The Keeper by David Baldacci Read Free Book Online

lifted my feet into the air, drawing his with mine. We leveled out and soared along. The wind pushed harshly into my eyes and they started to water. From my cloak pocket I pulled out the goggles that I had used at Stacks. Thorne had not taken these from me because there was nothing special about them. But with the goggles on, I could see clearly and not be troubled by the wind in my eyes. Thorne’s long hair blew into my face, but I tucked it under the harness’s leather straps and it stayed there.
    Thorne said, “This is absolutely incredible.”
    Though I despised him, I nearly laughed at the wonder in his voice and words. It was exactly how I had felt when I first took to the air.
    I led him through the same drills that I had with Delph. We stayed up for a while, doing ascents and descents, changing direction, soaring around trees and over small hills. While Thorne gazed around spellbound, I was taking in every detail and comparing it to the map of the Quag I had in my head and to what I had seen from the cliff when we first entered the Quag.
    And with what I was seeing, I thought I might be sick.
    The dark, fog-shrouded river I had spotted to the west from the cliff had moved to the north. The forested mountain to the north that had looked blue had shifted to the east. And the rocky slope was no longer even there.
    I said to Thorne, “What is that mountain in the distance?”
    “I have no idea, having never been there.”
    “I suppose it’s always been there, though,” I said. “I mean, whenever you’ve come up and looked at it, the thing’s been right where it’s always been?”
    He turned his head and I could see a faint smile. “If you’re referring to how things in the Quag have a tendency to move themselves, then yes, I have noticed that.”
    I exclaimed, “How can a mountain or river move? It’s impossible, isn’t it?”
    “You will find that nothing in the Quag is impossible,” he sneered.
    It seemed barmy to believe such a thing was true, but the facts were literally staring me in the face.
    I was ripped from my musings by screams. I looked down. A very young ekos was being chased by two freks. The other ekos were firing their mortas, but the ekos and its pursuers were well out of the weapons’ range.
    “Idiot creature,” snapped Thorne, who was looking down now. “Ah, well, let’s do some more maneuvering, Ve—”
    However, I had already gone into a steep dive.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” screamed Thorne.
    The little ekos could never outrun the freks. They were gaining with every leap of their long limbs. In less than a sliver, he would be done for.
    I aimed so that I would approach from the rear. I slipped Destin from around my waist as Thorne continued to struggle.
    “Up, up!” he screamed in my ear.
    “No!”
    Down below I could see full-grown ekos racing along, their mortas aimed. And there was another ekos — a female, by her appearance — that was running faster than any of them, though she had no morta. I concluded that was the little ekos’s mother. She was grunting so loud I knew it was her way of screaming for her young. Whether beast or Wug, a mother would sacrifice anything for her young.
    I swooped in behind the freks and used Destin to swat them on the sides of the head. They were instantly bowled over by the blows. I put on a burst of speed, dropped the hand in which I held Destin and soared over the little ekos.
    “Grab it,” I called down to him. He looked up, the fear so painful to see in his small face.
    “Grab it!” I screamed, indicating the chain.
    I heard growls behind us. The freks had recovered. I looked back. They were gaining. I looked ahead. A huge stand of trees was just ahead. I had to pull up.
    “Go! Go!” screamed Thorne, trying to snatch at the chain that I kept just out of reach. “Leave the damn creature. Leave it!”
    “Take it,” I yelled at the little ekos, ignoring Thorne. Then, something occurred to me. I grunted. I