The Reluctant Mage: Book One in the Zandar Series Read Online Free Page A

attention were the clothes they wore. Marko had never seen anyone wear clothes like those. Both men and women had long robes. He had never thought robes were very practical, especially in the harsh winters in Bakar. The collars were high and stiff.
     
    He heard footsteps outside his room and soon saw his mother peek in. “You ready Marko? I can use a good meal after that trip.”
     
    “I am ready, but I wanted to show you this carving on my wall.”
     
    “That looks a lot like the one in my room, but this city is much larger. Let’s ask Kris what he knows about the history of this place. I was only here once before, but we never come up to this floor. Back then, the stairway was blocked. Kris has been busy these past few years.”
     
    Marko followed his mother down the stairs all the way to the bottom floor. Like the other floors, there was an arch before a long hallway. This hallway was not completely cleared out however. There were still some large stones and rubble along the walls. Marko figured that there must be some rooms still blocked by the stones.
     
    He saw lights flickering at the back of the hallway as he and his mother navigated the hall. At the end of the hall they entered a large room at least thirty meters square. There were no statues in this room but there were several slate slabs sitting on top of stone blocks.
     
    Uncle Kris was sitting at one of the tables that had several candles on it along with plates of food. “Welcome to the dining hall, such as it is. I have a roasted chicken for us and boiled potatoes. I am afraid my wine supply is all gone Danira. We’ll just have to drink water with young Marko here.”
     
    After smelling the food Marko realized he was famished. He tore into his meal and only halfheartedly listed to their conversation. They mostly talked about the Kastav attack and what the Empire’s response would be to the invasion. Uncle Kris was confident that the Emperor would not tolerate the occupation of Bakar and would move troops in to retake the village.
     
    As the conversation continued, Marko studied the dining hall. The few candles in the room cast long shadows but he was able to see most of the room. He noticed that the walls had similar inscriptions and pictures as his room. There were scenes of cities like he had seen before, but new images appeared to him in the dim room. One wall was completely covered with a battle scene. The scope of the battle was immense. He guessed that there were thousands of soldiers etched in the wall on both sides of the battle. Marko got up from his seat to study the battle more closely. The soldiers reminded him of Imperial infantry. The uniforms looked a little different but they were armed with the familiar halberds, pikes and short swords.  He noticed what seemed to be battalions of cavalry. His father often told him about the use of cavalry on the battlefield, and it seemed like both sides were deploying them to sweep around each army’s flank. He could not believe the detail. Each cavalryman man had a different expression on his face.
     
    What grabbed Marko’s attention were the men and women wearing robes behind the lines of each army. They looked like the same people who were depicted in his room. Some of the people looked like they were shouting orders and pointing at enemy positions. A few though had symbols above their outstretched hands. In front of them whole companies of enemy troops were laying on the ground or being thrown through the air. He even saw a squad of infantry that looked like they were on fire. The images were so lifelike that he could see the tortured pain on their faces as the fire consumed them. He had to look away.
     
    “War is not a pretty sight, is it?” said his Uncle as he walked up behind Marko.
     
    “I can’t believe the imagination of the person who carved this battle. It looks so lifelike as if he really happened.”
     
    “That’s because it did m’boy. Come on over to the table. It