Ethan Wright and the Curse of Silence by Kimbro West Page B

death and the Curse and all that. My sister is in the Guard here as well. But this is my first time in Tirguard — so exciting!” exclaimed Availia.
    Ethan scratched his head for a moment as he took everything in. Just then another blinding flash of light ignited the room.
    “Oh, that was an odd trip,” groaned Auren. “I thought I might lose my breakfast for a….” His face turned green, then pale, and then green again. MacArthur was ready for this, for he immediately handed him the bucket, and Auren ended up losing his breakfast three times . He lifted his sweaty face out of the bucket, looked around, and looked back to MacArthur. “You look just like Wegnel,” he panted.
    “Well, my dear boy, that’s because I am Wegnel.”
    “Right then,” he answered with his head drooping back in the bucket.
    “Your father had a weak stomach too, you probably best not mention it to his face though,” suggested MacArthur.
    “So are you two here to enroll?” interrupted Availia.
    “Enroll in the Guard? Uh … no, we are here to investigate an attack,” answered Ethan.
    “Stonewolf,” echoed Auren’s voice out of the bucket.
    “Did he say Stonewolf? ” asked Availia, tilting her head to the side.
    “Indeed he did,” replied MacArthur. “And if I am not mistaken, it is referred to by alchemical experts as a stone lycanthrope, or … Stonewolf . Altering a man to become a wolf, and then a second alteration takes place, inducing a stone-fleshed exterior — simply an amazing creature.”
    “And,” Ethan pulled the pinch-shackle out of his pack, “we have this.” He handed the device to MacArthur.
    “A pinch-shackle — are you sure? It would be nearly impossible to control a creature that powerful with a childish device like this. Although the size … seems accurate,” MacArthur mused while studying the device.
    “Well, yeah. I saw it on the Stonewolf’s leg, but at the time I didn’t know what I was looking at. So you’re saying it wouldn’t work?” asked Ethan.
    “Not likely,” said MacArthur. He turned the shackle around and noticed the small symbol in the metal. “Did you see this marking?”
    Ethan nodded.
    “Well … it doesn’t look familiar to me — but one would use some type of symbol to initiate control of the wearer of a pinch-shackle. As I said, I don’t know how this could work — there is no possible way one man could control a creature such as this … I mean, if there were, he would have to be a master alchemist … and even then … not likely.” MacArthur handed the pinch-shackle back to Ethan. “Sorry I can’t be of more help. You two must have made quite an impression on someone — being placed in charge of such a daunting task.”
    Auren raised his head from the bucket, looked over to Availia and Ethan, and then to MacArther. “Well, father said Ethan made an impression on the Oroborus — does that count?”
    “What do you mean?” asked Ethan with his eyebrows raised.
    “Dimon opened his eyes,” said Availia. “It’s supposedly a trait of the Oroborus, that it doesn’t need to see — so it never opens its eyes, but it did just before you passed through.”
    “She speaks the truth, Ethan,” said MacArthur. “In fact, Dimon had not even developed eyelids until about five hundred years ago. He has never opened them before, until …” MacArthur paused, scratching his balding head. “Actually on your last trip from here I noticed that the Oroborus looked at you.”
    Ethan was confused and was about to ask why this was a big deal.
    MacArthur continued. “This is truly a significant event, and it is so because he has opened his eyes only one other time.” Ethan looked startled. “He opened them …to look at your brother,” said MacArthur, now in a very serious voice.
    “ Isaac? ” exclaimed Ethan, “but why?”
    “I am not sure I am the best one to answer that. And for that matter, I am not entirely certain. Dimon is very particular about who he