The Makers of Light by Lynna Merrill Read Free Book Online

well have just made Dominick a reprobate himself, but it got stuck in his mind and refused to go away.
    Well, he was in the dark forest. To find those lost, he must walk where he might lose himself. Where, as Maxim had said, only a true Mentor could walk and come back.
    "I am sorry." He looked into the old woman's eyes, ignoring the whispers behind him. "My own pathway this might have been, but it met Calia and Gerard's pathway, too, and here it meets more pathways still. It might all be a coincidence, but I do not believe that it is. Now that I am here, how does one find this place?"
    "Brother."
    Dominick winced inwardly. It was the man who had made sure that all knew Dominick was a Mentor. His soft, quiet voice was right next to Dominick's ear, but Dominick had not felt him approach. So, a man who could sneak behind your back easily.
    "Oh, Brother. Isn't it enough to know that the Mother herself has led you here? That you followed the pathway of her grace? That even if you tried, you could not lead anyone else here, either, because the Mother has to lead everyone herself?"
    "No ... Brother. It is not enough. Besides, I do not know this."
    Voices were raised behind his back, no more whispers, but loud voices, almost shouts. Perhaps someone would throw something at him soon, or even throw something at someone else despite the lack of an obvious reason for that. Useless reprobates, with attention span that could not cover two things at a time. Useless humans. A moment ago, their minds must have been fully occupied with food, but now they remembered the Mentor—and, one basic appetite satisfied, they sought to satisfy another, that for destruction.
    He should be careful. His contempt must have shown on his face, or the gray-haired man must have sensed it in another way. He cast Dominick a glance full of sharpness, then his eyes glazed with kindness one more time.
    "Brother. You should know that the Mother was with you, for otherwise you would not have found a way. No one knows the ways, or chooses the ways. We follow where the Mother leads. You have a lot to learn, dear Brother. You have to learn how to be humble first."
    "He can learn nothing, he is a Mentor! Mentor, Mister Gabriel Flint, do you understand?" Another voice, from the crowd.
    Then, "Leave him alone, he saved Mother! He has learned something, obviously!" The wispy-haired girl.
    "We can learn from him. Mentors have Magic of their own. He might be willing to share it if tortured." Gerard, as could be expected.
    Then other voices, clatter, shouts, until Gabriel Flint raised a hand. The shouts subsided to murmurs, people watching Dominick, Gabriel Flint, and Hannelore, who sat on her chair and had not said a word. Dominick pretended to ignore them, and he did ignore their threats and dirty glances—at least, he was not afraid of them. You did not become a Mentor if you were easily frightened. Alternatively, soon enough you either stopped being easily frightened or stopped being a Mentor.
    He pretended to ignore them, but he watched them. He watched and listened, and knew that Hannelore was the one in charge but the crowd heeded Gabriel Flint, too, which Hannelore did not necessarily approve of. Interesting. Dominick had not often reflected on reprobates out of the context of bringing them to the right path, and today he had learned (even though he was not actually surprised) that there were more wrong paths than just one, that reprobates could be very different from each other.
    "So, will you answer me? Who are you, madam, and what are the powers that serve you—or the powers you serve?" Dominick had used the silence caused by Gabriel Flint to speak before Gabriel Flint could speak himself, and he saw Gabriel Flint's eyes narrow.
    "Why so many questions, Brother Mentor?" the man said. "Your own kind forbids questions and doubts."
    There it was, the moment when he had to come up with an answer. The moment when, deep in the dark, devastating forest, he had to start