Alive (The Veiled World Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

if you could bring them back?

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    Axel
     
    “Bring him up!”
    I rubbed my eyes. I must have dozed off again because the old man, Dream Master, was now in the corner, curled up like a cat on a dirty rug, and a guard was in the dungeon with us.
    The old guard started to yank Dream Master’s torn shirt, but King Cyril swore.
    “No, not him, bring the boy!”
    I looked up to see King Cyril staring down at me through the open hatch. From this angle he looked extra weathered and droopy, his wrinkles deeper. If he ever got his wife back from the Land of Resting Souls, they would look odd, like father and daughter. Unless the dead continued to age in the afterlife…which would make my brother thirteen.
    I smiled to myself as a vision of my baby brother, all grown up, filled my head. He’d be tall, like me, and his hair would be curly and wild like mine.
    The guard seized me by my shirt collar and yanked me to my feet before staring up at the king for confirmation.
    “Yes! Now bring the boy to me!”
    I was about to give cheek and remind the king that Prince Ollie and I were the only “boys” left living in the kingdom because they’d all died in efforts to bring back the queen from the dead, but I knew it best to keep my mouth shut, lest I muck up my chances at getting my brother back. Perhaps Ollie hadn’t had a chance to poison my reputation yet. The king still may wish to nominate me as a challenger .
    The guard poked and prodded me with the tip of his sword until I climbed out of the hatch. Completely unnecessary, seeing as I wanted out of the dungeon. Then he shoved me so that I knelt in front of the king, the bones of my knees already aching from a night sleeping on stone. My eyes watered at the brightness of the morning sun so I stared down at the stone beneath me.
    “Good luck, my son!” I heard Dream Master shout, his voice coming at me in echo form so that I heard it three times. “You will be great-great-great! I have seen it-seen it-seen it! I have seen your success-success-success! The dead will return-return-return!”
    Silently I thanked Dream Master and hoped the guard, who had quickly climbed down into the dungeons to silence the old man, wasn’t unnecessarily cruel to him. But he was the one who’d poked and prodded me out of the dungeon so my hopes weren’t exactly high. No matter. After returning to the king with his dead wife and my brother, I’d be welcomed back to the kingdom a hero, and my first demand would be Dream Master’s release.
    “Are the challengers here?” I asked, forgetting myself in all the excitement of my daydreams of becoming a hero in the near future.
    Cold steel forced my chin up and I blinked rapidly to see three guards surrounding the king, including the guard with his sword beneath my chin.
    “You forget to address me, boy. I am Your Majesty, remember that.” But King Cyril’s stern expression gave way and his eyes widened, unable to hide the glittering joy inside of them. “The challengers are not yet here but they are on their way and we must prepare for them, boy. I’ve brought you out for the preparations. You will assist the challengers, prepare them before they set out on their journey to the Land of Resting Souls.”
    But hadn’t he heard what Dream Master had said about me being a success? After all those echoes?
    “Preparations? But I thought you might like to consider me—”
    “Enough, boy! I’ve banned all my subjects from going on the journey. Too many lives lost. You do realise that between you and Prince Ollie there are not many young, virile men left to repopulate our kingdom. And the only two women left to impregnate are my sister and the cook, Violet. Which I’ll have to arrange very soon, actually. Violet is getting on in her years.” He turned on his heel, snapped his fingers, after which the guards sheathed their swords, then started away.
    “But…what…no!”
    There was no way I would