Dragonborn Read Online Free Page B

missing.”
    â€œIn plenty of time,” said the newcomer. He stuck out like a sapphire in a bread shop window. All the others were in traveling drab, or, at least, in sturdy clothes that drew no attention. Caleb wore a brocade jacket, with the cleanest lace at the neck and cuffs, the collar fastened with a jet brooch in the shape of a beetle with a silver mount, and silk breeches with buckled shoes. His hat, discourteously still on his head, was tilted ironically, as though mocking the solemnity of the rites. “I didn’t miss anything. Especially that nonsense this idiot boy just showed us.”
    â€œIt was Flaxfield’s choice,” said Eloise. Her radiance had faded now.
    â€œWe don’t know that,” the man scoffed. “There was no magic in it. Flaxfield was a great wizard. He deserves magic at his Finishing. I was his last apprentice.” He raised aloft a staff that Sam had not noticed before. It was dark, with a deep shine to the wood and silver inlay. Khazib dashed it from his hands and it clattered to the ground, the fine silver work denting on the red tiles.
    â€œMagic enough has been done today,” he said. “It is for the last apprentice to provide the goods to finish the ceremony, and he has. It is done. We leave now.”
    Caleb stretched out his arm, palm down. The staff rose and he grasped it. His hand clenched tight with fury.
    Axestone nodded to the crowd. Four stepped forward and hoisted the basket to their shoulders. Together in pairs, led by Axestone, they made their way to the river. Sam and Starback nearest the front, as Eloise had made sure they would be.
    They reached the river and Eloise completed the Finishing. When she was done, she turned away and walked off by herself, as Sam had often seen Flaxfield do. Her steps were unsteady, and she stopped soon and stood and waited for the effort of the Finishing to leave her.
    â€œThey don’t know about the boy,” said Ash.
    Even though she was used to its noise now, the clattering laugh made her feel ill. She drew her sleeve across her eyes, smearing the blood but letting her see again. Her arms and foot were completely restored.
    â€œThe gap’s closed now. They’ve kept their magic hidden. But I’ve put a confusing spell there. They won’t know that the boy’s the one. They won’t trust him.”
    â€œWill they kill him?”
    She tried to stand, staggered, and sank back to the floor.
    â€œThey don’t kill like that.”
    The clacking grew fast and loud.
    â€œI would kill him. I would stab. I would jab. I would stab.”
    As the creature spoke it jabbed out a clawlike leg and clattered more claws on the smooth floor.
    â€œI know you would. Perhaps, one day, you will. Not now; it is enough that I’ve made some mischief for them. Now get out.”
    The clacking died down. It slouched away, leaving a faint stink of cat mess.
    Â 
Pages from an apprentice’s notebook
    MAGIC IS DIFFERENT IN THE MINES, but nobody really knows why.
    Some people say it is because the miners are all descended from one couple, a person from Up Top and a roffle, so they are neither one thing nor the other. The miners do all look alike, so it may be true. Everyone knows that everything, including magic, is different in the Deep World, so it makes sense that people who are half-roffle would interfere with magic.
    Some people say it is the tunnels, that the magic gets lost in them and can’t find its way out, and can’t work properly, but this doesn’t seem to be right, because magic can find its way through a dark forest, across rivers, and even to the other side of mountains. On the other hand, the tunnels in the mines are like a spiderweb—they crisscross and join up where you think they won’t, so the magic may lose direction.
    It is very dangerous when magic loses its way. If magic forgets who worked it, then it can’t find its way back to its