The Way of the Power Page 20
Fawbry wrapped his arms around Malja. “You sure your portals work?”
“I’ve never stepped through one of my own.”
“What?”
“We’re going to find out right now.”
Before Fawbry could protest, Malja jumped in.
* * * *
And they tumbled on the hard ground of Carsite. When Fawbry stood, he laughed and danced around in a circle. “You did it! We’re here!”
Malja sifted pebbles through her fingers. She couldn’t believe it. Despite all the evidence that she would be able to succeed with this, part of her had doubted it all along. But she had succeeded. She could feel the rocks of Carsite beneath her and smell the ... burning?
Malja popped to her feet. Fawbry’s shocked face said more than anything. She looked at the town of Raxholden — smoldering ruins. Black smoke poured into the sky and a few flames consumed the buildings in the back. The rest had burned out a while ago.
In stunned silence, Malja and Fawbry hiked into the town. They had seen many horrible things in the past, but both of them tried to avoid seeing the burned bodies let alone smelling the cooked flesh.
“Malja?” a deep but choked voice said. “Fawbry?”
Off to the right, they saw a hastily constructed shelter. Within its shadows, several people moved. Survivors.
A large, dark man stepped out — Canto. “You came back.”
“We did,” Fawbry said, bowing his head and placing a hand on his stomach. “I wanted to tell you that Hirasa is okay. That she’ll be back soon.”
“That’s a small blessing in this terrible time.”
“What happened?” Malja asked.
Canto leveled a cold glare at her and said the one thing that changed everything. “Harskill.”
Afterword
Thank you for reading The Way of the Power. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to be kept up-to-date on all things Malja or any of my work, click
If you've enjoyed this story, please leave a review on the website where you bought it from. Those reviews help get the book in front of other readers, and without you readers, I've got nothing.
Acknowledgments
Thanks, always, to Jeff Dekal for yet another stunning cover, to my mother for her support, and to Glory and Gabe for putting up with me throughout the summer as I worked on this book.
Most of all, thank you, my readers. Malja is so important to me, and it warms me to know that she has found a place in your hearts as well. One more book to go for her, and I promise to keep giving my best.
THE WAY OF THE SOUL
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About the Author
Stuart Jaffe is the author of The Malja Chronicles, the Max Porter Paranormal-Mysteries, the Gillian Boone novels, Real Magic, After The Crash, and 10 Bits of My Brain, as well as numerous short stories appearing in magazines and anthologies. He is the co-host of The Eclectic Review — a podcast about science, art, and well, everything. For those who keep count, the latest animal listing is as follows: four cats, one albino corn snake, one Brazilian black tarantula, three aquatic turtles, seventeen chickens, and a horse. Thankfully, the chickens and the horse do not live inside the house.
Stuart can be easily found online at these sites:
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Copyright Notice
The Way of the Power is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
THE WAY OF THE POWER
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2014 by Stuart Jaffe
Cover art by Jeff Dekal
First Edition: October, 2014
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Afterword