Quest Of The Dragon Tamer (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

would be willing to help rebuild trust in the Alcazar.”
    Ren suddenly understood. “The wizards gave you the link.”
    “Yes.” Aidan motioned to her eyes. “The mark of the wizards’ gift. After the Dark Ages the wizards recognized a need for constant testing. They thought of the Druids and the way they could link with a mind. The wizards knew it was the only way to regain the trust of the people, but as you well know the wizards didn’t trust the Druids. By establishing the link in us, we could judge each wizard’s intentions. We established annual tests. If we discovered a wizard with evil propensities he was given to the Druids.”
    Ren sat back, wondering why he hadn’t put the pieces together before. It was amazing how two religious races could have such contrasting values. The Druids were the antithesis of the Maritium. Although zealously religious, the Druids deemed it their religious right to control mankind. The Druids could also link with a mind, but instead of reading it, they destroyed it.
    Aidan sensed his next questions and answered before he asked. “Barracus tricked us. He passed our tests, but he had split his mind. He painted us a picture of goodness and light when he was just the opposite. Most wizards chose a Maritium guide to prove their goodness. Barracus didn’t request one. We should have suspected something, but in those days we could barely meet demand. Our race rarely married, so our population was on the decline.”
    “Some Maritium linked to just one wizard?”
    “Yes, like the link between us,” Aidan said. “If Barracus had requested a guide he couldn’t have hidden his true desires. A one-to-one link is intimate and final. If you link to one, you can never link with another. Think of the unica as a marriage. If a righteous woman marries a man she would never defile herself with another. She immerses herself with him and only him. But if she isn’t joined to one she can accept many suitors, judging them superficially but never intimately. It’s the same with the link. Those who choose to guide many can be fooled. Those who choose to guide one cannot. At the height of emotions a person’s true nature is revealed.”
    Ren didn’t know how to respond. When she had linked with him, had she read his every thought? Color rose to his cheeks. He quickly changed the subject.
    “You said the Maritium rarely marry. Is that due to the link?”
    Aidan nodded. “In a way, the link is a marriage, but it’s rational, not zealous. The unica is intimate, but it can never be passionate. Yet because of it I can never marry. Our link is too strong to allow my feelings to drift to another. With a one-to-one link marriage isn’t only forbidden, it’s unpalatable.”
    Her words left him slightly shaken. He remembered the jolt he had felt when she first touched him. Its intensity had left him slightly off balance. Ren clenched his fists, forcing back the thoughts she had negated. Taking his silence for acceptance, Aidan lifted her hand and cradled his cheek.
    “You feel this?”
    Ren nodded, unable to find the words as his feelings rose to the surface. They were like the waves of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. They overwhelmed and comforted at the same time. Ren closed his eyes, shivering as the sensations grew hot.
    Aidan took her hand away. Ren could hear her shallow breath in the silence of the cell. He wondered if she had felt his reaction, but remained silent.
    “That’s the bond,” Aidan said simply, as if proving her point.
    Ren nodded and turned away, unsure if he wanted the bond or not. If the bond was as confining as Aidan described, why would he?
    “Aidan, I can’t – ”
    “Ask me to sacrifice a normal life? You’ve just given me one. My people were born to link, to help guide those chosen. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, my prince. I regret nothing.”
    Ren leaned back against the cold stone, unsure whether to feel elation or horror. She had yielded