The Sword of Light: Book One of the Veredor Chronicles by E J Gilmour Read Free Book Online

through the lanes and alleys behind him. He hurried
along and moments later the lane opened out onto the main street
that led from the north gate back toward the palace.
    He crossed the
road and ducked into a back street on the opposite side. He
gradually stumbled his way through a network of narrow lanes and
alleys until he arrived at the docks. An icy wind blew across the
docks. Completely exhausted he found the door of The Sea Dragon and
almost collapsed on the doorstep as he struggled to knock. A few
moments passed before Stella opened the door.
    ‘ What happened to you?’ asked Stella, stepping out and gently
taking him by the arm.
    ‘ Really, I’m fine,’ he said as he unsteadily made an attempt
to step through the doorway.
    A moment later
Red was at the door. ‘By Teodric! Eben. You smell like rotting
fish,’ he said, grinning for a moment.
    ‘ This isn’t a time for jokes,’ shouted Stella. ‘He’s badly
hurt.’
    ‘ No really, I’m fine...’ whispered Eben as he started to lose
consciousness.
    Stella lay him
down on the floor of the common room. ‘Get some clean cloth from
under the bench in the kitchen! And get some water!’ Red’s smile
disappeared instantly. He ran off quickly to the kitchen.
    Eben looked up
at Stella. She stared down at him; her green eyes full of worry for
him.
    ‘ Eben, you will be fine. Everything is going to be...’ were
the last words he heard that night. Everything went
dark.
     

CHAPTER
FOUR
     
    Eben awoke and
looked around to find that he was lying in his bed at The Sea
Dragon. His head was bandaged, and he could feel his leg still
hurt, but the pain had lost most of its sharpness. His body was
covered in grazes and bruises, but he had been cleaned and washed.
He thought back over the night before and the ill-fated meeting and
wondered if any of the others had survived the raid. Everything had
all happened so quickly that he had no time to think. He pulled
himself out of bed and slowly walked to the door, making his way
down the stairs to the common room. Flickering firelight lit up the
common room. Red was sitting next to the open fireplace warming his
feet and hadn’t heard Eben coming down the stairs.
    As Eben
approached Red turned and looked up. ‘Eben, you’re awake. I thought
you were never going to get up. You’ve been out for two days.’
    ‘ Thanks for looking after me.’
    ‘ You should thank Stella. She’s the one who cleaned you up.
You must have lost a lot of blood. You have a mighty gash on the
back of your head and a bruise on your leg bigger than any I’ve
ever seen. Take a seat before you fall over again.’
    Eben took the
seat across from Red. He looked at the blazing fireplace and felt
its calming warmth.
    ‘ Where’s Stella?’
    ‘ She’s gone out to visit a friend,’ replied Red as he looked
back over his shoulder toward the front door. ‘So, what happened to
you the other night? How did you end up all beaten up like
that?’
    ‘ I went to that meeting I told you and Stella about. It was
about the evil in Ancora...’
    At that moment
the front door opened and Stella stepped in carrying a leather bag.
She locked the door and approached them. ‘You’re up,’ she said,
surprised. ‘Are you feeling better?’
    ‘ Much better,’ replied Eben. ‘Thanks for taking care of
me.’
    ‘ You’re lucky you made it back here. If you had fallen over in
the streets it would have been the end of you,’ she said as she
walked by them and placed the leather bag on the bar.
    ‘ At least you managed to gain us an extra two nights here at
The Sea Dragon,’ said Red, slightly chuckling. Stella glared across
at Red and then walked into the kitchen without saying another
word. Red didn’t seem at all troubled by her and smiled as he
looked back over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Turning his head
he glanced back at the fire. ‘That reminds me. Remember you said
you had some silver.’ Eben nodded. ‘We probably should give some to
Stella. I