Blademage Adept (The Blademage Saga Book 3) by Chris Hollaway Read Free Book Online

carved ebony staff lowering toward the group.
    The others shifted defensively, Alanna’s last throwing knife flashing into view in her hand. Kevon alone made no move, but smiled at Reko as the pale, hooded Mage ‘reacted’ to information he already knew.
    “Easy,” Yusa chided. “I may not know everything about these youngsters, but they’re not our enemies. Why judge the boy for an accident of birth, if that’s what it is? Besides, if he were so dangerous, he would not have needed our help to get away. I may not know magic as well as you do, but I know people .”
    “Someday, you may be wrong,” Reko sighed, raising his weapon to a less menacing posture.
    “Not today,” Captain Yusa said, rising from his seat to lean over the desk. “Though it seems there is more explaining to be heard.”
     

Chapter 10
     
    The sights, sounds, and smells of Smara were more impressive than its evening skyline. Warehouses and silos were fronted by the attached market stalls that lined every street. The main streets were wide enough to allow two wagons each direction, and ample foot traffic.
    “The first block would hold the market square in Navlia,” Bertus murmured as they entered the city, and every crossroad was a glimpse of something grander than the one before. Wagons being loaded from swinging chutes hanging from silos made the Warrior wonder if the people of Kron had enlisted dwarves to help build some of their structures.
    Bertus leapt from the saddle and handed his reins to Martin, motioning for the others to stay while he edged to the corner of a booth and peered around the corner.
    Half a block down a side street, grain flowed from a burlap nozzle that hung from a silo chute into a waiting wagon below. One of the green-clad farmerfolk stood conversing with the driver of the wagon, working a lever that seemed to control the flow, as the wagon inched forward.
    Bertus backed away from the corner before the wagon finished filling.
    “What is it?” Alma asked as he retook his reins.
    “Britger-Stoun,” he answered, shaking his head. The common-speaking nephew of Bargthar-Stoun had been in the Hold until Bertus had left with Mirsa and the others. The Warrior had only seen the dwarf a handful of times, but the scar across his face was evident from even this distance. Bertus did the calculations in his head. Riding hard without a wagon, the dwarf should still be over two weeks away from here.
    “Get us rooms. There,” Bertus said, pointing to an inn on the next block. He shoved a coin pouch at Martin, and climbed back into his saddle. “I’ll be along shortly.”
    Bertus wheeled his mount around to watch the others ride down the street toward the inn, casting a sideways glance as Britger’s wagon crossed the intersection behind him, headed east. After a minute, the Seeker turned to follow the dwarf and his wagon.
----
    Bertus hung back as the wagon exited the city, following only when he could barely discern its outline in the distance. He set out at a rapid pace, not wanting to look suspicious. He decided that he would confront the dwarf if he overtook the wagon.
    Two miles down the road, the wagon turned north. When Bertus reached the turnoff, he could see the wagon turning back to the east, disappearing behind the high rows of corn. He spurred his mount to a lope, eager to know how the dwarf had managed to make it across the Realm in so short a time.
    The track to the east went a short distance to a small farmhouse and a medium sized barn with a cut stone foundation. Fresh tracks led to the barn, and Kevon dismounted and checked the doors. They were barred from the inside. He hitched his steed to the railing in front of the house, and knocked on the door.
    After waiting a minute for an answer, he returned to the barn and circled around, finding a smaller unlocked door in the back.
    The floor in the barn was also the same cut stone as the exposed foundation. Shafts of evening sun pierced the shadows, revealing