Shadow Queen by B.R. Nicholson Read Free Book Online Page A

Luka
dove from his cave and out into the cannon. Well , she
thought as the world sped by her, I may not be able to give him
a piece of my mind, but at least I might vomit all over the
bastard .
     
     
    ***
     
     
    The journey back to Limra only took half the
time of traveling by glider. Astrid would have been impressed if
the fast-moving world didn’t make her queasy. Ethen, on the other
hand, had enjoyed himself quite thoroughly. To help him keep up,
Luka had pulled Ethen’s glider along by a rope tied around his
waist. However, Astrid was relieved to find that Ethen had taken
the time to break down her glider and lash it to his own.
    Astrid stumbled to the ground when finally
released from Luka’s embrace. He seemed reluctant to let her go so
soon. During the journey, she had noticed him catching glimpses at
her. Each time she would peer through her wind-battered hair, he
would turn his gaze away.
    Fryx’s villa was in sight. Astrid heaved a
heavy sigh as she smoothed down her unkempt hair. Her dark braids
intermingled with her reddened braids, leaving the rest to hang in
a defiant clump. With a growl, she scooped her mass of hair up and
wound a ragged bit of twine around it.
    Astrid barely took her first step toward the
villa when the great door unwove its battered branches and
slithered open. Fryx burst from the gaping doorway, his sour-faced
goblin company in tow.
    “Ah! What a delight it is to see you! We must
hurry! I’m afraid there’s little time to waste!” Fryx was in a fit
of disarray. Astrid could hardly recognize the dwarve from his
former composed self. His eyes were red and his beard matted. Even
the goblins looked several shades paler than before. Quibell,
however, was not among them.
    Astrid beckoned Luka to follow. He nodded,
keeping his eyes low. “Lead the way, Fryx.”
    The crowd poured into the great hall of the
villa and dispersed. Fryx led Astrid, Ethen, and Luka to the door.
The dwarve tapped his knuckles lightly on its surface. Quibell
emerged from the darkened room and motioned for them to enter. Fryx
glanced at Astrid. “Only him,” he said. His brow lay heavy on his
weary face.
    Ethen opened his mouth to protest but snapped
it shut from Astrid’s quick jab to his ribs. “I understand,” she
said, “we will wait out here.” Healing is a delicate
task .
    Fryx shook his head and glanced at Luka. Luka
folded his wings behind his back and ducked through the door. Fryx
followed, allowing Quibell to slip out into the hall and ease the
door shut. The goblin folded his spindly arms against his barrel
chest, a grimace spread across his dusky blue face.
    Astrid took Ethen by the arm and led him back
to the main hall. There was no use waiting in the presence of bad
company.
    Once out of ear shot, Astrid spoke in a
rushed whisper. “Do you think Luka will actually be able to heal
him?”
    “Of course he will. He healed you, didn’t he?
He stayed by your side the entire time!” Ethen threw himself onto a
large, overstuffed lounge and propped his feet up on a shimmering
blue stool. Flakes of reddened mud dotted the blue as he settled
his boots into the plush cushion.
    “Excuse me, but I don’t exactly remember a
lot of what happened,” said Astrid, doing little to hide her scowl
of disapproval as she kicked Ethen’s feet from the stool. “I say
it’s all a load of troll shit.”
    “You really don’t believe he did it,
do you?” Ethen’s tone was tense. She knew she had struck a nerve.
“You’d be dead two whole days now if it wasn’t for him. I’d be
reciting prayers for you right now. Maybe even building your pyre
if there was anything left of you to burn.”
    “You really take everything far too
seriously,” she said. Though her demeanor was calm, she was just as
tightly strung. She had faced Death and found herself solely
unprepared.
    “And you need to grow up before you actually
do get yourself killed.” Ethen’s words hung heavy overhead. Hearing
them hit her hard,