Jake's Justice, Book Three of Wizards Read Free

witch smiling made me want to check that my balls were still attached. I knew she wanted me dead for killing her nephew, the aforementioned Talder Plath. “You have a certain purity that will make it easy to get you accepted as our representative.”
    Purity? They had to be joking.
    “Representative for what?”
    Delft Lagan joined the conversation. He was the most personable of the three: young, blond, blue-eyed and as dangerous as a cornered rattlesnake. “There is a conference coming up between the intelligent species of the universe. We would like you to represent us.”
    I knew it was too good to be true, but I needed their power to have any chance of stopping Bronwyn. She was far more powerful than these three believed.
    “I want all of your power. I’ll leave you enough to hop back to Valhalla , but I want the rest.”
    Brindel shook his head. “You cannot have the capacity to absorb that much.”
    “Then you have nothing to fear, do you? If I can’t take it, you won’t lose it.”
    Brindel looked to the others for approval and they nodded reluctantly. A wizard drained was a vulnerable wizard and they must hate the thought of that. I knew that feeling all too well.
    “Before you can sign the agreement, we are required by the conference rules to give you the details of the arrangement. This will take quite a long time,” Brindel said.
    I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. It had been a long day and I never bothered to read the small print on things anyway, despite what Dad always told me.
    “I’ll take your word for it.”
    I should have twigged that they were up to something because Lind smiled, but I was far too tired to care. Brindel rolled out a long parchment on his desk and offered me a sharp knife and a quill. I should have known I would have to sign in blood.
     
    I was brought back to the present by Esmeralda’s contemptuous laugh.
    “He would never have agreed to that.”
    I leaned over and whispered in Jenny’s ear. “Agreed to what? I was miles away.”
    Jenny gave me a look that could have curdled milk and hissed at me. “Because you are a delegate of the Valhallans, they get given the locations of all the hidden worlds, the dragon worlds and all the human worlds the other delegates represent. How could you agree to it?”
    It seemed the dragons had no trouble hearing our whispers. They were probably reading our minds.
    [AND THE EARTH. THEY WILL KNOW WHERE YOUR HOME WORLD IS.]
    I looked up at the ancient dragon in disbelief. “Well then, I won’t go.”
    [IT IS NO LONGER YOUR CHOICE. YOU HAVE SIGNED THE CONTRACT AND WILL BE FORCED TO ATTEND. YOUR IMAGE AND SIGNATURE HAS BEEN POSTED ACROSS THE WORLDS. IT IS KNOWN YOU WILL PASS THE TEST AND THE INFORMATION WILL BE DISCLOSED. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST TIME A REPRESENTATIVE OF VALHALLA HAS EVER BEEN ACCEPTED. THE FIRST TIME A WIZARD OF PURITY HAS READ THE TERMS AND STILL SIGNED THE CONTRACT.]
    “I waived reading the terms,” I said. Jenny and Esmeralda gave me looks of sheer incredulity. “I was trying to stop you two getting killed.”
    [YOU ARE AN INCREDIBLY STUPID WIZARD, JAKE MORRISSEY.]
    He had me there. And maybe Fluffy hadn’t betrayed me after all. Not if my face and signature were up on some multiverse notice board.
    “There must be some way out of this?”
    The dragon nodded. [THERE IS ONE. IF YOU DIE BEFORE THE CONFERENCE STARTS.]
    The reason for their presence here became strikingly obvious. They hadn’t come to remonstrate with me. They’d come to kill me before my stupidity got them killed. There was no doubt what the Valhallans would do with the knowledge they’d obtain. Human worlds would fall to them and there were many uses for captured dragons. Even the elves, or whatever they were, could be blackmailed.
    Esmeralda waved her jar at them. “This is Dragonsbane. Go now, before I open it and doom you all.”
    She’s a tigress, my Esmeralda. The dragons seemed less impressed.
    [OPEN IT IF YOU MUST.]
    She hadn’t