Blackstone (Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

a
stone’s throw from where they chose to make camp. It being close to the Exidor
Sea, it was too salty to be a source of water, but it would give her Pathmakers
the water they would need later on.
    Grae, being a good master, sat down next to Rune and
patiently let his student do all of the math. Fei told them the exact distance
to Saoleord, Grae told him how much weight to factor in, and Rune started
scribbling down numbers at efficient speed. While Rune figured and Grae checked
the math, the rest of them set up camp with simple canvas tents in a
half-circle. Conli ducked down to the shoreline long enough to get several
larger stones for a fire ring, and a bucket of sea water to put the fire out
with later.
    Rune and Grae finally came back to them, Grae hanging
somewhat behind as to let Rune do the talking. Markl, Sylvie, Conli, and she
all looked up expectantly as Rune stopped in front of them.
    “We’ll have to use a rose pattern,” Rune started off.
    There was a general sigh of relief. They may not know much about
pathmaking, but after years of being Grae’s stone gatherers, they knew that the
rose pattern only required twenty-three stones per stepping stone, which was
much better than the snowflake pattern, which required thirty-five stones. That
twelve stone difference added up very quickly.
    “How many stepping stones?” Conli asked.
    “We can’t actually go directly toward Saoleord,” Rune
explained. “The forest, from Fei’s description, is just too thick. We’ll wind
up in the tops of trees if we try any shortcuts. So, I can take us just ta the
edge of the forest. We’ve got good, rich soil here and the power of the ocean
to borrow from, so…I think we can get by with two hundred and seventy stepping
stones.”
    “Meaning,” Markl translated dryly, “That you want us to
gather up 6,210 stones.”
    Siobhan, unable to do the math that quickly in her head,
groaned when Markl said that number. They’d built larger paths than this
before, but not by much. It would take them a solid week to gather that many
stones and build a path! Still, it beat being on the road for three or four
weeks.
    “Count your blessings,” Grae advised them laconically.
“Because of the weight, we nearly had to do a snowflake pattern instead.”
    “There are things to be thankful for, I suppose,” Sylvie
grumbled under her breath. “Wait. Did you factor in the amount of weight we’ll
have on the way back? We’ll hopefully be bringing people with us.”
    The two Pathmakers looked at each other in surprise,
expressions asking, Did you think about that? Me? No, I sure didn’t.
    “Ahhh…” Grae said with a sheepish smile. “I guess we’ll have
to use the snowflake pattern after all.”
    A chorus of groans answered him.
    Sylvie heaved a resigned breath. “Well, we might as well get
started.”
    As they still had a good two hours of daylight left, that
was wise. “Actually, Sylvie, you and Beirly go into town and get us something
for dinner. I don’t want either of you in that place in failing light.”
    Relieved for the reprieve, Sylvie just nodded and went off
to fetch Beirly.
    As an afterthought, Siobhan called to her, “Take the dogs
with you!”
    “Right!” Sylvie called to Pete and Pyper as she moved.
    Waving a hand in a circular gesture, Siobhan motioned for
everyone else to get up and get moving. They did so with long-suffering
expressions. Siobhan trudged along toward the shoreline, where the loosest
stones could be found. At least this time they weren’t digging for stones in
cold ground, unlike the last two paths they’d had to build.
    “Sooo….” Tran drawled as he looked dead north. “Where are we
going, exactly?”
    Fei clapped a hand on his shoulder, a small smile teasing at
the corner of his eyes. “It’s alright, Tran-ren. I know you don’t like it when
you don’t know where you are, so I made up a song for you.”
    Tran looked outright relieved to hear this. “Alright, let me
hear