Read Online Memories of Ash (The Sunbolt Chronicles Book 2) by Intisar Khanani - Free Book Online Page A

stretches a vast quiet: nothing moves, no bird chirps, neither leaf nor cloth rustles in the wind. This is hardly a welcoming land.
    My first concern, however, is the mage following me. I don’t want to be standing here if he steps through the portal.
    The main entry to this inner courtyard has been made impassable by the collapse of the buildings that must have once towered over it — but there’s one other option. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I stumble toward a vaguely door-shaped hole in the wall behind the portal.
    Halfway across the open ground, a ripple of magic slips past me, faint but unmistakable.
    I turn in time to see the mage stagger into sight. He bends over, hands clasping his knees, eyes squeezed shut. My eyes catch on his boots, barely visible past the fall of his cloak — deep brown, polished to a shine, with a curving symmetrical design cut from light blue leather and sewn over the ankle. Rich boots for a wealthy man.
    He gasps, shakes his head. He’ll recover enough to search for me any moment now. I’m too close to use a smoker effectively, and anyway he could easily disperse it with a wind. The rubble makes moving silently impossible. I’ll have to shield myself and try to talk my way out of trouble. Keeping my gaze on the mage, I reach out with my senses to gather magic to myself.
    My breath stutters in my lungs. There’s nothing there.
    I cast about blindly, closing my eyes as if I might sense magic more easily that way. I focus on the energy that should be pulsing through this land, through the very stone around me, through the scorching air.
    Nothing.
    With a quiet scrape, jarring in the overwhelming silence, the mage takes a step forward and swivels, surveying what’s visible of the courtyard. I swallow hard, eyes wide. He still has weapons he can use — the sword at his side, whatever martial training he’s had. I have no time to pull out my string of wards and connect them, and besides, they’d only trap me here. My best weapon is my voice.
    “Peace,” I croak.
    His focus whips to me. He lifts a hand, fingers splayed.
    “Peace,” I cry, terrified suddenly that he’ll find power where I found none. But then his features go slack with shock.
    My breath comes out shaky with relief. “There’s no magic here.”
    “What is this place?” His voice is sharp, jagged.
    I shrug, grateful that it’s only half as painful as I’d expected. “Last left turn before Fidanya.”
    “What?”
    There’s really no good way to explain this, but I want to make this man my ally, at least for now. So I keep talking. “I don’t really know. What place has no magic? And why would there be a portal here?”
    “You used a portal without knowing where you were going?” He squints at me, studying my features. He clearly thinks I’m a complete idiot.
    “I changed my mind halfway through,” I correct him. He can’t possibly think less of me.
    “You’re a child. ”
    “Journeyman.”
    “What in all the hells were you doing using the portal? And why didn’t you ask permission?”
    “Since when are the portals regulated against mages? You weren’t supposed to be there, and I didn’t want to deal with you. I’m trying to get home to my mother.” Almost true. Stormwind has been both mentor and friend, the closest thing to a mother I can remember. And my own mother could very well be in Fidanya as well.
    The mage snorts. “She lives here?” His voice is heavy with contempt.
    “No. I’m only here because you chased me.”
    “You’re a fool.” That’s really not much of an improvement over being called a child.
    “We need to find a way out.” The words taste familiar. How many times did I use them in the life I cannot remember? Did I often get into difficult situations? “Whatever this place is, I don’t want to spend the night here. Without magic, the portal is no good to us. So…. Peace?”
    He nods stiffly. “For now. But I want answers. Soon.”
    I shrug, bob my head.