Adventurers Wanted, Book 4: Sands of Nezza Read Online Free PDF Page A

like nobody had been home when the soldiers broke in. Perhaps Joe the adventurer had been away at the time. If so, Alex might still be able to find him, except he didn’t have any idea where to look.
    He finished his inspection of the house and started back toward the front door. As his eyes came to rest on a large cast-iron frying pan hanging on the wall next to the fireplace, he stopped. The pan normally wouldn’t have interested him, but there was a strange design in the shape of a flower carved on the back. Alex had seen that flower before.
    “The order of Malgor, here?” Alex reached out and touched the design with his right hand, allowing a bit of his own magic to enter the iron. The flower design glowed white at his touch, and then started to move randomly on the pan’s surface. It only took a few seconds for the moving lines to reform, and Alex immediately recognized the new designs for what they were.
    The letters were elvin, but the words didn’t make any sense. Alex stared at the pan for a few minutes, and then he realized that the letters were written backward. There was a message here, but it had to be read in a mirror.
    Taking the pan from the wall, Alex returned to the first room he’d entered. He held up the pan to the broken mirror. The elvin letters seemed to double in number and grow smaller at the same time. Not sure how long the message would last, Alex read and tried to memorize it as fast as he could.
If you’ve found this message, then trouble has come. Behind the massive oak at the southwest corner of the yard there is a trail. Follow it to the meadow with three massive stones at the center. Wait there.
     
      Savage
     
    The message was clear enough, but Alex wondered why had it been so carefully hidden. Perhaps Savage had been expecting trouble and had created this message before the soldiers arrived. The design on the pan was clearly for the order of Malgor, and if Savage was working for them, then the message had to be for them. Members of the order might come looking for Savage if they didn’t hear from him for a long time. Anyone from the order would recognize the symbol, just as Alex had. They would also know how to read the message and where to look for Savage.
    Alex made sure that the message returned to its original design and then left the frying pan on the wall. He knew where to look for Savage now, or at least where to go so that Savage could find him. He left the house and crossed the farmyard, being careful not to leave any tracks, and made his way to the trail behind the oak tree. It wasn’t much of a trail, at least not at first, but Alex managed to follow it into the hills.
    It was almost midday before Alex found the clearing with three massive stones. He was hungry and tired, and he really wanted to find a safe spot to sleep. He needed to talk to Savage, however, so instead of looking for a place to hide and sleep, he sat down next to the stones. Alex took an apple and some cheese out of his magic bag for a quick meal, and then he used his magic to let his body rest. His mind was alert for any sound and his eyes remained open, but he rested just the same.
    A few hours later, Alex heard a sound that was out of place; even if he couldn’t see anything, he knew someone was close. His muscles tensed. Slowly, as if waking from a nap, Alex got to his feet and stretched. Turning in a circle, he worked the stiffness out of his muscles, and his eyes came to rest on a shadow that didn’t look quite right.
    “Better trained than most,” a slow, deep voice commented as the shadow moved. “Other agents I’ve worked with wouldn’t have noticed me at all.”
    The man who emerged from the trees was at least a head taller than Alex. His clothes were old and tattered, his face was dirty, and his dark, graying hair was cut short and stuck out at strange angles from his head. This had to be the retired adventurer Joe Savage.
    Savage moved into the clearing and stopped to take a