The Wind and the Void by Ryan Kirk Read Free Book Online Page A

He took the head to the soldier and put it in his hands. “Tell your people we are coming.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Moriko’s sword cut through a snowflake as she finished her practice. The sword moved as an extension of her body; her mind and sword worked as one. She cut and turned and cut again, each move perfectly controlled. With a smooth motion she sheathed the sword and took a deep breath.
    Something had changed inside her during her time in Azaria. It was more than just gaining the ability to “snap,” as Ryuu called it. The ability was nice, but as Moriko breathed in the crisp winter air, her body felt more alive than it had ever been, tingling with energy. She felt like she could run for days and still have the strength to fight. Down in Azaria she had found a strength she hadn’t known she possessed.
    Finished with her practice, Moriko wandered through the woods. She had missed them dearly, but hadn’t realized how much until she returned to them. It was quiet, the daily sounds muffled by the fresh powdery snow covering everything. The forest swallowed up even the sound of her footsteps, but she felt no hesitation wandering among old woods. They were places the people of the Three Kingdoms avoided, but to Moriko, visiting the old woods was like visiting a best friend. She felt refreshed and calm.
    As often happened on her wanderings, her thoughts turned to Ryuu. It seemed hard to believe, but it had been over half a cycle since she had seen him last. She wondered if he had found the island, and if he had, what he had found there. But more than that, she wondered if he would return to her. She hadn’t waited for him, and she didn’t know how he would react. For all his strength, she still found him fragile in a way difficult to describe. His sword was strong, but his mind wasn’t. Despite his age and experiences, Moriko felt like Ryuu still had to grow up.
    She was making plans to leave the Three Kingdoms. There were trading ships that left from Highgate in the Northern Kingdom. If she could find her way onto one of those, they could take her to a new land, a land where she could put all the pain of her previous life behind her. The Three Kingdoms had fallen into war, and Moriko knew better than most that the challenges were just beginning. By next summer she was sure the entire land would be burning. She didn’t owe the Three Kingdoms anything, and she didn’t plan to be around to watch it burn.
    The question she kept turning over in her mind was whether or not Ryuu would join her. He felt an attachment to the land and people that Moriko didn’t. She wanted him at her side, but she feared he wouldn’t want to run, that he would want to stay and fight in the middle of it all.
    She shook her head, trying to clear it of unpleasant thoughts. The woods were too peaceful for such nightmares. She imagined the trees, here for time untold. They had seen so much more. At the end of time, all her problems were small and meaningless compared to the scope of the world. The thought brought her comfort as she wandered through the woods, her hand brushing lightly against the bark of the trees.
     
    Although winter was just beginning, there was already a fair covering of snow on the ground. Winter had come early to the Southern Kingdom. Moriko wondered if it was some sort of omen for the coming storm. But her needs were more immediate. She and Ryuu had been gone all summer, and in their absence, most of their harvest had been destroyed. Moriko tended their garden as best she could upon her return, but the damage had already been done.
    If she was going to survive the winter in comfort, she was going to need more food, and she was worried she might not be able to get it. She hadn’t seen a soul since leaving the Three Sisters, and she had no idea what was happening in the rest of the Three Kingdoms. Had the Azarians invaded? Were the people of the Three Kingdoms preparing for war? If the whole land was