The Firemage's Vengeance Read Online Free Page B

wondering now,” said Ebon. “Go and fetch Theren, as quickly as ever you can. And tell her to bring Kekhit’s amulet.”
    Kalem nodded, but then gave Jia a wary look. Slowly he stood from his bench. Jia seemed to take no notice, but only continued her speech. Step by step Kalem backed away, edging towards the door of the dining hall. Some students caught the motion and stared, but Jia droned on regardless. It was as though she did not even see him. Ebon’s stomach did a flip-flop. Kalem turned and ran, vanishing into the Academy’s hallways.
    Ebon looked about him carefully. Other than the few tables near the front, the Academy hall was nearly empty. But there, at the back of the hall, he spied the doorways leading into the kitchens, which were now dark and looked abandoned.
    One of the doors was ajar.
    He stood from his bench and walked towards it. Jia took no more notice of him than she had of Kalem, though some of the students watched him go. He hesitated on the threshold of the kitchens for a long moment, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. But when at last he could see inside, no one was in sight.
    Heart thundering in his ears, he stepped into the darkness.
    The dish room was empty. An oak door in the corner opened into the kitchens proper—and Ebon saw that it, too, was ajar. He crept carefully forwards, muffling each footstep as best he could.
    It was darker still inside. No lanterns were lit here, and no windows let in the moonslight. He longed to reach for his power so that his eyes might help light the way, but then he might be seen. So he crept forwards, avoiding the tables around him, which might send dishes clattering to the floor if he bumped them. The air smelled of meat left out too long.
    He thought he could hear a murmuring drawing near. And then, from the next room, he caught a faint glow. But something was … wrong about it. In its light he could see shapes, but not their color or distance. It was like an awareness, rather than true sight. His mind hurt, and his eyes kept shuddering away from it.
    He stepped into the doorway.
    It was a storeroom, and here at last there was moonslight from a window high in the wall. There were barrels and sacks in great piles all around the place, and crates stacked in its center.
    In one corner sat a girl in the robes of an Academy student—only they were filthy and threadbare, and Ebon thought he could smell them from where he stood. Her hair was just as dirty, and hung lank around her shoulders.
    It was Isra. The glow that shone from her eyes sent a lance of pain through Ebon’s head. She was facing away from him, but it leaked around her edges like a malicious, oozing thing, a poison that sought the mouth and nose to slither in and choke the breath.
    At first he could not force himself to move, or even to think. When at last he did, he grew curious what it was that she was doing. She remained hunched over, her back to him, and the feverish rasping of her voice bounced harsh off the stone walls into his ears. He took one step forwards—every moment a skipping of the heart, a fearsome clenching in his gut.
    A few paces in from the door, he could at last see what it was she held in her hand. It was a lantern. At first he thought that was where the black glow was coming from—but then, looking again, he realized it was coming from her eyes.
    He remembered something … something Kalem and Theren had told him about a black glow in the eyes. Then it came to him in a flash: magestones.
    At once he realized what must have happened. Jia had called the assembly in the dining hall under Isra’s control. Somehow the girl had got her hands on magestones, and she was using the power of mindwyrd once again.
    Ebon realized he could do no good here. Quickly he backed away. He was almost to the door.
    He did not think he had made a noise, but Isra stopped chanting. Her head jerked up, and then it turned around.
    “Drayden,” she growled.
    An unseen force snatched