Dreamwielder Read Free Page B

soldier and horse smoldering nearby. “Come with me,” Caile continued. “My father, the King, can protect you. You will have to stay under lock and key, but you will be well fed and treated kindly, that I can promise you.” He reached his hand out toward her. “Please.”
    She smiled, and for a moment Caile thought he had reached her, but then the wildness repossessed her eyes. “Your father can’t help me. No one can. It’s too late. We’re all doomed.”
    â€œNo wait,” Caile tried to plead with her, but she flung her hands above her head, drawing her power around her. Caile stood paralyzed, staring into her wild eyes, realizing he was about to die. Sparks danced at her fingertips, and her lips parted as she began to scream the command that would unleash his fiery death. His body tensed in anticipation, but then the young woman gasped in surprise and collapsed to her knees, the tip of an arrow protruding from one of her eyes. She crumpled face first to the ground, and Lorentz emerged from the forest behind her, another arrow notched and ready. He and Caile exchanged a look, not a look of victory but rather of sorrow and understanding. Lorentz returned to the troops, and Caile stood gazing upon the slain firewielder until Taera came and pulled him away by the hand.
    â€œYou tried, Caile,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

3
The Shadow Grows
    Caile let out a weary sigh as he plopped down into a chair in his father’s study, high in the upper reaches of Castle Pyrthin. King Casstian Delios, too, breathed heavily as he sat and stared into the flames of the fireplace before them. It had already been late by the time Caile, Taera, and their procession reached Kal Pyrthin, and then there was the formal reception with the well-rehearsed greetings and the state dinner in the dining hall where nothing but pleasantries could be uttered for fear of being overheard. That was all thankfully over now, and it was well past midnight. The two of them—king and son—sat silently for a long time, staring into the fire.
    â€œTaera told me of Cargan,” Caile said eventually. “I’m sorry.”
    â€œAs are we all,” his father replied, not looking up from the fire. “He was a fine man. He would have made a fine king.”
    â€œHave you learned any more of what happened? You can’t believe this nonsense about him dying in a drunken brawl?”
    â€œSo was the word from Col Sargoth, so it was.”
    â€œFather,” Caile said, leaning forward in his chair, “you know as well as I do that Cargan was a better man than that.”
    â€œA better man than you, for sure, but what can I do? Shall I call the Emperor a liar and bring his wrath down upon Pyrthinia? Is that what you want?”
    â€œOr course not,” Caile snapped, immediately regretting losing his temper and reminding himself to stay calm. “I’m not the foolish boy I was when I left, Father.”
    â€œThen what of this business on the road with the firewielder? Are you mad? Trying to speak reason to such a person. You would have been killed if it weren’t for Lorentz.”
    â€œShe was a girl, no older than me, not some vile creature. When I left, you had an arrangement, offering amnesty for any sorcerers who turned themselves in and agreed to live here under your watch.”
    â€œThat was five years ago. Times have changed. Emperor Guderian…”
    â€œEmperor!” Caile spat. “This is no empire. This is the Five Kingdoms, and you are the King of Pyrthinia. Guderian is the King of Sargoth, nothing more.”
    â€œI’m afraid the Five Kingdoms are no more, son. With each passing day he wrests more power away from us. Nothing can be done.”
    Caile thrust himself back into the cushions of his chair, and neither of them said anything for a long while. Caile stared with a mixture of sadness and disgust at his father, a man who