The Last of the Sages (Sage Trilogy, Book 1) by Julius St. Clair Read Free Book Online Page A

There are others, but before you can join the general class, you have to pass the preliminary course. It won’t take long. Until then, you will remain in solitude.”
    “And what is the preliminary course?”
    “That,” Arimus mused behind his scraggly beard, “will have to remain a mystery. An important part of the course is its uncertainty, designed to keep you up all night with wild notions of deadly scenarios.”
    “How is keeping me up all night supposed to help?”
    “So you won’t have the clarity and dexterity you will need tomorrow. If you can’t pass this, there is no point in going further. It would be wise of you to take every test at the Academy with great concern.”
    James regretted asking. The last thing he needed was to stay up all night wondering what he’d have to endure the next day, but now that was exactly what he was sure to do. Only one thing comforted him and gave him a sliver of hope. The fatherly tone in Arimus’s voice. From the sound of it, Arimus would be giving the course in the morning, and he didn’t seem like a cutthroat proctor. Of course, that could all be a part of the façade, but there was still something trustworthy emanating from him. James had no doubt the mysterious test would be hard, but he figured that at least his life wasn’t in danger.
    “I’ll take it seriously,” he said. Arimus glanced up at the entrance to the fortress that was the Sentinel Academy. The creaking oak doors opened for a second under a gust of the wind and Arimus immediately shut it, giving James just enough time to see that the building inside looked more like a prison than a school. He felt his stomach knot up.
    “This will not be a vacation,” Arimus confirmed. “But we do have the bare essentials.”
    “I couldn’t have put it any better,” James said under his breath, recalling the abundance of grey colors and dreary decorations.
    “This is actually not the original academy building, in case you are wondering. That was destroyed in the siege of ’88. I assume you know a little about our history.”
    “My father tells me nothing.”
    “You didn’t learn anything in school about the Kingdom? Particularly the siege of ‘88?”
    “I can’t say I was an avid listener.”
    “Then I will tell you a little about the layout of this Academy for now. We’ll discuss history at a later date. However, if your mind strays, I will bring it back. Agreed?”
    James took a deep breath, concentrating on the words that would come out of Arimus’s mouth. He didn’t feel like getting slapped twice in the same night.
    “I’m ready.”
    “Well, as I hope you know, the Kingdom as a whole is not without its share of defenses. Besides its walls, it is also surrounded by a thick wall of vegetation, filled to the brink with lethal creatures and animals. If an enemy happened to survive the sixty mile hike through the forest, then they would have to somehow make their way through the shield of fog that circles the outer perimeter. Most of the fog is due to the heavy precipitation we receive and the condensation caused by the forest swamps.”
    “Is that why it’s so gloomy around here?”
    “Mostly. This training facility happens to be right on the edge of the fog shield.”
    “Why?”
    “This facility is the first line of defense in case of an attack. The south side, where we now stand, is the only entrance that faces out toward the other Kingdoms. The other sides are quite guarded, so unless they are very resourceful, the enemy must enter here, which for them is a very bad thing. The first thing they see as their vision slowly clears is the tint of our blades and their blood spilling violently to the ground.”
    James followed Arimus’s eyes back to the colossal steel doors that he had come through earlier.
    “The other three entrances are guarded on the outside by graduated sentinel armies. And to climb one of the high walls that surround us is physically impossible, and quite impractical,