Bread and cheese, again. Dorvan wished they would get a better meal, but Qidan had told the students this was their meal for the week and wouldn’t elaborate why. Dorvan and the other students were eating in what was called the 'temple,' and it was large now. New students kept joining up, and now the temple could hold a couple of thousand students, yet Qidan wanted the temple to become larger.

  How many people were going to join this academy? Dorvan heard some of the students coming up with a new name. Instead of the academy, they were calling this place the School of Power. Qidan must have heard the name but never mentioned it. Perhaps that was going to be the name of this place?

  The training was brutal but worth it. Dorvan was learning so much about the power since arriving that he had a hard time believing he used to struggle to grasp the power. Now it was as easy as breathing.

  “Did you get around to testing the prison?” Aurora asked, brushing some of her silver hair out of her face before taking a drink of water.

  “Yeah,” Dorvan said with a shudder. It had been horrifying. He stepped into the prison, and the power was forcibly stripped away from him. “It works all right.”

  “That’s good,” Aurora said.

  “You should have seen Dorvan’s face,” Lewis started with a chuckle. “Looked like a ghost had come for him.”

  “Hey, you weren’t much better!” Dorvan said hotly. “You were white as a ghost when you walked in!”

  “It’s not for us,” Aurora said, looking over at Lewis and then whirling to Dorvan. “Talon will be happy when he hears how quickly we finished it.”

  “Whenever he hears about it,” Khalia mumbled.

  “I’m sure Qidan will tell him,” Dorvan said.

  “I hope so, that was not easy to set up,” Lewis said.

  “It looks good that we were able to complete the prison,” Aurora said and leaned back in her chair. “One step closer to becoming an Ashtari.”

  “I’m curious what the king will task us with next,” Khalia said.

  “Hopefully not for some power grab,” Lewis said. “He says we’re going to be used against the invaders, but who’s to say he doesn’t want to take over the other nations? The last time someone in the Astero family could use-”

  “Don’t,” Aurora warned, cutting Lewis off. “Talon isn’t like Egmardern. The people of Azzellia love him, and he sounded sincere when he spoke about our purpose.”

  Lewis raised his hands. “All right, but I say we keep an eye out. I don’t want to be used to conquer the continent. I want to stop the invaders and help people.”

  “We all want that,” Dorvan said, turning his gaze toward a group of students, led by Zaldrone Dematta. Zaldrone had arrived shortly after him and was strong with the power and a devout follower of Talon. Those students would do anything the king said. “So long as Talon doesn’t follow Egmardern’s steps, I will follow him.”

  Dorvan sensed the power being used outside, and the entire hall went silent as they sensed the same thing. Nobody would mistake who had arrived. Talon Astero. “Let’s see what’s going on,” Khalia said.

  It was as if all the students had the same idea as everyone rushed toward the exit to run outside. Dorvan found himself squished between Aurora and Lewis, though they eventually made it through.

  A few people in front gasped and whispered, which Dorvan couldn’t understand. He forced himself through the crowd and understood why some of the students gasped. There was no mistaking Talon, but that wasn’t what shocked him. There were three people on their knees, held via the power, and were clearly mages. Dorvan recognized the robes and the hatred in their faces. Each of them had blue robes and was staring at the ground. Why would Talon kidnap mages?

  Qidan wasn’t doing a good job at looking neutral as Dorvan saw the lines of worry on his face. He understood why. Mortham Tower had no idea Qidan was working with Talon, and this would put the mage in a compromising situation.

  He turned to look at the others and saw serious looks, with a few grinning maliciously. Many of the students here hated the mages. Dorvan wondered what this meant. Were the mages planning an attack? Did they try to capture Talon? Why were there three mages in their School of Power?

  “Should we prepare for battle?” someone Dorvan didn’t recognize said.

  “The mages know about us!” another student said.

  Qidan looked furious as he whirled on the students. “Get back to your duties, now!” he yelled.

  The students started to break apart, rushing back into the temple. Qidan’s punishments weren’t something to take lightly, and every student wanted to avoid them. Dorvan recalled a punishment where he had to hold the power to keep himself warm while naked in the rain and having to hold buckets full of ice in each hand. It sounded easy but was far from it.

  As he walked away, Dorvan felt something tug on his shirt, and he, along with Aurora, Lewis, and Khalia, turned towards Qidan who motioned them over. Is this a good or bad thing? Dorvan wondered as he walked towards the mage.

  That was when Dorvan noticed Aurora’s reaction. Her usual relaxed demeanor was intense. It was as if she was a different person, going from happy to serious in the blink of an eye.

  “Follow us,” Qidan said and began walking, not towards the temple, but around. Dorvan knew what that meant; the three mages were going to be placed in the prison.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  What fortunate timing. Dorvan thought. He wondered what Talon would have done if the prison hadn’t been completed and was glad he wouldn’t know the answer. What would Talon do with the mages? They couldn’t be imprisoned forever, something the king had to know, but they couldn’t be released, or the School of Power would be wiped out.

  Dorvan could sense the immense power Talon was holding onto. It sent shivers down his spine. Aurora was powerful, but she wasn’t near Talon’s strength, at least not yet. He doubted anyone was close to the king’s power, at least not here.

  Qidan stopped in front of the prison. “We can place them in here,” he said. There was no missing the irritation in his voice.

  Talon raised his right hand, and the three mages were forced inside. “You will keep the mages here. They are not allowed to escape,” he sounded cold, calculated even. “If any of them escape, you will be held responsible.”

  “Have no fear, I won’t let any of them escape,” Qidan said.

  “You’re both a bunch of fools,” one of the prisoners sneered. There was cold fury in the mage's face, and he glared at Talon with pure hatred. “This little army will be taken out. As for you Qidan, your punishment will make you wish you had never been born!”

  If Talon cared about the threat, he didn’t act like it. “Keep your most trusted power users on guard here. I don’t want these mages left alone for a second! Make sure to have at least three people. I don’t want anyone getting any ideas of letting them free for whatever bribe these mages try.”

  “I’ll keep six,” Qidan said.

  He’s afraid of the mages getting away as much as Talon, perhaps more. Dorvan thought to himself. Aurora, Khalia, and Lewis were standing at attention, watching Talon and Qidan.

  “Good. Make sure they don’t escape, or all our lives are forfeit,” Talon said and created a portal out of thin air, leaving them behind.

  Qidan mumbled something Dorvan couldn’t understand and turned to the students. “You four will remain here. Don’t leave for any reason and don’t listen to these three. I’ll grab a couple of other students to help, and we’ll get a rotation in place. I’ll be back soon.”

  “Yes, sir,” the four said together.

  Satisfied, Qidan walked away, muttering to himself. Dorvan looked at the three mages and felt a chill down his spine. A part of him wanted to gather the power but refrained. The anti-power prison was working, and the three mages looked angry.

  “You should let us out. You can join Mortham Tower instead of dying like the rest of the rogues here,” the younger mage said.

  The mage went to say something else and flinched, touching his right cheek. “You will not speak to us unless we want you to,” Aurora said. She was flowing with the power and bore her gaze down on the prisoners. “Do you understand?”

  “How dare you-”

  There was another smack, and the woman mage rubbed her right cheek, staring defiantly at Aurora.

  “Do you understand?” Aurora said again.

  Dorvan was in awe. Aurora had taken command as if this was an everyday task. Not a part of her looked uncomfortable with the idea of holding three mages prisoner.

  “Yes,” the older one said begrudgingly.

  “Good,” Aurora turned away from the prisoners. “We should spread out a little bit. No point in scrunching together.”

  “Yeah, whatever you say,” Lewis said and inched his way to the right.

  Dorvan and Khalia had the same idea and moved a bit away from the prisoners. He sighed and looked up at the sky. The only positive out of this whole situation was knowing that Qidan entrusted them to look after the mages. Perhaps he was close to being an Ashtari. The thought did little to comfort his troubled mind.

  Qidan couldn’t believe the mess he was in. Three mages, captured! He knew them as well. Dajrone was a skilled mage, yet he could be a bit too relaxed when confronting others, not unless he was forced to. Danisha was an up-and-coming mage who would be a master one day, and Onyakoon he knew little about.

  What did Talon think he was doing? Three mages going missing would capture Mortham Tower's attention, and they would head straight to Azzellia. If the king didn’t keep his cool, he would be deposed, and he would join the punishment! He would be seen as a traitor to the mages for helping Talon create this band of rogue power users. Despite Talon’s proclamation of his mages being called Ashtari, they were still rogues.

  He hadn’t wanted to have a conflict with the mages at all. How foolish you were to think that might be possible. Qidan thought bitterly. Despite his bond to Talon, he was loyal to Mortham Tower, well as loyal as he could be, which wasn’t much nowadays. There had to be a way to resolve this conflict before the mages discovered the rogues.

  Taking a breath to calm his rage, Qidan walked through the door into Talon’s chamber. The king whirled on him, not hiding his anger. “What are you doing here?” Talon demanded.

  “To keep appearances. I can’t hide away for too long, or people will get suspicious,” Qidan said, choosing his words carefully. A few days had passed since the mages were imprisoned, and he needed to talk to Talon about this.

  “Were you followed?”

  “Are you paranoid?” Qidan asked.

  “Can never be too careful,” Talon said. “What do you want?”

  “I don’t like keeping mages as prisoners. I didn’t agree to help you create Ashtari so that you could go to war with Mortham Tower,” Qidan said.

  Talon’s eyes flickered from the floor to Qidan, and a smile flashed across his face. “You weren’t given a choice. You know as well as I do that the oath-keeper has you bound to me like a prisoner.”

  “There is always a choice,” Qidan said, though he didn’t like the thought. He could disobey the bond and die a painful death. A choice he didn’t want to make, but there was a way out if things went too far.

  Laughter bellowed from the king, who quickly calmed himself. “That is true, but you can calm down. I have no intentions of going to war with Mortham Tower. The mages will be needed in the war to come. The last thing I want to do is destroy them,” Talon said.

  “Then why capture them? What did they do?” Qidan pressed.

  “They attacked me with the power,” Talon said quietly. He looked a little ashamed. “It made me angry, so I cut them off and took them prisoner.”

  What? Qidan wanted to say but didn’t. He knew Talon was powerful, but he was able to cut three mages off the power they already wielded? That was supposed to be hard to do to one mage, let alone three. How strong was the king?

  “Only one of them, Dajrone, used the power against me. I should have ignored the assault, but my anger took over,” Talon sighed and put a hand through his brown hair.

  “You know the Kaidin will investigate this,” Qidan said.

  “I know,” Talon straightened, and his face grew serious. “It will be a while before Mortham Tower investigates the missing mages. I’ll deal with the investigators when they arrive.”

  “You need to convince whoever comes that you had nothing to do with their disappearance. If the mages suspect you were involved at all, they will capture you and discover you can use the power,” Qidan said. He wondered why he cared. He should be hoping for Talon to fail! The problem was, part of him believed the mages were too cocky and needed to be brought to reality, much like himself. He wondered if he was getting Stockholm syndrome.

  “I’m working on a solution for the prisoners,” Talon said.

  “How? You let them go, they’ll tell the Kaidin, and he’ll send every mage to capture your Ashtari,” Qidan said.

  “I’ll tell you when I’m ready,” Talon said with a wave of his hand. “Is there anything else you need?”

  “No,” Qidan said.

  “Good. Go back to the students and keep training them. We need as many Ashtari as possible. If our academy gets discovered, I want to have enough power users to dissuade the mages from taking action,” Talon said.

  “Understood,” Qidan said and left the room. He hoped Talon knew what he was doing, for he had a feeling the mages were about to become a major thorn in the king’s side. Better him than me. he thought, and opened up a portal. Though, if the mages were too much for Talon, than he was as doomed as the king. For now, he would continue as he had been and hope Talon did find a solution. Otherwise, may Tarmella bless them all.