Black Halo Read Online Free PDF Page B

do see a fish that I would like to eat by myself . And this …’ She brushed the second one. ‘This one is for me to be buried with if I die.’
    He glanced at the third arrow, its fletching ragged and its head jagged.
    ‘What about that one?’ Lenk asked.
    Kataria eyed the missile, then turned a glance to Lenk. There was nothing behind her eyes that he could see: no hatred or irritation, no bemusement for his question. She merely stared at him with a fleeting, thoughtful glance as she let the feathered end slide between her thumb and forefinger.
    ‘Something special,’ she answered simply, then turned away.
    Lenk narrowed his eyes through the silence hanging between them.
    ‘And what,’ he said softly, ‘is that supposed to mean?’
    There was something more behind her eyes; there always was. And whatever it was usually came hurtling out of her mouth on sarcasm and spittle when he asked such questions of her.
    Usually .
    For the moment, she simply turned away, taking no note of his staring at her. He had rested his eyes upon her more frequently, taking in the scope of her slender body, the silvery hue pale skin left exposed by a short leather tunic took on through the moonlight. Each time he did, he expected her ears to twitch as she heard his eyes shifting in their sockets, and it would be his turn to look away as she stared at him curiously.
    In the short year they had known each other, much of their rapport had come through staring and the awkward silences that followed. The silence she offered him now, however, was anything but awkward. It had purpose behind it, a solid wall of silence that she had painstakingly erected and that he was not about to tear down.
    Not with his eyeballs alone, anyway.
    ‘Look,’ he said, sighing. ‘I don’t know what it is about me that’s got you so angry these days, but we’re not going to get past it if we keep—’
    If her disinterested stare didn’t suggest that she wasn’t listening, the fact that the shict’s long ears suddenly and swiftly folded over themselves like blankets certainly did.
    Lenk sighed, rubbing his temples. He could feel his skin begin to tighten around his skull and knew full well that a headache was brewing as surely as the rain in the air. Such pains were coming more frequently now; from the moment he woke they tormented him well into his futile attempts to sleep.
    Unsurprisingly, his companions did little to help. No , he thought as he looked down the deck to the swaddled bundle underneath the rudder-seat at the boat’s rear, but I know what will help …
    ‘ Pointless .’
    Gooseflesh formed on his bicep.
    ‘ The book only corrupts, but even that is for naught. You can’t be corrupted .’ A chill crept down Lenk’s spine in harmony with the voice whispering in his head. ‘ We can’t be corrupted .’
    He drew in a deep breath, cautiously exhaling over the side of the ship that none might see the fact that his breath was visible even in the summer warmth. Or perhaps he was imagining that, too.
    The voice was hard to ignore, and with it, it was hard for Lenk to convince himself that it was his imagination speaking. The fact that he continued to feel cold despite the fact that his companions all sweated grievously didn’t do much to aid him, either.
    ‘ A question .’
    Don’t answer it , Lenk urged himself mentally. Ignore it .
    ‘ Too late ,’ the voice responded to his thoughts, ‘ but this is a good one. Speak, what does it matter what the shict thinks of us? What changes? ’
    Ignore it . He shut his eyes. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it .
    ‘ That never works, you know. She is fleeting. She lacks purpose. They all do. Our cause is grander than they can even comprehend. We don’t need them. We can finish this ourselves, we can … Are you listening? ’
    Lenk was trying not to. He stared at the bundle beneath the bench, yearning to tear the pages free from their woolly tomb and seek the silence within their confines.
    ‘