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    The Violin
    The Violin
    The Violin
    Ebook23 pages24 minutes

    The Violin

    By Peter Birk

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    About this ebook

    Sophie always dreamed of becoming a witch and joining the Coven to protect and serve Raioume, so much so that she taught herself to read, even though mundanes are forbidden to learn how to do so. When it turns out that she has no magic and cannot become a witch, Sophie must learn to find her own place in the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeter Birk
    Release dateMar 11, 2012
    ISBN9781476203294
    The Violin
    Author

    Peter Birk

    Peter Birk was born in Oakland, California, but was raised in Decatur, Illinois. He started writing in grade school, and never stopped to look back. He studied fiction writing at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, where he was privileged to work with Robin Metz, Robert Hellenga, and David Foster Wallace. He emigrated to Iowa, and has worked a variety of odd jobs throughout Iowa City, but he has been writing the entire time, even through the period wherein he claimed he no longer wished to be a writer.

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      Book preview

      The Violin - Peter Birk

      Birk / THE VIOLIN / 20

      THE VIOLIN

      by Peter Birk

      Copyright @2012

      Smashwords Edition

      www.raioume.com

      The Violin is a short story which takes place within the setting for my novel, To Trust the Wolf, which is currently available as an ebook. If the story interests you, please visit www.raioume.com for more information about the world, the books and other items. Salud!

      * * *

      When I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a witch. I would climb up and sit on the fence at the back of the Red Cloak garrison and watch them drill. I would pester our village’s magister about magic, about witches, about how they ruled the world. She wouldn’t tell me much about magic or about witches, but she told me about the world, about the wars, about how the Coven had saved us all, how we were all working together to build a prophesied Golden Age which was just on the horizon.

      She wouldn’t teach me how to read. Books are dangerous, she taught us. Only witches were taught how to read. The demons can gain control of your mind through books. Just one person reading the wrong book can invoke a demon, and plunge us all into darkness once again. Only witches are strong enough to resist the demons, so only witches are taught to read.

      I knew I was a witch. I was the only one in my class who truly knew what it took to be one: the faith; the commitment; the sheer belief in the power of magic. She taught us that magic is the witch’s will exerted on the world, and if that is true, then no one willed themselves to be a witch harder than me.

      I even knew a witch. My best friend Babette’s older sister’s talent had manifested, and she did her apprentice training

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