Kiran rolled his eyes and looked at Ransom, then Zephyr. “I don’t know who you think you are talking to, but we are not afraid of the Rage season. We have lived in the wildlands. I have stood in the middle of a firestorm and lived to hold the Stormheart in my hand. I have faced hurricanes and twisters and men much stronger than you. You, Casimir Locke, are not necessary to this world and its survival in any way. The time of the Stormlings is over here in Pavan. Soon, all magics will be welcomed—the kind you destroyed at the Eye and the kind this woman is going to spend the next few days making you intimately familiar with.” He gestured to Zephyr and she stood, coming to stand before Casimir, her shoulders straight and proud.

“I don’t know whether to call you mad or stupid,” Casimir said. “Idealistic fools. Your rebellion has always been doomed. You will die. Every single one of you. By my hand or my brother’s or the Stormlord’s—”

The words dried up in his throat, and he jerked in his chair, his face going red, then pale as Zephyr took away the water his body needed to survive.

“I think that’s enough talking for now,” she said. “Perhaps you should do some more thinking. Think about how thirsty you feel right now. Is your vision blurring yet? Has the headache started? Is the room spinning? Think too about the Stormlord, about what he might do when we offer you up to him, weak and vulnerable. Where will your arrogance be then? Will your brother come for you? From what I have heard, you are not close. Perhaps he will be glad to be rid of you. Less competition. Right now, I control whether you live or you die, whether you stay here in the safety of Pavan or meet the man who followed you here from the rubble of your former home. Think on that, Casimir Locke.”

Those with the power over earth could have been the makers of new worlds. Instead, with greed-corrupted hearts they used their gifts to rupture the land and suck the marrow from her bones.

—An Examination of the Original Magics

14

Thirteen Years Earlier

Cruze had found a spot of his very own, where he could get away from the others, and where he could listen to the voices without fear of anyone noticing. He discovered a place high in the canopy where branches from several trees crossed and wound around each other, creating a relatively safe cocoon for him to perch without fear of falling. It also gave him a good view of the sky to watch for approaching storms. He had taken to spending most of his days there, only keeping tabs on the camp and Kess with the help of the spirits who had become his companions.