Ashes of the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page B

entered and where we would leave. We were out of our element, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I could only hope that this journey was worth all of the discomfort that we did suffer.
     

Chapter Three
     
    The town was as strange as Ceid had described. When we arrived, some of my team climbed high up in the trees to watch down below, but most of us stayed close to the ground. The town was big, as I’d expected, but that was the extent of my expectations being met. The town seemed to fit perfectly into a flat stretch of the valley, encircled with steep hills. Some of the trees had been cleared away, but in most of the ones left standing were houses built high up and around the trees themselves. On the ground level were streets of buildings all built around the trees in the same fashion as the houses. Some of the buildings stood by themselves and, even when we first arrived, smoke could be seen escaping these buildings as if fires were raging inside despite the heavily humid, hot air.
    The guards that Ceid had mentioned were posted on flat boards built up into the trees. They faced away from the town and the guards were very strict in paying attention only to the jungle itself. It didn’t help them to notice us, I noticed. At midday, someone brought food around to each of the six guards. It appeared to be the only point of the guards’ watch that they slacked in their duties.
    There was a massive green field with clipped and beautifully green grass at the west end of the town. It seemed that people who had nothing better to do hung out there. It also appeared that these people took their meals there.
    I watched and waited along with everyone else. Some of my team drifted off to sleep in their sleeping bags after dark. When the darkness surrounded me, I finally stood up from my position and walked over to lean against a tree. I couldn’t hear Finn’s approach, but I could sense it, and I wasn’t startled when he appeared in my peripheral vision.
    “I’ll watch, you sleep,” Finn whispered to me.
    “I’m fine,” I whispered back to him. I watched the town below with my arms crossed at my chest. They had fires burning in sconces built into the trees; they were far enough away from the wood that there wasn’t much danger of a wildfire. The people had mostly drifted away to their individual homes but there were some stragglers that remained outside. I didn’t watch them very closely, there was no need. We’d been here for a full day and they still hadn’t noticed us.
    “Aili, you need to sleep,” Finn’s tone was desperate despite the nearly silent volume.
    “Go away,” I hissed. I tilted my head to the side as I watched a fire burning below. It reminded me too much of the newborn I had murdered in cold blood so I looked quickly away, feeling a shudder rip through me.
    “Tell me what happened. Why won’t you sleep? Is it the nightmare?” Finn questioned me. He stepped closer and placed a hot, sweaty hand just above my elbow. I could feel the intensity of his gaze as he looked down at me.
    “I said go away,” I turned my head just barely enough for him to see the cold glare I’d arranged my features into. Finn dropped his hand and took a deep, shuddering breath before he walked away from me.
    I wasn’t the only one who stayed up all night that night. My team had worked out an inconsistent routine of sleeping for a few hours and then switching with others who had stayed awake. I slept in my sleeping bag for about an hour, but I was leaning against the tree again when Finn finally got up at dawn’s break. I saw his worried glances but I ignored them as best as I could.
     
    After two weeks of watching and waiting in silence, I still hadn’t made up my mind about these people. I’d left scouting mode and gone into decision-making mode but nothing was coming to me. It was the middle of the day and I was watching the simplicity of their living. I finally understood that most of