Page 22 of Daemon Master

It wasn’t until they were finishing up their breakfast of rations that Seymour finally spoke. “Your hound would be much more useful in these woods than that whelp.”

Adrian draped a protective arm over Heartrender. “There’s nothing wrong with Heartrender!”

The daemon narrowed its three eyes at the watcher and yipped in agreement.

“Oh?” Seymour’s green eyes glinted as he raised an eyebrow. “Can it fend off a rabid daemon attack? Or help replenish our dwindling supplies?”

Adrian hesitated. This close to the forest’s edge, they’d sensed only the occasional daemon, but that would change the deeper they went. Food would soon be an even bigger problem. “I’ll consider it.” Seymour opened his mouth to argue. “IsaidI’d consider it! Are you ready to go?”

The watcher huffed and stalked into the trees. Above him, Tremorfist swung from branch to branch with surprising nimbleness. Adrian trailed after, contemplating his reluctance to summon Trailseeker. Ever since experiencing a proper bond with Heartrender, his old bond seemed even more hollow than it had before. When he’d thought it a necessary evil, he’d been willing to ignore his guilt. But now…

Now, it was becoming difficult to justify keeping the poor daemon chained, no matter its usefulness. Once they’d finished their march and settled into camp, he’d resolve the problem for good. Until then, he could at least minimize how often he forced it to act against its will.

They had just finished a hasty lunch when a familiar voice whispered in the back of his mind,

“Hello? Adrian? Can you hear me?”

Spirits below!“Seymour!” He hated the franticness in his voice. “I need your help!”

The watcher hurried back, aether pooling around him as his gaze flicked from side to side. “What is it? Have they found us?”

“In a matter of speaking. The Arbiter is trying to contact me.”

“Adrian.” Arbiter Janice’s tone grew more insistent. “I know you’re listening. This may have spiraled out of hand, but we can still sort it out.”

Seymour scowled. “Whatever you do, don’t answer! That’ll only make it easier for her to maintain the connection.”

“I’m trying not to, but she’s being pretty persistent.”

The watcher scrubbed a hand through his short black hair. “If your shroud’s not enough to shield you, then I don’t know how to sever the mental link. I doubt she can track us through it, but there’s no way to be certain.”

“Um, about that…” Adrian faltered, his cheeks flaring red. “I’m, uh, not using a shroud.”

Faster than Adrian could blink, Seymour’s hands fastened around his shoulders and squeezed. “We’re being hunted by the entire League, and youdidn’t think to raise a shroud!”

He wilted beneath the watcher’s fury, swallowing hard. Heartrender’s uncertainty radiated through their bond, and he told her to stay out of it. For once, he deserved Seymour’s ire.

“The thought occurred to me when I fled town, but I…um…never learned how.”

“Spirits above!” Seymour released his hold on Adrian’s shoulders and spun, ramming a fist into a nearby tree trunk. The wood splintered around the impact. “How do you not know how to shroud your aura?Everyoneknows how to shroud their aura!”

“It never seemed necessary before. My aura’s weak enough that anyone who could detect it would be close enough to see me anyway.”

Seymour rubbed his knuckles over his eyes. “Shrouding your aura isn’tjustabout hiding you from someone else’s aethersense. It also helps shield your mind from techniques targeting it the same way aether bolsters your flesh. Most people maintain a partial shroud to filter out anything they don’t want to get through…such as insistent arbiters aiding their would-be killers.”

A familiar shame spiraled through him. By the time the other kids were learning shrouds, he’d already had his falling out with Seymour, and his weak aether had left him floundering to catch up. He’d always assumed it another aspect of daemon mastery that was beyond him. Now, he felt like a fool for not paying more attention.

“Point taken,” he said, struggling to ignore the Arbiter’s incessant pleas. “Can you show me how to make one?”

“With how hopeless you are? I guess we’ll see. You can at least sense your own aether, right?”

Adrian bit back his annoyance at the jibe. “Yeah.”

“Well, all you have to do is stretch it out.”

Adrian furrowed his brow. “Stretch…it out?”

Seymour looked ready to punch another tree. “Think of your normal aether as a dense river. You need to expand it until it becomes a fine mist shielding you from the outside world.”