Shadowborn (Light & Shadow, Book 1)

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Book: Read Shadowborn (Light & Shadow, Book 1) for Free Online
Authors: Moira Katson
Tags: Fantasy, epic fantasy
avoid the Duke, for sure, but in all of my sneaking, I
had discovered a love of exploring. It was quite a thing to follow
an old passageway to the end and find where it led, or know all of
the rooms of the castle, even the old unused ones with the shutters
gone and the winter wind laying drifts of snow inside.
    The books I had stolen—borrowed, I told
myself—were as good as having a whole new castle to explore. I had
only read a part of the first book, and already I had learned more
things about the history of our country than I had ever suspected
could exist. The old kings of the land had made their capitol not
in Penekket, but in Delvard, in an icy castle much like our own and
far to the east, only nearly unassailable. When, after generations
of war, the kingdom of Heddred stretched all the way to the Voltur
Mountains, my home, a peace was declared and the king moved his
castle to Penekket, in the lowlands.
    I, who had never known more than the
confines of the castle, who had never dreamed of anything other
than the bleak cold of the mountains, began to dream of other
sights. On the nights that followed, I gulped down my dinner
quickly, so that I might get to my books sooner. I saw the old
maps, I learned of historic battles, and the names of kings and
generals. I read of the Lady of the Mountains, whom some claimed
was a woman and others claimed was an angel, who led the first Lord
of Voltur to where this castle stood now, and told him to build the
castle and guard Heddred against Ismir for all time. I read of the
Prophesies of the Ancients, the old books still held in the
libraries at Delvard, the books from which all priests told us of
the times before, and the times yet to come.
    I read other books, dull accounts of
droughts and famines, trade routes and merchants. In every book,
however, I lost myself completely, even the writings of the old
philosophers themselves. There were bits of knowledge to be
gleaned, whole worlds beyond this castle to be explored. I knew so
much that I could barely contain it.
    And this is where I made the error that
nearly cost me my life.
    It was a cold day, and I was sleepy. I had
read an account of the Council of Lords, from its very founding,
and although I had known that I should go to sleep, I had not been
able to close the book until I had read to the very end. I had
managed to stifle my yawns so that not even Miriel could see them,
but my mind was very slow to work. I could barely make sense of the
words the tutor was saying, until I caught a glaring error, and I
raised my hand.
    “ Yes?” the tone boded ill,
and many times in the hours and days that followed, I thought that
I should have known better. It was true, what Roine said, that my
pride would get the better of me one day.
    “ I beg your pardon, sir,
but that’s not correct,” I said.
    For a moment, he could not speak. Then he
managed one word: “What?”
    “ You said that the battle
was won by Arturus the Great. But it was Arturus II who won that
battle. It’s a common historical error because Arturus II was known
as The Grateful by his followers, for he gave thanks after the
battle to the priests who led him.”
    The cane came down on my hands, and Miriel
stifled a laugh. “Incorrect,” the teacher said. “Arturus the Great.
You will write out, one hundred time times—“
    “ But, sir, Arturus the
Great was born forty years after the end of the First Balic War.”
    All of a sudden, it dawned
on him. He turned, slowly. “How do you know that?” he asked,
softly. And then, “How could you know that?”
    Nine days later, when even the hunger had
fled and I had ceased to feel anything other than pain, I barely
stirred when the door to my cell opened. I stared ahead of me,
knowing that the guards had come to beat me again, knowing that I
would cry and I could do nothing about it. I could not turn my head
to the right anymore, to look at them, and the only defiance I had
left was to pretend that I was not looking

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