Ice Burns Read Online Free PDF Page A

all of his connections, he did the night of the fire.
    Chandra's thoughts were interrupted by a sound outside her window. It was more of the birds squawking in the same way they had that had startled her while working with the goblet. She stood up and stretched before walking to the window. Several Tanagers were flying around in an agitated fashion, and Chandra leaned as far into the window as she could to see if there was a wild cat or similar predator below them that was causing them to act that way. She stood still and watched the undergrowth and ground branches for a few moments but didn't see any movement other than the Golden Tanagers squawking and a few Seedeaters that couldn't seem to settle on a tree limb.
    She knew it wasn't the right time of year for mating, but couldn't see anything from her limited vantage point. She shrugged and turned back toward the table where the repetitive reading waited for her. Chandra looked around at the chamber that had become her bedroom a few months ago. She had previously been in an opulent suite adjacent to Master's, near the warmth of the kitchen. Master Dreys told her that the fire had destroyed the room she had once occupied and damaged a great deal of Master's private chamber as well.
    Chandra cocked her head. No wonder Master was going on a trip since his rooms would need a significant amount of work. Her chamber was one typically given to a new student to the estate. Chandra doubted Master Dreys would be willing to step down into basic accommodations like where he had moved his apprentice. He had told her the move would give her "fewer distractions." She hadn't dared ask for more after Master's recent displays of impatience toward her. Chandra knew any request she made now would likely be answered with a "Hard work equals rewards, apprentice." Or worse: angry stares and silence.
    Chandra knew that her inability to manifest magic the way Master expected reflected poorly on him. Master was an amazing mage, even with his limitations. With his earth magic, Master also had formidable levitation abilities. Most mages, from a young age, could levitate some objects so long as they weren't too heavy. Most could levitate equal to what they might be able to lift otherwise.
    With that comparison, I'm as capable as a toddler.
    Chandra frowned and considered Master's strength in levitation and earth. She guessed that if Master was angered, there was a good chance he would be able to fling at least some large rocks with his powers alone. A picture came to her of Master lifting a house-sized boulder and crushing Chandra with it, all without messing up his robes. She shuddered and lifted the book as the image burned itself into her brain.
    She thought again about how it still fell to a mage to utilize elements which were already available. Chandra snorted.
    Fire-calling gods. Right.
    Chandra sighed at the picture of a person's hand and a book floating above it in the levitation manual. She had not been able to manipulate elements or do simple levitation. Chandra couldn't make fire strengthen or weaken, cause ripples in a glass of water, coax the earth to open even enough to plant a seedling, and had never managed to stir the wind into shuffling the driest leaf. The elements did not seem to hear her, and she wasn't sure if she could even speak a language to make them understand what she asked.
    The bird-ruckus called her attention away from her thoughts again, and Chandra snarled.
    "Put a cork in it, birds! I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with me in here!"
    For a moment, the squawking continued and then it silenced as though they had settled themselves to obey her commands. Chandra laughed softly at the idea of birds listening to her. Perhaps she could climb into the trees and live with them. It wasn't as though there was anywhere else she could go.
    If Chandra had somewhere, anywhere, she belonged in the world; she would have given up on magic and run away. It was one of the many issues