The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore Read Free Book Online Page A

young,” Cadderly admitted.
    “I knew your father many years ago,” the druid replied. “Am I right in assuming that we will be welcomed here in this time of confusion?” Cadderly looked at the man curiously. “Cadderly still lives, correct?”
    “Well, yes,” Cadderly answered, then grinned and asked, “Cleo?”
    “Ah, your father has told you of … me …” the druid answered, but he ended with wide eyes, stuttering, “C-Cadderly? Is that you?”
    “I had thought you lost in the advent of the chaos curse, old friend!” Cadderly said.
    “How can you be …?” Cleo started to ask, in utter confusion.
    “Were you not destroyed?” the youthful-seeming priest asked. “Of course you weren’t—you stand here before me!”
    “I wandered in the form of a turtle, for years,” Cleo explained. “Trapped by insanity within the animal coil I most favored. But how can you be Cadderly? I had heard of Cadderly’s children, who should be as old …”
    As he spoke, a young man walked up to the priest. He looked very much like Cadderly, but with exotic, almond-shaped eyes.
    “And here is one,” Cadderly explained, sweeping his son to him with an outstretched arm. “My oldest son, Temberle.”
    “Who looks older than you,” Cleo remarked dryly.
    “A long and complicated story,” said the priest. “Connected to this place, Spirit Soaring.”
    “You are wanted in the observatory, Father,” Temberle said with a polite salute to the new visitors. “The Gondsmen are declaring supremacy again, as gadget overcomes magic.”
    “No doubt, both factions think I side with their cause.”
    Temberle shrugged and Cadderly breathed a great sigh.
    “My old friend,” Cadderly said to Cleo, “I should like some time with you, to catch up.”
    “I can tell you of life as a turtle,” Cleo deadpanned, drawing a smile from Cadderly.
    “We have many points of view in Spirit Soaring at the time, and little agreement,” Cadderly explained. “They’re all nervous, of course.”
    “With reason,” said another of the druids.
    “And reason is our only way through this,” said Cadderly. “So welcome, friends, and enter. We have food aplenty, and discussion aplenty more. Add your voices without reserve.”
    The three druids looked to each other, the other two nodding approvingly to Cleo. “As I told you it would be,” Cleo said. “Reasonable priests, these Deneirrath.” He turned to Cadderly, who bowed, smiled widely, and took his leave.
    “You see?” Cadderly said to Temberle as the druids walked past into Spirit Soaring. “I have told you many times that I am reasonable.” He patted his son on the shoulder and followed after the druids.
    “And every time you do, Mother whispers in my ear that your reasonableness is based entirely on what suits your current desires,” Temberle said after him.
    Cadderly skipped a step and seemed almost to trip. He didn’t look back, but laughed and continued on his way.
    * * * * *
    Temberle left the building and walked to the southern wall, to the great garden, where he was to meet with his twin sister, Hanaleisa. The two had planned a trip that morning to Carradoon, the small town on the banks of Impresk Lake, a day’s march from Spirit Soaring. Temberle’s grin widened as he approached the large, fenced garden, catching sight of his sister with his favorite uncle.
    The green-bearded dwarf hopped about over a row of newly-planted seeds, whispering words of encouragement and waving his arms—one severed at his elbow—like a bird trying to gain altitude in a gale. This dwarf, Pikel Bouldershoulder, was most unusual for his kind for having embraced the ways of the druids—and for many other reasons, most of which made him Temberle’s favorite uncle.
    Hanaleisa Maupoissant Bonaduce, looking so much like a younger version of their mother, Danica, with her strawberry blond hair and rich brown eyes, almond-shaped like Temberle’s own, looked up from the row of new plantings and