Heights of the Depths by Peter David Read Free Book Online Page B

to be functioning. The other, the left one, was nearly milky white, with only a hint of a pupil. A mass of gray hair clung to the head, sopping, like a lion that had been caught out in the rain.
    It was the face of a Mort. A human. A gods damned human.
    “It wasn’t just that I was there,” said the human. “I was the one who said it.”
     
     
     

the land of feend
     
    I.
    The Children’s Crusade of the Ocular huddled for mutual warmth and protection deep within the woods. They were cold and tired, and they could not stop staring at the distant green glow that emanated from the far off city.
    The children were looking to two of their own for guidance, the two oldest. One was named Turkin, a young, strapping Ocular lad. The other was a female, Berola. Berola had always been a precocious sort, and had far preferred to run with the males than associate with the females. Defying Ocular custom, she had actually shaved her head, which had infuriated her parents and made her quite the talk of the town.
    Now she and Turkin were sitting a short distance from the others, and Berola was muttering, “This is ridiculous. We should just head back to the city, that’s all.”
    “While it’s glowing?” demanded Turkin. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “So it’s glowing. So what? A glow never hurt anybody.”
    “The captain said we wait here for him to get back,” Turkin said firmly. “And here is where we wait. Did you all get that?” he raised his voice so the others could hear him. “We wait here until the captain returns.” Then, once they nodded, he lowered his voice so that only Berola could hear and said, “Between you and me…I think this is all part of the training mission.”
    “Eh?” Berola looked at him skeptically.
    “Yup. They keep coming up with all sorts of ways to try and keep us off balance. Why, earlier the captain had me follow the high adviser himself, Phemus.”
    “Really.” Berola now seemed impressed, which pleased Turkin no end. “Did you find out anything interesting…?”
    “He was talking to a Piri.”
    “No! You lie!”
    “Gods’ truth,” Berola said fervently. “I told the captain, and that’s why he went and left us here: to go back and tell the king himself.”
    “But why? Why would he have been talking to the Piri?”
    “No idea. Not my job to—”
    “Look!” one of the youngsters suddenly called out. “It’s the captain!”
    He was right. The captain of the guards was coming through the woods toward them. Berola and Turkin, who had been sitting, were promptly on their feet, shoulders squared, trying to look like capable members of the Crusade.
    And then the captain began to stagger.
    “Captain?” Berola said. “Is something wro—?”
    “Stay back,” said the captain, his voice thick and raspy. He’d been standing in the shadows of the trees, and the moon was covered by a cloud, but now it emerged from hiding and the children gasped. Even from the distance they were at, they could see his skin was blackened and peeling and falling off. His teeth were gone, and his eye looked like it was cracking.
    “Don’t…go back,” he managed to say. “Nothing for you…everyone dying…all of them…all…dying…”
    “Dying?” gasped Turkin. “Of what? Why? From what?”
    “Humans,” the captain of the guard managed to get out, and then he collapsed. Several of the children cried out as he fell, and they started to move toward him.
    “Don’t touch him!” shouted Berola, and the children froze.
    They heard the captain wheeze horribly for long seconds, and then there was an ugly rattle, and then nothing.
    “Is he okay now?” asked one of the children, and another one hit the first child upside the head and said, “No, he’s not okay, he’s dead, stupid!”
    And then came wailing and sobbing and cries from all the children that they wanted to go home, that they had had enough, that this was all too terrible. “Shut up!” shouted Berola, putting her hands