Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion by T Michael Ford Read Free Book Online

right. From then on, I knew it was going to be a good day.
    I exited my room and followed the hallway back downstairs to see if Rosa was up. But when I thought about her, I somehow knew she was still asleep; I even got a mental picture of her half hanging off her bed and still in a deep sleep. After a few minutes of exploring the main level, I found a small kitchen, complete with well-made pots and pans, a wood stove, dinnerware and a stocked larder. From the looks of things, however, it didn’t appear this kitchen got a lot of use.
    I was starving , but thanks to my mother’s tutoring, I was a good cook. After some digging, I found a dozen eggs, four extra thick strips of bacon and everything needed to make griddlecakes. Once everything was cooking, I thought that Rosa would be hungry too. So I added two more eggs and the last two strips of bacon. Once everything was done, I loaded up two plates and set them at the table. After more searching, I found cups and a strange green juice that smelled really good. Still getting the feeling that Rosa was asleep, I grabbed a tray and loaded the food on it. She was going to get breakfast whether she asked for it or not.
    After carefully carrying the tray of food up the stairs and through her door, I found her right where my vision said she would be, halfway off the bed and snoring. It looked like she hadn’t changed before falling asleep either. Rosa’s room was slightly larger than mine, a bigger bed and some bookshelves dominated the room. She also had space for a small table with two painted wooden chairs in one corner.
    “ Master Rosa, it’s time to get up,” I said, as I gently nudged her shoulder.
    “ …Fool…I have an apprentice now…and rabbits.” I had no idea what she was dreaming about and I’m not sure I wanted to know either.
    “ Master, please, you need to wake up.” Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at me.
    “ Hello, Alex, I’m so glad yesterday wasn’t just a dream! And how are you this fine morning?”
    “ I’m doing very well, Master, but it’s no longer morning.”
    “ Is that food I smell? I see that it is!” If she wasn’t awake before she was now! She sprang across the room and was seated at the table in an instant.
    “ Did you make all this? I didn’t know you knew how to cook.” As I walked over, she already had everything off the tray and ready to eat. By the time I was seated and started, she had almost half of her food eaten already.
    “ And it’s so good too. Where did you learn to make these sweet flat cakes?”
    “ My mother taught me how to cook when I was a kid and still too small to help my dad work the forge.”
    “ I see, and is this unusual for boys your age?”
    “ Of all my friends, I was the only one who knew how to cook. My mother always said that if I’m going to make a pot, I best know how to use it.” She smiled slowly, paused as if thinking of someone else, and then went back to her food.
    “ Today is going to be a good day for us, but we have got a lot of work to do.” She moved her empty plate to the center of the small table and leaned back in her chair. “Lesson number one, make more food! As magic users cast spells, they use a large amount of their own energy. So to replace that lost energy, the body needs more food. I’d say by the end of the week you will be eating twice as much as you normally do. Now, before we start with the day’s basic lessons, do you have any questions for me?” She was looking at me with one of those smirks that just scream ‘I know something you don’t know.’
    “ Um, this morning when I woke up, I could sense that you were still asleep and I got a quick flash image of this room.” I thought she was going to say I was crazy but instead she just smiled even more.
    “ And you feel relaxed around me, too, is that correct?” I was starting to get a little nervous now. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. Since our talk last night,