Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) Jessie Eaker (best reads txt) 📖

place. “In any case, if I were to open a short-range portal from here to Piredrop, it would require over two hundred thousand mystumns, which is far beyond what a normal human could do. So, you might ask, how do we do it?” He leaned forward and smiled conspiratorially. “We actually don’t. Instead, we use a naturally occurring portal that happens to open close to our destination. You could almost think of them as tunnels in the universe. This greatly reduces the effort required.”

I gave him a puzzled look. “Naturally occurring portals? But wouldn’t that mean people would be falling into them all the time?”

He smiled like this was his favorite question. “Ah, just because they’re naturally occurring doesn’t mean they’re readily accessible. I have to make a short-range portal to reach into it, then another to pull us out when the time is right.”

Spraggel stroked his beard. “This is all well and good, but why are you telling us this?”

He nodded. “To simply let you know... you’re in for a very bumpy ride. Don’t be surprised if you feel nauseous or can’t tell up from down. That is all normal.” He started to turn away. “Oh, and you’ll be in absolute darkness the whole time, which may last a few minutes.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly. “But don’t worry, I’ve done this hundreds of times and only had something go wrong a few.”

I had to ask. “Did anyone die?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. We never found them.”

I sighed. “Dear Creator. Can we just get on with it?”

He grinned in reply.

He had us all gather close together and tied a rope securely around all of us, and then he had us hold hands. He explained it was critical that we not lose contact with one another. I took Zofie’s hand on my right and held it firmly while Cabrina grabbed my left.

Once we were ready, he closed his eyes and began to hum. I felt myst gathering, and a glowing bubble of blue light grew up from the floor to completely enclose us. I wanted to ask him why he hummed but didn’t dare at this point. I had time to check Zofie one last time before the floor vanished, and a pool of blackness appeared beneath my feet.

Then we fell.

The room we were in slid by as one would expect when falling into a hole. Then everything changed. As Oddfrid predicted, we entered total darkness. No, it was more than total. It seemed to suck up any light that came with us until we were picked clean. And then suddenly, I couldn’t tell up from down. I felt like my head suddenly switched with my feet, and now I was falling up. There was sound too. Like we were in a huge bell which rang and rang, but it had tones that I couldn’t always hear, but more felt in my chest. And the smells and tastes... At one moment, it was the scent of dandelions in spring while chewing on iron nails, and then next the stinking odor of sulfur while eating sour pickles. There were just too many conflicting sensations for my feeble brain to process. I gripped Zofie’s hand tighter. Someone groaned.

And suddenly, we were through. We dropped onto soft-packed snow. Zofie staggered beside me in our uneven landing, but I quickly steadied her.

We stood on top of a small hill with a rough wooden fence encircling us that was more ornamental than functional. Fresh snow had piled up against it, signaling a recent storm. But thankfully none this night. Over our heads, the night sky was completely clear and full of stars. The half-moon illuminating the white field around was us had shifted to a position closer to the horizon, indicating we had indeed traveled far to the east.

But the thing that struck me most was the bitter cold. Our breath came out in cloudy puffs, while the air greedily pulled at what little heat we possessed. I shivered. We would need to get to shelter soon.

We quickly untied from one other while Oddfrid pulled out some instrument from his pocket and looked at it. It’s feeble glow bright in dim light. He pointed to the west. “The town is just over that hill.”

“Couldn’t you open a portal for us?” Spraggel asked, his teeth chattering.

Oddfrid shook his head and started forward. “I’ve exhausted my myst. At one time, I could have, but as I am today, no.”

We followed, struggling with the snow. It wasn’t that far, but having to push through was difficult. When we topped the next hill, we saw a small town below us, too small even to have a wall. However, I took heart at its windows, shedding golden light across the white covered ground and promising some much-needed warmth.

Oddfrid led us to what appeared to be an inn. The occupants glared at us suspiciously when we entered. The people, almost to a one, were of a stocky sort and wore thick furs and knee-high boots. Oddfrid didn’t hesitate to walk up to the innkeeper and speak to him in a language I didn’t recognize. It was vaguely similar to Andronise, but I couldn’t make out the words. I think he asked about someone named Joesphi, but the innkeeper shook his head and pointed skyward. Apparently, that person had passed away. Oddfrid shook his head sadly and said a few more things before passing him some silver pieces.

He turned back to us. “I have gotten myself a room, which I would greatly appreciate if you stayed out of. For the rest of you, you’ll be staying in the barn. It’s the only thing he has left. The snow has caused many of the travelers to pause their journey.”

I nodded. “All right. Could you help us get something to eat before you go?”

Oddfrid gave me a