The Mage of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen Read Free Book Online Page A

shifted so quickly, after all. He might be all smiles by the time Calen reached him. And if he wasn’t, well, this time Calen would be ready, at least. He’d been caught too much by surprise earlier to do anything other than run. He thought that he could get a shield up in time to block Krelig’s attack for a few seconds, if he went in ready to do so. Long enough to get back out the door, at least.
    Unless he’s really trying to kill me next time,
he thought miserably. He didn’t think he could hold out even a few seconds against Krelig at full murderous strength.
    Calen pushed that idea away and made his way down the hall and back toward where he could sense Krelig waiting. The bell sound was usually, as now, accompanied by an awareness of Krelig’s presence in a certain direction, so that Calen could make his way directly to where his master was as quickly as possible.
    Never keep a crazy man waiting,
Calen thought to himself, crazily.
    He had to stop doing that.
    You’ve been talking to yourself in your head a lot lately.
    I know.
    When he arrived at the right place, Calen cleared his mind and tried to be ready. Then he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
    “Ah, Calen! There you are, my boy.” All smiles.
    Calen started to relax, but as he stepped into the room, he realized that Mage Krelig was not alone. Five other mages sat in chairs that had been arranged in a semicircle around where Krelig was sitting. They were looking at Calen curiously.
    “Come in, come in!” Krelig said, gesturing at Calen enthusiastically. “Our guests want to meet you.”
    Calen stepped cautiously forward. He hadn’t seen anyone other than Krelig in . . . weeks? Months? He had lost track of exactly how long he’d been here, he realized. It was strange to be around other people again. What were they doing here? For a second his heart seemed to stop inside him, caught in a sudden terrible fist of hope. Could they be here to try to get him out?
    Then he remembered Krelig’s announcement about expecting company.
    Oh. Of course.
He was an idiot.
    They were here to join Mage Krelig. Traitors to the Magistratum.
    Just like you.
    Shut up. I am not a traitor.
    He studied them more carefully, as they were studying him. Three men and two women, their faces all marked to various degrees, identifying them as mages and reflecting their levels of experience and ability.
    “
This
is the boy everyone was fighting about?” the younger of the two women asked. She had blazing red hair tied up in a loose knot behind her head. Calen guessed she was only a year or two older than he was, but the extent of the tattoos on her face was impressive. He’d seen mages much older than her with a lot fewer marks. He didn’t much care for her tone, though. And who was she calling a boy? She wasn’t exactly anyone’s grandmother!
    “I know he doesn’t look like much,” Krelig responded infuriatingly, “but he’s quite powerful. Not able to access all of it yet, but we’re working on that, aren’t we, Calen?”
    “Sure,” Calen said, his eyes still fixed on the others. A few of the mages seemed almost embarrassed to be there. Or to be seen there, maybe. They all seemed uncomfortable, anyway. Except the obnoxious girl.
    Krelig went on, seemingly oblivious to the tension among everyone else in the room. Or just not caring. He spoke directly to Calen, as though the others weren’t sitting right there. “These few are just the beginning. More will follow soon. You will see.”
    Calen nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
    “Mage Krelig,” one of the men said hesitantly, “what should we — what will —?”
    Krelig glanced at him sharply, as if he’d forgotten the other mages already. “Yes, yes,” he said. “We will talk about all of that soon enough. For now, I think you should rest. You must be tired after your long journey.” He turned back to Calen again. “Take our guests upstairs and show them to their rooms.”
    The obnoxious