The Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce

Author:Tamora Pierce [Pierce, Tamora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Children's Fiction
Published: 2010-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

The whistle on the emperor's barge trilled again. From among the guests, Master Chioké and three other mages, who'd been pointed out to Daine as the most powerful at the imperial university, stepped up to join the red-robed mages. Chioké and those wizards who had been with the guests lifted their arms to point upward. Magical fire stabbed into the cloudless night sky. The mages who had brought them downriver leaned over the rails, allowing their power to fall into the water.

Timbers creaked; wooden joints popped. Fire ran from one red-robe's hands to the next, until the hull lay in a disk of light. Chioké and the three mages in civilian dress cried a single word; the streams of light from their hands broadened. Slowly, its timbers groaning, the boat rose into the air.

Kitten shrieked. "No, Kit, stop," Daine whispered. "Be quiet, understand?" The thought of what might happen if any mage lost his or her concentration made her queasy.

The dragon shifted from paw to paw, chattering angrily as she buried her face in Daine's skirts.

Kaddar knelt beside them, petting Kittens slender neck. "I can't say that I blame her," he growled softly. "I hate it when he does things like this. Why can't he put such power to use against the drought, instead of staging idle dis—"

"Hush," Daine said gently. "It isn't safe to talk, remember?"

The boat continued to rise. Sweat gleamed on the faces of the mages who controlled its motion.

At last the whistle shrieked again. The rising boat stopped, nearly eighty feet above the imperial harbour. The lighthouse beacon went out. From the harbourmaster's tower came another, different horn call, one that was picked up by horns in the ships below. Kitten, Daine, and Kaddar returned to the rail. Zek, seeing where they were, squeaked and tore Daine's hair from its knot so that he could hide, trembling, in her curls. She didn't have the heart to scold.

More horns bellowed. New fires sparked, past the white finger that was the lighthouse tower. Like those in the harbour, these new flames became vines growing up and along some dark trellis. They flared, magic piercing the night, to reveal hundreds of vessels lying at anchor past the harbour.

There was a roar or shout of some kind. Torches were set to globes that burst into flame. They were balls of liquid fire, lit as they rested in the slings of catapults aboard the infamous Carthaki war barges. At one catapult per barge, Daine calculated, there were twenty outside the harbour, forming solid ranks between the breakwater and the naval vessels farther out.

"Is he mad?" Kaddar whispered, appalled. "This isn't just the northern fleet—he's brought the western one up as well! Did he do it to—to brag?"

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.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.