Nature's Peril Part 1 (The Nature Mage Series) by Duncan Pile Read Free Book Online Page B

This would be the last time, he assured himself, and by the looks of it, it may turn out to be the most interesting part of his entire journey. He would help combat the plague, saving children’s lives and giving their community a fair chance at survival. At the same time he would have the privilege of unprecedented access to a culture so fabled it was the stuff of legend. All in all it seemed like a fair deal.

Four
     
    A bead of sweat freed itself from Jonn’s forehead and rolled down the bridge of his nose as he bent down and placed his hands on either side of a crate. It was hot in the docks, the light of the sun reflecting up off the water as well as beating down on his handkerchief-covered head.
    He’d been working for Belash for over a week now, and he still hadn’t made it off the docks. Men he knew to be higher up the food chain came to inspect deliveries, but then they went again, and Jonn never got the chance to speak with them.
    Not that he’d know what to say! Excuse me, I want to infiltrate your network. Can you tell me where Belash keeps his slave girls please? Jonn would have smiled at that if he wasn’t so frustrated. Every day that passed was another day that Adela remained Belash’s captive. Who knew what she was going through? As usual, Jonn forced the thought away. That way lay madness.
    The sound of hooves clattering noisily off the cobblestones distracted him from his thoughts, and Jonn looked up to see one of Belash’s horse-drawn carts pull up on the quayside. It was a cargo-carrier – an open, empty cart with a flat bed and short, wooden sides. There were two men up front – one was the driver and the other would be in charge of the shipment. Jonn glanced surreptitiously at the man in charge – a stocky, balding man with long arms and a naturally mean face. He looked impatient, scouring the dockyard with narrowed eyes as if looking for something. He didn’t look very approachable, but Jonn couldn’t fail to try and ingratiate himself with someone closer to the hub of Belash’s organisation.
    Straightening up, he walked towards the driver, formulating a plan as he went. Whatever the bald man had come to pick up would need loading on the back of the cart, and it didn’t look like anyone was doing that yet, so that was his best route in. The bald man didn’t notice him until he was only feet away. Scowling at him in surprise, the stocky man sprang to his feet and jumped down to the quayside.
    “What do you want?” he asked aggressively. Suspecting he’d made a serious mistake, Jonn had no choice but to continue with his charade.
    “Thought you might want help loading the cart.”
    The man squinted at him suspiciously, but some of the tension seemed to leak from his shoulders. He was obviously expecting something else altogether.
    “TAREK!” a familiar voice called. Jonn winced as he turned to face Jack the Overseer as he barrelled across the dock towards him. “What do you think you’re doing? You should be stacking crates,” he asked furiously, spittle flying from his lips.
    “I thought you might need help loading the cart, Sir,” Jonn responded. He’d seen dockers flogged for failing to call the overseer by his self-appointed honorific. Jack was the kind of man Jonn couldn’t stand. Small-minded and overly proud of his position as a minor functionary. He reminded him of Brill, who took unseemly pride in his position and used it to lord it over those only a single rung below him on the ladder.
    “You don’t get paid to think!” Jack spat. “There’s a crew coming for this job and you’re not part of it, so get moving!”
    “Yes Sir,” Jonn said, turning around and walking away. He was seething inside. Under normal circumstances, Jack would already be laid out on the ground, but he had no choice but to put up with this kind of thing until Adela was safe. After that, well perhaps he’d come back and teach Jack a lesson. He picked up a stray crate as he walked,