Sovereign Stone by David Wells Read Free Book Online Page A

knowing wouldn’t change anything. Either way, Alexander was powerless to stop Phane from making the attempt. He could only wait and see and plan for the best.
    Alexander sealed the Bloodvault again, and they returned to the entry hall of the central tower to begin the long climb to the top. The tower was a series of slightly smaller rooms stacked one on top of another. The room immediately above the entry hall was a comfortable-looking sitting room and audience chamber.
    Plush carpets that didn’t appear to have aged at all in the intervening millennia covered the floor; a long, well-made, simple black oak table with cushioned high-back chairs lining both sides occupied the center of the room; a large hearth surrounded by oversized plush chairs took up one section of the rounded wall; and a set of three couches facing a three-sided table occupied the remaining space.
    The stairway leading up to the next level was sealed with a wall of black stone very similar to the wall that protected the Bloodvault chamber.
    “Kelvin, can you see this wall in your mind’s eye through your Keep ring?” Alexander asked.
    Kelvin closed his eyes and found the place where they stood in his mental map of the Keep. “I can see it but I cannot unseal it.”
    Alexander nodded. “I figured there would be some areas that would only be accessible with the Keep Master’s ring.” With a thought, he sent the wall away, probably to the same place where the bridge resided when it was not in this world.
    Level after level, they climbed through all manner of chambers. There were countless rooms filled with bookshelves, others looked like laboratories, and still others were studies. There were simple rooms with nothing but a magical circle inlaid in gold in the floor and others that were nothing more than well-appointed sleeping chambers.
    After many dozens of floors, they came to a level with transparent stone windows and three balconies that were only accessible once Alexander sent away the stone walls filling the archways.
    One of the balconies faced west and offered a stunning view. The Keep spread out below to the paddock. Alexander had to squint, but he could just make out the stone-still form of the scourgling standing on the abutment of the bridge. The plains spread out farther still and the blue of the ocean many leagues away was just visible on the horizon.
    Bridges extended from the other two balconies, each stretching hundreds of feet in a gentle arch across open expanses of empty sky. The balconies were already higher than most of the other towers and buildings that covered the surface of the mountaintop, but there were a few spires that reached higher still.
    One of the sky bridges reached out to join another tower just a few levels below its conical top. The second led to a giant, flat platform that was several thousand feet long and at least a thousand feet wide. Aside from the towers, it was the highest point on the entire Keep and looked big enough to assemble an army in formation. Alexander made a mental note to return to the platform and investigate further.
    They continued to climb. Level after level, the central tower rose into the sky. Each level was filled with all manner of instruments, apparatus, libraries, writing rooms, sitting rooms, and empty chambers that looked like they were designed to contain the magical energies of spells, should a new or experimental magic go wrong.
    Finally, they reached a room just short of the top chamber of the tower. Alexander had to dismiss another stone wall to gain entrance. It was a small study, no more than thirty feet in diameter. Comfortable chairs, a hearth, a writing desk, a small shelf of books, and a bed filled the room. A bound oak door opened to a circular balcony that wrapped around the outside of the tower. The view was breathtaking.
    They walked around the entire balcony and took in the spectacle of the Keep and the plains below. From their vantage point, they could appreciate