Read Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon for Free Online Page B

she always seemed to be able to lift the mood in tense moments, even Kenelm smiled fondly with a resigned shake of his head at the redhead; “Friend Bethany, you are an enigma to me!” The monk eased away from Lloyds restricting hand and smiled kindly at the old man.
    “I am sorry old friend; I have no words of consolation for you as my own grief is still too close.”
    The old man’s eyes softened and indeed returned to the striking almost violet colour of the giant man form known as Arden.
    “Lloyd Brook, you will not be able to follow her there” he said to Lloyd with a grimace. “Why not?” Lloyd replied, frustration creeping back into his voice. It was Kenelm who answered for the tired looking King of the Dragons.
    “Because you are a wizard...the Crescent Empire frowned even more on the catastrophes magic had caused. You will not find any wizards there, because the Empire has prevented them from entering not only their major cities, but even the great southern wall that protects their borders.”
    “How the hell do they do that?” The incredulous Bethany asked.
    “Originally they had wizards, who also believed that magic should be banned, patrolling their borders and towns with their soul vision, these were called the Sworn, as they had taken an unbreakable oath, bound by their magic to serve the empire. However, after a couple of generations these grew fewer in number as very few wizards wished to join them. Mainly, of course, because we have an uncanny ability to forget the past, and those young men with your God given ability, preferred to join the monks and mages, who were gathering with Arren, in the earliest days of Arrenloft. Somehow, the last few wizards managed to create what we now call Ward Stones, these will either emit a loud scream when a mage comes near or in some cases throw up an impenetrable invisible barrier which no mage has been able to cross, whether on foot or by spell.”
    “It was I who helped them,” Ingemar said from his chair “I had become aware of the risk to my early daughters from those who knew my secret and the secret of the potency of our blood. It seemed an ideal opportunity to make a place where they could live without fear of being abducted and experimented on by mages.”
    “But how has Edala got there then?” Bethany asked, presuming somewhere along the line that she had missed something.
    “I guess she just flew there Beth.” Lloyd said casually.
    “No, as far as I understand it, there are wards all over the place in the cities; she would still set them off if she was nearby.” Kenelm added.
    The old man smiled for the first time that day, although it was still a smile veiled in sadness. “I did say that I helped! When we made the wards I ensured that any with a dragon portal would not cause the wards to function.”
    “You mean your silver portal? The one you used to charge my portals when I translocated to Seadawn?”
    “Yes Lloyd Brook.”
    “I never knew Edala had one?”
    “All of my children have them, you may have guessed that Edala’s silver energy originates from hers, she just never realised it.”
    Lloyd shook his head as he had not guessed this. Ingemar continued;
    “I have never told my children how to open them, as the portal is the means by which the Lord Creator may contact those who have them and that may not be a good thing. But my daughters do not need to have them open to prevent the wards from activating.”
    “Do you still speak to the Lord Creator my King?” Lisa asked.
    “The Lord Creator has not spoken with me for a long time. Even then it was only in the dream prophecy warning of our Sorcerer here being born” Ingemar finished wearily.
    “I know you are tired and full of grief Arden, but I need to find Edala. Please show me your Dragon Portal.” Lloyd asked earnestly.
    Arden sighed, but some vestige of the man and father he had been would not begrudge his youngest child at least a slim chance of happiness. His Dragon