Son of a Dark Wizard Read Online Free Page B

going to play their game? You’re
going to try to defeat the Chosen One?”
    Sorren stood up, stretched, and made his way
to his bookshelf full of books and journals, lighting lanterns
along the wall with a whispered charm as he went. “I will defeat the Chosen One,” he said, scanning the shelves. “And I need
a map.”
    “Thale said you tortured someone?” Kovola
said. “A Zolen soldier?”
    “I met a Zolen soldier and asked him some
questions.” Sorren pulled a book of maps from the shelf. “He wasn’t
very helpful.”
    “If you want to try to defeat the Chosen One,
I’m not going to stop you,” Kovola said. Sorren could feel the old
man’s icy stare even as he flipped through the book’s pages. “But
do not drag Thale into your plans.”
    “He has a good eye.”
    “He’s far behind in his lessons,” Kovola
said. “At his rate, I’m not sure he’ll ever even be a mediocre tove
maker.”
    Sorren turned and met the old man’s stare. “I
don’t force Thale to do anything.”
    “You seem to be missing my point.”
    “I’m not going to put him in any danger,”
Sorren said. And he meant it. Thale was the closest thing he had to
a brother.
    Kovola was silent. He just stood there,
staring at Sorren as if he couldn’t decide whether or not to
believe him. Then he held up the scroll and said, “If you continue
with this, you’re putting all three of us in danger.”
    Sorren collected a few more books from the
shelves and brought them back to the table. He sat down slowly,
spent a few moments sorting through his journals and finding a
fountain pen, then looked up at Kovola. “Why do you stay with
me?”
    “I swore an oath of loyalty to the Candlewood
family. You’re the last one left.”
    Sorren dipped his pen in ink and began
scratching notes on an empty journal page. “I need help getting an
airship,” he said.
    “We don’t have the money to buy an airship,”
Kovola said, “nor the materials to build one.”
    “That leaves one option.”
    “Sorren . . .”
    “Meet me in the room of mirrors in an
hour.”

FIVE

    Any mirror could be enchanted into a portal
door as long as it was appropriately flat, reflective, and
unbroken. Tall mirrors could be stepped through easily, while
smaller hand mirrors could be used for transporting small items,
engaging in face-to-face conversations, or spying on anyone with a
mirror nearby. A set of two mirrors were needed for two-way
portals, but with the proper set of coordinates, and enough skill
in portal making, one mirror could serve as a one-way portal to
almost anywhere on the planet.
    Sorren was enchanting the mirror before him
as a one-way portal door that would open on a rocky mountainside in
Morrowgrand’s southwest. The Ashwood Mountains, as they were
called. It was on those mountains that Landoran airships delivered
their cargo to Morrowgrand traders, importing goods like textiles,
crystals, glowstones, and foreign metals.
    “So you want to steal a cargo airship?”
Kovola asked, as he and Sorren stood before the mirror. Sorren was
pointing his staff toward the mirror, finishing the
enchantment.
    “It’ll be easy,” Sorren said. “No one will
miss a little cargo ship. Pirates are seizing them all the time.”
He whispered the final phrases of the portal enchantment in his
mind. He then muttered another spell under his breath and the
reflections in the mirror faded to darkness. Slowly, the image of
the night sky appeared beyond the glass, countless stars
surrounding a pair of half moons. The black silhouettes of
coniferous trees lined the bottom of the image. The climate was
warmer in southwestern Morrowgrand, and the Ashwood Mountains were
home to many small patches of forest.
    Sorren stepped forward, peering into the
image. He had always wanted to explore the Ashwood Mountains. They
were the setting of many ancient legends and no traveler claimed to
know all their secrets. And the sky seemed so much bigger on the
mountainsides. Vonlock