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

at all that lightning had just exploded from her fingers.
    Books tumbled off the shelves, burying the brunette in parchment and crinkled leather that fell away just as quickly when the woman stood a second later. Her shoulders hunched as she glared, but she didn’t come closer. As much as Kara wanted to run, her feet would not listen.
    “How long have you been the Vagabond?”
    “Um—”
    “You can’t even control what you are, can you?”
    “Well—”
    A white streak blazed across her vision, and the woman was gone. Something grabbed her shoulder and shoved her into the nearest bookshelf, pulling one of her hands behind her. An itchy material scratched her wrists. Before Kara could take another breath, the woman spun her around. Kara’s hands were now bound in front of her with thick rope.
    “Hey! You can’t—”
    The woman laughed. “I already did. My name is Deidre. I want you to remember that, because this was too easy. You’ll want a rematch someday, and I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”
    Deidre dug her nails into Kara’s arm and pulled her away from the study. The rope wriggled like a worm as Kara struggled. Its fibers dug deeper into her wrists, stinging her fingertips with pins and needles as it cut off circulation to her hands. She stopped resisting, and the rope, in turn, was still.
    They turned down a dark tunnel. Kara couldn’t see, and the only sensation besides the moldy damp of the cave was Deidre’s nails as they bruised her skin. They walked for a few minutes, slowing only when they neared the entrance to another passage. Light splashed from it, illuminating gray rocks that cast shadows into the hallway. They walked through, and the glare blinded Kara until her eyes adjusted to the rows of pale gray flame emanating from dozens of torches.
    A massive cavern stretched into the expanses above, dissolving beyond the light’s edge into solid darkness. The torchlight illuminated a swarm of ash-gray creatures. The pores on their arms hissed, releasing streams of hot mist that hovered above them. She stopped to gape, but the brunette shoved her forward. Several of the gray monsters snickered or leered at the rips in her clothes.
    Something roared nearby. Kara jumped. To her left, two lumbering monsters leaned on their forearms like apes. They loomed over her, their bodies clunky blocks of rock that sent pebbles falling to the earth with each movement. Each had a pair of gaping holes served as a nose. Their lipless mouths cracked and tore as they roared, revealing three rows of stubby teeth.
    “What—?”
    “Trolls,” Deidre interrupted. “Don’t get too close. We want you in one piece, at least for now.”
    The brunette tightened her grip on Kara’s shoulder and turned her toward the trolls. The beasts snorted and shuffled in place, revealing glimpses of a wheeled metal cage that was attached to them with thick leather straps.
    One troll lowered its head, leaning closer when Kara passed, and its brown iris shrank as it focused on her with a look of uneasy curiosity. When she was close enough to touch it, the creature lunged, twisting its head to snap at her neck.
    Deidre swatted its nose, and it recoiled, screaming. Kara’s knees shook, but her captor continued walking as if nothing had happened, dragging her around to the back of the cage where two gray-skinned soldiers had already opened its gates. Another prisoner sat in the corner of the jail, his hands bound behind his back.
    “I didn’t do anything wrong!” Kara said, finding her voice.
    Deidre threw her into the cage. “Everybody’s done something, darling.”
    The gates slammed closed with a rattle. Kara swallowed hard and pushed herself into an empty corner of her prison. One of the soldiers peered through the bars, eyeing her over the brim of a crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken and left untended more than once in his life. He was easily seven feet tall, and everything about his build was stocky and