Read The Kingdom of Eternal Sorrow (The Golden Mage Book 1) for Free Online Page B

entering their domain. Most
of the common folk believed that a dire spell would strike dead any potential
thief if he or she even attempted to enter the Mage Hall without permission. Completely
untrue, but the mages allowed the uninformed to continue believing it. If the
rumor kept their quarters safe from thievery, then the mages saw no reason to
set the record straight, and for once, Aidric totally agreed with them.
    He quickly passed through the sitting room, ignoring the enormous
spread that a servant had left him on the dining table against the far wall for
lunch, even though his stomach began to growl in protest at the delicious
aroma. He carried the girl into his bedroom and gently laid her onto his
enormous feather bed.
    She moaned softly as she sank into the coverlet and her head hit his
down pillow but otherwise, showed no signs of reviving. A mercy, really, since
she would be spared the misery of consciously feeling the shock-headache.
    Aidric pulled his robe from her and replaced it with one of the thick
blankets that lay folded at the foot of the bed. There was a cold bite to the
air, and he had enough to worry about with her extreme case of magical-shock,
let alone the problems a chill could add to the mix. His bedroom, despite being
windowless, annoyingly could sometimes be quite glacial, the result of bad
architecture.
    Satisfied that she was warm enough, Aidric bent over her and lightly
laid both hands onto her forehead to begin the healing. He closed his eyes and wove
slivers of his own life force through her mind, finding and healing the places most
traumatized by what she had done to herself in her apparent ignorance of her
mage powers.
    He winced at the state of the natural magical “channels,” a type of
energy ley-line that wound throughout her entire body. It was worse than he had
thought. Her channels pulsed in some places with a type of inflammation. In
others, the flow of energy was disrupted, redirected, to the point of seeping
out beyond the normal flow as though through cracks in a barrier, causing significant
damage to the surrounding tissues that were never meant to be touched by the
energy of a Mage-field.
    Aidric found it hard to believe that anyone would do this to themselves
intentionally, even a potential spy testing out her abilities against Lamia’s
Mage-general. Another sand-mark without treatment, and the damage caused to her
brain would have been irreversible, possibly even fatal.
    A few moments later, he drew his hands and mental connection away with
a shiver of pleasure, her healing complete. The feelings that healing aroused
in the healer were very similar to those aroused by lovemaking. Aidric always
felt embarrassed after healing a patient because most were well aware of the
feelings of pleasure he was experiencing. Some even teased him about it, but
with his current patient unconscious, this time he was thankfully spared the
awkwardness. He listened closely to her rhythmic breathing without the usual
discomfort and determined that her sleep was now natural and not shock-induced.
    For a long moment, Aidric stared down at her sleeping face and debated
whether or not to wake her or allow her to awaken naturally when she had slept
off the exhaustion. No one was expecting him anywhere for a few sand-marks, so
sitting by her bedside and keeping watch wouldn’t be a problem. However, he
wasn’t so sure any of them could afford to let the mystery of this powerful
maiden go unsolved any longer, even if she did need the rest.
    Taking a deep breath, he mentally touched her mind and sent a
mind-thought that commanded her to awaken, hoping in the same instant that he
was not making a serious mistake.
     
    ***
     
    She was dreaming of colorful lights of no distinct shape that danced in a
large circle around her, shimmering beings at least twice her height, gleefully
laughing at her because of her obvious fear of them. She turned from left to
right in a futile attempt to escape them, but