Dragonlinks Read Online Free Page B

his hands against his temples, squeezing his eyes shut. He counted ten pulses beneath his fingers, then looked at his guest again. ‘Give me that link as a mark of good faith.’
    â€˜Very well, keep the dragonlink until you are upon the Skelt throne.’
    â€˜Agreed.’
    â€˜My calling name is Fa’red.’
    â€˜Fa’red! Fa’red, the mage turned merchant?’ The Preceptor’s eyes narrowed for a moment. ‘You must be in your eighties by now.’
    â€˜Thank you, Preceptor.’
    The implication was that he was older rather than younger, but the Preceptor did not pursue the matter. He fingered the link nervously. ‘Are you not going to ask for something in return for this?’ he asked, extending his hand to Fa’red.
    Instead of grasping the proffered hand, Fa’red placed a death-scroll in his fingers. ‘Yes. Kill these people.’
    The Preceptor glared at him for the slight, but said nothing. He quickly scanned the names on the scroll.
    â€˜Nobody really important … Count Juram? He has risen against me, but what has he done to you?’
    â€˜It’s what he is, not what he has done.’
    The Preceptor rolled up the scroll and placed it on the table. ‘In fact, others on this list have been annoying me lately. These lives could be quenched over a month or two, but, however careful I may be, my hand will eventually be traced. Their scabby families and followers will embark upon vendettas against me.’
    â€˜I’ll protect you, but first I must make the raid into Hamatriol. There is a shrine where the main mailshirt of dragonlinks lies and I mean to take it.’
    The Preceptor’s eyebrows creased in doubt. ‘You will need an army!’
    â€˜The shrine’s guards protect it against petty thieves and low-ranking rogue Adepts, while the Hamatriol army could stop any invader trying to march overland to seize it. However, a half-brigade of elite lancers led by a high Adept just might be sufficiently swift yet powerful to slip between the cracks in those defences. Have your men ready in two weeks.’
    â€˜Two weeks! I’ll need four –’
    â€˜Two. When I return, I’ll make you the most powerful man in Skelt.’
    â€˜You are doing a great deal for my benefit, Fa’red. What is the real purpose behind our partnership?’
    â€˜I need the power of a great ruler, Preceptor, but if I gained it for myself I would attract the attention ofcertain … enforcers of certain rules. Why do you think that mages, especially senior Adepts, never become kings? Through you I can achieve the same aims while remaining hidden.’
    â€˜And if I betray you?’ asked the Preceptor boldly.
    â€˜Then you shall die,’ replied Fa’red without hesitation and in the politest of tones.
    During the year 2128 the Preceptor of Skelt quickly grew in influence. He annihilated a dozen rival Skeltian warlords on the battlefield, then seized disputed borderlands and islands from Hamaria and the privateer sea-princes. The power and influence of Skelt on the west coast of the continent increased dramatically. True, a number of influential nobles died under strange, tragic, and generally suspicious circumstances, but Skelt was somehow growing strong, rich and important again, so the few scattered deaths scarcely seemed to matter.

Chapter
3

    J elindel cowered back as the lindrak glided towards her, but it was no good. He had seen her, she was as good as dead. She muttered the prayer of life’s release and traced the holy circle in the air with a hand trembling in terror – then two black streaks crashed into the advancing, cowled figure.
    The bullhounds dragged the lindrak to the ground in a growling, yelping tangle of teeth and flailing limbs. The other lindraks were back over the wall within moments, and even the bullhounds were no match for five lindraks at once.
    The cowled assassin who had seen