Shadow Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) by John Forrester Read Free Book Online

quickly devolved into a riot. The wizards and guards shoved people aside, trying to flee the room, caring little about stamping on fallen ones. Talis backed to the wall and collapsed, unable to take his eyes off the scene. He fought back tears welling in his eyes and stifled a whimper as a burned and bloodied man shambled around the room, eyes glazed over. Then more cries of the dying and those in pain, shrieks and wails as the gods struck more wizards down.
    Then the barrage ceased as if the sacred force had left the chamber. Talis could heard sobbing and moaning and pleas for help. Frightened of displeasing the gods, he kept quiet and stumbled over bodies littering the floor, wincing when flashes of light illuminated the wreck of charred and trampled bodies. He had to find his father.
    Mistress Cavares came hobbling over, a look of shock and disbelief in her eyes. “Talis, you must leave this place quickly. I fear you’ll only find refuge within the Temple of the Sun.”
    Talis shook his head, refusing to retreat. “We need to get help for the injured. I can’t leave now…not after all this.” He glanced around the room, and cupped his hand around his mouth. “Father! Where is he? I saw him just a moment ago….”
    “Over here,” Mistress Cavares said, and led him around the room to where the Elders had once stood. They stepped around a pile of bodies, a few still pleading for help.  
    Talis recognized Mara’s father, Viceroy Vellar Lei, cringing in the corner. The old man stiffened as he saw Talis, and raised himself up, jabbing a finger at Talis.
    “You! You caused all this… Your meddling in the dark arts brought the displeasure of the g—” Elder Vellar glanced in fear at the ceiling for a moment, then turned and glowered at Talis. “I’ll see you bleed for this. Guards, guards!” He scanned around as if expecting his men to arrest Talis, but none remained in the chamber.
    “Talis,” groaned Father, his voice was muffled from being underneath a pile of bodies.
    Talis rushed over to where he’d heard Father. He carefully pulled aside an old, dead elder, and felt his heart drop as he saw his father’s face panting heavily, eyes wide and panicked. How could they trample on their own people?
    “Are you alright, Father?” Talis scanned his father for injuries, hoping he hadn’t been struck by the gods.
    “My leg… I think my leg is shattered.” Father winced as Talis pulled a slain wizard off of him.  
    “It will mend…I’ll ask the healer to tend to you. Thank the gods you’re alive.”
    “My life is not important, Talis…but yours is. You must survive all this, you must keep the Storm family name alive.”
    “Guards!” shouted Elder Vellar, limping over to the entrance, casting angry eyes at Talis.
    “You have to leave.” Mistress Cavares clasped Talis’s shoulder. “If you stay, I fear for your life…and the lives of others. We must avoid bloodshed between the Royal Houses. There’s a way of escape over there, behind the fifth pillar…a crane’s head…pull it and a tunnel will open for you.”
    “She’s right,” Father said, fixing his gaze on Talis. “This has gone too far in the wrong direction. You’ll be safer in the temple.”
    “But what about you? What about the others?”
    “I’ll be fine. And as for the others…” He glanced around the wrecked chamber. “The gods have spoken their displeasure. Go now, son, go quickly.”
    Talis opened his mouth to object, but his father raised a hand to stop him. “You must survive, don’t hesitate, go now!”
    After he bowed hurriedly to his father and Mistress Cavares, Talis ran towards the fifth pillar. He could hear the marching of guards outside the chamber and the shouts of Elder Vellar Lei. The crane’s head was old and resisted pulling, but Talis finally yanked it far enough out until a stone doorway opened. He dove inside and glanced around for a way to close it, and found another extended crane’s head. He