Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) Read Online Free PDF Page A

All he smelled was dust.
    A low chuckle rumbled past him, surrounding him. It came from ahead and from behind, from above and below, but he was somehow still alone in the passage.
    Something shifted its weight in the shadows of a dark side tunnel to his left. He narrowed his eyes and pressed himself against the jagged cave wall, his lungs pausing in the suspense. Heat coursed through him. He took a deep breath and peered around the corner into the vacant darkness.
    The cold metal hilt of a sword struck his jaw. His jawbone cracked. Skin split, and blood rushed down his neck. He fell to his knees. Breath came in ragged gasps. He gagged. His vision blurred. Numbing warmth pooled on the broken bits of his bone as the skin, once again, began to heal.
    His arms were pulled behind his back, and a new agony bit into his wrists. He stifled a yell. Bile and stomach acid bubbled along the back of his teeth, but he kept it at bay. An icy torment throbbed in his veins and pooled in his chest, stopping his body from healing. Blood trickled in hot rivers down his neck.
    The isen squatted beside him, but he couldn’t lift his head to see her face.
    She sniggered and pinched his nose as if he was a child. “These cuffs are extra potent, in case you get any ideas.”
    She hoisted him to his feet, and a fresh wave of searing pain shot through his body. His chest ached. Blood dripped from the spikes in his wrists and fell in thick drops to the floor.
    “Who are you?” he asked through gasping breaths.
    “My name is Deidre, darling”—she brushed some dust off of his shoulder—“and I always win.”
     
     

CHAPTER THREE
    THE GRIMOIRE
     
    Kara rubbed her temples and leaned on the submerged library’s stone desk, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the letter she could now magically read. She didn’t try to tell herself to calm down, to chill out, or to breathe. Her only thought was of how royally she’d screwed herself over by walking through that gazebo or lichgate or whatever it was.
    She had walked through a door in a mountain. A ten-by-ten dirt closet had swallowed her phone. Her pack and stun gun had probably already been eaten by a bear. She had heard whispers while alone in a massive, underground library and opened a secret book called the Grimoire, which was apparently pretty important. She’d discovered a hidden pocket of Earth called Ourea.
    In an effort to stay calm, she took deep breaths. It didn’t work. Each breath became a panicked gasp as she tried to figure out what was going on. Only, she couldn’t figure out what was going on. That’s why she was panicking.
    It was a vicious cycle.
    The flick, flick, flick of the Grimoire’s turning pages stole her focus. The last page lingered in the air as it fell to reveal a small block of red text on the otherwise empty beige paper.
     
    I wish I could have caused no pain or fear, but such isn’t a reality of life. A treasure has been awoken within you—you are now a vagabond of Ourea.
     
    She groaned. “Yeah, thanks, I gathered that much. So what happens now?”
    The pages flipped to another image of the hooded figure, but this time he wore a thick leather band wrapped around his wrist. Spidery red text adorned the paper beside him. Something was off about the drawing, and she leaned in for a closer look. It took her a second to realize the clover pendant in her hand was also drawn into his wrist guard.
    The last blood-red rays of the day poured through the skylight. She sighed. Her dad’s search party would head out any minute, scanning the ditches for her body. Oh, he was going to love this story.
    She resigned herself to the impending lecture and leaned in to read the red text besides the drawing.
     
    This is the Vagabond as he was in life. He wrote the observations of his travels here, creating me over his lifetime. The trials he faced were treacherous, and you will fare the same. The life of a vagabond isn’t an easy one.
    I was made to open only for the