Tell Me My Name Read Free Page B

breathe, and my jaw, clenched
to keep my teeth from clattering, is no longer capable of obeying
my will.
    The young man starts to speak, but his
master holds up one hand and forms a fist, and the youth’s mouth
snaps shut as if it’s been compelled by magic.
    “ I make my decisions based
on generations’ worth of collected knowledge,” the magician says in
a low growl. “No one here is worthy of challenging its wisdom,
least of all a seventeen-year-old apprentice.” His expression
relaxes, taking on a gentler, almost fatherly look. “You have much
to learn, young one. I know this is difficult for you to
understand, but what I’m doing is for the greater good. Someday,
the fate of the world could rest on our work here. As for the
creature–” He shoots me a brief glance. “–Never forget the
destruction her kind has wrought in the past. She’s dangerous, and
for your own safety, you must not speak to her.”
    He unclenches his fist, and the young
man inhales sharply through his mouth. I’m now certain that this
man used magic to prevent his apprentice from speaking. If he can
hold such power over one of his own, what would he do to me? And
why would he think I’m dangerous? I back into the wall, wishing I
could disappear into it. The ice stings my skin, but I barely feel
it through my anger.
    It has dawned on me that I must have
been imprisoned for a reason. Does he mean to use me for some
wicked purpose of his? What did he mean by my “kind”?
    Suddenly, he raises his hand toward
the gap in wall. Thick ice crawls down from the ceiling and up from
the floor, slowly filling the window between us with its frozen
crystals. Realizing that he means to close me off again, I rush
forward.
    “ Stop!” I cry, grabbing one
of the bars. The metal is so cold it’s painful to touch, and I
quickly draw my hand back. “Don’t leave me here! Please, tell me
why you’ve trapped me! Tell me what I’ve done!”
    The magician ignores me and continues
his spell, but his apprentice turns and faces me. Does he still
feel some kind of sympathy toward me? Or have his master’s words
turned him cold as well? My heart protests the latter thought,
telling me that he was the only one with the courage to speak up,
instead of blindly obeying the master, and that kind of courage
can’t possibly fade so quickly.
    “ Please,” I say for what
feels like the hundredth time, and my voice trembles. “Please
…”
    He firms his mouth, then steps in
front of his master. He must block the spell, for the ice stops
growing, leaving a jagged, almost square window, bisected by a
single iron bar.
    The magician scowls at him, and it
contorts his face into something so hideous that I almost draw back
from it. “How dare you!” He throws his hand toward the apprentice
in a forceful gesture, his fingers curved like claws, and the youth
slams into the cell’s wall as if blown by a hurricane. His head
crashes against the metal bar before me, and the sound of the
impact rings in my ears.
    I cry out as he collapses to the
ground, and for several moments he appears to be unconscious, lying
in a heap with the thick hood of his cloak covering his face.
Finally he sits up, but before he can stand, the master stretches
one finger toward him. The boy freezes, caught in an invisible
spell.
    “ What was the meaning of
your insubordination?” the magician growls.
    “ We can’t leave her like
this, Master.” The apprentice’s words are strained with forced
deference. “She–”
    “ Weakling!” The man punches
his hand forward, hurling the apprentice into the wall again, and a
second crash reverberates through the dungeon.
    “ Stop!” I yell. Though I
can’t see what happened from my current angle, the sound was more
than enough. The punishment seems unreasonably cruel, and my anger
rises at the injustice, filling my heart with a crackling force. I
glare at the master, wishing I could slam him into a metal bar. “He didn’t