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Audiobooks Narrated by Mark Mcclain Wilson
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“What does Baros say?” Amalah asked in a hushed tone.
“He’s asking for my help.”Amalah’s dark brows shot straight into her hairline.
“Your help? You’re wanted by the entire Sovran, how can you possibly help him?”
“He says here that he’s wrangled a full pardon for me so that I can enter, but he needs my help.” Darius stared down at the letter, blindly, as everything he had heard in the past year coalesced into patterns all at once. “Amalah. I told you that because Niotan wrested free of the Sovran, avoided being conquered, that Baros would lose control slowly of the other countries.”
“Yes, so you did. Is that happening now? Is that what he wants you to stop?”
“No. Something worse than that. I should have anticipated this, but—” he swallowed the words down because in truth, he had actively not thought about war much in the past year. “The Roran barbarians were the first to break free of the Sovran after last year. And now it seems they’ve pulled together, at least most of the clans, perhaps all, and they’re threatening the northern countries. Baros has battled them to a standstill for now, but he can’t find a way to force them back into their territories. If he doesn’t do it soon, then they’ll overrun him. They’ll overrun the Sovran.”
He had known this day would come. No man could escape the entire might of the Sovran forever. He just found it humorous that it was an enemy of the Sovran that had caught him instead.
Bound, kneeling before a queen whom he had hounded for a straight year, he should have been anxious. Or at least a little worried. Instead, a strange sense of relief filled him. It was over. His mad escape from Brindisi’s justice was over.
“That is a very calm expression on your face, General Darius Bresalier,” she observed. Her tone was idle, but her eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s. “Are you not worried?”
“I knew what the punishment would be, Your Most High Majesty,” he answered respectfully. “I have had a year to resign myself to my fate. I cannot complain.”
She gave a low, musical hum of approval. “Well said. I have heard many reports on what you did but never once did I believe I could have the full tale.” She leaned forward, causing the silk pillows behind her to slide in every direction. “Kingslayer, tell me. Why did you kill your king?”
“Good work, Balancer.”
I frowned at the title. “All I did was transport her here, Raile.”
“Yes, so you did,” he agreed in a tone that clearly didn’t agree with me at all.
“Perhaps you don’t consciously realize this, Garth, but its little things like this that are restoring balance to Chahir. No task can be done in just one stroke of effort; it takes many strokes, and much sustained effort.”
He’s right. I started reviewing all of the things I had done over the past two years, memories flicking through my head almost too fast to follow. Each choice led to another; my choice to leave my home in Tobadorage and seek refuge in Hain led directly to my actions now, bringing a Queen into exile. And each choice, each action on my part, had started the chain reaction that was bringing magic back into Chahir.
“That boy thinks the world of you,” Xiaolang murmured. “And…” he visibly hesitated, slanting a questioning look at me from the corner of his eye.
“And…?” I encouraged him. Xiaolang rarely hesitates in his speech. When he wanted to say something, he said it.
“He’ll be very important in the future,” Xiaolang murmured. “I’m not sure how to put this…” he paused, mouth rummaging for words. “Something will change very soon, Garth. Someone will be discovered who will change everything. When that happens, you need to trust Trev’nor like he trusts you. Much will be lost otherwise.”
I looked, really looked at Trev’nor. Trev’nor has always been special, a child prodigy in a life that had no child prodigies. My head was swimming with questions after Xiaolang’s revelation. Who was the boy we were to rescue, and why was Trev’nor so important for that boy?
Once upon a time, there was a dragon…
Take one newly trained Fire Mage. Make him the first (sane) Fire Mage that’s been born in the past two hundred years. Have him leave home and venture into the Empire of Sol.
Add one powerful, curious, fire-eating dragon.
Fire Mage Haikrysen never imagined that he would be adopted out of the blue by a dragon. But then, he never thought he’d find a permanent home in the northern section of Sol, working as a firefighter either. Still, he likes his new home and adores his dragon companion—even if she does hoard jewelry and eats whole sheep for breakfast.
But his peaceful days end abruptly when an arsonist starts torching the eastern section of the empire, his attacks becoming progressively bigger and faster. It’s beginning to look like he’s another insane Fire Mage on the loose.
Krys, Kaya, and his partner Mari are sent to investigate, but they have no idea what the aim of the arsonist is, and very little knowledge of the man. Desperate, the three of them race against time to catch the madman before he burns a path across the whole empire, and everyone in it.
There was a time when magic was welcome in the country of Chahir, but that was nearly two centuries ago. Now, all forms of magic are strictly forbidden. Anyone caught using magic, or possessing magical abilities, are immediately imprisoned and executed.
For Garth, that policy is a problem.
As Garth approaches his sixteenth birthday, he realizes that he definitely has magical abilities. What's worse, he has no control over them. In order to stay alive, he only has one choice—he must leave his homeland, Chahir, and flee into the neighboring country, Hain. The journey isn't an easy one; he still has to make it out of Chahir without alerting anyone as to his abilities.
What Garth doesn't know is that getting to Hain, and the Academy for All Magic, is going to be the easy part.
