Spear of Light by Brenda Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

then.”
    Charlie took a deep breath and willed himself to be as calm as possible. “What do you see in the scope, Nona?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    He flew lower. “Now?”
    â€œOne animal. It’s labeled as a tok grazer.”
    â€œExcellent.” She’d do okay. He nudged the skimmer faster with his foot and kept them just above the tree line on a thick, flattened ridge. He watched the terrain monitor on his own glasses and rolled left at just the right moment to catch the wide open end of the valley. A huge waterfall plummeted from a long, thin bowl-like structure and fell down the face of the mountain, disappearing in the tops of low clouds below. “That’s High Mist Falls,” he said. “Some winters it freezes over and creates a long flower of ice that a stream falls through on its way down to the low valley floor.”
    â€œIt’s beautiful.”
    â€œIt is.” They flew over the river that fed the falls and through a slice of sunshine and then into shadow. Forested walls closed around them. “This is Ice Fall Valley. It was a resort location, used thousands of years ago for ice climbing in the winter, and for fishing and hunting and hiking in the summer. There are a number of old fallen-down remains of what must have been beautiful buildings a long time ago. Almost no one lives here now except gleaners.”
    â€œHow do they get here?” Nona asked.
    Jean Paul answered her. “They fly in, like we’re doing. Or they walk up the mountain on any of a number of paths and hike down into it. Gleaners use technology. Just not anti-aging treatments.”
    Charlie guided the skimmer up one wall and back down, and then up the other, trying not to keep it too straight. “Or anything else designed to prolong life. But transportation and communication technology? Lots of it.”
    â€œThere’s a big herd of something.” Nona squinted at the display. “Langers?”
    â€œYes. They’re grazers. Look closely. You might see tongats.”
    Jean Paul was looking where the display suggested. “I see the herd. It’s big.”
    Nona’s voice rose with excitement. “There’s two tongats.”
    Maybe he should train her to be a ranger. “Watch for humans.”
    â€œI am.”
    â€œSurely they’ll be further up the valley,” Jean Paul said.
    Silence fell for a moment. Charlie allowed himself to appreciate the beautiful valley walls, the hundreds of waterfalls that fell down the side closest to the mountain and fed the great river they barely saw winking here and there amid the myriad trees below them. Some of the falls sent windswept spray in a great arc from the top of the cliff.
    The comm crackled. Gerry. “One skimmer just left the other end of the valley.”
    â€œYou can see us okay?” Jean Paul asked.
    â€œYes. They probably didn’t see you, though. Too far.”
    Charlie searched the ground for the slight clearings and the wooden structure that would help him locate the entrance to the cave complex where Amfi lived. He’d come at it from a different direction and been in a different skimmer, so he didn’t have his prior route’s coordinates. He had to trust himself.
    â€œI think I see a human,” Nona said. “No, two. I’m sure of it.”
    Charlie risked a glance at the console. “You’re right.”
    Jean Paul had stood up and now he was peering over the windscreen. “I don’t. Wait. Can you get closer?”
    â€œThere’s another one,” Nona said. “Ahead of us.”
    They all fell silent, watching.
    Charlie flew low over a clearing and then another clearing. Familiar ground. The building they’d landed by. He identified the waterfall that hid the cave door.
    Nona hadn’t said anything at all for a few moments, and when he glanced at the scope he saw no heat signatures except for