The Keeper by David Baldacci Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t know exactly what I was grunting, but I figured it was better than jabbering at the poor, terrified thing in Wugish.
    He reached out his little hand and his fingers closed around Destin. I instantly pulled up and we did a sharp bank and headed in the other direction, missing the trees and leaving the freks far below.
    When the freks turned to follow us, they were met head-on by a mass of morta-firing ekos. I heard shot after shot and then listened to the sounds of two large demonic beasts thudding to the dirt for the very last time.
    Good riddance to the bloody things.
    We were flying back when I heard a scream. I looked down. The little ekos had lost his grip on the chain. He was plummeting to his death. I went into a dive, but I knew I was too far away to catch him in time. The little ekos was going to die. My heart sank.
    Like a blur, Delph came racing into view. He leapt, soaring several feet into the air, his long arms stretched to their limit.
    “Yes!” I screamed in joy.
    Delph caught the little ekos before he hit the ground. He rose and carried him over to his mother.
    The mother took her young in her arms, first hugging and kissing and then scolding him in severe grunts. Then she went back to hugging and kissing him again.
    “You imbecile!” roared Thorne at me as we touched down. “You could have gotten me killed. And for what? A bloody ekos? I should have you —”
    He stopped because the ekos had surrounded us. Then Luc, accompanied by the mother, approached and knelt down. Each took one of my hands and kissed it.
    Then they did the same to a mightily embarrassed Delph.
    The mother ekos dragged her young one over and grunted at him until he did the same. When I looked down into his tiny, unwrinkled face, I noted that his eyes were as red as the far older ekos. I smiled, showing each of my teeth. And then my smile deepened when the little creature put his arms around me and squeezed tightly.
    Delph was so tall that the little ekos just gripped his legs when he next went to hug him.
    Thorne, who, I observed, had been studying all of this quite closely, said kindly, “All right now, it’s all over. Everything is fine. The little … lad is safe.” He made some quick grunts and then pointed at me, and then at himself.
    It seemed to me that a few of the ekos looked at us somewhat doubtfully after this. When I asked Thorne what he had said, he assured me that he had given us full credit for the rescue.
    Delph whispered, “And if you believe that, I’ll sell you a bloody jabbit for a pet.”
    “Enough flying for this light, Vega,” said Thorne. “I have no doubt I will get the hang of it soon enough. And then I will have no more need of your assistance, just your chain. Or, rather, my chain.” He snatched Destin away from me and then pushed and prodded us along until we descended once more into the darkness beneath the Quag.
    We were led back to my chamber, and guards were posted outside. However, a few slivers later, the mother ekos came in carrying a large wooden tray. Luc was behind her. She put the tray down on a stone slab and smiled at us.
    On the tray was a pitcher of water and what looked like milk. Some goblets, breads, some meat and a few hard-boiled eggs and a fat tomato, all sliced. And two loaves of bread that oozed warmth. And there was a bowl of nuts and some hunks of different cheeses, which filled the chamber with their deliciously pungent smell.
    I smiled and tried to grunt in return, which made her laugh. She reached her grassy arms around me and gave me a hug. I hugged her back. Luc came over and embraced me too. Then the couple, tears in their reddened eyes, departed.
    “Blimey,” said Delph as he sat down and started digging into the meal. “I think we made some friends this light.”
    I knelt next to him and poured us out goblets of milk. It was cold and tasted fresh. We were so hungry that we didn’t speak — we just chewed, drank and swallowed. I had given Harry Two