Rise of the Fire Tamer (The Wordwick Games #1) by Kailin Gow Read Free Book Online

last I saw of her, she was charging those ogres.”
    A sinking feeling hit Gem in the pit of her stomach. She looked to Goolrick, but the young wizard was already ordering his men to start the search.
    “Thank you,” she said.
    “If she is here, we will find her. Just wait.”
    Gem couldn’t bring herself to do that. She set off instead, determined to help. She wasn’t sure how far she’d got before there was a shout from one of the searching men, but there hadn’t been any sign of the other girl by that point. She rushed towards the sound, hoping for better news.
    What she found instead was a pile of dead ogres and wolves. All showed signs of having been struck down by the short sword Kat had been carrying. It seemed that the other girl was a ferocious fighter, but that wasn’t what made Gem stop, made her stare at the pile of dead creatures.
    What was on top did.
    It was a satchel. Gem recognized it instantly as Kat’s. It had everything in it of hers except the black lipstick. The comb lay a few feet away. There was blood on both it and the satchel. Far too much blood.
    “I’m sorry,” the man who’d found it said, “I think she might be dead. No one could have survived a wound like that.”
    Maybe it was the way he said it, but Gem found herself taking hold of the satchel. She lifted it, examined it, turned it in her hands. It was too real. It was all too real. She didn’t care how good your technology was, no one could make people in a capsule experience things this vividly. No one could make a gamer bleed like this. The truth came to her, inevitable, unstoppable.
    It was real. It was all real. Anachronia wasn’t a level. It was a world. Henry Word had lied to them. He hadn’t made a game. He had made a way in. It was all real. And that meant…
    That meant Kat was really dead.
     
     
    For Sparks, the walk from the battle site wasn’t as exhilarating as it should have been. Gem seemed upset, on the verge of tears. He did his best to comfort her, reminding her that it was just a game, but it didn’t seem to help…
     
    Gem kept staring at the bloodied satchel as she walked. Anachronia didn’t seem like such a big adventure now. Not when Kat was gone…
     
    Rio was glad to be getting away from the battle. It had seemed so real that it had brought back memories he didn’t want. Of a gang fight that had featured his father. Of a knife coming out of nowhere. Gem looked almost as grim. Strange that a rich girl should get it…
     
    Jack was probably the most upbeat of them. He had done something he had never thought he would be able to. He had fought off ogres and wolves. Well, he had sat in a tree and shot at them, but as far as he could see it was pretty much the same thing…
     
    And, somewhere away from the track, moving carefully to avoid being spotted, the ogre who’d released the wolves led the way, while a second, smaller figure followed warily behind…

 
    Chapter 5
     
     
    S ebold had been the ruler of the Spurious tribe for a long time, here on the border between the Woods and the Fertile Lands, through adversity as well as good times. He had built the long house he now stood in, and had seen much of the village grow up around it. He thought of himself as a canny, careful ruler, though he also knew that there were some who would have used the word ruthless about him instead. Either way, he knew enough to pay attention to signs, and had taken the time to learn Anachronia’s legends.
    If the young woman who had come to him with one of the ogres that had sided with Spurious was a sign, then she was certainly an odd-looking one. Still, there was no denying what she was, not with the redly glowing ring on her finger. The power of outlanders to use words was too great a gift to pass up.
    In any case, Sebold could hardly comment on the appearance of others. His own was too craggy to be handsome, while his wiry frame held a few too many scars for comfort. Even in the way he dressed, in layers of