Broken World Book Two - StarSword by T C Southwell Read Free Book Online

alone will not do the job. If
you fail, I'll be forced to try to save her, and that, I wish to
avoid. To enter that place would be very dangerous for me. If I'm
trapped, all of you will be in grave peril."
    "I'll do my
best."
    Chanter faced
Talsy again. "Be very careful, that's a bad place. If anything
happens to me, if I'm trapped in the city for any reason, leave me
there until the Hashon Jahar have passed by, understand? Promise
me."
    Her eyes stung.
"I promise."
    "And I'll see
that she keeps it," Kieran added.
    "Good. Now
go."
    Talsy set off
towards the city on a black path, Kieran close behind. When she
glanced back, the Mujar had vanished. Many people trod the paths,
tended their crops from their safety or ventured onto the land in
carts that they pushed along with poles. Even when gathering their
crops, they used metal or wooden tools, never allowing their flesh
to come into contact with the ground. Men drove carts to and from
the city, others rode strapped into their saddles for safety. As
long as they had no contact with the land, they were safe, it
seemed.
    Twice, Talsy
and Kieran had to sidle past other path users, being careful to
copy the city folk lest they be found out. No one appeared to have
noticed the Mujar, or that Talsy and Kieran had come out of the
forest. Perhaps the impossibility of that idea made them disbelieve
their eyes, or dismiss it as a figment of their imagination.
Whatever the reason, they had to be careful not to arouse suspicion
once they were amongst the people.
    They passed
through the gates unchallenged, entering a city that, apart from a
lookout perched high above, was unguarded. It appeared that when
Truemen were at war with the land, they made no wars with each
other. Surviving in this strange manner was difficult, for to set
foot on the ground was certain death. It gave a whole new meaning
to living in a hostile land. This place was not merely
inhospitable, but deadly. What saved them was that the land hated
Truemen alone, and their beasts could carry them safely across it.
That Truemen had the ability to survive it was testament to their
ingenuity, as much as their stupidity for causing it.
    Within the
walls, life seemed normal, although the city had an air of lethargy
about it. Pedestrians traversed the streets in a leisurely manner,
pausing at vendors and shops whose poor wares showed the battle
scars of years at war with the land. Vegetables were scarce and
sickly, goods such as flour were not in evidence, but sweetmeats,
sugared fruits and sticky cherries were plentiful. Children
followed their mothers, some escaping to play desultory games on
the tar. They would never know the joy of rolling in soft grass or
playing in the mud. Walking between the low stone buildings, Talsy
noted the populace's forced affability, false smiles and bright
eyes that hid deep fear and sorrow.
    Snatches of
conversation between shoppers proved enlightening. People swapped
tales of those who had fallen from the pathways and been swallowed,
or touched a tree from a wagon and been snagged and rent apart by
the forest giant. A woman wept for her lost son, who had slipped
from his cart in the fields. A toddler had escaped from her mother
and run onto the grass, only to be snatched from death by a brave
gallant who had paid for the deed with his life. The morbid talk
turned Talsy's stomach, and she hurried up the street to escape it.
Stopping at a quiet vendor who sold trinkets of polished glass, she
enquired after the city's seer.
    The gaunt old
man scratched a stubbly chin. "Well now, missy, Shern would most
probably be visiting the alehouse this time of day. Does his
business in the evening, mostly."
    "Where might
the alehouse be?"
    Talsy followed
the old man's rambling directions and ended up, after a few wrong
turns, outside a busy alehouse. She glanced back at Kieran, who
followed like a shadow, offering no help other than his looming
presence. Several comatose men lay beside a doorway whence