Emperor Mage (The Immortals Book 3) by Tamora Pierce

Author:Tamora Pierce [Pierce, Tamora]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

A hand gripped his arm. “Shut up,” Varice said fiercely. “What’s the matter with you? Do you want to disappear like his last heir?”

“But—”

Daine elbowed him—hard. “She’s right—shut up!” Kitten closed her jaws lightly on the prince’s leg. “If I tell her, she’ll bite,” Daine said coldly. “And you haven’t been bit till a dragon does it.”

Kaddar’s hands clenched, but he shut his mouth and gritted his teeth; they could see his jaw muscles twitch. The emperor’s boat hung in the air for a few more moments, then descended slowly. Except for sailors passing on orders, no one aboard said a word. Only when they were safely in the River Zekoi again did Kitten release the prince’s leg.

The red-robed mages who had brought them downriver were replaced by four new, fresh masters. They clapped in unison and were bowing their heads when a ringing sound, like a gong being struck, shattered the air. It was followed by another, and another, and another. It sounded, Daine realized, like a horse’s walk.

The air around the harbormaster’s tower was glowing. From the emperor’s frown, this was not part of his planned entertainment.

The clanging drew nearer. Around the tower’s side and down the shortest breakwater, enclosed in a loose ball of light, appeared a golden rider on a golden horse. The clanging sound came from the animal’s hooves as they struck the boulders. Together rider and mount were twice, nearly three times larger than normal. Both slumped, as if stricken with weariness or grief, the horse’s muzzle barely a foot off the ground. The sword and shield that the man held drooped from his hands.

“Goddess bless,” whispered Kaddar. All around them hands made the Sign against evil.

Do two-leggers grow so big? asked Zek, awed.

“No,” Daine whispered. “That’s not a two-legger. Zek was asking,” she explained when Kaddar and Varice looked at them.

“It’s a statue,” Varice replied softly. “Of—of Zernou, the first emperor. It stands in Market Square, in Carthak City, before the Temple of Mithros.”

“I don’t think it’s standing there anymore,” Alanna commented from the shadows nearby.

Horse and rider reached the lock between the imperial boat and the harbor, and stopped. The horse reared, pawing the air with his forelegs. The rider cried out a word in a voice like a giant gong. Again he cried out. The third time, he shouted words in a strange, guttural language. He pointed to their vessel with his sword. Instantly magical defenses went up, forming walls of light between those onboard and the statue, but no attack came.

The horse gathered itself and leaped, clearing the lock, to land on the seawall on the far side with a ringing crash. Horse and rider galloped down the wall, striking sparks from the granite boulders. Just before they reached the lighthouse, the glowing figures leaped off onto the ocean’s surface, and raced across it, dodging the naval vessels and heading north. Daine watched in silence as the glow that surrounded them faded, and was gone.

“What did he say?” Varice asked Kaddar, voice hushed.

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