The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan Read Free Book Online Page B

corner of the room was a mess. The walls were cracked, and the floor and furniture scorched. He moved to the threshold and stared at the destruction.
    “What would you say did this?”
    Recognising the voice, Jayan turned to see that Lord Dakon was sitting in a chair facing the mess, his head resting on one hand and his elbow on the arm of the chair. His expression was one of absorbed thoughtfulness.
    That side of the room, Jayan noted, hadn’t suffered any damage at all. He turned back to examine the damage critically.
    “Takado,” Jayan replied. The destruction must have a magical cause, and Dakon wouldn’t have asked the question if he’d done it himself.
    “I thought so too, at first. But it doesn’t make sense.”
    “No? You weren’t here at the time, then?”
    “No.” Dakon rose and looked down at the floor rug. One corner of it had been scorched. He stepped onto the burnt patch and turned round. Then he pointed to the floor a few steps away. “Stand there.”
    Mystified, Jayan obeyed.
    “That’s where Tessia was lying.”
    “Tessia?” Jayan asked. “The healer’s daughter?” Then he added. “
Lying
?”
    “Yes.” Dakon backed away, looking over his shoulder as he stepped over a broken chair. When he was nearly in the corner of the room where the scorching was the worst, he stopped. “This is where Takado was standing when I arrived.”
    Jayan raised his eyebrows. “What was Tessia doing in the room with Takado?”
    “She had come to tend to Hanara.”
    “Hanara?”
    “The slave.”
    “The slave was in here?”
    “No – a few doors down, in the servant’s closet.”
    “So why was she in here, on the floor? Or… why was Takado in here with her?” Jayan looked down at his feet, then over at Lord Dakon, and felt a shiver run across his skin as he realised which direction all the scorch marks ran in. “Oh.”
    Dakon smiled and stepped back over the chair. “Yes. The answer to those questions may be less relevant than their consequences. Whatever the reason those two were in here alone together, with the door closed, the result was something neither expected.”
    “It left her on the floor and . . .” Jayan look pointedly over Dakon’s shoulder, “did that. From the looks of it, I’d say she didn’t much like Takado’s company.”
    Which meant Tessia used magic
, he thought.
Surely not…
    The magician sighed. “We can’t dismiss the possibility that the Sachakan arranged this to look that way, so we would jump to conclusions about her. I can’t see why – except as a joke. But if he didn’t . . .” He shrugged and let the sentence hang.
    If he didn’t, then Tessia is a natural.
    Jayan watched his master closely, trying to judge what the man felt about this unexpected turn of events. By law, Kyralian magicians had to train naturals, no matter who they were, or what social status they had. Dakon did not look dismayed, but he didn’t look particularly pleased, either. Instead, he seemed worried. Lines Jayan hadn’t noticed before marked his forehead and each side of his mouth. That bothered the apprentice on another level. He had always been smugly relieved to have a teacher young enough to still be active and, well, not a boring, lecturing old man. Though Dakon was eighteen years older than Jayan, his mind was still youthful enough to be interesting, while knowledgeable enough to be a good resource. Jayan enjoyed Dakon’s company as much as his lessons.
    And what do I think of Tessia joining us?
He tried to imagine having the same sorts of conversations with a woman – and commoner – in the room, and couldn’t.
    Tessia was by no means Dakon’s social equal, so perhaps she would not always be a part of their social evenings.
No
, he decided.
She will have lessons separately, too, because they’ll be so basic there won’t be much point my being there. But she’ll demand a lot of Dakon’s time.
    Abruptly, Jayan realised there was much he disliked about this turn of