Read Into the Wind for Free Online

there.”
    “Aye.” Taren knew this much. In fact, when Vurin had offered to teach him about the Ea and their history, Taren had welcomed Vurin’s instruction. Now, however, he feared what Vurin might tell him and feared what the knowledge Vurin imparted might reveal.
    “As children, we were taught that when the Ea arrived on the island, the volcano roared to life,” Vurin said as he rubbed his jaw and studied Taren with an unreadable expression. “Some say it was a dragon who coaxed it from its sleep. Legend has it Treande singlehandedly extinguished the flames and smoke.”
    Taren laughed and bent down to retrieve a small rock from the road. He rolled it between his fingers, then tossed it onto the grass. “And you believe this? Have you ever seen a dragon?”
    Vurin shrugged. “Before you met Ian and the others, had you ever seen merfolk? There are many stories of dragons. I hardly need to have met one to believe they may exist. There are stories of ancient magic far more powerful than what we mages now use. Stories of magic transcending time and death. Stories of flying ships and underground cities. There are also stories of Ea priests who could control the elements.
    “So much of our magical skills have been lost with time,” Vurin continued. “The Council systematically killed those Ea with strong abilities, or put them on tight leashes and used them like dogs to help them repress the islanders.”
    “You believe I’m a mage?” Taren asked.
    “Yes.”
    “But my abilities—”
    “Are untested and unexplored.” Vurin breathed deeply, then said, “I believe the rune stone is the key.”
    “To my abilities? Impossible.” In all of Taren’s dreams, Treande was merely the keeper of the stone, never its wielder, as Owyn had been. “Treande never mastered the stone. If he possessed such power, it was his own.”
    “You know this?” Vurin’s eyes widened and he turned to face Taren.
    “I….” Taren hesitated. “I hadn’t really thought about it until now. Still, I know it’s true. Treande could not wield it.”
    Vurin raised an eyebrow, then motioned Taren onward.
    “I suppose I didn’t want to think about it until now,” Taren admitted. He’d dreamed it, as he’d dreamed many things about his past. The dreams—memories—still weighed upon him.
    Vurin clasped Taren’s shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “Sometimes the heart speaks for us.”
    “I won’t lose him again, Vurin.” Taren clenched his jaw and tried yet again to banish the memory of Owyn’s death from his thoughts.
    “You cannot live your life in fear, Taren. That’s no life at all.”
    They walked to the edge of the clearing where the temple had once stood. From here, Taren could see the water shimmer in the harbor below. The Phantom ’s masts looked like trees in the dead of winter—bare, yet proud.
    “How did Treande die?” Taren asked after a moment. He was tired of fighting his fear. He needed to learn the truth, or as much truth as the stories held.
    “We don’t know. There are writings from that time in the ancient tongue. They say only that the goddess led him home.”
    “And the stone?”
    Vurin raised an eyebrow. “Some say he entrusted it to a keeper. Others say it died with him.”
    “What do you believe?”
    “I believe the stone still exists. That you have dreamed of it is proof enough for me. Besides, as you’ve said, Treande was not a wielder. The stone may be hidden or lost, but it still exists somewhere. It did not die with him.”
    “You believe we’re meant to find it again, don’t you?”
    “Aye.” Vurin glanced toward the village, then back at Taren. “I believe you and Ian are meant to find it.”
    “You want to use it—whatever power it holds—against the islanders?”
    “No. I would never use such a thing against our own people,” Vurin said in a steely voice. “But the last of the ancient priestesses told me about the stone around the time you were born. She dreamed of it.