Black by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

we drag him?” asked Gabil.
    â€œOf course we can. Grab his other hand.”
    They bent, though not so far—they stood only about three feet if they stretched—and hauled the man from the bank. Michal led them over the grass, through the trees, into a small clearing surrounded by fruit trees. The ground was clear of debris and rocks, but they couldn’t be doing the man’s belly any favors. Soon it wouldn’t matter.
    â€œHere.” He dropped the man’s arm. “I assume he can’t hear us.”
    â€œOf course he can’t understand us. No sir,” Gabil said, kneeling beside the man. “How can he understand us when he’s unconscious?”
    Michal nudged the man in the shoulder with a frail foot resembling a bird’s . “You say you led him out from the black forest?” Not that he should doubt his friend, but Gabil did have a way of milking a story. It was more of a comment than a question.
    Gabil nodded and scrunched his lightly furred forehead. The expression looked out of place on his round, soft face.
    â€œHe’s lucky to have lived.” Gabil stretched one wing in the direction they’d come. “He barely made it through the black trees. You should have seen the Shataiki that had him. Ten at least.” Gabil hopped around the fallen body. “You should have seen, Michal. You really should have. He must be from the far side—I don’t recognize him.”
    â€œHow could you possibly recognize him? His skin is missing.”
    â€œI saw him before they took his skin. I’m telling you, this one’s never been in these parts before.” Gabil stood over the prostrate body again, swaying.
    â€œWell, he didn’t drink the water; that’s what really matters,” Michal said.
    â€œBut he may have if I hadn’t flown in,” Gabil said enthusiastically.
    â€œAnd you flew in because . . . ?” They rarely confronted the black bats anymore. There was a time, long ago, when heroic battles had been fought, but not for a millennium now.
    â€œBecause I saw the sky black with Shataiki about a mile in, that’s why. I went in high, but when I saw him, I couldn’t leave him. There were a thousand of the beasts flying mad circles around me, I’m telling you. It was nothing short of spectacular.”
    â€œAnd how did you manage to escape a thousand Shataiki?”
    â€œMichal, please! It’s I! The conqueror of Shataiki.” He raised his wing in a mock salute. “Flies or beasts, black or red, urge them on. I’ll dispatch them to darkness.” He waited for a response from Michal and continued when he received none.
    â€œActually, I took them by surprise. Out of the sun. And did I tell you about the flies? I blasted through a horde of flies like they were the air itself.”
    â€œOf course you did.” And then after a moment of thought, “Well done.”
    Michal tilted his head and studied the man’s rising back. Fresh blood still oozed from three gaping holes at the man’s neck, his buttocks, and his right thigh where the Shataiki had eaten him to the bone. His flesh quivered under the hot sun. There was something strange about the man. It was strange enough that someone from one of the distant villages had entered the black forest at all. It had happened only once before. But the strangeness was more than that. He could smell the stench that came from the man’s ragged breathing—like the breath of the Shataiki bats.
    â€œWell, let’s get on with it then. You have the water?”
    â€œHello?”
    They both turned as one. A young woman stood at the edge of the clearing, eyes wide. Rachelle.

    Rachelle stared at the bloodied body, stunned by the gruesome sight. Had she ever seen anything so terrible? Never! She hurried forward, red tunic swishing below her knees.
    â€œWhat . . . what is it?” A man, of course. She could see that by the