The Dreamer's Curse (Book 2) by Honor Raconteur

don’t have a way of contacting him without showing
up at his doorstep.”
    Krause’s forehead furrowed in confusion. “But you know the
cause?”
    “I don’t,” she refuted grouchily. “I know that a man-made
artifact is at the root cause of this, but I need to know what kind before I can figure out how to disarm or destroy it. Unfortunately, all my wand
could tell me was ‘origin unknown,’ which means that this thing, whatever it
is, isn’t mentioned in any of the surviving records. At least, none of the
records I have access to. Curse the luck.”
    “And this man you wish to see?” Krause pressed.
    “A fellow Artifactor. He specializes in history and
artifacts, so if anyone would have an idea of what this thing is, it would be
him.” Although going to see him would bring about its own set of problems and
complications. But she would have to deal with that later. “I’ll need to see
and examine the ruins before I go. The more information I can bring him, the
better.”
    “I can show you there,” Decker offered instantly.
    She gave him a nod of agreement. “I’ll do that this
afternoon.”
    ~ ~ ~
    As ruins went, these failed to impress her. They didn’t come
close to the size or architectural feats of Nickerchen at least. Of course, the
shape of the buildings had been severely impacted by Chastain’s occupants
stealing rocks for every conceivable purpose over the generations. Who knew
what it had looked like five generations ago?
    But now, Sevana didn’t see anything more than a pile of
rocks with moss growing on top.
    She stood on the worn path that led to the ruins and got a
good long look at it from a distance. None of the walls stood higher than the
top of her chin except one tower that stood on the far east side, which leaned
badly toward the right. The stones here looked to be granite, matching the
composition of most of the village, all of them cut square and about the size of
her head. She tried to put an age to them and guessed seven hundred years at
least.
    In size, it seemed to be as big as Milby, so at one time
this was probably a prosperous town. Why, she hadn’t the faintest clue, as it
didn’t reside near any rivers or woods. Perhaps it sat along some ancient trade
route?
    Shaking her contemplation aside, she asked her guide,
“Decker, are there any areas that are known to be dangerous or unstable?”
    “No,” he answered readily.
    “Good. In that case, stay behind me,” she ordered both the
hunter and his wolf as she drew a wand and crystal out of her bag.
    Decker slowly took a step away, eyes on the tools in her
hands. “What are those?”
    “Scanning and imaging tools.”
    His mouth formed a silent ‘O’ of understanding. “To give
your consulting Artifactor a clear image of the ruins to study?”
    “That and as a bargaining chip.” She flashed him a slightly
wry smile. “Jacen is a difficult man to deal with even at the best of times,
but there’s one thing that he can’t resist: new knowledge. If I bring him a
complete scan of something he’s not seen before, he’s more likely to talk to me
than if I offer a bag of leprechaun gold.”
    “You’re so sure he’s not heard of these ruins before?”
    “Fairly certain, yes,” she responded absently as she slowly
stepped forward, wand held out unwavering in front of her as she tried to copy
the image of every nook and cranny.
    “How do you know?” Decker persisted, although he thankfully
did so from behind as she had requested.
    “There’s a list of all ruins and ancient sites that have
been studied,” she answered with growing impatience. “This one isn’t listed. I
would have remembered it. Why are you asking so many questions?”
    “Now how am I supposed to understand what’s going on when
you don’t voluntarily explain anything?” he shot back dryly.
    She heaved out an exaggerated sigh but kept her eyes on the
task at hand. “You’re as bad as Bel.”
    “Bel?” he repeated blankly. It took a