Free Chasing A Spectre (War for Dominance Book 0) by Chris Kennedy Page A

exclaimed Ghorza, who came to decisions far more quickly. “He has the queen’s crown! The longer we delay, the further away he could be getting!”
    Milos shook his head. A halfling, he looked human but was only three and a half feet tall. “The delay is unacceptable,” he said, interrupting the mages’ discussion.
    “What do you mean?” asked the Magistra.
    “I saw him go through the gate,” he said, “and I know there is a reward for his capture.” A beast master who could use magic to project his senses into animals, Milos had been controlling the mouse in the alley. “How many times have these two already failed to capture him?” he asked. “We can’t afford to give him a head start. We need to go through the mirror now to make sure he doesn’t get away. I might have caught him myself this time if the tuefy hadn’t come stomping along and spooked him.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at Dantes.
    “ You would have caught him?” asked Dantes with a glare of his own. “As a mouse, how would you have accomplished the task? By giving him rabies and waiting for him to die?”
    “I would have gone back to my body and grabbed him,” mumbled Milos, finding something interesting on the ground to stare at.
    “ You would have grabbed him?” asked Dantes, eyeing the much smaller and weaker Milos. “How? Most reports say he is a big man.”
    “They also say he is a master of disguise,” said the Magistra. “Did you get a good look at him?”
    “He wasn’t that much larger than I am,” replied Milos. “In fact, I was about to grab him when he heard you coming. It’s almost as if...as if you didn’t want to catch the thief at all. That’s it!” he exclaimed, turning to the Magistra. “No wonder they can’t catch the thief. The devil is probably helping him.”
    Anger blazed through Dantes, and flames began to dance on his skin. Within seconds, the smell of charred material filled the room. Even though his clothes were treated and warded, there was only so much that ‘fireproof’ could do when covering skin that often burst into open flames.
    “Say that again, pig lover, and you’ll see what it’s like to be roasted in your own juices!” Dantes warned. “I have never done anything to help the thief!”
    “ Calm yourself! ” said the Magistra. “Remember your training and your oath.”
    Because of his parentage, Ghorza knew that Dantes had to swear not one, but several oaths in order for the Magistra to take him in, including his vows to pray only to the gods of good and to practice good wherever he went. More to the point, he had also sworn to abstain from torture in all forms and to never kill anyone, except in the line of duty.
    Dantes took several deep breaths the way he had been taught, wisps of smoke trailing from his nostrils as he exhaled.
    “Yes, Magistra,” he finally replied. “I remember my training and all of my oaths. It is because I have been true to my oaths that this dirt crawler riles me by saying that I am a thief, or that I help thieves. It has been hard enough to get people around here to accept me, and if that rumor gets out, I will lose the support of the few that do trust me.”
    “I understand,” said the Magistra. She looked at Milos and said, “Perhaps it would be better for all of us if you watched your tongue. While we would like your assistance, it will be hard to get it from you if you are fried to a crisp.”
    Milos simply nodded, saying nothing. After a few seconds, he looked at Ghorza and raised an eyebrow.
    Ghorza understood his unspoken question; as a half-orc, she was as much an outcast as Dantes. “You’re just as liable to come to an untimely end if you accuse me as you would be if you continued to accuse Dantes,” she said, glaring down at Milos. Ghorza was a practitioner of air-based magic. Although young, she was a talented magician; her threat wasn’t an idle one.
    “All I want is my reward,” whined Milos, turning to look imploringly