Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2) by B.T. Narro (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .txt) 📕

with the other guards, I hadn’t spoken with him or learned his name. I thanked him when he unlocked the door for us. I hoped he and the other guards knew how much I valued their service, but I had the feeling that most of them thought us young sorcerers to be arrogant, as most sorcerers were.

I found myself wanting to stop here and search Remi and Aliana, to make sure they had no daggers hidden. It seemed unlikely they would attempt to kill me right now if one was the traitor, but I was feeling farther removed from safety the deeper we descended into the dungeon. I decided not to, though. The chances they would act were extremely slim and the chance of offense was not.

We were greeted by the jailer, his windowless office near the base of the stairs. He took us through the dim, muggy tunnels. Occupied cells were on either side, the prisoners suffering quietly as seen by their expressions. Nykal was a good king, but his benevolence didn’t seem to extend down here.

The jailer eventually stopped just before we started down another tunnel, this one with seemingly empty cells. “He’s ahead,” said the jailer.

Aliana asked, “Can you take me to Luther’s cell?”

The jailer appeared disappointed. “I can’t, young lady, and I must inform the king that you asked. I received strict orders.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Aliana said.

“I’m afraid I do.”

She clicked her tongue as the jailer left. “Damn.”

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” I said.

“I just want to know…I’m not quite sure, actually. I guess I just want to see what excuse he has for never seeing me.”

“He doesn’t care,” Remi said coldly.

Aliana looked at her feet. “I know, but he’s my father. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

“It doesn’t.” Remi stared at Aliana until she looked at her. “Family might mean something to you, but family means something else to him. It’s an excuse to do whatever he wants with the expectation that you’ll still care for him. There’s nothing for you to hold onto if that’s how he chooses to behave. He’s as much your father as my father was to me. Imagine where I’d be now if I held onto the idea that I had to care about him. I would still be married, living in Granlo, abused. I don’t care if my father thinks I betrayed him and the rest of my family. They betrayed me first, just as your father has done to you by pretending you don’t exist.”

“Will you shut up?” Cason yelled from his cell ahead. “Airinold’s taint, whine about your fathers somewhere else.”

But Aliana ignored him, putting her hand on Remi’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “You’re right.”

I took the lead as the girls followed me to Cason’s cell.

“Oh god,” Cason complained, rolling his eyes as he saw us. “Do yourselves a favor and leave now before you get hurt.”

I was used to pain by now, and I had a feeling that Remi and Aliana didn’t shy away from it, either.

“It was my father who told you about Jon, wasn’t it?” Aliana asked.

“I warned you.” Cason motioned with his hand as dteria swarmed around Aliana. But I grabbed his energy as he tried to throw her, and she didn’t go very far. Unfortunately, the pressure on my mind was too intense for me to really notice what happened afterward as I put my hands against my temples and began to heal through the pain.

It wasn’t until I was done that I noticed Remi’s jet of fire. Cason screamed as he fell away from the bars between us. He made a wall of dteria, pushing the fire back, but Remi just added more mana to her spell, the flames threatening to wrap around the wall of dteria as it started to disintegrate.

But then Remi collapsed, and her spell came to an end. She had pushed herself too hard.

Cason appeared furious as he picked Remi up from the ground. She made a choking sound as her hands went to her neck. I was about to act, but Aliana spoke before me.

“Release her or die,” she threatened, an arrow aimed at his chest. “Now!”

Cason didn’t drop Remi. I was just starting to physically pry away the cushiony energy from her neck when Aliana shot.

“No!” I yelled.

The arrow went deep into Cason’s chest, just to the side of his heart. He gasped as he fell backward.

He grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, his blood gushing. He looked down at his wound as if still in disbelief that Aliana had really shot him.

Then Cason put his hands over the wound, gritted his teeth, and groaned painfully as he healed himself.

Soon he was done, the sounds of everyone’s heavy breaths filling the air.

“That was a warning,” Aliana said as she readied another arrow. “And I have plenty more warnings with me.” She gestured at the quiver full of arrows near her hip.

Cason had a few choice words for Aliana, but it didn’t seem to rattle her as she waited with arms folded.

“That’s all?” she asked when he was finished. “I’ve heard a lot worse than that.”

“What the hell do you want!” Cason yelled.

“Answer my question,” Aliana demanded. “Was it my father who told you about Jon’s wide range of mana soon after all of us came to the castle?”

“I’m not going to say shit to any of you.”

Aliana very calmly loaded another arrow onto her bow. Cason seemed to think she was bluffing, his face registering no surprise even as she smoothly drew back the string and let go.

He gasped as the arrow struck him deep in his stomach. He cursed a few more times as he struggled to pull this arrow out, the pain too intense for him. He left it for a moment, shared a few more expletives, then really pulled hard.

It was a disgusting sight, watching Cason attempt to keep his innards from coming out with the arrow, but neither Aliana nor Remi seemed to mind as we all