Thief’s Magic Read Online Free PDF

flashing in a well-tanned face as he saw them.
    “Vals!” he bellowed. “I thought you weren’t due back for another week or two.”
    “I wasn’t,” the professor replied, moving around the table so he could slap the other man’s shoulders in greeting. “We had a bit of trouble with the natives. Nothing I couldn’t have dealt with by myself, but I didn’t want to risk harm coming to the boys.” He turned to Tyen, Miko and Neel. “I think you have met Tyen Ironsmelter and Neel Long before, but not young Miko Greenbar. Boys, this is Tangor Gowel, the famous adventurer.”
    “Famous?” Gowel waved a hand dismissively. “Only among our kind, where fame has less value than friendship.” He gestured to the other men. “Kargen Watchkeep, Mins Speer and Dayn Zo, my travel companions. Friends, this is Vals Kilraker, professor of history and archaeology at the Academy. Now sit and tell me where you’ve been.” He waved at a passing server. “Four more glasses here!”
    “Tell me where
you’ve
been first,” Kilraker retorted. “I heard you’d crossed the Lower Latitudinal Mountains and reached the Far South.”
    Gowel grinned, his moustache broadening. “You heard right.”
    “In that little aircart we tied up next to in the landing field?”
    “Indeed.”
    “Did the air get a little thin during the crossing?”
    All four men nodded. “But we found a pass of sorts. A passage through the peaks.”
    “And what lay on the other side?”
    The server arrived with the glasses, and Gowel poured a generous measure of rich, dark dusky into them and those of his friends. “The Far South is as Discoverer Lumber described,” he answered, handing them each a glass. “Strange animals and stranger people. The atmosphere is strong in magic and what they do with it…” His eyes brightened with the memory. “We saw the legendary Tyeszal – which Lumber translated as Spirecastle. A city carved into a great pinnacle of rock as tall as a mountain. Suspended platforms haul people and produce up and down its hollow centre, and children fly around the outside carrying messages and small items.”
    Kilraker took a good swig of dusky, his eyes never leaving Gowel’s face. “So not an exaggeration after all.” It seemed to Tyen that some muscle twitched or tightened in the professor’s face, and gave a fleeting impression of envy. “What are the natives like?”
    “Civilised. Their king is friendly to foreigners and open to trade. Their sorcerers are well learned and they have a small school. Though far behind us in technological invention they have developed some methods and applications I had not seen before.” He shrugged. “Though I could be mistaken. Magic is not my area of expertise, as you know. My mission was not for the Academy but for Tor and Brown Associates, who directed me to find untapped resources and new trade, as well as an aircart route through the mountains.”
    Kilraker finished his drink. “Did you find any resources and new trade?”
    Gowel nodded and drew a large, leather-bound book out of his jacket. He flicked through the pages, giving them glimpses of neat writing and sketches. The adventurer stopped at a page to describe the plants and animals, both domestic and wild, that he’d found. He opened the book at a map, where he pointed out the location of the different peoples he and his companions had encountered. Tyen noted a line threading through an arch of mountains bordering the top of the map. Was this the route the adventurers had taken?
    When Gowel had finished, Kilraker looked from the book to his friend and smiled.
    “Surely that’s not
all
you brought back with you?”
    “Oh, the usual samples of flora and fauna, minerals and textiles.”
    “No treasures to sell to the Academy?”
    Gowel shook his head. “Nothing that would have weighed down the aircarts.”
    The professor grunted in reluctant agreement. “Gold and silver are cursedly heavy.”
    “Knowledge is of greater