White Serpent, Black Dragon by Joe Jackson

Author:Joe Jackson [Jackson, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Published: 2017-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter XV – Complications

Unlike most of the other wizards Kari had encountered over the courses of her lives, Dominick lived in a rather nondescript house in the northeast district of the city. Kari was surprised at its simplicity; the archmages of the major cities she’d traveled through over the years typically had large towers, not unlike Lord Black’s. Dominick’s house, on the other hand, was cozy and modest, with the lower level comprised of one large, open room around a fire pit. In the corner was a ladder that led to half an upper level, where his bedchamber apparently was, and each corner of the lower level seemed dedicated to one use: pantry, study, storage, and sitting area. It seemed a perfect home for a solitary person, though Kari wasn’t sure she’d ever want to live in such a home – particularly if she lived alone.

The wizard indicated that his guests should move to the sitting area, and he walked to the corner set up as a study. Kari took a seat in one of the deep chairs that didn’t seem to see much use, and she waved away the small cloud of dust that puffed up. With a smirk, Eli plopped down beside her, and the two waited to see what Dominick was getting from his study. The old man searched through a bookshelf situated in the corner, and from the look of the worn leather bindings, Kari guessed they were his spell books. Sonja had only a single spell book, but Kari knew that was partially because Sonja was having difficulty mastering magic.

Her thoughts on Sonja, Kari regretted that she hadn’t had a chance to see her sister-in-law before she’d left for Lajere. Sonja was busy studying under DarkWind’s resident archmage, Gareth Maelstrom, and Kari hadn’t seen her for days before she left for Lajere. Sonja was growing frustrated with trying to master the arcane, for while she was able to do some amazing things with it – particularly the conjuration of protective shields and wards – she had trouble with nearly everything else. Kari knew that Maelstrom considered Sonja brilliant and a wonderful student, and even he was at a loss as to why arcane power didn’t respond properly to Sonja’s call. Kari had overheard Maelstrom say that Sonja did everything perfectly, but that something was just not reacting properly when she tugged on the “mana strands” that arcane practitioners called upon.

Kari wondered briefly if studying under another mage, like Dominick, might help Sonja: if perhaps it was something with Maelstrom’s style that left her sister-in-law frustrated. Gareth Maelstrom was widely recognized as one of the greatest wizards in the world, but few people had ever actually seen evidence of it. Maelstrom was at least several centuries old, and whatever great deeds he had done either preceded Kari’s attendance at the Academy, or else had happened after her death. She knew he was instrumental in defending DarkWind from Seril during the Apocalypse, but Maelstrom was not one

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