Siege of Night by Jeff Gunzel Read Free Book Online Page B

headed straight for one of the white bone chairs. Only once he was seated did he look up and take in the scene around him. Silver water goblets with colored jewels encrusted around the rim had been placed all around the white bone table. Serving girls were busy filling people’s plates with some sort of breakfast casserole made from eggs and an assortment of brightly colored vegetables.
    To Eric’s relief, there weren’t even that many people here. He was concerned he would be speaking to a large council or something, which would have been more typical of a human-based society, but Jacob, Shantis, and a very large male seated next to her were the only ones in the room. He also found it odd to be discussing such serious business over breakfast; but again, who was he to question their ways? This also spoke highly of the complete authority Shantis had over the crytons. It was clear her word was final.
    “And where is Jade?” asked Shantis in that slow but youthful drawl that took some getting used to.
    “Huh? Oh, she will be along shortly. She just needed to...uh...take care of something,” Eric mumbled with his shoulders slumped forward.
    Shantis’ bright yellow eyes grew large as she raised her thin white eyebrows. “I ssssee. Well then, sssshall we get sssstarted? I would like you all to meet my champion, Brinkton.” She gestured to the large cryton as he stood and gave slight nod. He was bald and muscular, with rather small yellow eyes compared to the other crytons. His nose was wide and flat, which made his eyes seem all the smaller. A rather severe underbite made him appear to be constantly frowning. Well, who’s to say he wasn’t constantly frowning?
    He barked out several sentences in his native tongue before smacking his own chest solidly with a closed fist, resounding with a hollow thud before finally returning to his seat. Shantis smiled widely at both Jacob and Eric as her yellow eyes flashed a sense of pride. “He said you and your friends are true warriors. He was honored to share the field of battle with you.”
    Another wave of guilt shot through Eric. I brought this evil to their doorstep and he was honored ? But all he could do was shrug while waving his hand in a dismissive flick. “Tell him I said ‘thank you’.” Shantis turned to him and strung together a series of energetic sentences. There appears to be a little padding on that thank you .
    “Now then,” said Shantis. “We have ssssuccessfully repelled this evil once, but we need to be prepared for the inevitable retaliation.”
    “We beat them once...we will do it again!” said Jacob as he leapt from his seat while raising a fist, spilling his water goblet in the process.
    “Well, that’s all fine and good,” said Eric, rolling his eyes in Jacob’s direction. Then he turned to Shantis. “But those things didn’t come here to kill your people and wipe out your race.” He raised his head high as his voice became hard and sharp. “They came here for me. I’m the one they want, and I’m afraid your people aren’t safe as long as I stay here.” I bring danger wherever I go .
    “All the more reason for you to sssstay,” said Shantis sharply while sitting up in her chair as her yellow eyes flashed once more. “We are now ssssworn to you. You are the very one the ancient books ssspeak of, the very one who can sssave us all!”
    “I can’t save you by leading death right to your doorstep!” Eric shouted as he leapt from his seat. The serving girls all backed away at the aggressive movement. Even the ones who were about to set more trays on the table suddenly seemed to decide the table was plenty full already.
    “Then why did we even come here?” came the surprise response from Jacob. Everyone seemed a bit startled. The man who never took anything seriously seemed to have a strong opinion all of a sudden. “Berkeni forced us to live that horrible vision—whatever it was—just to gain a full understanding of what was