Awake by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online Page A

the tallest walkway. “This is a quiet place.”
    “About one thousand inhabitants on any given day. Sometimes more, sometimes less.” His thumb caressed her hand absently.
    “Does anyone ever travel out there?” She pointed away from the city to the plains and mountains in the distance.
    “We only travel to places the Orb has shown to us unless we walk there. Those distances are unattainable for most of the folk. Those who try are suddenly called by the Orb.” He stared in the same direction, and she saw the longing in his eyes.
    “Do you want to go exploring?”
    “Can we? In all of my time with the Orb, I have never managed to get there.”
    Kali turned her thoughts inward and found the image of the mountain range she was seeking. The Orb was not happy about it, but it gave her what she wanted.
    “This way. Hold tight.” She surrounded them with power, and they flared for a moment before settling on a plateau within the mountain range.
    Odin turned and looked around him. “I did wonder.”
    Graves, headstones, markers, trees, every possible memoriam to the dead were spread out before them. A wall of statues guarded the edge of the graveyard and watched over the departed.
    “The graveyard of the Nameless. I thought we just died where we fell.” Kali was surprised, and within her, the Orb was silent.
    Odin put a hand around her waist and transported to the graveyard. Each marker had a date of birth, a date of death and the time in service to the Orb.
    She walked the path that looked like it had never been used.
    Odin saw something he recognized and followed it.
    A flicker of movement caught her attention. She casually followed the motion until she was standing within three feet of the woman who was moving the earth with her hands.
    In a low voice she asked, “Who do you bury today?”
    The woman shrieked and turned, gasping but with her hands clawed in a defensive posture. “Who are you?”
    The Orb took over. “Be at ease, Pettra. This is Kali, my host. She needs to know of this.”
    The woman bowed from the waist, mud and stone dust coated her clothing. “Of course. I am burying Talniathico of the Vorwing today. He was one of the First, and his loss hurt the Orb deeply.”
    Kali looked at the headstone that had been prepared. “He left no body, how will you bury him?”
    Pettra smiled shyly. “It took me a while, but I gathered him up and put him back together. It is what I do. He is here.”
    Kali followed Pettra into the mausoleum and stopped as the figure wrapped in gauze struck her as horribly familiar. The six and a half foot fairy that had tried to strangle her was lying in repose, reassembled from his component molecules back into the semblance of the living man.
    “How did you…”
    Pettra smiled and bobbed another bow. “We all have our skills, Host. Attention to detail is mine.”
    “Apparently. Very well done. Do you stay here on your own?”
    “I have a room in the city when I am not needed. I eat in the refectory and study at the library, but since I cannot tell anyone about my particular assignments, it makes it hard to socialize.”
    Pettra had a look in her eyes that Kali associated with mania. “If you ever need someone or want someone to speak with, tell the Orb, and I will come.”
    “Thank you, Host. I may take you up on it. It is not happy work, but I keep them all as fresh as the day they died.” Pettra’s hand caressed the dead Vorwing, and Kali fought a shudder.
    “What do you need to do to bury him?” Odin’s voice came from behind them, and Pettra dramatically shifted shape.
    Fangs, teeth, a huge back and grasping claws surged toward Odin, and he misted to nothing as she lunged past him.
    “Pettra, stop! This is my bodyguard, Odin. We did not know anyone was here when we arrived, or we would have announced ourselves properly.”
    Pettra paused, her troll-like countenance confused. She shifted back into a fairly normal shape and nodded. “That is best. I do not do