Semua Bab Leesa's Advent: Bab 201 - Bab 210

By the time Balin returned, Leesa and Rave were sitting in front of the fireplace, holding hands and talking quietly. The slow burning fire was mostly embers now, but neither of them had felt the need to add any wood. A pewter mug of water—half empty now—rested on the chair beside Leesa. The bearskin rug was back in its usual place in the middle of the floor. To Leesa’s disappointment, Rave had put his shirt back on.True to his word, Balin knocked and waited to be invited in before entering.Once inside, his eyes swept the interior of the cabin before fastening on Leesa and Rave. Leesa was sure he noticed some kind of change in his sleeping mat and in the position of the bear skin. If he did, he didn’t say anything about it.“I trust you two enjoyed your time alone?” he asked, smiling.Leesa returned his smile. She was pleased to discover she did not feel awkward at all.“Yes, Rave was very comforting,&rdq

Thousands of miles away, the Necromancer pushed his heavy body away from his magical table and leaned back in his favorite chair. Unlike Leesa, he was having no unusual problems with his magic, but he was just as frustrated and impatient. Sensing his mood, the four novitiates watched him closely, hoping he would not take his discontent out on them. Each had felt his wrath before, and it was never pleasant.The Necromancer had just listened to his black waziri lieutenants report that although they remained on Dominic’s trail, the wizard was still managing to elude them. Apparently, a hundred years on the run had taught Dominic a number of tricks that the black waziri had so far been unable to overcome.The Necromancer decided it was time to make an adjustment in his plans. He turned to two of the novitiates, Makenzi and Matthew.“You two will be joining your masters in America,” he said. “I am bringing Viktor back here, to help me with my

“You can trust me, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Leesa said.Jenna nodded. “Yes, I think I can.” She stood up and turned her back to Leesa for a moment, pacing a few short steps before turning back around. “Has anything happened to your magic in the last day or two?” she asked quietly.Leesa looked up at the witch. Things were beginning to fall into place. She thought she knew now why Jenna was here. Still, Leesa felt it best to proceed carefully.“Why do ask? Has something happened to yours?”Jenna grinned. “You are cautious. I like that. I’m quite cautious by nature myself.” She sat back down. “One of us has to begin. Since I came to you, I guess it should be me.”She sucked in another deep breath and blew it out slowly. “For some reason, my magic has suddenly weakened greatly. I have no idea why. So I wanted to know if something similar has be

For the rest of the week, Leesa concentrated on two things: school and her magic. She wasn’t certain how important her schoolwork really was in the overall scheme of things, even with midterms drawing steadily nearer, but she was a college kid, and college kids went to classes and did homework—at least most of them did. Besides, school kept her distracted from other things, like missing Rave terribly and wondering where Dominic was and how he was doing. So she dutifully attended all her classes and kept up to date on her homework. Practicing her magic was difficult and frustrating, but she hung in there and did her best. Dominic had stressed the need for her to increase her practice so that was what she was doing. With her magic weakened, everything took more effort than it used to, and by the end of her daily two-hour practice sessions she was usually drained, mentally and physically. Even if she’d wanted to practice longer, she didn’t think she could manage much more than

Leesa had to give the guy credit. He didn’t seem to let the catcalls and groans bother him. He either had the thickest skin in the world, or he thought the derision was in some twisted way an approval of his act. His jokes were new, but were equally as dumb as the last time. She wondered if he wrote the stuff himself or got it from some website—stupidjokes.com, maybe.The big guys up front heckled him mercilessly after every punch line. It was mean and obnoxious and most of their comments were only funny to themselves. Finally, the biggest guy, a brute with shoulders as wide as an SUV, yelled something really crude, something not fit even for the liberal college crowd.Andy leaned over and politely told the guy to keep it clean, that there were ladies present. Leesa cringed as the giant pushed his chair away from the table, his features twisted into an