The Obsidian Temple by Kelley Grant Read Free Book Online Page B

suspicious that her grandmother was intervening because Sulis herself struggled to remember the most common words. When Grandmother would have Sulis recite the desert sutras and histories, Master Anchee would draw side to side with Ava and engage her in lively discussions.
    Sulis managed to get close enough to overhear Master Anchee tell Grandmother, “You are right. She is the one. I thought it would be one of our ­people, but there is no doubt it is her. Both are involved somehow, I feel it. Do we have time for this detour?”
    â€œWhat could be more important than this?” her grandmother answered quietly. “What have we been waiting for our entire lives, and most likely our lives before, but this?”
    â€œYes,” Anchee breathed. “It is terrifying, yet a blessing, to know this is the time.”
    Grandmother looked over and met Sulis’s eyes, then looked back out over the desert dunes.
    Sulis held her tongue on all the questions she had. She knew that her grandmother would answer them only in her time.
    When they were a half day’s ride from the next oasis, Anchee stopped the caravan near a rocky outcropping. Sulis could see the ridges of the rocky black mountains, which made up the interior of the desert to the west. The trade route veered east from here, around the foothills of the mountains, which were filled with boulder fields and difficult for the long-­legged humpbacks to traverse. The only ­people who traveled to the mountains were sand sifters, looking for gold in the dried streambeds at the base of the desolate black rocks and hoping their luck held out long enough for them to find a water source before they emptied their canteens.
    Sulis and Ava waited on their mounts as Anchee and Grandmother spoke with the guards and beast tenders. Sulis watched with apprehension as the bulk of their group, with supply beasts, broke off and headed east, toward the next oasis. Only two guards and a beast tender remained with their group.
    â€œThere’s nothing this way,” she breathlessly told her grandmother and Anchee as they headed west. “No water hole big enough for a party even this size. We should at least go to the oasis and refill before exploring out here.”
    â€œHush,” her grandmother ordered. “Do not disrupt the master’s focus. Have faith, Sulis.”
    They moved slowly through the afternoon. Master Anchee led, mostly steering his mount with his eyes closed. Sulis called Djinn over and willed him to mount in front of her, uncertain about how far they were going and reluctant to tax his recovering strength. Her humpback was so used to the great cat’s coming and going that it didn’t even flinch as Djinn settled in front of her. Djinn’s hackles stuck up in a ridge, showing that he was sensing Sulis’s unease. Sulis closed her own eyes and attempted to sense what Anchee was guiding by. She felt nothing.
    â€œDo you feel it?” Ava whispered, and Sulis shook her head.
    â€œIt’s big,” Ava whispered back. “It’s really old.”
    Big and old. That didn’t give Sulis much to go by. Her caravan-­leader instincts were screaming for her to go back, get on the correct path leading to water or be lost forever. By the looks of the guards and beast tender, she wasn’t the only one frightened by this side trip.
    Her fear spiked suddenly as they came to the first of the obsidian monoliths that marked the black foothills. The guards began to turn back, and Sulis recognized the unnatural surge of fear as a strong protection, designed to keep intruders away. Djinn growled steadily, his voice rising and falling, making her mount and everyone around her even more nervous. The beast tender came and held on to the halter of her humpback.
    â€œStay!” Anchee ordered hoarsely, and his humpback knelt. Anchee slid off and stood with his hands on the tall black polished stone. A steady murmur came from