Riddle in Stone (The Riddle in Stone Series - Book One) by Robert Evert Read Free Book Online Page A

break here for a few minutes. We can eat a decent lunch and rest our legs in the shade a bit. It’s going to be a warm one today.”
    Edmund filled his skins with the rainwater gathered in an old trough. He drank heartily. Thorax followed suit.
    “Here,” he said handing Thorax another soiled strip of dried beef.
    Thorax didn’t take it.
    “Oh. Sorry. Here.” He washed the beef and gave it back.
    Thorax snatched it, her tail wagging energetically.
    “So,” Edmund said, eating a slice of cheese placed between two pieces of black bread. “This is pretty impressive, don’t you think?”
    He gestured to the rows of broken building around them, the collapsed and rotting timbers of their roofs protruding out of the remains of great stone foundations like surrounded soldiers waiting for the enemy. To their left, a grand tower rose above the desolation. Its western face lay crumpled on the ground in a heap of grass-covered rubble. Ravens flew in and out of the exposed interior rooms, croaking as they went.
    Thorax continued gnawing on her lunch.
    “The t-t-tower here is a great deal larger than the one we had by Rood. This one here once stationed two hundred and twenty-seven Knights of the North back at its height. It courtyards had room for enough livestock to withstand a long siege. Then again . . . ” he paused, wistfully surveying the toppled, vine-covered walls around him.
    “I suppose they would’ve been better off fleeing westward,” he went on. “None of the inhabitants survived the Undead King’s final assault. Actually only Rood and the surrounding farms were left after the end of the final war. All the other towns were destroyed. Still, it’s kind of interesting, don’t you think? If we had time, I’d love to investigate. Who knows what’s buried here or there? A manuscript or scroll or something, maybe even a map. But they don’t preserve well in the wilderness with the elements and all.”
    He stood up slowly, his back cracking.
    “But first, let’s take a gander around and see what’s what.”
    Cautiously, he climbed a large pile of crumbling rubble, Thorax waiting for him at the bottom. When Edmund turned east, his heart and shoulders grew heavy.
    The road reappeared on the other side of Endris Haflen’s ruined walls and wound its way over and around hill after hill after hill, neither the road, nor the green rolling countryside, ever ending. The hills got progressively higher as they marched toward the mountains forming the clear blue horizon to the northeast.
    What did you expect? Did you think crossing a few inches on a map was going to be like taking a leisurely walk to the Greenhill ranch?
    Edmund looked westward. Wisps of smoke rose up from somebody’s chimney in Rood.
    Why not stop this foolishness and head back home? You’ve had your fun. Go back and sit in a nice hot bath. This is going to end badly for you if you keep going.
    “Come on, Thorax,” Edmund said with an effort. “Let’s see if we can make it to those woods by nightfall.”

Chapter Six
    “Okay! Okay!” Edmund dragged his saturated sleeve across his purple forehead. “I know . . . I’ve . . . I’ve said it b-b-b-before, but . . . I swear . . . it’s right . . . around . . . this . . . next . . . hill. Trust me!”
    Baring her teeth, Thorax glared at Edmund’s rear, but continued to plod along after her partner.
    It had been nearly three weeks since Edmund had left Rood, and they still hadn’t found the tower in which Edmund claimed the Star of Iliandor was hidden. Of course, the delay wasn’t entirely his fault. If the weather was hot before, it was beyond miserable now. In the narrow valley through which they were walking, the thick air was heavy with humidity, and as still as a rotting corpse. Even breathing was laborious. If not for the cool water of the River Celerin near at hand, they would have lain down and died.
    “Come on, girl,” Edmund said, not for the first time. “If we could just . . . get