Dragon's Tongue (The Demon Bound) by Laura J Underwood Page B

him.”
    The ham-like hands let go, and Alaric stumbled forward, feeling weak and unsteady. Could fear drain a man so, or was it the aftermath of adrenalin and drunkenness?
    “But, there is still the matter of how the demon got in, and how it found refuge in your psaltery,” Turlough said.
    “Uncle, I think I can explain that,” Fenelon said. Alaric cringed. The truth was about to be revealed. They had broken some other rule. He would be sent home in shame.
    “That is, if I am given enough time to study the matter, of course,” Fenelon said and took the psaltery from Turlough’s grasp.
    Turlough glowered in a suspicious manner, but he nodded. “Very well, I shall leave the matter in your hands.” He shifted his gaze to Alaric who wondered if his own unease was coloring his face again. “Now, while we are on the subject, there is still the matter of your training, Master Braidwine. Since you appear to lack many of the greater skills, I think it would be wise to choose a master mageborn to train you this very night. There are many fine masters I could apprentice you to…” His gaze turned sourly on Fenelon. “…but as I think on it, the most perfect choice for your mageborn master would be none other than my own blood kin, Magister Fenelon Greenfyn.”
    “What?” Fenelon said it as swiftly as Alaric.
    “You object?” Turlough asked, though it was hard to tell who he directed the question towards.
    Alaric glanced at Fenelon whose eyebrows had disappeared under his hairline.
    “I…” Fenelon said.
    “If you are to determine for me, Fenelon, as to how this demon came to reside in this young mageborn’s psaltery, you will need him at hand, will you not?” Turlough said. “And since you always seem to have a great deal of free time to make trouble, and this young man does need training, and you have yet to take an apprentice, better to put the two of you together, do you not agree?”
    Fenelon frowned briefly, but then he caught Alaric’s accusing gaze. This is your fault, Alaric thought, hoping his expression revealed that sentiment.
    “Why, yes, Uncle, that would be a brilliant idea…so long as Master Braidwine does not object.”
    “He has no choice and neither do you,” Turlough said in a smug manner. “And I suspect it will be for the best of all involved.”
    “As you will Lord Magister,” Fenelon said with a slight bow and a humble mask, but now Alaric could see those blue eyes sparkle with some form of triumph. You wanted this all along!
    “As I will,” Turlough said. “Now, I want answers. I want to know what the demon took. I want the beast found and subdued, and eventually destroyed. Is that clear to everyone present?”
    There were nods and “ayes” all around.
    “Good,” Turlough said. “To bed with all of you, now.” He looked at Alaric. “We shall make the official announcement of your apprenticeship before the Council when we meet tomorrow afternoon.
    With those words, Turlough swept away. Alaric felt his head grow light. The ground moved towards him at an alarming rate before it smacked him like a large hand and knocked him out cold.

SEVEN
     
    “And just what in the name of the Dark Lord of Annwn is this?” Tane Doran roared as he stormed about the chamber, waving the map in the air.
    His voice filled the inn with its fury, and were it not for the spells of silence set about to protect the place from prying ears, Vagner feared they would have every local awake and after them. Not that he couldn’t handle a few dozen peasants just now. He was quite famished. No, he worried more that some local mageborn would discover the demon and report its presence, and coupled with the recent disturbance Vagner had created at Dun Gealach, it would not take the Council of Mageborn long to do the mathematics and figure Vagner was their intruder. An inn full of outraged mortalborns was nothing to a demon…but an entire army of mageborn. He shuddered just to think of it.
    “It is what