Curse: The Dark God Book 2 by John D. Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

Fire back from the brink. As she did so, she felt a twinge in her knee.
    Dreadmen and fell-maidens ate like they were starving and slept whenever they could. They had to in order to replenish the stores used in their times of action. She’d been eating and training and sleeping, but her body wasn’t ready for this. She knew the twinge was only the first sign of damage. However, the river was not far away.
    She ran another quarter of a mile until the houses of the river folk rose ahead of her. They were dark. Nothing was stirring. She sped through the habitations, setting a few dogs barking, and raced down the steep river bank.
    Along this stretch, the Lion was a wide river, great swaths of it shining in the moonlight, other parts sliding by, as black as coal, in the shadows of the hills. She ran past a number of shacks where the fisher folk kept their nets and other implements of their trade and down to the spot where she knew two families hid their skiffs, hoping they still kept them there.
    The waves of the river lapped upon the shore. Crickets filled the darkness with their singing. She spotted one of the skiffs in the moonlight and shadow. She ran to it, untied it, dragged it out into the cold water, and jumped in. The smell of the river enveloped her.
    Behind her, Solem’s dogs appeared at the top of the river bank. Farther back the riders entered the fisher folk village and shouted, raising the hue and cry.
    Sugar picked up a paddle from the bottom of the skiff, dipped it in the water, and stroked deep and strong, keeping as low as she could. The skiff shot away from shore. She paddled again, and the river’s current grabbed her.
    The barking dogs ran to where she’d taken the skiff.
    Sugar froze, letting the current carry her silently along the shadows.
    A couple of the dogs splashed into the water, sniffed about in confusion, but they didn’t pursue her along the bank.
    The skiff moved along like a log. Up at the top of the bank, the river folk roused. Lights descended the river bank. But by that time she was moving into a bend in the river. The current carried her around the point and out of view. Only then did she paddle into the moonlight to get across the river and into the faster waters on the other side.
    A mile or so later, she looked back. She could see no boats following, which meant she’d given them the slip. She couldn’t quite believe it, and knew this reprieve was only temporary because she still had to make it out of Fir-Noy territory and back to Lord Shim’s stronghold. Her murderous former-neighbors would be sure to wake the whole countryside to prevent that. But for now she was safe.
    She sighed in relief, and thought of Talen and River. Of Black Knee. She hoped the others made it out. The image of Rooster and Shroud taking arrows rose in her mind. They were surely dead. She shook her head in dismay. They had been good men. Good, honest loremen.
    The thought of the lore brought her back to her own Fire, and she retrieved the copper arm ring from her sack and slid it back on. Moments later it took control of her Fire, and the surge of energy began to recede from her limbs. The crazy joy faded. In moments her breathing slowed, and a huge weariness settled upon her.
    She sank onto her back in the bottom of the skiff and looked up at the stars and the scattered clouds shining in the moonlight, clutching the sack to her chest, feeling her father’s skull and her mother’s secrets through the fabric.
    She was hungry and thirsty, but she didn’t eat the food she’d brought with her or dip her hand to drink from the river. The memories of that awful morning rose in her again: the inferno, the black sword coming down on her father’s neck. She thought about Mother. It all combined with the deaths of Rooster and Shroud, and the sorrow of so much loss filled her.
    Ancestors , she prayed, her eyes stinging. Let them avoid the terrors in the world of souls. Let them all be gathered into safety .
    * *