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

beaver shrieked and a screen of water rose to defend it.
    Redstreak hawed and both were grabbed by a gust of wind. The
beaver was thrown off the lake while the badger was blown over it. Both slammed
into a pair of trees on the opposite side and while they were stunned,
Redstreak fired a beam into the dirt between them.
     Something more pleasing reached Eric's ears. A beautiful,
enchanting melody beckoned him away. Where's it . . . coming . . . from? He followed the heavenly tune to a sunlit clearing where a gorgeous woman sat
on a stone, playing a harp. He stepped on a twig and she jumped. Then she
glanced at Eric and patted a nearby stone. His checks burned and . . .beautiful
face . . . lovely song . . .
    “Snap out of it!” Eric blinked and saw a giant Venus flytrap
towering over him, jaws wide. Just like with the Horlf, he froze. Redstreak
fired a beam of red light and burned the plant to ash. Eric fell backwards,
panting at his second near-death experience in one hour. “What's the matter
with you, human?! Why didn't you move?”
    “I . . .I don't know.”
    Redstreak hawed and a sphere of balmy air enclosed around
Eric and dried his clothes. “Let's go. I'm tired of babysitting you.” He flew
off and Eric scrambled to follow. “It's as if you're bad luck. I guess it's
natural since the Fire Bringer brought you here.”
    “Why do you call Tasio that?”
    “Don't say his name!” Redstreak shrieked, “We call him 'Fire
Bringer' because we don't want to attract his attention!”
    “Is he evil?”
    “He can be. If he wanted to, he could destroy an entire
civilization.”
    S omeone like THAT cooked me breakfast? “I . . .
thought he helped people . . .”
    “Oh, he does that too. If he wanted to, he could raise a
civilization to a new level of prosperity.”
    “Then why . . .”
    “Most of the time, he's just annoying . And I'm stuck
escorting the Fire Bringer's fire bringer! The next thing I know poop's gonna
fall out of the sky and land on me .” SPLAT! “GAAAAHHH!  . . .Should've
known better!”
    When I woke up this morning, I never thought I'd hear a
hawk rant by afternoon.
     The trees thinned and Eric was glad to leave them. Now he
didn't feel like he was being watched. Before him, stretched plains and a few
yards away, a beaten dirt road. He followed it with his eyes through the winter
grass and early flowers all the way to a wall and tower in the distance. All of
it was framed by the setting sun.
    Wow . . .what a view . . .
    By the time he reached the tower and wall, the sun had set
and risen again. He had to sleep behind a rock and woke up more sore and tired than
he had felt the previous day. His stomach grumbled, but Redstreak told him to
eat grass if he was hungry; Eric was so hungry he did just that. It had the
same powerful flavor and energy kick as the berries, though he was still
hungry.
    The “human colony” was protected by a wall, an empty moat,
and palisades inside the moat made from dirt. Behind it was a short wall, lined
with battlements. Behind that was a walkway that rose into a taller wall, also
lined with battlements. The entire structure reached for miles in either
direction. At regular intervals was a window shaped like a flame and an
archer's cover shaped like a tiger's paw.
    The gate itself was a single sheet of metal designed to rise
straight up instead of inwards. What's powering this? No human could be
strong enough . . . A coat of arms was painted in the center: a tiger made
of white fire wearing a crown of blue fire, in a field of red fire. At its back
was a yellow sun. Its border proclaimed, “Fire Makes Us Stronger.”
     Redstreak hawed and a figure in armor looked over the edge
of the first wall.
    “Who’s there?” the man called. Seeing Redstreak, he shouted
to his fellow on the second wall. “Open the gate! The Steward of the Rose
Forest says he has an Otherworlder!”
    “Is that what they call aliens here? And did they just call
a bird a