A Whisper After Midnight by Christian Warren Freed Read Free Book Online

something, might not be,” Anienam replied. “There aren’t many birds in this part of the world. Nor dragons or any such nonsense. I honestly don’t know what they are.”
    “Not exactly confidence inspiring, is he?” Maleela whispered to her uncle.
    Bahr suppressed a grin. “Hush girl. We’ve known we’re being followed for a while now. This might be the break we need.”
    “We know Badron is allied with dark powers, could they be some construct of the Dae’shan?” Rekka asked.
    “Possibly, but unless you can manage to shoot one down I can’t know for certain.” Anienam shook his head, frustrated at the continuing depth of the puzzle. Much of his plans were centered on speculation, preventing him from learning the truth in too many areas. Blinded, he had no choice but to carry on with his original plans. And pray they worked.
    Nothol shook his head. “No. They were much too high to shoot down.”
    Ionascu suddenly broke out in bitter laughter. His crippled hand thumped down on his thigh. “Fools. Run and hide. Stand and die. What difference does it make? The One Eye will find us and kill us all!”
    Boen’s fist clenched instinctively. He looked to Bahr. “Say the word and I’ll cave his skull in.”
    Bahr gently shook his head.
    “Violence is not the solution to every situation, Gaimosian,” Anienam scolded. “This man is damaged, broken in mind and body, but he may yet be of use to us.”
    “The big man goes down!” Ionascu cackled before ambling off to his bedroll.
    “I really don’t like him,” Boen grumbled.
    Ignoring him, Bahr asked, “What do we do about our spies? They’ll give us away the moment they figure out where we’re going.”
    The wizard shrugged. “What can we do? I have no spell that can bring them down. Deception will merely delay us to the point of failure.”
    “About that,” Bahr asked. “Are you certain you read that book correctly? Because according to your timeline we’re already late.”
    Anienam paused. He’d never considered being wrong; so few times in the past had he ever been. But Bahr brought a valid point. Perhaps he had misread the book. “I can certainly go back and reread it, but that’s not the issue at hand. I have concerns about those creatures Nothol claims to have seen.”
    “Saw,” Nothol corrected sharply.
    Anienam waved him off. “Irrelevant. There is a village not far from here. I think we should make for it and regroup. Perhaps that will throw our trackers off.”
    “Fine, but what do we do about him?” Bahr asked, pointing at Groge.
    The Giant lingered just outside of the range of the fire. Towering over everyone, he still didn’t feel comfortable being around them. Groge had never seen another species before and found he was fascinated by them. They bickered and argued like old friends. Bore grudges contrary to their actions. They made no sense to him. He found it all oddly refreshing. Life in the forges held so little variation.
    “I will remain in the forests,” Groge finally said. “Your kind will not take kindly to seeing me, if what our elders say is true.”
    “True enough. Giants are extremely rare these days,” Bahr said. “I think your best move is to remain hidden for as long as possible. We don’t need any more unwarranted attention.”
    Groge nodded, that feeling of seclusion steadily growing stronger. He wanted to be part of their group, part of something that mattered for a change, but his size and race set him out as the oddity. The idea was absurd. They needed him to wield the fabled Blud Hamr when the time came. They needed him. He found the idea comforting, but remained apprehensive. Humans were vastly different from his people. Certainly not what he imagined.
    “Rest up,” Bahr told the group. “We need to move quickly. I don’t want our spies to grow comfortable while we dither on what to do. I’ll take first watch. We leave in four hours.”

     
FIVE
    Fedro
    Mired in the shadow of the mountains,