Read Online Honor Crowned by Michael G. Southwick - Free Book Online

certain everyone else had been fed did he accept some for himself.
    Jorem would have liked to have taken the time to enjoy the meal.  The food was basic meat and cheese sandwiches, but whoever had prepared the sandwiches hadn’t stinted on the meat or the cheese.  Although he wolfed down the sandwich, he did take the time to lick every morsel from his fingers.
    Shortly after he started digging again, the five children he had recruited returned.  He had them take breaks one at a time to keep them from wearing out.  For himself, he didn’t stop until it was too dark to see.  Every shovel full he didn’t move would have to be moved by someone else.  His had been the first shovel into the ground and it would be the last out.
    Leaning on his shovel, Jorem watched as the men, women and children made their way back to the Keep.  An elderly gentleman stood beside a silver-haired woman sitting on the ground.  The man reached down and helped the woman to stand.  Once up, she melted into the man’s arms and they just stood there, holding one another.
    “Someday,” thought Jorem, “someday I want…”
    In the blink of an eye he found himself standing in a dark cavern.  Jen stood before him.  Her eyes were tightly closed and her arms were stretched out to her sides, palms out and fingers spread wide.  She wore a simple tunic, so white it nearly glowed in the meager light filtering through the cavern.
    A flash of light behind him caused him to whirl around and draw his sword.  Only then did he realize he was not really here, not physically anyway.  The sword he’d drawn was just a transparent image of his own.  Whether it could actually do him any good he didn’t know.
    Another light flashed and struck an invisible barrier just inches from his face.  The light spread across the barrier like a webbing of cracks on a window.  As the cracks intersected, small chunks of the barrier fell to the floor and disappeared.
    Jorem braced himself for whatever onslaught he was about to face.  He knew most magic had no effect when used directly on him.  What a mage-born fireball thrown in his face would do he preferred not to find out.  Mage fire boiled water just as well as any other fire.  Besides, he wasn’t really here, so he should be safe—well, maybe.
    “Jorem, no!”  Jen’s voice came from behind him.  “It’s just training.  They won’t really hurt me.  They’re trying to help me learn how to shield properly.”
    Jorem wondered who “they” were, but no one approached to satisfy his curiosity.
    “Who?” Jorem asked.
    “The Noorsai.   They live here.  I don’t really know much about them except that they know a lot about magic and they serve someone called Echalain.  They won’t come near when I’m projecting.  They say it’s too ‘brogutal’.  That’s their word.  I think it means strong or big or old.  I’m still trying to figure that out.”
    Jen’s shields had proven to be a major problem.  When she was able to get them up, they started to crumble within moments.  After her shields crumbled to useless shards, she hadn’t known she needed to dispel them.  She had ended up with layer after layer of shield shards surrounding her.  Those shards had not only prevented her from using her healing abilities properly, it had kept her and Jorem’s bonding from happening.
    “You must be getting better then,” Jorem said.  “Your shield stopped whatever the flash was.”
    “Well, at least they don’t fall apart by themselves now.  That flash shouldn’t have done anything more than a pebble thrown at a stone wall.  It’s so frustrating.”
    Seeing Jen’s determination actually made Jorem relax.  She was regaining her confidence and getting back to the strong-willed girl he’d met years ago.  Zensa’s decision to bring her here had definitely been the right one.
    Jorem thought for a moment before speaking.  “I know there are different kinds of shields.  Some of the