The Rising Stones (Ihale Book 1)

comment as a cough. He didn't think Bel was convinced.
Rhyss slowed down. The path was wide enough for the three of them, even when a tree grew so close to the path that the stones had been heaved up by the roots. Bel reached across Heln to swat Rhyss's shoulder, who sidestepped her easily enough.
Heln laughed at that, but it faltered quickly.
Something had hit his sense, so quickly he wouldn't have been sure that it happened if it hadn't left a staticky feeling on his skin. He paused mid step, turning his head to the side like it would help.
"You hear something?" Rhyss asked.
"Shh."
Whatever it was, it was gone. All he could feel was the room and the strange scripts. Trying to reach out made him feel sick.
"I thought… it's gone now." He rubbed his forehead. A headache was taking up residence behind his eyes and seemed content to pound there. "Nothing dangerous, I don't think, I didn't really get a clear reading on it, though."
Rhyss had pulled her knife out while he had been trying to focus and seemed reluctant to put it away. "Well. Let us know if it comes back. We should probably be quiet, anyway, we're getting close to the center."

Chapter Nine
Rhyss really wished that she had a larger weapon than her dagger.
Only full Guards working the border had actual swords. Her dagger was enchanted and the blade had a scroll of magic script along its curved length, but it didn't have much reach. If she had to stab something she really didn't want to be right in its face.
The stone spires ended up being towers. A castle loomed out of the trees, surrounded by a crumbling high wall that might have been white at one point, but it was encrusted with plant life. The glow above it ended up being a giant crystal that dangled above it like an immense chandelier, painting everything the blue of a winter moon.
Memories of the magic eater felt like they were crawling up her spine as they walked closer.
She had seen little bits of light in the trees, but Heln hadn't mentioned them so she hadn't asked. They looked like the fairy lights that were used at the Festival sometimes, so they hadn't really bothered her.
The way they clustered against the base of the wall made her uneasy, though.
"I forgot to ask, but those things are okay, right?"
"They're actually horribly dangerous and will rip the flesh right off your bones. I just thought I wouldn't mention it until now." Heln shrugged a bit.
She was fairly sure that he was joking, but his words gave her pause for a moment. "Really?"
He didn't even look offended as he spoke, just tired, though that might have been the poor lighting and her just not knowing his facial expressions well enough. "You think I wouldn't tell you?"
"Well, honestly, I have no idea." Rhyss fidgeted with her braid again. "I'd never talked to you before."
Heln did look offended at that, so at least she had broadened her knowledge of Heln's emotions. "Well, I wouldn't-"
"Heln has a bad sense of humor." Bel had to go on tiptoe to wrap an arm around Heln's neck, going flat footed again and pulling him down, ruffling his short red hair. "Possibly the worst I've ever seen or heard."
"You said you wanted a spider the size of your dog for a pet." Heln reminded her, pushing her arm off and trying to fix his hair. He was more or less successful since it had been a complete mess before Bel even touched it. "You can't say anything about anyone else's sense of humor."
"Oh, that was completely serious, as long as she got along with Mabi." Bel grinned. "Now. Building. Looks big. Heln, you getting anything?"
"It feels warm."
"Ooh, that will be a nice change."
Heln glared at his sister. "I meant in the magical sense. If you want to be warm, make a fire."
Bel sighed loudly, putting a hand to her forehead. "Alas, I have many talents, but lighting a fire? Not one of them. I assume our lovely friend Rhyss has that skill?"
"I can make a fire when we pick a place to stop." Rhyss was pretty sure that Bel was only calling her lovely or a friend because she was cold, but it almost made her feel warm anyway. Her own fingers were stiff and the rest of her was starting to ache. She would have given just about anything to take a long, nearly scalding bath.
She might not be a Guard Trainee anymore and her mother would be endlessly disappointed with her and she had no idea what she was going to do, but at least she would always have her bathtub.
"I'll take it." Bel had tugged her sleeves over her hands. Rhyss was cold, but her armor and cloak were designed to keep her warm. Even if Bel and Heln had script on their clothing they had to be freezing even though it was warmer in the cavern than it had been in the tunnels.
Rhyss led them to the castle wall. Heln put a hand on it, and she thought his eyes glowed briefly, but he shook his head after only a moment. "Nothing. Well, nothing new. There are scripts to keep it intact, but they're unraveling so we'll have to be a little more careful."
"Could a magic eater unravel them?" Bel asked.
"No. I think they're just old and weren't as carefully woven as the script on the tunnels." Heln stepped back from the wall. "The air is saturated with magic, which I think is why these scripts are still here at all. It must have at one point been a pretty basic preservation script, so it would need to be renewed eventually, and no one has been down here for…well. It's safe as far as I can tell, just watch for falling ceilings."
It sounded like a joke, but Rhyss was starting to think that Bel was right. Heln's sense of humor was awful.
Besides, she