06 The Mindmage's Wrath by Robinson Garrett

Author:Robinson, Garrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Legacy Books
Published: 2016-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

twenty-one

The rest of their dinner passed light and fair, and after they finished eating Kalem returned to the Academy with Theren. But Ebon and Adara stepped beyond the blue door, and he lingered there longer than he should have, so that by the time he returned to the streets he had to hurry home for fear of missing curfew. Upon a time that would not have troubled him, but now the Academy was strict about such things, and besides, he was still closely watched after his adventure in the vaults.

He was only a few streets away when the sun vanished behind the western buildings, and he picked up his pace, intent on reaching the Academy before dark. But as he cut through an alley between two busy thoroughfares, a hand swept from the shadows and dragged him towards the wall. The hand clamped over his mouth, silencing his sharp and sudden cry. His every muscle tensed as he readied himself to fight, to cast a spell, to do something—but then he recognized Mako and scrabbled to drag the bodyguard’s hand away from his mouth.

“There are other ways to get my attention,” he groused. “You frightened me half to death.”

But then he paused, for Mako was looking all about him, peering over both shoulders as though expecting to see someone lurking, waiting to strike at them both. A crack around the corner made the man jump, though Ebon recognized it as the sound of a barrel falling from a cart. This was so unlike Mako’s usual conduct that Ebon was shocked into silence.

“I have found something most interesting, little goldshitter. But we must act quickly if we are to take advantage of it.”

Ebon frowned. “What is it? What did you find?”

“You know I have my ways in and out of the Academy—ways that allow me to pass through the citadel unseen, to visit you, and to see what may be transpiring within its walls.”

“I do, though I know not how, exactly.”

“Nor should you.” Mako smiled for the first time, and Ebon found that strangely comforting. “Some knowledge is dangerous for others to have. Suffice it to say my pathways take me through nooks of the Academy that are seldom seen. Yet it seems one such nook has been visited by another.”

His fingers fished in a pocket on his black leather vest, and from it he drew a piece of parchment. This he unfolded and held before Ebon.

“Do you recognize this?”

Ebon frowned—but only for a moment before his eyes shot wide with shock. It was a page torn from a vault logbook. From the yellowed edges, and the fact that the paper had been torn out, Ebon would have wagered it came from the same logbook they had found in the library, where they had learned of Kekhit’s amulet.

“Where did you get this?”

Mako cuffed his ear and snarled, “I told you, in one of the Academy’s hidden passages. You are not seeing what is important. Look again.”

Ebon scanned the page. It described an orb of unknown origin and terrible destructive power.

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