Book 1 - Shadowline by Glen Cook Read Free Book Online Page B

break through.”
    “Of course.” After an introspective moment, Rhafu
said, “It’s time you went.” He gave Deeth a hug
as powerful as his father’s had been. “Be careful,
Deeth. Always think before you do anything. Always take the long
view. Don’t ever forget that you’re the Family
now.” He ran the back of a wrist across his eyes. “Now,
then. I’ve enjoyed having you here, young master. Don’t
forget old Rhafu. Kill one for me when you get back to
Homeworld.”
    Deeth saw death in Rhafu’s watery eyes. The old adventurer
did not expect to survive the night. “I will, Rhafu. I
promise.”
    Deeth gripped one leathery old hand. Rhafu was still a fighter.
He would not run. He would die rather than let animals shatter his
courage and the confidence of his own superiority.
    Deeth started to ask why he had to run away when everyone else
was going to stand. Rhafu forestalled him.
    “Listen closely, Deeth. Go down the stairs at the end of
the balcony. All the way down. There’ll be two doors at the
bottom. Use the one on your right. It opens into the corridor that
passes the training area. There shouldn’t be anyone in it. Go
to the end of the hall. You’ll find two more doors. Use the
one marked Exit. It’ll put you outside in one of the
vegetable fields. Go to the sithlac dome and follow its long side.
Keep going in a straight line out from its end. You should reach
the forest in an hour. Keep on going and you’ll run into an
animal village. Stay with them till you find a way off planet. And
for Sant’s sake make sure you pretend you’re one of
them and they’re equals. If you don’t, you’re
dead. Never trust one of them, and never get close to any of them.
Understand?”
    Deeth nodded. He knew what had to be done. But he did not want
to go.
    “Go on. Scoot,” Rhafu said, swatting him on the
behind and pushing him toward the stair. “And be
careful.”
    Deeth walked to the stairwell slowly. He glanced back
several times. Rhafu waved a last farewell, then turned
away, hiding tears.
    “He’ll die well,” Deeth whispered.
    He reached the emergency exit. Cautiously, he peeped outside.
The fields were not as dark as he had expected. Someone had left
the lights on in the sithlac dome. And the slave barracks were
burning. Had the animals fired them? Or had the bombardment done
it?
    Little short-lived suns kept flaring between the stars overhead.
A long, rolling thunder of chemical explosions came from the far
side of the station. The launch pits had been hit. The shriek of
rising missiles was replaced by secondary explosions.
    The humans were getting close. Deeth looked up into the heart of
the constellation Rhafu had dubbed the Krath, after a rapacious
bird of Homeworld. The human birthstar lay there somewhere.
    He could not distinguish the constellation. There were scores of
new stars up there, all of them too bright, and visibly
brightening.
    The humans were on the downward leg of their penetration run. He
would have to hurry to clear the perimeter they would establish
with their assault craft.
    He sprinted for the side of the sithlac dome.
    By the time he reached the dome’s far end the new stars
had swollen into small, bright suns. Missile exhausts rayed from
them in angry swarms. He could hear the craft rumbling over the
explosions stalking through the station.
    They were just a few thousand feet up now, and braking in. His
escape would be close. If he made it at all.
    A flight of missiles darted toward the bright target of the
dome. Deeth ran again, sprinting straight out into the darkness.
Explosions tattooed behind him. Blasts hurled him forward, tumbled
him over and over. The dome lights died. He rose, stumbled ahead,
fell, rose, and went on. His nose was bleeding. He could not
hear.
    He could not see where he was going. The flashing of explosions
kept his eyes from adapting as quickly as they should.
    The assault craft touched down.
    The nearest landed so close Deeth was singed by the hot