Oath Breaker by Michelle Paver, Geoff Taylor Read Free Book Online

cracks between the rocks. Holding the demons inside." He shifted position and winced. "Soul's Night. Long past. People came to let them out."
Renn returned and knelt beside him. "But the demons couldn't get out, could they?" she said. "I feel them under the rocks, very close." "One man stopped them," said Fin-Kedinn. "He set a fire on the hill. Banished the demons back into the rocks. But the fire escaped." He licked his lips. "Terrible.... It can leap into a tree faster than a lynx, and when it does-- when it gets into the branches--it goes where it likes. You wouldn't believe how fast. It ate the whole valley."
    Torak began to be afraid. "Was anyone hurt?"
Fin-Kedinn nodded. "Trapped. Terrible burns. One killed." He grimaced, as if he smelled charred flesh.
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Torak peered into the dark. "What is this place?" he whispered.
"Don't you know?" said Fin-Kedinn.
The hairs on Torak's arms prickled. "Is this where ..."
"Yes. This is where your father shattered the fire-opal. Where he broke the power of the Soul-Eaters."
Out in the night, a vixen screamed. From far away came the deep oo-hu, oo-hu of an owl. Torak and Renn exchanged glances. It was an eagle owl. Renn said, "When I was drawing the lines of power, I felt a presence. Not only demons. Something else. Lost. Searching."
"There are ghosts here," said Fin-Kedinn. "The one who died."
Flames leaped in Renn's dark eyes. "The seventh Soul-Eater."
The Raven Leader made no reply.
An ember collapsed in a shower of sparks. Torak jumped. "Were you here that night?" he said.
"No." Pain contracted Fin-Kedinn's features. Torak didn't think it was caused by his broken ribs. "After the great fire," Fin-Kedinn went on, "your mother and father sought me. They begged me to help them get away."
    Renn put her hand on his shoulder. "You need to rest. Don't talk anymore."
"No! I must tell this!" He spoke with startling force,
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and his burning blue gaze held Torak's. "I was angry. I wanted revenge against him for--for taking your mother. I turned them away."
Torak heard the click of raven talons on stone. He looked into the face of his foster father and wanted it not to be true, and knew that it was.
"Next day," said Fin-Kedinn, "I relented. I went after them. But they'd gone. Fled to the Deep Forest." He shut his eyes. "I never saw them again. If I'd helped them, she might have lived."
    Torak touched his hand. "You couldn't have known what would happen." The Raven Leader's smile was bitter. "So you tell yourself. Does it help?"
Wolf leaped up with a growl and sped after a quarry only he could sense. An ember dislodged from the fire. Torak nudged it back with his boot. Suddenly, the light seemed a fragile shield against the dark.
     
"Keep the fire bright," said Fin-Kedinn. "And stay awake. Demons. Ghosts. They know we're here."
    The Chosen One watches the unbelievers sleep, and hungers to punish them and set the fire free. The girl who woke the fire did it wrongly and without respect. She is an unbeliever. She does not follow the True Way. The boy threw a branch at the fire and kicked it. He too has lost the Way. 66 The Master shall know of this. The Master honors the fire, and the fire honors him. The Master will punish the unbelievers.
The fire is sacred. It must be honored, for it is the purity and the truth. The Chosen One loves the fire for its terrible glare and its hunger for the Forest, for its dreadful caress. The Chosen One longs to be one with the fire again.
     
The wind changes and the Chosen One moves to crouch in the breath of the fire, to drink its sacred bitterness. The Chosen One's hand cups ash. The ash is acrid on the tongue, heavy in the belly. It is the power and the truth.
     
The injured man moans in painful dreams. The boy's sleep is also troubled, but the girl slumbers as one dead. And over them, wolf and raven keep watch--while the fire sinks untended. Dishonored.
    Anger kindles in the breast of the Chosen One.
The unbelievers are evil.
They must be