Free Laura Jo Phillips by The Bearens' Hope: Book Four of the Soul-Linked Saga Page A

from the ultimate game.  Then things would get really interesting.

 
     
    Chapter 9
     
    Onddo
    Slater was tired and frustrated.  He had spent days practicing one little spell, over and over and over again, with no success at all.  He did not like to think that Magoa had made a mistake, but it was beginning to appear as though he had. 
    Slater liked the idea that he was a sugea.  He liked the idea of being Magoa’s offspring.  He liked the idea of working with Magoa in secret.  But he did not like knowing that he had to prove all of those things true by performing these tasks Magoa had set for him, because he could not seem to make them work.
    He sighed deeply and leaned back on his tail as he gazed out over the valley below his ledge.  It was almost time for him to go hunting.  He was looking forward to that for a change as it would mean a break from all of this fruitless practicing. 
    Suddenly a deep red sugea appeared in the sky, flying straight for him.  Magoa.  Slater straightened up at once, but he couldn’t remove the expression of frustration and doubt from his face.
    When Magoa reached the ledge where Slater stood, he hovered above it and transformed into his alter form, floating slowly down until he was standing beside Slater.
    “You look tired, Slater,” Magoa observed.  “Have you been practicing?”
    “I have been,” Slater replied.  “Endlessly.  Even so, I must admit to failure.”
    “Failure?” Magoa asked.
    “I have practiced the motions you showed me, but nothing happens.”
    “What did you expect to happen?” Magoa asked.
    Slater opened his mouth, and closed it.  “I do not know,” he admitted.  “I know only that nothing happened.”
    Magoa roared with laughter.  Slater was too surprised to be angry, though he was certainly taken aback.
    “I told you, two sugeas together are more powerful than one alone,” Magoa reminded him.  “The motions I told you to practice do nothing on their own.  You and I must do them together before they will work.”
    “Oh,” Slater said.  “What will happen if we do them together?”
    “Let us see, shall we?” Magoa said with a low chuckle.
    Slater nodded and moved so that he was standing beside Magoa.  At Magoa’s signal, they began making the complicated series of arm and leg motions that Magoa had taught to Slater a few days earlier.  Slater was relieved that he had, in truth, practiced the movements so he was able to keep up with Magoa.
    As they reached the end of the series of movements, Slater felt an odd warmth infuse his body and he noticed a green glow surrounding his hands and arms.  He glanced sideways and was surprised to see that Magoa was surrounded by a strange reddish light.  After a moment, the light faded from both of them and Magoa chuckled.
    “Good, good,” he said jovially, clapping Slater on the shoulder.  “You did very well, Slater, my boy.”
    Slater smiled uncertainly.  He was glad that Magoa was pleased with him, but he didn’t really understand the reason for it.  He wasn’t sure how useful it would be to make himself glow, especially if he had to have Magoa there in order to make it work.  And it had taken an awful lot of time and effort to make it happen.  But, if the great Magoa was happy with him, then that was a good thing.
    “Now that you have that part, it is time to learn the second part,” Magoa said, deflating Slater’s happy feelings. 
    “Second part?” Slater asked.
    “Of course, of course,” Magoa replied.  “You didn’t think all that work was just so you could light up a little, did you?”
    Slater shook his head slowly.  What he really wanted to do was ask why they were doing this, but he didn’t quite dare.
    “All right then, watch carefully,” Magoa said.  He then began a new set of movements that looked even more complicated than the first set had.  When he was finished, he looked expectantly at Slater who did his best to copy what Magoa had