Rain That Doesn't Fall

By R. J. Davnall

The Separatists are defeated. The First Realm is saved. But the fear that brought war remains, now focussed on Rel. Given one last chance to prove himself, he sets out to capture the last fleeing Separatist, the Clearseer Soan. But Soan's Gift is the equal of his own, and if Rel fails, no-one else is strong enough. And if he succeeds, he must still face his own reckoning among the Gifted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. J. Davnall
• Release date: Oct 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311590343

R. J. Davnall

R. J. Davnall is a brightly-plumed, semi-nocturnal cryptid native to northwestern England. She has been making up stories, including her own, all her life, and thus probably shouldn't be trusted to write her own bio. When disguised as a human, she is a Lecturer in Philosophy and Game Design Studies, and a member of the Olaf Stapledon Centre for Speculative Futures, at the University of Liverpool

Book preview

Rain That Doesn't Fall

Episode 4 of Logic and Reasons

A Story of the Second Realm

By R.J. Davnall

Published by R. J. Davnall at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 R. J. Davnall

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.

The Second Realm

Season 1: The Second Gift

Season 2: Children of the Wild

Season 3: The Lost Realm

I Sailed Away:

Episode 1: Take Me to the Sea

Episode 2: I'm Not the Man I Thought I Was

Episode 3: When I Don't Need My Eyes to See

Innocent and Incomplete:

Episode 1: Lights in the Dark

Episode 2: Burning in the Home Fires

Episode 3: Three Small Words

Episode 4: Homeward Bound

Logic and Reasons:

Episode 1: The Future I Saw

Episode 2: Mother of Fate

Episode 3: Ash

http://itsthefuturestupid.blogspot.com/

Contents

Rain That Doesn't Fall

Epilogue

About the Author

Logic and Reasons

3. Rain That Doesn't Fall

Late in the morning, Soan's trail ran into rocky ground that had been rinsed by dew and baked dry by the sun, and vanished. Rather than waste time scouring the stone with Clearsight, Rel tried the future. Where he'd expected Soan's Gift to resist him, there was nothing.

With the lurching sensation of a footstep slipping on unseen ice, Rel's Sight fell through to a tree-lined vale, resplendent in summer greens and dappled shade. Soan sat on the grass between the knuckles of two roots, his back against their parent tree. His face was slack, with none of the fixed attentiveness of Clearsight.

Why had he stopped running? With Taslin's help, and Chag and Keshnu following as Pevan's observers, Rel had been chasing the old man since first light. Soan had headed purposefully northwest, towards his home at Ilbertin, diverting only to avoid the scattered towns on the way. Why give up now?

Perhaps fleeing through the night, after the battle, had exhausted him. In the Viewing, his craggy face did seem pale, worn. He lifted his head, and turned to look directly at Rel's vantage. Across time and space, their eyes met, and slowly, Soan nodded.

Blinking, Rel pulled back from his Gift. Taslin reappeared as his eyelids opened; she was watching him, resplendent in a violet dress chased everywhere with silver embroidery.