Stealing Sorcery Read Online Free Page B

another form of sorcery to remain undetected in your home long enough to poison your brother.”
    Nakane tightened her jaw. “That’s even worse, then. What else could it have been? A powerful Esharen?”
    Lydia shook her head. “I doubt that. A sorcerer trying to control an Esharen would be very foolish – Esharen adapt to sorcery too quickly.”
    The ritual circle appeared to be inert, most likely having ceased to function after the summoned creature returned to it. Interesting that the sorcerer didn’t retrieve the dominion essence. Did he want someone to find it? It could be a signature for an assassin – or something left behind to obfuscate the real trail. Alternatively, the sorcerer may not have had time to retrieve it.
    Slowly, the sorceress reached a gloved hand into the ritual area. No defensive measures were triggered by the intrusion, so she picked up the yellow orb. A flicker of blue on her hand indicated the activation of her Comprehensive Barrier spell reacting to the foreign essence. Dominion Essence of Poison, the spell reported, confirming her earlier hypothesis.
    “Dominion of Knowledge, show me the path to the creature who shares essence with this orb.”
    Nothing happened.
    Nakane and Aladir looked at her expectantly, but Lydia shook her head. “Nothing. The summoned creature must have moved outside of the range of my tracking spell – perhaps back to its home dominion.”
    “Well, regardless of what the creature was, it isn’t the real problem – the summoner is. This is travel sorcery of the highest possible magnitude. It’s cross-planar in scale. Not many people could manage that,” Aladir pointed out. “Can you track the summoner with your spell?”
    Lydia frowned. “No, it doesn’t work like that. It only traces connections between essence. Some of the caster’s essence would have been in the ritual area while it was active, but there wouldn’t be enough left to trace now that it’s inert. This sphere shares essence with the summoned creature, not the sorcerer. If we could find the summoned creature and it still has an active spell effect from the sorcerer, I could potentially trace that – but finding the summoned creature could be as or more difficult. As you said, there are only a limited number of people who could have accomplished this. We should investigate them directly first.”
    “Hartigan has the resources for something on this scale.” Nakane raised a finger to her chin. “Or Shalvinar Vorinthal, maybe. Or Erik Tarren, if the old coot is even alive. Or,” she turned her head toward Aladir, “Ulandir Ta’thyriel.”
    The Rethri paladin returned Nakane’s gaze, and then looked away into the distance.
    “Yes,” he replied. “My father could have done this.”

Chapter III – Taelien I – Cutting In
    Blades flashed in the morning light. Taelien caught the first two against the edge of his own weapon, knocking them out of the way with a forceful parry, even as he side-stepped to dodge the third incoming sword.
    There was no time for a riposte – not even a moment to increase his distance. His first attacker’s two short swords moved in fluid union, tracing unrelenting lines toward any spot he left vulnerable. His second opponent had a longer blade, matching his own, and she skillfully harried him with probing strikes to prevent any counter attacks.
    It was an unfair fight. Exactly the type of fight he preferred.
    Shift. At his command, his weapon’s mass shifted toward the tip, even as he swung it directly toward the female fighter’s torso. She parried, just as he had anticipated, but the altered weapon carried a harder impact than she had been prepared for. She fell back a step – not much, but maybe enough...
    Taelien swept his sword in a downward arc at the man with two swords, meeting another parry, but shoving with enough strength to push the shorter blade backward and impact the man’s arm. The swordsman grunted, dropping the sword he had been