Dralin by John H. Carroll Read Free Book Online

towers. Sheela giggled as they
landed on her long eyelashes.
    She hugged him happily and they continued.
Frath told her more details of the district. “Wraith Lake, Dralin
Academy, and the Estate of the Grand Assembly surround and hide the
City Center. Around all of it in a giant circle is the Tower
District. It’s as close as wizards can get to the City Center
unless they’re in the Academy or work for the Assembly.”
    “What is the City Center? I haven’t heard of
it,” Sheela asked out of curiosity. Her arm wrapped around his
waist as they walked while his was around her shoulders. It felt
good having her so close.
    “I don’t know. No one really does except
members of the Assembly and some of the heads of the academy. It’s
one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world. Look out!” he
said in alarm, holding her back. A misshapen figure in a robe
lurched out of an alley in front of them. It looked disoriented as
it crossed the street and headed for the alley on the other side.
People on the street backed away from it in dread.
    Frath held Sheela tightly when she gasped in
fear. The figure had once been a man, probably a wizard judging
from the tattered robe it wore. The left side of its face looked
like melted wax and the eye was missing. The right eye had a crazed
look. Sickly green light emanated dimly from the mouth and
nose.
    “That’s one of the Deformed,” Frath told her
very quietly. “Stay away from them. If they bite you, or if their
blood gets into your eyes, ears, mouth or any open cut, you could
catch some of the infection. Once a person is infected, they start
craving more of the raw pollution. I’ve seen Deformed on their
hands and knees eating it out of gutters.” The tone of his voice
was ominous as he remembered some of the things he had seen.
    When Sheela buried her face into his chest
and sobbed, he realized he was being unintentionally scary. Frath
held her. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to frighten you. I’ve
just seen some bad things.”
    She quickly wiped her eyes and shook her
head. “No, it’s alright. I just didn’t realize it would be as bad
as everyone said. Looking at that man made me sick and I hated
feeling like that,” she admitted guiltily.
    “Don’t be ashamed. Deformed are hard to look
at even for seasoned guardsmen,” Frath said earnestly. “We’re not
allowed to do anything about them by order of the High Council. I
don’t like killing people, but sometimes I wish we could put them
out of whatever misery they must be in.”
    Sheela stared at the alley the Deformed had
entered and nodded slowly, her face ashen. It was obvious the
incident had upset her terribly. “If you don’t want to go on, I’ll
understand . . .” Frath told her, concerned for her well-being.
    “I do want to go on,” she replied
quickly. “Just . . . stay close?”
    “Yes, of course.” He guided her on, moving
quickly past the alley. Frath went back to the previous
conversation to get her mind off it. “Anyway, nobody really knows
how big the Tower District is for certain or how many wizards live
here.”
    “Does anyone know how many Deformed there
are?” Sheela asked solemnly. She hadn’t let the experience escape
her mind.
    “No. Every once in a while, someone orders a
census done of them in addition to a census of all the people in
Dralin. It’s impossible to count everyone for a lot of
reasons.”
    “Such as?” Sheela asked, looking fearfully
down another alley while hoping nothing would come out. The snow
had lessened to a few light flakes and the streets they were
traveling had quite a bit of foot traffic. Occasionally, a carriage
would go by or a peddler with a handcart full of exotic goods to
sell to some crazy wizard.
    “Well, the wizards don’t like to be counted,
many of the commoners are transient, a lot of the people are
homeless and it’s hard to pin them down, but worst of all there’s a
lot of crime in the city and rogues don’t like