Read Online Memories of Ash (The Sunbolt Chronicles Book 2) by Intisar Khanani - Free Book Online
Authors: Intisar Khanani
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to run. It’s vital that those who see me think I’m not inside the enclosure, that I’m on the other side of the wall. That there’s nothing for them to see here.
Gripping a smoker in my hand, I approach the stone sides of the portal, using their bulk to shade me from the mage’s sight. I inhale and gather the magic I’ll need to activate the portal — the age-old air, pine-scented and river-damp, the growth of moss on the stones underfoot, slow and sure.
“You!” A glance shows me the mage turning toward me, hand extended. Behind him, the group of men stares at me, mouths agape. “Halt!”
I smack the smoker against the side of the portal, smoke enveloping me at once. Now. Sensing the sigil glowing pale blue in the stone, I pour my magic into it as I trace the lines as fast as I can, my eyesight clouded by darkness. Open , I command — and it does.
A force smashes into my shield, tearing through it and knocking me sideways against stone. Swallowing a cry, I push myself off the arch and stumble through the portal.
The world disappears. I’m floating, suspended in night, portals shining all around me like distant stars in foreign constellations. I find the one to Fidanya with hardly a thought. The spider-silk path between us beams bright and strong. It has obviously been traveled by more than a few mages recently. And another one about to come in after me, no doubt.
Tightening my focus, I lean forward. The magic of the portal grips me at once, pulling me along until I’m spinning through a vortex of flickering lights — doorways and their pathways racing by, perhaps even other travelers. I’ve experienced this rush before, a lifetime ago when Blackflame sent Kol and his retinue through a portal to their home. Then, it shimmered past me and I barely caught more than a flash of dizzying lights.
Now, though, I need to concentrate. The mage will likely have entered behind me. Like me, he’ll have identified which path was last used. The moment after I step out of the portal, he’ll follow me out, and I won’t be ready to defend myself. Not against a warrior trained to attack. I need to escape him before then.
As I careen forward, I widen my focus, pressing outward with my mage senses. Three more paths cross mine before my destination. The first hurtles past before I can assess it. The second is bright and shiny — but the last, to my left, glimmers pink so faintly I almost miss it. I swerve onto it with a magic-fueled leap that nearly sends me flying into darkness, the light around me devolving into tangled strands that pull at my body. My bones slam against the sack of my skin as if they might rip through.
I scream into the void, pain obliterating my concentration. Black spots streak across my vision. This is why portals are dangerous. I can feel myself sliding, the route as slippery in my mind’s grasp as fine thread.
No. I cling hard to the portal with its ancient path, push back with all my force, ignore the pain, staring wide-eyed past the darkness that blurs my sight. For a single agonizing moment, I teeter on the edge of a nightmare precipice. Then the momentum of my new direction sucks me in, steadying me as it pulls me forward into a new vortex of light twisting around me.
The open portal flashes before me. With a gasp of relief, I tumble through it. But there’s no city on the other side of this portal, no crowds to lose myself in or alleys to flee down. There is only sun and dust and the broken walls of a forgotten fortress, silent as a tomb.
I take two shaky steps forward into the debris-strewn courtyard. Agony ripples out from each strained joint, tendons and muscles pulled nearly to snapping.
I gulp down a breath, assess my surroundings. The stone portal stands at the center of an interior courtyard, littered with broken tiles and stones from the surrounding walls of a great fortress. The sun is already bright overhead. The air tastes of dust, hot and bereft of moisture. All around
Gripping a smoker in my hand, I approach the stone sides of the portal, using their bulk to shade me from the mage’s sight. I inhale and gather the magic I’ll need to activate the portal — the age-old air, pine-scented and river-damp, the growth of moss on the stones underfoot, slow and sure.
“You!” A glance shows me the mage turning toward me, hand extended. Behind him, the group of men stares at me, mouths agape. “Halt!”
I smack the smoker against the side of the portal, smoke enveloping me at once. Now. Sensing the sigil glowing pale blue in the stone, I pour my magic into it as I trace the lines as fast as I can, my eyesight clouded by darkness. Open , I command — and it does.
A force smashes into my shield, tearing through it and knocking me sideways against stone. Swallowing a cry, I push myself off the arch and stumble through the portal.
The world disappears. I’m floating, suspended in night, portals shining all around me like distant stars in foreign constellations. I find the one to Fidanya with hardly a thought. The spider-silk path between us beams bright and strong. It has obviously been traveled by more than a few mages recently. And another one about to come in after me, no doubt.
Tightening my focus, I lean forward. The magic of the portal grips me at once, pulling me along until I’m spinning through a vortex of flickering lights — doorways and their pathways racing by, perhaps even other travelers. I’ve experienced this rush before, a lifetime ago when Blackflame sent Kol and his retinue through a portal to their home. Then, it shimmered past me and I barely caught more than a flash of dizzying lights.
Now, though, I need to concentrate. The mage will likely have entered behind me. Like me, he’ll have identified which path was last used. The moment after I step out of the portal, he’ll follow me out, and I won’t be ready to defend myself. Not against a warrior trained to attack. I need to escape him before then.
As I careen forward, I widen my focus, pressing outward with my mage senses. Three more paths cross mine before my destination. The first hurtles past before I can assess it. The second is bright and shiny — but the last, to my left, glimmers pink so faintly I almost miss it. I swerve onto it with a magic-fueled leap that nearly sends me flying into darkness, the light around me devolving into tangled strands that pull at my body. My bones slam against the sack of my skin as if they might rip through.
I scream into the void, pain obliterating my concentration. Black spots streak across my vision. This is why portals are dangerous. I can feel myself sliding, the route as slippery in my mind’s grasp as fine thread.
No. I cling hard to the portal with its ancient path, push back with all my force, ignore the pain, staring wide-eyed past the darkness that blurs my sight. For a single agonizing moment, I teeter on the edge of a nightmare precipice. Then the momentum of my new direction sucks me in, steadying me as it pulls me forward into a new vortex of light twisting around me.
The open portal flashes before me. With a gasp of relief, I tumble through it. But there’s no city on the other side of this portal, no crowds to lose myself in or alleys to flee down. There is only sun and dust and the broken walls of a forgotten fortress, silent as a tomb.
I take two shaky steps forward into the debris-strewn courtyard. Agony ripples out from each strained joint, tendons and muscles pulled nearly to snapping.
I gulp down a breath, assess my surroundings. The stone portal stands at the center of an interior courtyard, littered with broken tiles and stones from the surrounding walls of a great fortress. The sun is already bright overhead. The air tastes of dust, hot and bereft of moisture. All around
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