The Unmage Read Online Free PDF Page A

Reo.
    Mage Guild Secundus Valerio Valendi had led the search for Kara Fonti and the Assassin, Reo Medina. According to the guard, the Secundus told him that those they pursued had no magical talents but that the Assassin was a danger if they got too close. The guard and his partner defended one end of an alley while the Secundus secured the other, trapping the two suspects.
    The guard said the suspects ducked and then his partner was hit and killed by what he assumed was a spell. In the next few minutes, the buildings and fences that lined the alley were damaged in magical attacks. Then the Assassin ran forward, the girl shouted and waved her arms, and the Secundus was blown all the way to the mouth of the alley. The guard viewed the body—it was in exactly the same state as his partner. There was no doubt in his mind that the same type of spell killed both men. Spells that could not have been created by the suspects.
    Timo leaned back, his hand on the page in front of him. This was Mage Guild’s official account of Valerio Valendi’s death, and it matched what Kara Fonti had told him. It seemed—unlike his mother—his sister had told him the truth. But did that mean everything else she’d said was true?
    Timo picked up another book, the one with the earliest date. He hoped to find out if his father had cursed Santos Nimali.
     
    “ARE YOU FINISHED ?” Barra asked.
    Timo dropped the book onto the table, startled.
    “Uh, yeah,” he said. “I got caught up in what I was reading.”
    Barra peered at the book’s spine. “Huh, sounds pretty dull. I thought you might be trying to find the secrets of Primus Santos Nimali.”
    “Why would I do that?”
    “Because everyone does that the first time they come here,” Barra said. “He had a book, a journal that he wrote all his spells in—that’s what I’ve heard.” She leaned closer. “Some say that’s what drove him mad. He had too many spells, too many dangerous, evil spells all kept in one place, all in that journal. He got them confused when he was trying to use them against someone and ended up cursing himself.” She straightened up. “At least that’s the rumour. Now he’s mad and they keep him on Old Rillidi so he can’t cause any damage.” She turned towards the entrance to the room. “Come on, Hestor will be here soon.”
    “All right,” Timo said. “Just let me return these.” According to Santos and Kara, Santos went mad because he’d been cursed, not because he had a journal full of dangerous spells. But Valerio Valendi had been Santos’ Journeyman, his best and most powerful student. He would have known about the journal. Had he wanted it for himself? Nothing he’d just read proved Valerio cursed Santos but his actions showed him to be ruthless and ambitious—a man Timo thought capable of cursing his Master in order to steal his spells.
    Barra was out of sight so Timo flung his right hand out over the books. Mage mist raced from his outstretched hand and passed over the books that were stacked on the table. He flicked his hand up, and the mage mist split, each strand now returning a book to the shelf it had come from. Once the books were in place, he lowered his hand and sighed.
    A mother who’d tried to have her own daughter assassinated and a father who’d probably cursed the man who’d trained him. Would he end up like them? Consumed by his own ambition? Threatened by the people closest to him?
    “Hestor’s here,” Barra said from the aisle. “Let’s go.”
    “Coming,” Timo said. After one final glance to make sure he hadn’t left anything out of place, Timo hurried after her.
    Hestor frowned at him as he joined them. A flick of the older boy’s wrist sent mage mist spinning around the door. It opened and Barra stepped through. Hestor followed her. Timo was about to fall in behind him.
    “Barra, Hestor, I trust you are well today?”
    It was his mother’s voice, coming from the hallway, just outside the doors. Timo