Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) by Matthew Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

moved forward, the advisors sidling back to either side to distance themselves from him, and stood before her throne.  There was no point in running now.
    “Do you know why I have summoned you, Dog?”
    He shook his head mutely. 
    She laughed.  “Don't look so hangdog, Dog.  I didn't bring you here to kill you.”
    He blinked.  He wasn't going to die?  “I am glad to hear that, your Majesty.”
    She drank something from a crystal goblet.  “What do you know of the lands to the East, Dog?”
    The question caught him off guard.  He shifted his weight on his feet.  “Not much, Majesty.  I know there is desert, then the kingdom of Desert, and beyond it, Rado.  They say Rado is ruled by a woman, called the Governor.”
    She nodded.  “They might be becoming a problem to us.”
    He tried not to gape at the statement from her.  “How could they be, Majesty?  With the desert between your land and theirs, and the Mormons, and your own powers...”
    She held up a hand, silencing him.  “They have decided to set up a school for wizards.  I was hoping the Honcho would take care of them for me, but his invasion has failed.”
    He knew better than to ask how she knew this.  A school for wizards?  How would they find enough students?  On the heels of that came another thought: she fears this school.  There is no one to challenge her reign, here, but if someone started training wizards...
    “I was not aware of this, Majesty,” he said.  “But forgive me for asking, what has any of it to do with me?”
    Her eyes seemed to drill into him.  “I want you to go.  To attend this school of theirs.”
    He had thought himself past all surprise once he learned he was not here to die, but this rocked him back on his heels.  “Me, Majesty?”
    “You.”   The Queen turned and picked up a small object from a tray and tossed it to him.  Caught off guard, he reached out and nearly dropped it,  but as it bounced off his outstretched hand he managed to snag it with his other hand.
    He examined it.  It was a ring of blue metal, heavier than it looked.  He looked up at her.  “What is this for, majesty?”
    “You'll find out.  Keep it safe on your journey, and put it on when you reach the School.”
    He dropped it into a pocket.  “I don't understand, Majesty.”  He swallowed.  “Why would you want me to go to a school for wizards?”
    She smiled.  It was not a pretty smile.  “To destroy it.”
     
     

Chapter 14
     
    Kareef: The Second Birth
     
    “But it may happen that you hate a thing which is good for you.”
    – Quran 2:216
     
     
    It was still early, but he stood there in the road next to his new suitcase.  He supposed that he really should be breathless with excitement. At least he would no longer be breathless from walking the two miles to the madresah every day.
    He had a good view of the road.  His father's house stood on a little hill surrounded by fields. The road ran through these, with a path extending from it up to the house behind him. In much of the rest of the year, he would, by now, be seeing the fellahin , the peasants tending the fields, but now that they were going into Winter almost all crops had been harvested. The fields were acres of desolation, mirroring his mood exactly.  He felt like a piece of fruit that had been harvested and would be carried wherever others wished.
    In his prayers that morning as he had knelt on the sajjada, the prayer mat, he had tried to be thankful for his hajj .  But it was a struggle.  In his soul he was still grumbling.
    Movement out of the corner of his eye prompted him to swivel and catch sight of several vehicles coming down the road.  This must be it.  He picked up his suitcase and trudged carefully down the path to the road to meet them.
    The caravan consisted of three covered wagons, each like a wooden room on wheels drawn by two horses, plus an escort of four armed men on horseback  He gathered that one of the wagons must be for