The Last of the Sages (Sage Trilogy, Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

it’s not ma lot in life. Now…what r yeh three up to today?”
    “Hungry,” Korey sighed.
    “Oh, I see,” she frowned. “I kick out one beggar ta get three in his stead. Yehr like locusts…all o yeh, but I shoulda known from yehr tired faces. Well then, come along. I’ll close up shop and join yeh. I’ll get us a feast from tha produce that’s about to expire in tha back.”
    “Only the best,” Jennings laughed, rolling his eyes. The fact they were getting any free food from her at all was a miracle.
    Leidy headed over to the money till behind the counter and began counting the change from the day. One guy from the back of the store ran through the aisles as if a stampede were behind him and threw a bag of apples onto the counter like he was reaching for a touchdown. He refused to look up at her as he began fishing through his pockets for some change. Leidy ignored him, even when he threw the coins onto the counter.
    “Hey! Lady! I need you to tell me how much these cost!”
    Leidy scowled at him and gave her signature evil eye.
    “Since I don’t know yeh, I must assume yehr sayin lady in a derogatory manner, and not because yehr saying ma name.”
    He stared at her in puzzlement.
    “What?!”
    “Put ta apples back where yeh found em. Shop’s closed.”
    “It’s three-fifty,” he said, looking down at his watch. “Shop doesn’t close till four.”
    “Well ma till closes at three-fifty, but window shoppers r welcome.”
    “Are you serious?”
    “Serious as childbirth.”
    The man grunted an expletive under his breath and threw the apples to where the grapefruit lay. He stormed out as Leidy chuckled to herself.
    “Little old me gettin a grown man all ruffled like that. Makes ma day every time!”
    “So are we eating now?” Korey whimpered. Jennings smacked him upside his head.
    “Of course we are…MA!” Leidy screamed toward the back. “I’m leaving now! Close up!”
    “Think she heard you?” James winced, cupping his ears.
    “She’ll close up,” Leidy muttered. “This shop is all we got after all.”
    Leidy picked up a wooden basket from behind the counter, overflowing with juiciness.
    “To tha meadow in tha north, gentlemen,” she ordered militaristically and the rest followed like a pack of hungry dogs.
    The meadow wasn’t very big, but it was arguably the most beautiful spot in the village, not only because it was the sole place you could find untouched flowers and unpaved grass, but primarily because it led to a steep hill which gave the Kingdom of Allay its most impressive view of all: the castle.
    Sure, one could look all around them, admire the geography of the Kingdom itself. Its oval shape, fortified by giant cement walls with only a few miniature exits located respectively to the east, west, and south. The Academy located by the south exit, barely visible by an ever-advancing army of gigantic vines and exotic foliage. And the village in the middle - a labyrinth of huts and shops that could easily have been the world’s largest shopping district (though no outsiders visited).
    But the castle was their shining beacon. A declaration to all that they were not just a people scrambling for importance. They were a Kingdom, and deserved respect for achieving such a status. Yet the people didn’t act like it. Hardly anyone talked about the castle, and whenever someone did travel outside the confines of the village, they rather spent time in the east and west where the rocky soil and dead grass lay, than the beautiful hill before the castle. Why this occurred, remained a great mystery to James. 
    If it were up to him, he would have moved his house even closer to enjoy the sight, but it was as if the village shrank farther and farther from it, crowding together and condensing every year, moving away from the north and southern exits as far as it could, as if an invisible danger was constantly lurking, waiting to devour them all.
    Even as you moved from the core to the outskirts,