Awake the Cullers (History of Ondar) Read Online Free PDF

though her voice was clear and concise. Without yelling, her words reached the farthest man, seeming to come from every direction at once. “ Today ,” she continued, “we have an initiation. ” The men roared, clanging together objects and making a loud racket. The woman grinned, letting them get worked up. Tilting her head, she looked up at Evan and grinned even more. Still looking at him, she raised a hand for silence and continued. “Who will volunteer to take to the pit and educate our new recruit in our ways?”
    Several men yelled out, fighting over each other to be selected. Ev an took a step back. Her eyes continued to follow him. Turning, he stumbled through the crowd. He looked back for a brief second and came up short to find the halfling girl blocking his path.
    One hand on her hip, she wagged her finger at him and clicked her tongue. “Now, now, where do you think you’re going?”
    Evan froze, no sounds coming from his mouth, as much as he tried to say something, anything. She stepped forward, and he stepped back. They continued their dance until he felt a wall behind his back. His hands grasped the metal rods making up the arena fence. He closed his eyes, trying to drown out the cheering and excitement of the crowd. The girl jumped onto the wall beside him and spoke into his ear. “Wake up. It’s time to play. You should open your eyes. You’ll want to remember this . . . or not. But either way, it will make survival easier and make for a better show . . . for us anyway.” Giggling, she pulled on a pin from the wall, and he felt the support at his back give way. Flailing uselessly, he fell. The ground came at him hard, knocking the wind from his lungs.
    “ This man, ” the announcer woman continued, “ killed three of our men during the last raid. Let’s see if he can repeat that task. ”
    Evan heard the whistle of something moving quickly through the air and opened his eyes to see a man swinging a battle hammer in circles to either side of his body. Evan rolled just before the hammer came down on the ground. Coming to his feet, he flinched at the pain in his back and arm.
    “ Let the pain make you stronger ,” the woman’s voice said softly into his ear. He shook off her words and dodged the man with the hammer, or he tried to. The hammer came down on his good shoulder with a painful crack that left it bruised and disjointed. He saw the rapture in the man’s eyes as he prepared to deliver the final blow. It was the same face he saw that night. The features were different, the hair another color. This man was shorter with a more rounded jaw. But the eyes were the same. He saw that man who cut down his wife. He saw the other two men, each directly responsible for the death of a close friend. They all had those same eyes. Roaring, Evan ducked his head and rammed the man in his stomach, using the force to pop his shoulder back into place. Surprised, the man fell back, dropping his hammer. Ignoring the pain in his arm, no, not ignoring, instead letting the pain feed his actions, Evan grabbed the hammer and swung. He caught the man under the jaw with a sickening pop. The man’s eyes rolled back into his head and closed.
    Evan didn’t have time to think of what he had done as another man came running to his side, picking him up off his feet with the momentum, and slammed Evan into the ground. This new opponent was small and covered in blades. Sharp, talon like finger blades scratched and tore at Evan’s skin. Evan pushed him off, but the man spun , slashed and kicked like a wild animal. His movements were impossible to predict. Blades on his hands, knees and feet cut at Evan repeatedly until he dripped a trail of blood. He swung the hammer, but the man was too quick. He couldn’t get close without getting cut.
    After another series of slashes that left Eva n woozy from the blood loss, he gave up trying to avoid injury and went on the attack. The man was fast, but there was some advantage to