Rivers of Fire (Atherton, Book 2) by Patrick Carman Read Free Book Online

touch that door!" he howled on his approach. He went immediately up the narrow steps to the top of the wall and looked outside. Joseph had indeed returned.
    "Open the doors!" cried Horace into his cupped hands with a bellow that felt like it would blow Tyler's hair back or knock him clean off the wall.
    "Shut up, Horace! I can't take any more!" Tyler declared. He had been holding a rock in his hands, squeezing it as his
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    nerves frayed, and without thinking he threw the stone hard and fast. Tyler was not a terribly good shot, and the stone, which was about the size of his fist, went right past Horace and hit the horse instead. The horse bucked into the air, then jerked the rope out of Joseph's hand and bolted into the darkness.
    Horace watched the horse run away, then turned back to Tyler. "You must come out of the House of Power!"
    Joseph put a hand on Horace's shoulder, asking him to please stop for a moment. He understood what Horace was doing, but he was just about as tired of hearing Horace yell as Tyler was.
    "Horace is right, Tyler," Joseph said to the man standing above him, speaking in an even tone. "We have to leave this place, and quickly."
    Tyler was resolved to keep his post---to make Sir Emerik proud of him and hold the House of Power from its enemies -- but if others wanted to leave, he knew he couldn't make them stay. He didn't have the sort of authority that would force them to obey out of fear or respect. Who could have guessed things would have unraveled as they had in the middle of the night, and so quickly?
    The group that had remained in the House of Power since the Highlands had fallen into Tabletop was comprised almost entirely of young men without families, along with a handful of women without husbands or children. Two of these men removed the beam that secured the doors, swinging them open. Everyone but Tyler streamed out and stood before Joseph and Horace in a circle three deep.
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    It was there that they were told the Highlands were sinking into Atherton.
    Horace laid out the plans of where they were going and why, along with his conviction that the Highlands might very well be inescapable by morning. He was emphatic in his argument that the people in Tabletop could be trusted, and he explained how Lord Phineus had tried but failed to poison everyone in the three villages beneath the waterfalls.
    Some in the group were not entirely convinced they should leave the safety of the fortress or that they could ally with the people of Tabletop. Among them were some of the guards-- their lungs still tight from coughing--who had been hit with black figs and orange dust in the recent confrontation with the villagers. But their fears were overshadowed by the thought of being trapped in a sinking prison of walls and darkness. The very idea of it was haunting.
    "We must take as much food and water as we can carry from inside," said Horace.
    "What if we run out of water? What then?" asked one of the guards.
    "We no doubt choose between the lesser of two evils," said Horace. "Stay here and sink into oblivion, or leave and risk a shortage of water."
    And then Horace said something no one had expected.
    "A falling Highlands may mean rising water. It's possible we could build a new basket system that can be lowered into the abyss to attain water. Better to be dipping into a giant well than be stuck at the bottom of one."
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    Few had thought of this possible eventuality. The idea of a dark, watery grave was universally terrifying.
    "What of the horses?" asked the man who'd been watching over them. Many of the horses were kept in a stable outside the House of Power, but there were ten or more inside, held at the inner stable on the other side of the courtyard.
    "If you want them to live, you'll need to get them out," said Horace.
    But the time for getting horses or anything else out of the House of Power had passed, for as the group turned back to retrieve horses and supplies, they saw the doors slamming shut.