Read A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) for Free Online

“Eric Watley.” He sat cross-legged. “My name
is Eric Watley.”
    “Well, Eric, how did you arrive in this forest?” Greystreak
asked.
    “OUR forest!” Redstreak shouted.
     Greystreak swatted his son with a wing. “Being courteous to
visitors is a chief's duty. You represent our colony; do not make others think
less of us.”
    “Yes, Elder. I apologize for my rudeness, human.” Greystreak
nudged him. “I apologize, Eric.”
    “Back to my question: how did you arrive?”
    “Tasio the Trickster pulled me through a golden door.”
    “The Fire Bringer!?” Both hawks shrieked. Silence. Their
second mouths closed and they hawed at each other. Redstreak was clearly angry,
but the elder hawk insisted.
    “I will take you to the nearest human colony. It . . . it is
my duty as chief to see lost travelers safely out of my domain.” Eric got the
impression that Greystreak was chuckling. The greying hawk took flight and Eric
was left with Redstreak.
    “Come on, human, let's get this over with.” He took flight
and Eric followed. They traveled in silence until Eric's curiosity got the best
of him.
    “So where am I?”
    “The Rose Forest.”
    “And the world I'm in?”
    “Tariatla.”
    “And where are we going?”
    Redstreak grinded his beak. “We are going to a human colony.”
Nearby bushes rustled and Redstreak held out a wing. “There's something nearby.”
    “Something dangerous?”
    “Yes. Now quiet! “
    A wolf-like creature darted into the path. The off-world
human took one look at the hideous creature—its sharp horns, gleaming fangs,
savage eyes—and froze. The creature lunged when a beam of red light knocked it
away. Redstreak shot like a bullet, but it jumped away and raised its hackles.
Redstreak fired a second bolt from his beak, but instead of hitting the
creature, it reflected off a screen of light. He dived away, then flew into the
trees, and was lost from view.
    The wolf creature turned back to the stunned Eric and
salivated. It approached slowly as if savoring the meal to come. It opened its
mouth and out came Redstreak. The hawk's body was covered in a red aura and the
creature's entrails. He tried to shake himself clean, but failed miserably.
    “Never again!” He flew to a branch and shook once more.
    Now that the creature was clearly dead, Eric felt a little
braver near it. Redstreak used his body as a blade and cut the thing from rump
to front. Just one look at the exposed organs was enough to make Eric throw up
all the food Tasio fed him that morning.
    Once he recovered, his curiosity overcame him once again and
he took another look. Its general form resembled a wolf, but monstrous and bigger
than normal. Its fur was spiny and it had ivory horns jutting out of its skull.
“What is this thing?”
    “ A Horlf, a monster,” Redstreak said, “Just my luck to run
into one that knew how to make a barrier.” After one last futile shake, he
sighed. He spread grimy wings and circled Eric. “This way, human. We're taking
a detour.” The hawk left the path.
    Eric quickly followed. “A-Are there more of those things?”
    “Of course there are more, but hopefully not too many more
like that one.”
    “I thought monsters didn't exist.” First talking birds and
now monsters !? He was getting the feeling that Tasio pulled him into a
fantasy novel.
    “Didn't exist? Your branch must be in worse shape than Old
Grey thought.”
    Eric stepped on a tuff of grass and it stood up and scurried
away. “Wh-what do you mean?”
    “Don't you know anything? Of course not, stupid question.”
Redstreak sighed. “Monsters are a measure of mana: more mana, more monsters.”
    The pair walked by a tree whose branches rotated like a
windmill. “What's 'mana'?”
    “It's complicated. If you really want to know, then you can
ask the humans. After a detour.”
    “You're going home?”
    “No, I'm going to a spring. I can't go to a human colony
covered in entrails. They'll think I'm a monster. Enough call