Men of Anderas II: Dak the Protector by Cheryl Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

would feel to just throw my head back
and yell at the top of my lungs? This subdued monotone is the best
I can manage. It's driving me insane."
    Dak scowled when Talon smothered a chuckle
with a phony cough.
    "I can see where the inability to howl like
an animal would severely limit your options."
    Dak's murderous glare bounced off Talon
without leaving a mark. The assassin’s ability to see any humor in
this abhorrent situation just fuelled Dak's impotent rage.
    "I suppose you've tried to remove the stone
yourself?” Talon asked Dak with a lift of one straight brow.
    "Hell, yes. Every time I catch her not
watching me I try. The harder I push, the heavier it gets. Cursed
witch magic."
    Talon leaned closer, staring at the small
white stone. "Maybe I can remove it."
    Dak's fierce surge of hope threatened to
suffocate him. Was that all it took? Someone else to lift the chain
from his neck? Barely able to contain his impatience, he shifted in
his seat, turning to face Talon.
    Talon cautiously reached for the stone. He'd
learned a long time ago that if something seemed too easy the price
was usually higher than he could pay. He could understand Dak's
obvious frustration. No man could accept such limits and still feel
like a man. Silently praying that the crystal's powers were limited
to the one wearing the amulet, he slipped his fingers around the
cool stone.
    "Blast and damn all the stars!” Talon howled
in pain as a bolt of energy slammed into his hand and up his arm.
Jerking his hand back, he worked his fingers, forcing the abused
muscle and tendon to move.
    "That is the only warning you will receive,
Assassin.” Kierin’s voice carried the finality of death for all its
softness. Talon met the crystal witch's stare without blinking
until he acknowledged the truth of her statement with a slight
nod.
    "I heed your warning, Lady Kierin."
    Talon glanced at Dak to gage his reaction to
Kierin’s threats. The microscopic kernel of the man he would have
been before Draagon and his Phantom Riders destroyed his life
suddenly pulsed with sympathy for Dak. For the span of a few
heartbeats Talon allowed the emotion to live before ruthlessly
squashing it. The only emotion he allowed himself was vengeance.
Anything else gave someone the power to destroy you and Dak
wouldn't want his sympathy. Whether from those few moments of
shared pain or the natural recognition of kindred souls, Talon knew
without a doubt that he and this proud Anderan had forged a bond of
friendship that would last for both their lives.
    Dak sat rigidly in the seat beside him,
staring at nothing, the muscles along his jaw working, hands
clenched in his lap. Talon could only guess at the cauldron of
volcanic reactions that boiled in Dak threatening to destroy
him.
    "Dak?” Talon waited until he turned toward
him again. "I'm sorry."
    Dak's only response was to close his eyes
before looking away. In the years since Draagon destroyed his
village Talon had seen every form of human suffering and thought
himself immune to it. The hopeless desolation reflected in Dak's
eyes burned a path to that hidden place in his soul where a
twelve-year-old boy refused to be destroyed by the adult man's vow
of revenge.
    Kierin hadn't moved. Still holding her own
crystal in her hand, she sat surveying the effects of her power.
Talon mentally shook himself when his imagination saw regret in her
steady gaze. Never one to back down from a challenge he boldly
faced the crystal witch.
    "You'll destroy him if you don't release
him."
    I know .
    Talon heard the words in his head and would
have dismissed them as another illusion if not for the tears that
slipped down the pale cheeks of the crystal witch.
    "I give you fair warning, Lady Kierin. If
there is a way to help him, I'll find it--even if it means his only
escape is in death."
    I mean him no harm, Assassin. What I
require of him, I cannot get from another. If I hadn't been at Safe
Haven he might be dead already. At least with me there is a