Of Darkness and Light (The Bound and the Broken, #2)

by Ryan Cahill

The empire had forbidden the flying of House banners in Valtara after the rebellion, but the seal had been his father’s quiet ‘fuck you’. Dayne couldn’t fight the smile that slipped onto his face at the sight of the wyvern embossed onto the seal. The sound of footsteps marching down the hall pulled Dayne from his nostalgia. He tilted his head, reaching out to the Spark, channelling the sound on thin threads of Air. At least eight

Come with me if you want to live.”

the afternoon sun. “Well?” Ella said,

‘You cannot win a war when you are fighting enemies from the outside and from within.’

rectangular building that rose three storeys off the ground. The building consisted of

The mushrooms tasted the way shit smelled.

rats weren’t too bad as long as they were

A burden shared was a burden halved.

the tunnel. “We’ve been at this for

“There are demons within us all that we must face. They only ever surface when we are at our lowest because they are not strong enough to challenge us at our highest.

will rest here for a while, I think.” Tarmon glanced towards Calen as though he expected confirmation. Calen ignored the hulking man’s expectant gaze and dropped himself

“Besides, there is nothing more important in the darkness than a ray of light.”

and made his way over to Korik and the other surviving dwarf, Lopir. Calen closed

He found his mind lingering on Therin, the elf he had once thought to be nothing but a storyteller. An elf, he now knew, was so much more than that.

is using threads of Fire and Spirit to augment your vision. It doesn’t quite give you the same sense of sight as you would have during the day, but it

“There aren’t many good men left.”

stairwell. The Beronan dungeons had

That was what separated the Inquisitors from the others: the ability to do what needed to be done, in the name of the empire.

only days before, after the little expedition Farda had seen fit to send him on. As far as Rendall was concerned, Farda was

“Inquisitor Rendall. Fritz Netly, sir. It is good to see you again, sir.”

what I asked for in the note?” The young man gulped, and there was a slight

He had never been so happy waking up in his own vomit.

hanging to the left side of her face and her golden eyes

Dahlen scrunched his mouth and let out a sigh through his nose. “You faked your limp.” “I did,” Ihvon said with a grin.

have a drink. But today, there are a few things that must be done. Grab your satchel.” “Where are we going?” * * * Dahlen

“Sweat, soup, and shit,” Ihvon said, folding his arms across his chest.

of the city does. And with the number of people who are crammed in here

“Du haryn myia vrai.” You have my thanks.

You are coming along very well. Even

You cannot do what you believe you cannot do. You are limited by your own imagination.

amplify the power of other threads and to augment the galdrín who uses it. I used threads

“It is easy to hate what is different. I am sorry.”

grim look sitting on his face. They were not sitting

But what shocked Rist most was that in the North, Efialtír was not ‘The Traitor’, he was ‘The Saviour’.

god oversaw which aspect of life, or which god was ‘good’ or ‘evil’. He had not seen evidence that

“What about letters from your mother?”

her back up against the trunk of the

The problem with getting angry was that it let the other emotions in, and she couldn’t deal with them, not yet.

life was being squeezed from her. For a moment she was back on the Merchant’s Road to Gisa, the wind whipping

Ella looked around her once more. She watched as an Urak’s axe sheared through a soldier’s neck with a single swing. As it did, the gemstone set into its blade shimmered with red light. She pushed the questions down, looked back to Farda, and gave a short nod. “All right, but you’re telling me everything.” “Agreed. First, I need to go back in and get my sword.” * * * By the time Farda and Ella reached The Dusty Cove, the carriage driver, Loran, stood out front, the two horses tethered and ready.

He felt a strange sense of relief when he saw the Lion staring back up at him from his open palm. It was fate’s choice – he should’ve had no stake in it – but he did.

the horses′ hooves as the group made their way through the night. Alleron had wasted no time in assembling a party that would see them safely to Arisfall. Hunters,

The man must have been an Alamant – one who was capable of touching the Spark but who had failed to pass the trials.

had not spent much time on them other than to voice his disdain for them in their entirety. ‘Their very existence

As the woman approached, Ihvon stood up from his seat and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Dahlen,” he said, “this is Belina Louna.”

pier. His feet dipped in and out of the gelid water, bobbing with the ebb and flow of the waves. Alina had not told him precisely why

Dayne stared in amazement. He had not seen a wyvern so close in over a decade, not since he had been exiled. And truthfully, he had never expected to see one again.

from the saddle atop the wyvern’s back was garbed in black and orange leather armour and a blackened steel helmet in the typical Valtaran style, a sword strapped

“You see this heart? It is the heart of House Ateres. It beats in you, it beats in me, in your mother, in your sister, and your brother. No matter what happens, you protect them, protect the heart of House Ateres, and together, you will break the chains. Valtara will be free. By blade and by blood.” Pulling himself from his thoughts Dayne looked for a path towards the alcove that sat below the marking. The alcove was on the opposite side of the cavern, a firelight emanating from within.

Books are not a complete history. They are only the history people chose to record.”