Dragonvein Book Four Read Online Free PDF Page A

well. They were clearly not made for walking through rocky terrain that had got progressively more uneven and rough the further they moved away from Renald’s land.
    After a quick breakfast, they gathered their packs and started out. But they had barely covered a mile when he saw Kat wincing almost every time she stepped onto her left foot.
    He caught her by the arm. “Enough of this.” With a wide sweep of his arm, two black stallions appeared. She had already seen him cast this spell before while under the assumption he was Ethan, so it would not arouse her suspicions.
    She smiled and touched his cheek. “It’s not that bad. I can walk.”
    “Why walk when you can ride?”
    “Because that spell is tiring as hell. It will take too much out of you.”
    It was true that this was powerful magic. Creating a horse was easy enough. To keep it there so they could make use of it for any significant length of time was the hard part. This took a great deal of effort…for most mages. But of course, he was not most mages.
    Martok leapt atop one of the stallions. “My feet are hurting too, you know, so I'm riding. You can keep walking if you want to.”
    Kat shook her head. “You’re going to be exhausted in no time.” In spite of her objections, she mounted the other horse.
    Martok was capable of maintaining this spell for many hours. But he knew that Kat had learned enough to know that Ethan certainly could not. After a time, he would need to appear as if he had reached the limits of his strength.
    They had been riding for a little more than an hour when the pendant Renald had prepared for him began pulsing. He immediately dismounted. As soon as Kat was at his side, he allowed the horses to vanish.
    “We’re close,” he said.
    She eyed him cautiously. “Is… he coming?”
    Martok's frown carried just a hint of uncertainty. “I don’t think so. There doesn’t seem to be any danger so far.”
    He dearly wanted to speak to Kat as himself, but patience was essential to any effective plan. Planting the seed that Martok was the only one strong enough to face the dangers ahead was all part of his strategy. Even so, it was difficult to resist the urge.
                  The pendant directed them to a tall mound of massive boulders about a mile north of their position. On drawing closer, Martok could soon see a wide rift in the ground, preventing any further forward progress. This vertically sided valley extended for as far as the eye could see in either direction.
    “It’s much too far to jump across,” Kat remarked rather needlessly. “We’ll need to find a way around it.”
    Martok grunted. A fissure like this might easily stretch out for many miles. If so, precious time would be wasted. There was only one thing to do. Dropping to his knees, he squeezed his eyes shut. After a few seconds, he rose again.
    As he looked across at Kat he saw displeasure clearly written on her face. She had witnessed him do this many times before and she knew what it meant. “We don’t need you,” she snapped.
    “Ethan felt otherwise,” he retorted. “However, I will admit that your need of me this time is my fault. I should have taught you how to do this long ago.”
    Before Kat could react, he threw an arm around her waist and pulled her close. She pushed hard against his chest, but he held her firmly in his grasp.
    “Hold still, girl,” he commanded. “Lest I drop you.”
    The words had barely escaped his lips when their feet left the ground. In no time at all they were twenty feet in the air and drifting slowly over the impossibly deep chasm. Kat gasped, no longer struggling, rather clutching desperately tightly to his shoulders. A few moments later they had spanned the void and were back on solid ground.
    She stepped quickly away from him, stiff-backed and stern. “You warn me next time you're going to do something like that. Understand?”
    “You are quite welcome,” Martok told her, presuming the thanks that