Free Shadow Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) by John Forrester Page A

face. “I know, you don’t want me to come. Go ahead, but you don’t really know what you’re looking for. You need a guide.”
    “How do we know you’re not going to sabotage the archives, and try and steal something you need?” The wind gusted up and sent the sorcerer’s hair twirling. Talis put a hand behind his neck and studied the old man’s face.
    “You don’t know.” Palarian shrugged and suppressed a yawn. “I suppose I could give you my word.”
    “And how do we known your word even means anything?” Mara said.
    “Well, there’s a way to bind one’s word to magic, a harmful spell for instance would strike, if you break your word.” The sorcerer pushed out his lower lip thoughtfully. “Do any of you know the art of runes?”
    Talis felt his heartbeat thump ahead erratically. He tried to keep his face stony, but the sorcerer picked up on something.
    “So, you do know the hidden art. Rare, very rare to see in wizards these days. There was a time, quite a long time ago actually, when Rune Magic was all the rage. Now you’d be hard-pressed to find a runemaster in a kingdom.” Palarian sighed, and rubbed the back of his hand across his lips. “I’ve learned a thing or two about runes over the years….”
    “Follow me.” Talis grunted, and led the sorcerer inside the Temple, summoning an orb of Light Magic to guide their way. If the old man had something to teach him concerning the use of runes, he was more than happy to learn. Shadows sprung to life as Talis sent fingerlings of flame to light the many candles scattered around the workroom.  
    Palarian’s eyes went wide as he caught sight of all the runes spread across the worktable. He lifted a rune too quickly for Talis to stop him. “So much for worrying about how we’ll get inside the archives. You surprise me boy, you do. Who taught you the portal spell?”
    “Err, no one exactly taught me, we”—Talis gestured to Mara and Nikulo—“sort of figured it out.”
    “You did most of the work.” Mara sauntered up alongside Talis, until he felt her hand brush lightly against his wrist, sending a shiver up his arm.
    “Let’s just say we solved a puzzle.” There was no way Talis was going to tell this stranger a thing about his interactions with Aurellia. Palarian knew too much about him already.
    “I suppose that’s good enough.” The sorcerer crinkled up his forehead and frowned. “Since you can open a portal, and I assume you’ve been inside the archives before, we should be ready to go.”
    “You forgot something…” Talis pointed at a rune with a Fire Magic spell inscribed. A quite specific spell afflicting one’s internal organs. Like a kidney roast. “Teach me how to bind your word to that rune. If you break your promise….”
    “I wouldn’t want that to happen.” The sorcerer rubbed his stomach, an unpleasant expression lingering on his face. “The binding is quite similar to any other rune binding, except I say my words of promise, and you bind them through your intent to the rune. Easy enough?”
    Talis nodded uncertainly. “I’ll give it a try.” He placed the rune on a chair, and closed his eyes, waiting for the old man.
    “I, Palarian, do humbly swear before the gods old and new, roaming the skies and ruling the deep, that I will bring no harm to the Order of the Dawn temple archives, nor steal, nor bring any ill deed to the archives. If I do, may the spell inscribed on this rune strike me down.”
    At the completion of the old man’s words, Talis focused his mind on the binding spell, drawing the sorcerer’s intent foremost to his thoughts, and pushed them inside the rune tablet. He opened his eyes just as the rune dissolved into dust, and left a shimmering silver ghost atop the chair.
    “Could we perhaps test it on a mouse first?” The sorcerer shrank back a bit as he stared nervously at the chair.  
    “How could you even think of doing something to harm a poor innocent mouse.” Mara scowled at