Read Online A Dragon Born by Jordan Baker - Free Book Online

just make gold, just like that?" she asked. Stavros chuckled.
    "No," he said. "I suppose I could make gold if I really wanted to, but it would be too much effort. I simply called it from another place where I had put it for safe keeping."
    "Is there a reward?" Carly stared at the mountain of gold. Stavros glanced at her.
    "A reward?"
    "Yes, a reward, for getting Aaron here safely and saving him from Cerric's men and that mage, Dakar?"
    "I suppose you have been helpful. What kind of reward do you think you deserve?"
    Carly was not sure how to respond. She was used to bargaining for things or working out arrangements and there was a time when she would have made an unabashed demand for a reward, but that time was fading. The mage who sat before her was powerful and the gold in the pouch represented a small fortune, but she knew she had not helped Aaron for money. She was not sure why she had helped him, except that she had wanted to help the princess and it seemed the right thing to do, that and things had become too dangerous at Rivergate. Still, she did not have to bring Aaron all the way to Meer. They could have parted ways in Forsian or at the port at the river's end. Carly shrugged, her eyes turning to Aaron.
    "I don't know," she said.
    "Perhaps I can help you. Is there something you want? Something meaningful to you, perhaps?" Stavros asked with an amused look in his eyes.
    "Well, I would like to get my ship back."
     

 
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Cerric opened one book after another, magically flipping through their pages, but he found nothing of value. All the books the mage priests had collected in the storehouse turned out to be completely useless for they held no clue to what he was looking for, or more precisely, what the god, Kroma was looking for. He felt the powerful essence of the god flowing within him and the consciousness that was not his own gripping his mind, influencing his every thought, like echoes that happened before instead of after, and there was something else, darker and filled with rage that lived beneath the personality that threatened to consume him. Cerric was at once terrified and exhilarated at the sensation and he reveled in his newfound godhood, all the while slipping deeper into the infinite darkness.
    "Can I be of some assistance, your highness?" Dakar asked. Cerric threw the book against the wall.
    "What assistance could you possibly render me, mage?"
    "Perhaps if I knew what it was you were looking for, I could help. There are many mages here who could join in the search."
    Almost immediately after the ceremony in which he had been married to the Xallan queen and was inhabited by the god, Kroma, Cerric had begun an intense search of the palace, the armory, the Academy, and every book repository and weapons room in Maramyr. The god-king had practically torn apart half the city looking for something and, whatever it was, he had not yet found it and Dakar could sense the god-king's frustration.
    "No need," he rumbled. "That which I seek is not here."
    "We have faithfully collected every magical tome from the library and transported them to this place. That is what you instructed in the holy book, is it not?"
    "Your understanding of the book is rudimentary, mage," Cerric told him. "Do not presume to know my mind."
    "I would never make such a presumption, my lord," Dakar said. "I only with to serve my god."
    "You only seek reward, Dakar. Do not forget, I know your mind and I see your innermost thoughts. Though I find it amusing, your playing at humility and servitude is a weak pretence. You seek power, something I do not disapprove of, but remember this; your power is mine, and you exist by my grace. Now quit this sniveling and groveling and embrace your power. Take what power you can, mage, for that is the way of things."
    "Yes, of course, your highness. I am grateful for your infinite wisdom." Dakar replied. It appeared that Cerric and the god Kroma were one and the same, or at least