A Dragon Born Read Online Free PDF Page B

years, but now, right in front of him, was his life, come back to face him in a way that was entirely unexpected.
    Carly returned to the room with a basin of water and several cloths. She walked around to the other side of the bed and placed the bowl on the table next to it then wet a cloth and touched it to Aaron's forehead, which was hot with fever. Stavros finished laying a magical ward on the room, one that should hide their presence from other mages and hopefully would contain any magic they used. At the very least the spell would quickly dissipate any excess power, sending it out of the room to the ground of the island, much like a piece of metal at the top of a tower would conduct lightning to the ground. Thus far, no black robes had taken notice of the magic he and Zachary had used, but Stavros imagined that it was only because they were distracted by their own activities at Maramyr, which he shuddered to think about, and it was only a matter of time before they would resume their search for the handful of mages who had not yet joined their ranks. Satisfied that the ward on the room was sufficient, he stepped over to the foot of the bed, and looked down at Aaron's unconscious form.
    "It is my fault. He's under a spell, a ward that I placed on him many years ago, but something is wrong with it," he explained. "That much I can tell."
    "So, remove the ward," Zachary said. "Will that not remove the problem?"
    "It would if the spell was as I created it. The magic has changed. The ward has somehow become intertwined with the boy's own power and now I am unsure how to remove it."
    "You set the spell, surely it will respond to you." Zachary looked up at the other mage.
    "Take a look for yourself," Stavros told him, "but be gentle with your power. The ward tightens when it is near magic. That is part of its construction, to better hide him, but it has now become twisted. It has been pushed from within while being pried at from the outside. The spell was meant to be removed before he came fully into his power, and I made sure to put safeguards in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening but clearly they were not enough."
    Zachary reached for his power, carefully taking hold of only the smallest amount of it, which was not something he was accustomed to doing. Unlike Stavros, who worked with intricate spells and subtle nuances, Zachary's natural approach to magic was more direct and much more powerful, the difference between the two mages being like that of a fine pointed dagger and a large battleaxe. It did not mean he could not use his powers with subtlety, only that it was not his preference and he was less adept at such things, just as Stavros was powerful in his own right, for a dagger could be as deadly as any weapon. Zachary's eyes darkened to an inky blackness that flickered and glowed with fire and lightning as he looked beyond the physical realm and saw the seemingly infinite lines of power wrapped around Aaron. He recognized the work of Stavros, the mage's signature style worked intricately into the ward, which was beautifully made and very powerful, and he saw where things had shifted, where they had twisted into something else.
    "He has been attacked," Zachary said. "Very powerful magic, but from afar, and more than once. There are also places where he has tried to break free of the ward, or perhaps his own power has built up inside and the pressure has caused some damage. This is worse than a bundle of knots."
    "It is, but it is one that must be unraveled." Stavros turned to Carly. "You say he fell unconscious when the storm hit?"
    "He was struck by lightning, sir mage," Carly said, being overly polite in the presence of two men who could probably fry her like a fish in a pan if they chose.
    "Just call me Stavros," he told her. "And that fool of a mage here, is Zachary."
    "Of course, sir mage...Stavros, I mean. It was a thing to behold. One moment he was just fine, walking around, helping on the ship, and