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.The wound could fester.No sense in wasting a good slave."Eldrinn closed his spellbook and laid it on the table beside him, next to a wooden box."There'splenty more where they came from.""Slaves are expensive.""So what? We can afford a dozen of them."Q'arlynd sighed.The younger wizard had an intuitive grasp of magic that was well beyond histraining and years, but what he knew about handling slaves wouldn't have filled a bunghole.Loyalty had to be built, one brick at a time.It couldn't be beaten into a slave.Whippings onlyproduced fear, and resentment—and a smoldering desire for revenge.Something Q'arlynd hadlearned early in life, as a boy in House Melarn.Eldrinn, however, had grown up in Sshamath, the pampered and indulged son of the master ofthe city's College of Divination.The closest he'd ever come to anything resembling a matronmother's wrath was when he'd been teleported home by Q'arlynd a year and a half ago, mind damagedand dragging behind him the powerful staff he'd "borrowed" from the master's privatestudy.Seldszar Elpragh had paid for the expensive spell that had cured his son, then raged at the boyfor going off, with only one soldier accompanying him, to indulge in "pointless poking about"in the ruins of the High Moor.He'd cut off Eldrinn's stipend for a month—no real punishment.His son, he later admitted to Q'arlynd, was more valuable than any staff.Q'arlynd had to agree, but for different reasons.Eldrinn not only had access to MasterSeldszar's deep coin purse, but also a residence of his own that was perfect for secludedexperimentation.And his thirst for arcane knowledge and the power that came with it equaledQ'arlynd's own.The boy acknowledged Q'arlynd as his superior in the Art and was keen tomake good on the debt that he owed the olderwizard for his rescue.He was almost pathetically grateful to Q'arlynd for being invited toparticipate in the experiments on the kiira Q'arlynd had "found" on the High Moor.Best of all,he had absolutely no recollection of ever having possessed the stone himself.All memories ofhis trip to the High Moor had been wiped from his mind, except for the odd muddled flash.Which was precisely why Q'arlynd had encouraged the boy to participate in his experiments onthe kiira, and why he kept Eldrinn by his side as much as possible.If Eldrinn suddenlyremembered something about his expedition to the High Moor, Q'arlynd wanted to be the firstto hear about it.All he had to put up with in return were Eldrinn's incessant comments on how he shoulddiscipline the slaves.Q'arlynd walked over to the chitine and grabbed the creature by the hair.It opened its eyes andstrained at its manacles, hissing.Baring its teeth and clicking its curved mandibles, it attempted,futilely, to bite Q'arlynd's arm.Q'arlynd examined the back of the creature's head."No real damage done." He released the hairand stepped back."You should have whipped the grimlocks, just the same.Both of them."Q'arlynd ignored the younger male's comment.He didn't want to get caught up in anotherlengthy debate.Too much rested on this experiment."What about the others? Are (hey on theirway?"Eldrinn closed his eyes and toyed with the copper ring Q'arlynd had given him.Faerie firedanced across his closed eyelids as he used the ring to view the others from afar."Piri's driftdiscis just passing the Web.Zarifar and Baltak are en route from the Quillspires; they should beright behind him.""Good."Eldrinn opened his eyes."Could Alex a—?" "No.""But she's one of the most promising apprentices the College of Conjuration has.She created asigil that—""We've been through this before," Q'arlynd said."No." He knew why the boy wanted him toinvite the female wizard to join their fledgling school: he was her consort.Which was exactlythe reason Q'arlynd didn't want her.He didn't need her bedding any of the others, stirring uppetty jealousies.Eldrinn pouted but didn't protest further.Q'arlynd tapped his foot impatiently.As they waited for the others, he performed an exploratorythrust into the mind of the chitine, ignoring the faerie fire that sparked from his temples as hedid so.The chitine's mind was difficult to penetrate—and brutal to remain in, once he wasinside.Hate you, the creature raged back at him.Kilt you, filthy drows.Hook open stomach, spill yourfeces.Kill—Enough.Satisfied that he would be able to retain contact, Q'arlynd withdrew
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