To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

counterpart used the knowledge, yet would not allow that minimal emotion to stop him from crushing the young man. The battle for control of the mountain would happen soon and hopefully put an end to the troublesome spell-caster.
    All of his Accomplisheds involved in the defense of Serpent West were wide awake, so Tarin would have to wait until the conclusion before any of them, primarily Vance, would spell themselves to sleep, and be available to give a report. Rather than spend time wondering what was happening on the other side of the continent, it seemed prudent to work on overpowering the immobilization spell. The Melody, Free Me, played in Tarin’s mind, summoning the potential, and he focused it at the offending spell. It took slightly under a minute to project all of his thirty bolts and he smiled, knowing every living being in the world could feel the harmonic ripples and were no doubt trembling in their beds. He ceased the spell after it became apparent he did not yet have the strength to break free, but it was close, oh, so close.
    A short time passed, Tarin could feel mental links vanishing from his mind and knew each absence meant some of his Aakacarns were dead with more dying by the moment. The battle for Shantear had just begun. Scores, then hundreds, and a few minutes more, over a thousand links were gone. Clearly the battle was not going well for his guild and the proof came when he felt the first outer pulse of a harmonic ripple. The powerful wave was soon followed by another and Tarin could sense by the shortening space between each successive ripple that a major spell originated from the southwest and was heading in his direction.
    After about half a mark transpired, tens of thousands were dead and the Grand Symphonies, he sensed two, enveloped his prison. It took only a few minutes more for the spells to seep in through the miniscule flaws in the settings between the crystals. Which Maestro was conducting, Daniel Benhannon or Talmon Reese? The answer did not matter as much as whether or not the potential in the gems and immobilization spell were about to be increased. There was still time. Tarin knew well the same properties that allowed him to send only a trickle of his vast potential out into the world also kept those Symphonic spells from striking him with their full potential.
    Tarin summoned and focused all of his life force energy into overpowering the immobilization spell, hoping to break free before it could be strengthened. Something slammed into the top of his vault and by the sound, shattered on impact. The conductor of the symphonies must have figured out he needed to break through the vault in order to strengthen the spells. Tarin summoned a fist of potential, diverting a little from his effort to rip apart the spell holding him, in order to fend off whatever penetrated the ceiling, while also maintaining his assault on the immobilization spell.
    A narrow-pointed shaft of granite broke through the mirror, lancing toward Tarin’s chest. He slammed the fist of potential at the skewer, knocking it aside with ease. A topaz blue glow around the shaft not only indicated it was shielded by a spell, it also revealed the caster. He was intimately familiar with the owner of that particular hue; Daniel Benhannon was conducting the Symphonies. Even with the amplifying properties of the Crystal Chamber and the aid of a small number of Aakacarn associates, it was surprising the young Aakasear could maintain that much potential for over half a mark. The drain on his life force energy must be enormous, even if the reports of him gaining a seventh lightning bolt proved to be accurate.
    The small break in the crystals above allowed more energy to enter the vault, yet Tarin could not sense the spells holding him captive being strengthened. Most of his effort was focused on the immobilization spell, yet he dare not take his eyes off the granite skewer. Sure enough, the lance shot down and he brushed it aside as