Ellen Under The Stairs Read Online Free PDF

Stil-de-grain, Melcor, had come to Yarro's palace on
Xanthin island and stolen her away.
    But the Mage had been killed by the
falling of a ceiling stone at the time of the coming to her world
of John-Lyon.
    Materializing in the tower room like a
ghost that takes on flesh, finding the golden Mage-Crystal of the
newly crushed Melcor, putting on the Crystal, John-Lyon had become
the new Mage of Stil-de-grain, John-Lyon now owning
Platinia.
    Platinia hated men! She hated the
priests who'd raped and tortured her! She hated King Yarro, the
king hurting her to make her serve him! She hated Melcor who broke
her to his well. And she hated John-Lyon! Hated any man who knew
she had the power of an etherial!
    If she, alone, knew her secret, she
would be safe.
    Lying there, caught between sleep and
wakefulness, Platinia heard another noise.
    Soon, John-Lyon would climb the steps.
Finding her so weak, would this be the time he raped
her?
    True, John-Lyon had not hurt her --
yet. But because all men of power had hurt her after learning of
her secret, she had tried to kill him many times, each time
failing. She had learned he could be hurt, though. She had also
learned that, if hurt enough, a Mage could die.
    Melcor had died from a falling stone.
John-Lyon had almost died when she'd slipped into his room at night
to stab him!
    Though the young Mage had not died,
all said he almost did. Golden had said it. Coluth had said it.
Everyone had said that.
    No one knew she was the one who
stabbed John-Lyon.
    She had set other traps for the Mage,
but he had escaped.
    At last, something had happened to her
that had never happened before. Instead of fearing such a powerful
Mage, she found she felt ... warm ... and safe when he was in the
room. Felt sad and cold when he was not. She did not understand
these feelings and she did not understand them now. She had never
had such feelings for a man. Never! Men were dangerous. Men hurt
her to make her do any evil thing they wished!
    Was this because she felt that
John-Lyon did not know her secret after all, that she was an
etherial; that she could make his pleasures strong?
    Thinking and thinking, she could not
take the chance that John-Lyon did not know her secret, making him
dangerous enough for her to kill ... except she no longer wished to
kill him.
    At the last, John-Lyon losing his
golden Crystal, the old Mage, Pfnaravin, had locked John-Lyon in a
strong iron cage.
    Pfnaravin was an old and powerful Mage
who knew many things. For instance, he knew that Zwicia had Crystal
power.
    Did Pfnaravin know Platinia was an
etherial? If so, she was in terrible danger! She could not have two
Mages controlling her. The only safe thing to do was kill them
both!
    Since John-Lyon was in the cage --
helpless without his Crystal -- it was best that she kill him when
she could, Platinia bringing a cutting knife from the kitchen to
stab the Mage through the iron bars of his cage. But, slipping up
in the dark to do that, she had seen Coluth and his men take
John-Lyon from the cage.
    Then, the men were running, John-Lyon
leading, one fire stone torch to show the way. Running to escape
Pfnaravin's soldiers.
    Platinia knew where the Mage would go.
He would go to the tower room. He would go there so he could return
to his own world -- the frightening world where she was
now!
    Knowing the castle better than
John-Lyon, she had reached the tower room before he and the other
men. Hiding in the shadows, she had seen the young Mage -- who,
without his magic Crystal, was a Mage no longer -- order the men to
block the hallway. Had seen the sailors hook a rope through the
roof so that all could climb.
    Now that she was closer,
she recognized the men. One was Golden. Another was Coluth, captain
of the Roamer ,
now the admiral. Others were Coluth's sailors from his
ship.
    After the rest had climbed the rope,
John-Lyon had gone to the secret place within the wall. Had taken
something out. A strange something Platinia had