Universal Language by Robert T. Jeschonek Read Free Book Online

garden, Folcrum led her down a path between rows of tall scarlet cacti draped in winking green and gold blossoms. The air smelled like cedar and lilac and baking bread all at once...then tobacco and pepper and coconut.
    As they walked, Folcrum placed a hand on her shoulder. " I hope you ' re not too worried . Everything will work out , I promise. "
    Jalila nodded and tried to look confident, though she was anything but.
    " We ' ll protect you ," said Folcrum. " And when the Lexicons are safe , we will find your friends. "
    At the end of the cactus-lined path, Folcrum led her to a hut with walls of red bamboo and a roof of thatched crimson fronds. When he opened the door and ushered her inside, she found herself immersed in aromatic steam.
    " Breathe deeply ," he told her, " and slowly. Give yourself time to absorb it before breathing out. "
    The steam was thick and smelled of concentrated honey and warm milk. In the middle of the hut, she saw its source--a stand of chest-high plants topped with glowing purple cups like the pods of poppies, emitting plumes through the holes in their sieve-like caps.
    Jalila pulled back her glossy black hair and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and held it in her lungs, then released it. She felt fine...and, amazingly, a little less hungry.
    As she continued breathing in the nutritious fumes, she wondered what the next day would bring. She wondered what would happen when the Lexicons and Free Speakers clashed. She wondered if al-Aziz and Farouk were still alive, and she wondered if they still had a hope of saving the world from the invasion fleet.
    She swore she would do everything in her power to make things come out right. She'd been given a second chance after what had happened on Pyrrhus VII, and she wasn't going to waste it.
    No matter what it cost her.
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    *****
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    Chapter 10

    A wave of panic surged through Jalila as the crowd pressed around her.
    Though she was relatively safe in the middle of the group of Lexicons from the Garden of Yesterday, she felt the same rising terror that she had experienced in the mob in the ministers' tower. On all sides, the Lexicons were surrounded by hordes of strangers...what seemed like millions of Vox, all moving in the same direction.
    As the Lexicons and Jalila followed the flow of Vox along the street, her heart pounded. Already overheated from the heavy cloak the Lexicons had given her to wear, she felt trickles of sweat run down her sides and back.
    If not for her guns, she would not have been able to hold on to even the small degree of composure she had left. She patted each of them in turn, as she did every few meters--the rifle slung over her back under the cloak, the handgun nestled in the hip pocket of her jumpsuit uniform. The knife was still in place, too; she could feel the holster in her boot, rubbing her ankle as she walked.
    Folcrum walked beside her, his white fur radiant in the morning sunlight. During the entire trip through the tunnels from the Garden of Yesterday to the surface, he had never strayed from her. She wasn't sure if he stayed close out of genuine concern or because he was assigned to guard her...but she took comfort from his presence, especially in the heart of the crowd.
    She only wished he would tell her where they were going and what exactly would happen when they got there. She still felt as if she were blindly stumbling forward, reacting to events without being able to anticipate or fully understand them.
    After winding through a maze of streets in the heart of the city, the hordes of Vox flowed into a huge plaza, framed on all four sides by sprawling buildings. The expansive structures were see-through like all Vox buildings, multicolored and layered in tiers, their upper levels rimmed in balconies with elaborate balustrades. The base of each building was fronted by grand archways and columns atop broad stairways...all of it transparent, all tinted with pastel colors.
    Though the square was filled with