The Wandering Dragon (Children of the Dragon Nimbus) by Irene Radford Read Free Book Online

they reached the top.
    “You must rest and eat. Meat and red wine will be brought to you soon.”
    “And a razor perhaps? I would like to shave.”
    “We’ll see.”
    Robb paused, waiting for what must come.
    “His Majesty will need you to dispatch the letter.”
    The blood drained out of Robb’s head, leaving him a bit dizzy and needing to lean against the wall. He knew Samlan’s powers, knew him capable of the spell. He also knew how much energy he would have to command with no ley lines or dragon magic available.
    “I do not believe the dispatch spell is any more reliable than a loyal courier sent by ship,” Maria said. “Two of the six letters the previous mage dispatched were never answered.”
    “W . . . who were they addressed to?”
    “You do not need to know that.”
    “If I knew, perhaps I could tell you if the receiver chose not to respond.”
    Maria dismissed that statement with a wave of her hand. “The other one, the mage who deserted the king in the end, assured us that a response, even a negative one, would come automatically. He’d know and report to the king the answer.”
    Not likely
, Robb thought. Samlan had told the king what he wanted to hear. Nothing more.
    “You will not be given the chance to desert us,” Maria reminded him as she unlocked the door to his cell. When she had returned the key to the chain at her belt, her hand went automatically to a pendant hidden from view by her gown and shift. “I cannot afford to lose you. I will send someone to fetch you when the king is ready for your next bit of magic.” She smiled knowingly, willing to keep his secrets.
    If he kept hers.
    She knew he’d embedded magic in the letter he’d just written. How?

CHAPTER 5
    L UKAN HALF-RAN FROM the palace, a sour taste in the back of his throat. He’d wanted to grab his brother in a desperate hug and just cling to him, sharing his grief, loneliness, and . . . just missing him.
    The knot of anger he harbored in his gut beat back that temporary moment of weakness. The thickness of unshed tears tasted like a bitter poison.
    He almost ran into the tall man he’d noticed earlier, just outside the gate. But he ran on, not caring if the stranger noted his path with his one good eye, the other badly scarred and burned.
    His sister Valeria had told him of a woody root that shrieked when pulled from the ground and looked like a carved doll. When properly prepared, in tiny doses, mixed with a healing tea that countered some of the poison in the root, it would kill alien growths inside a body. When not properly prepared, or in larger doses, it killed the patient within minutes.
    He imagined his emotions tasted like that acidic goo.
    “I’ll only get rid of it by proving myself as a magician and as a man,” he reminded himself. He looked at the lowering sun. If he set off within the hour he could row to Sacred Isle tonight. With luck he’d have his staff by morning and be on his way to Amazonia shortly thereafter.
    First things first. He needed to eat and to tell Skeller his plans. His rapid steps had already led him out of the palace and onto the first bridge toward the port. He’d studied the maps and knew the route to Sacred Isle. Presuming the flood had not washed away and altered all of the landmarks.
    Should he allow himself another day to prepare for the momentous occasion of earning a staff?
    Those thoughts took him most of the way to the port. The long wharf stretching out into the Bay and across a deep channel led him to the mainland spit filled with warehouses, chandler’s shops, fishnet menders, and taverns.
    Lots and lots of taverns. Every other building had a sign waving in the constant sea breeze. On each he saw an overflowing beer mug.
    Lukan paused to stare at the first seven that came into view. New beer wafted the enticing aromas of yeast and fermenting grains. Fresh-baked bread too. With his nose so full of welcoming scents and his stomach reminding him to eat, fully and