Read Online Wizard Pair (Book 3) by James Eggebeen - Free Book Online Page A

charred logs where the hovel had been. Rotiaqua's heart quickened. Where was he? What had had happened to the only person who had ever been able to connect with her through the fire?
    She panicked, searching around the area with her senses, but she could not find him. There was only the body of a dog that lay beneath the remains of the hovel. She sensed him, though; just a slight trace remained of his presence. He had been here after the fire. He might still be alive.
    She calmed herself and followed the faint trail of his path. He had stopped at another farm not far from his hovel; that much was clear. He had spent some time there. There were graves. His essence was particularly strong on one of them, less so with the rest.
    She moved on.
    He'd walked towards the town. She could feel his essence. She followed until it got close to the castle. He was near. He was in the castle.
    In the gaol.
    He was locked in the gaol, not far from where she sat. Why was he there? She reached out to him. He was asleep, weak from hunger and exhaustion.
    She prodded him with her mind, trying to rouse him in his dark cell. He came awake and looked around as if trying to focus on her image. She suspected he would have a hard time seeing her without the fire to channel his thoughts, but he blinked and peered right at her.
    She saw him start when he recognized her. He pulled back, and bumped his head on the wall.
    "I don't know why this keeps happening. Please forgive me."
    He pulled away, trying to break the contact. She panicked and reached out to him. "No, wait. I've been searching for you. I've been trying to contact you. Please don't go."
    "Why do you want to talk to me? I already have enough trouble."
    "I saw what happened to your hovel. I was worried about you. Are you all right?"
    "I'm in the gaol. They're going to take off my hand. No, I'm not all right."
    "Why are they going to take your hand off? Are you a thief?" She didn't think he was the type to steal, at least she hoped not. She had only had that brief conversation with him. Her maid said all of the small folk stole, given the opportunity.
    "I'm no thief. I brought a young girl along with me to town. She ran off into the market and the Guards grabbed me. They accused me of training her to steal for me. They threw me in the gaol and now they're going to take off my hand as punishment. They won't listen to me when I tell them what happened."
    Rotiaqua looked at his face in the flame. He was terrified. She knew she should just forget him, but she believed him. Rotiaqua didn't know why. She just did, and he had magic. He was the only one who could talk to her like this. Rotiaqua was lonely and needed a friend; maybe he would finally be the one who understood what it was like to have magic and have to keep it hidden.
    Rotiaqua decided to take a chance.
    "Wait there. I'll be right down to get you out of there."
    He glanced up at her in surprise. "Why would you do that?"
    "Because you're my friend."
    Rotiaqua didn't wait for his response; she extinguished the candle flame with a thought and scrambled into her dress. She stepped into her sandals and rushed off to the gaol.
    Twice, city Guards stopped her to ask her what she was doing out so late. She told them she was on an errand for the Baron and they let her pass.
    The gaol was below ground level, near the corner of the castle where the sewage pipe drained over the side of the rock ledge. It was damp, smelly, and dark. She knocked on the door to no avail. She kept at it until the gaol keeper arrived.
    He was sleepy and confused. His hair was a mess and he blinked at the light from the lantern she carried. "What do you want?" he asked gruffly through the small portal in the door.
    "I need you to release a prisoner." She leaned in to the portal to get a better look inside.
    "Come back tomorrow morning." The gaol keeper slammed the portal shut.
    She knocked on the door again. "Do you know who I am?" she screamed at the door as she pounded on