Shadowborn Read online

  “Girl’s seen things nobody should have to see,” he said. The two of them stood in the stone courtyard of the monastery, the tall, black stone temple looming over them. “She’s a broken thing. Could be a monastic life is the only option left to her.”

  Hurlo slipped his hands into the sleeves of his black robe. “I sympathize, Captain. Truly, I do. But the Vinchen order is for men only.”

  “But surely you could use a servant around,” said Toa. “She’s a peasant, accustomed to hard work.”

  Hurlo nodded. “We could. But what happens when she comes of age and begins to blossom? She will become too great a distraction for my brothers, particularly the younger ones.”

  “So keep her till then. At least you’ll have sheltered her a few years. Kept her alive long enough for her to make her own way.”

  Hurlo closed his eyes. “It will not be an easy life for her here.”

  “Don’t think she’d know what to do with an easy life if you gave her one anyway.”

  Hurlo looked at Toa. And to Toa’s surprise, he suddenly smiled, his old eyes sparkling. “We will take in this broken child you have found. A bit of chaos in the order brings change. Perhaps for the better.”

  Toa shrugged. He’d never fully understood Hurlo or the Vinchen order. “If you say so, Grandteacher.”

  “What is the child’s name?” asked Hurlo.

  “She won’t say for some reason. I half think she doesn’t remember.”

  “What shall we call her, then, this child born of nightmare? As her unlikely guardians, I suppose it is now up to us to name her.”

  Captain Sin Toa thought about it a moment, tugging at his beard. “Maybe after the village she survived. Keep something of it in memory, at least. Call her Bleak Hope.”

  BY DAVID DALGLISH

  Seraphim

  Skyborn

  Fireborn

  Shadowborn

  Shadowdance

  A Dance of Cloaks

  A Dance of Blades

  A Dance of Mirrors

  A Dance of Shadows

  A Dance of Ghosts

  A Dance of Chaos

  Cloak and Spider (e-only novella)

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