Warlord's Revenge Read Free

wasn’t asking you or Mordant.” With long, twig-like fingers, Raydon picked up a water bottle at his feet and tipped it onto the little fire. It steamed and fizzled out. “The water displaces oxygen and turns to steam,” he said. “Which moves heat away from the fire. It’s a very effective way of putting out most fires, used across the universe. If you are in normal gravity.” He paused for a moment. “But we’re in space, and in an emergency the gravity might fail. What happens then?”
    The class was silent.
    “Nothing to say, Talliver or Riley? Stumped you, have I, eh? Well, let’s try it, shall we?” Raydon stood up. “Please strap on your QuickFans. Zepp, give me zero-gravity and cancel the holo program.”
    “Certainly, Professor Raydon,” Zepp replied, as John pulled the QuickFan harness over his shoulders and buckled it at his chest.
    The hill and forest vanished. The class now stood in a large domed room, covered with what looked like small white studs. These were the hologram projectors that could create any environment imaginable . Feeling a lightness in his stomach as the gravity was turned off, John flicked the switch on his QuickFan, thanking his stars that Kaal had taught him how to use one – for once, he wasn’t going to embarrass himself by thrashing around like a drowning cat in zero-gravity. Buzzing blades whirred as the machine on his back came to life. John’s feet left the ground as the small propeller shot him towards the ceiling. He cut the power after a second and floated to a stop a few metres above the floor. Around him the rest of the class did the same, seventeen students from seventeen different worlds hanging in a circle in mid-air.
    In the centre, Professor Raydon pulled a small white sphere from a leather pouch at his hip. Clicking a small device, he set fire to it and let go as the flames caught.
    John stared. A ball of fire, about the size of a football, spun in the air, its surface boiling gold, red, and white. It looked beautiful. Like a tiny sun , he thought.
    “Who would like to try and extinguish the flame?”
    Once again, Mordant’s tentacle shot up. Raydon ignored it. Angling his own QuickFan so that he drifted away from the fireball, he said, “John, as you know so much about water, why don’t you come here and try.”
    “Umm... OK, sir.” Carefully, John flew to the centre of the circle, stopping when he could feel the heat of the flames on his face.
    “Here’s your water,” said the professor, tossing him a bottle.
    John caught it, twisted off the lid, and squeezed it towards the fire. Water spurted out, forming a quivering bubble in zero-gravity. John watched as it wobbled towards the fireball, expecting it to put the fire out as soon as it touched the flame. Instead, the two balls – fire and water – met with a slight hiss and the fireball simply moved away, still burning brightly.
    “Try again,” Professor Raydon said.
    This time, John squeezed the bottle harder, sending a gush of smaller bubbles towards the fireball. The result was exactly the same, though this time the ball moved away more quickly.
    “Hey, don’t send it in this direction, John,” said Lishtig ar Steero. He hastily adjusted his QuickFan to move himself from the fireball’s path, snatching his trailing ponytail of purple hair out of the way just in time.
    “Sorry, Lishtig,” John grinned. He chased the ball of flame through floating bubbles of water, lining up for a third shot.
    “Allow me to put it out for you,” the teacher said, flying over and taking the bottle from his hand.
    To John’s amazement, instead of squirting it at the fire, Raydon tucked the water bottle into his pocket. Empty-handed, he twisted in the air until he was facing the fireball. “OUT!” he barked loudly.
    The flames flickered and vanished.
    “H-how on Earth, did you do that?” John stammered. Around him, the rest of the class looked on in stunned silence.
    Professor Raydon spun slowly in