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

your presence, Great One, and serve in whatever capacity I can. You have but to give the command and I will obey.”
    Tarin had no doubts concerning her loyalty and motivations. She was the first person in over eleven hundred years to think, and more precisely dream, of him not only as being godlike, but also as a man. Serena, with her red-blond hair and petite form, was a stunningly beautiful female and there was no denying her physical appeal. Even so, he did not love her, no being could claim that much devotion from him, yet he did love the fact that she was in love with him, and knew he could make good use of her passion and devotion. “I trust that you will obey and for that you will be rewarded,” he replied and then ended the communication.
    Tarin Conn suddenly found himself standing within the Great Crystal in front of a fully recovered Daniel Benhannon. The younger Maestro stood equally tall, wearing blue silks with silver trim and the hood of his cloak had seven golden lightning bolts with the center one being the largest. The former mountaineer was clean shaven, pale-faced, dark haired, and his nearly black eyes were filled with intensity and a hint of amusement. This was clearly a projected image and likely did not reflect his actual physical condition. “I’m not dead yet,” he declared and then the link was gone and Tarin was once again alone in his mind within the vault beneath Kelgotha.
    Fury seethed in him, he closed his eyes, and summoned potential through the spell, Free Me, until all thirty bolts of life force energy was blasting at the shield. A nimbus of blue light, the color of Daniel’s potential, bright as the sun, filled the chamber. Tarin could see the intensity through his eyelids, and raised his arm for greater protection, knowing the increased radiance would have blinded him had he not done so, yet the shield did not break. He held the potential for nearly half a mark, draining moisture from his body in order to maintain the flow of energy, yet because of the new shield, Nourishment, no longer functioned, and still the shield held. He had no choice but to cease his efforts soon or risk being mummified. How much potential had Daniel used to make this shield? More importantly, how many more lightning bolts will it take to overpower this new obstacle to full functionality?
    He gradually lowered the amount of potential flowing from him and the power in the shield seemed to lower correspondingly. He raised and lowered the potential in, Free Me, several more times and realized Daniel must have composed a shield that not only varied, it absorbed and fed off the energy directed at it. No such Melody had been written before. Tarin began to form a grudging respect for his immature rival, but that would not keep him from crushing the young Aakasear.
    For now, his task was to remove the thirty-six gemstones within his flesh. With chapped lips, a dry tongue, and no water to drink, he realized the undertaking would take much longer, requiring time to recuperate after removing each and every one of the stones. Teleporting to freedom would then be possible since the energy would be focused within rather than outside of his body. Eliminating Daniel’s shield would take quite a bit more thought, but would not hold the mighty Tarin Conn for long. “Count on it,” he warned the world, untroubled by the fact not a soul could hear him from the depths of his prison.
     

Chapter Two: The Health Wing
     
    Jennel Obenport, a three-bolt Accomplished of the Atlantan Guild, and Lead Healer, observed the activity around her. Talenteds in their tan-colored silks, shirt, pants, and hooded cloaks, brought in the wounded, levitating them on solidified cushions of air and placing them wherever Bernard Kleopis, a former Aloe, her deputy in this undertaking, directed. The Two-bolt Accomplished, a clean-shaven man of medium build and height, was good at quickly observing everything going on in the room, assessing the needs