“Why haven’t I been learning fire pathways if I’m going to a fire guild?” I asked.
Tolin let out an exasperated snort.
“That would have been easy,” he said. “But sometimes, the easy way isn’t the best. Teaching you the way of wood will give you an advantage that the other students don’t have.”
“But they’ll have the advantage of knowing fire.”
“The guild will teach you that.”
I gritted my teeth. One thing I’d learnt was the futility of arguing with Tolin’s twisted logic. Once he’d settled on an opinion, there was no shifting him.
“You taught me that wood is weak in the face of fire,” I said. “Wouldn’t it have been better to teach me the ways of water, so that I can face my competitors from a position of strength?”
“It’s not about setting one element against another,” Tolin said. “Again, that’s an easy way of thinking. By mastering wood and fire together, you can gain something far greater.”
I nodded and sat expectantly, eating my rice while I waited for him to explain.
“Which reminds me,” he said. “I have a gift for you.”
He took a bundle of cloth from a bag beside him and laid it on the ground. I reached out for it, and he slapped my hand.
“Clean them first,” he snapped.
I washed my fingers in the bowl of water beside the low table, dried them on my tunic, and raised an enquiring eyebrow.
“Very well,” Tolin said. “Now, you may look.”
I stood and opened up the cloth. It turned out to be several items. There were two pairs of loose gray trousers, not torn and stained like mine; four shirts in good quality cotton, gray with red and blue trim; and finally, a white silk over-robe. The robe was a thing of beauty, its front embroidered with a pair of great cats, one red and the other blue. They were more like panthers than house cats, savage yet graceful, exuding a fierce strength.
“This is…” I struggled to find the words. These clothes must be a hundred times more valuable than those Tolin himself wore, and he was giving them to me. “Thank you so much.”
“Here.” He took the robe from my hands. “Turn around.”
I did as instructed, and he helped me into the robe. It was fastened in place with a sturdy leather belt embossed with swirling gray patterns, like ash blown on the wind. When I turned to face Tolin, there was a tear in the corner of his eye.
“These were the robes of my clan,” he said. “An ancient and proud line of which only I remain.”
“I will wear them with pride,” I said gravely.
“Kneel,” Tolin commanded.
I swept the front of the robe aside so that I wouldn’t dirty it, then did as instructed. He laid a hand on my head.
“Ethan Murphy, I adopt you into Clan Pashat,” Tolin said. “May you bring glory to its name. Rise up, Ethan Murphy lo Pashat.”
I stood. Overwhelmed by the honor Tolin was doing me and by the powerful mix of pride and sadness in his voice, I could barely look him in the eye. I just kept staring down at the magnificence of the robes, a sign of the power and wonders I had fallen into when I went tumbling off the side of a mountain. I should be dead. Instead, I was living a dream.
“Now, you look the perfect initiate.” Tolin turned away. “All ready to embarrass me at the guild.”
I suppressed a laugh at his sudden, deprecatory change of tone.
Something brushed my leg. I glanced down to see Master Softpaw peering up at the robes and purring happily. Did he dream of being one of those great cats I wore, or was he trying to talk with them? Perhaps he recognized me as one of his own now.
I’d traveled to many places in my life and met all sorts of people, but I’d never felt a sense of belonging like I did here and now, in this strange world. Joining the Radiant Dragon Guild meant more months of hard work, maybe even years, without returning to Earth. Months of lumpy straw beds, of rats and fleas, of living without running water, central heating, or WiFi. Of going without all the things that made life bearable back home. Yet instead of feeling disgruntled or disappointed, I felt excited beyond words. It was all worth it, because there was something here I’d never encountered back on Earth.
There was magic.
Chapter Six
“Ethan.” The woman’s voice drifted to me out of the night, low and sensual. A familiar voice, but one I couldn’t quite place. “I’m here for you, Ethan. Are you here for me?”
Even before she reached me, my body stirred in response to her presence, the sound of her voice, the scent of her perfume, the soft padding of her footsteps across the floor. By the time she ran a finger up the inside of my thigh, my blanket was floating almost of its own accord.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. She had a fine face with sparkling eyes and fully red lips that formed a wicked smile. Purple-black hair cascaded across her shoulders and down her breasts, which were almost exposed beneath the thinnest of silk robes, its front hanging open to the waist. As I watched, she unfastened the robe and let it fall to the floor, revealing smooth white skin and a voluptuous body.
“Do you like my true form? Is it better than the Sundered Heart Sword?”
Now, I recognized the voice. It was the one I had heard from the sword high in the mountains, the voice named Nydarth. It seemed the most natural thing in the world that Nydarth’s voice should come from this woman.
“Come here.” She reached down to cup my face and drew me up the bed. “I want to feel you inside me.”
I kissed her again on the way up and grabbed hold of her breast. My tongue flicked across her
