Stranded Mage Read Online Free PDF

and carried a weapon in his other dreams. This time she wore a dark red dress that clung tight to her body
    Maria turned to Thad, her face smiling brightly but her eyes seemed dark and foreboding. “It is almost over, you can come home soon,” Maria stated, as if she were trying to convince herself more than him.
    Even though it was a dream Thad could feel that something was bothering her deeply. “What’s wrong?” Thad asked, stretching his arms out to Maria. Thad half expected the darkness to come barging in again as it did every time he began to get close to Maria, but instead she fell into his arms burying her head into his chest.
    Thad could feel the warmth of her body against his. Maria gripped him hard, her fingers digging into the soft skin of his biceps. Thad lowered his head placing his chin on top of her head, and the faint smell of lavender filled his nose. Thad stroked her hair gently as she cried into his chest.
    “Mother is dead,” Maria said, in-between sobs. Maria’s words struck Thad in the heart. He had never cared much for the queen but he never wished her any ill will.
    As Maria continued to cry into his chest Thad tried to think of something, anything to say but his mind remained blank. “It will be ok,” was all Thad could utter before the darkness surrounded him, dragging him out of the dream.
    When Thad awoke he once again found himself in the captain’s quarters. Turning his head slightly, Thad looked down and inspected his arms. Three small bruises were now on Thad’s arm in the same place where Maria had grabbed him during the dream.
    The fact that bruises were now on his arm answered some questions but also brought up quite a bit more in their place. The dream had not simply been a dream, that much was certain, but why Maria and no one else? The dreams had the faint feel to them like the ones he had shared with Sae-Thae but they seemed to lack the same strength. Sae-Thae had said that his dreams were only capable through the use of an enchanted item he had acquired at great cost. That meant that it was possible to perform the same spell but Thad had no clue how it might be accomplished.
    Thad was pulled from his musing by the sound of a door opening off to his side. Thad looked up from his arm to see the young captain standing in the doorway. “Hi,” Thad said, his voice dry and raspy. “How long have I been asleep?”
    “Two days,” the captain replied. “I am glad to see you awake. It’s not that I don’t like your company but you do snore a little loud for my tastes.”
    Thad started to push himself up but his right hand quickly reminded him that it wasn’t ready for use. He couldn’t see the wound through the bandages but Thad doubted it looked pretty. “Can you do anything to help speed up the healing?” Thad mentally asked his staff.
    I have a little magical energy stored but not nearly enough to aid much. You don’t understand how much magical energy it takes. When you have time you really need to fix that little problem, it’s not as if you’re lacking the gems.
    His staff was right, he needed to readjust some of the enchantments and add some more powerful gems to it. He was unsure of the best way to go about it. There was also a chance that any tampering might destroy the staff altogether. It might not be the most enjoyable object to have around sometimes, but Thad didn’t know how he would get by without his staff to aid him.
    Rising to his feet, Thad stumbled toward the door. His feet felt heavy and his head felt light but he was determined to make it back to his own chambers unaided.
    On his way down the hall Thad’s mind once again drifted back toward the thought of his staff that he had left back in the captain’s quarters. He remembered that the staff had appeared in his hands when he was attacked. There was no way he could have reached it so it must have been either the staff’s doing or his own. Clearing his mind of everything else Thad pictured the