s best to take it to the king for investigation.”

*****

After Reuben returned with a cloak for me, we headed back to the castle. Michael and I had spoken with Byron for a little while, but it was a depressing conversation because it didn’t lead to anything concrete. Byron had been entrusted with watching Kataleya’s family and Luther Prigg, the possible father of Aliana.

The cloak was about as nice as the hazel one I