Riders of the Storm

Chapter 20

ARYL PRESSED HER HANDS against the door. “I don’t know about this.”

Enris squinted through a dirty window. “Ziba dreamed it.”

“That’s not to say she’s right. The Adepts already tried, you know.”

She felt his encouragement, along with the nip of dare you that hadn’t been affected one bit by their Joining.

The Cloisters was the last piece of Sona’s puzzle. Water flowed down the river, if so far a mere trickle easily jumped. Spring might bring more. They’d learned how to open the mound doors and rebuilt snug homes for every family, including the Tuana.

The nightmares came less often.

It helped that the Oud collapsed their tunnel without fuss. In fact, it might never have been there at all. They might be alone…

Marcus knocked on the metal. “What kind of lock?”

…Or not. She glanced at their friend, persistently curious. So far, he’d kept his kind away. They’d been, he said, disturbed by what had happened at Tuana. They’d wanted to remove him from the Oud. He’d refused.

“If we knew, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Though Enris was right. Ziba had given them a clue of sorts. She’d dreamed only those of Sona could work the door mechanism.

Aryl caressed the round firmness below her breasts. Little one, it’s up to you.

She leaned against the door, and applied the twist of thought Naryn had taught her.

And with no more fuss than that, the great doors of the Cloisters turned open in welcome.

And Sona was once more a Clan.