Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Read Online Free PDF Page B

in the forest.
    He tried to remember the events that led him here. After he had plowed the trench into the ground, he didn’t trust himself to fly home on his own accord. He found a road that led to a town but upon arriving, discovered the entrance to it was blocked by a fortified gate and guarded by hulking men covered in heavy armor and carrying swords and axes. He hid amongst the trees, while daring himself to approach them but thought better of it after spending hours watching disheveled men, women and children entering or leaving the town being harassed or even assaulted, by the guards. He had never seen anyone who looked or behaved the way the citizens of this town did. They reminded him of books his aunt read to him as a child about kings, queens and knights, and the peasants they ruled over. He also noticed there were no signs of hover vehicles or aerocraft anywhere. The townspeople seemed to get by on horse-drawn wagons. He had never seen anything so odd. He waited for night to arrive so he could skulk away.
    He spent the next several days walking down roads that cut through forests, eating berries he found growing on wild vines, and the occasional apple from trees he stumbled across along the edge of a field. All the while he hoped to find a town that was less hostile and strange than the one he had left behind.
    He stopped often to admire the trees. He had never seen so many clustered together and so great in height. They were in short supply back home in the desert. What few trees they had were ragged and dry. Rarely were there ever more than two together. They stood out as oddities in the flat desert landscape. Even the surrounding mountains were barren of any significant growth of vegetation.
    He traveled by day along roads and paths made of dirt and stone, occasionally checking his nav-compass to ensure he was heading west. He stopped several times to look at the tracks he saw on the ground. Wheeled vehicles did travel here, but he never once saw one or heard a motor.
    At night, he would sit and lean against a tree close to the road. He was too afraid to go into the forest. The wind would blow and make the leaves on the branches rustle loudly as the trees groaned and creaked. He wasn’t used to hearing so much racket. He was accustomed to the serene desert nights.
    Some nights he would wake up to the sounds of rustling along the forest floor, accompanied by a pair of glowing eyes hovering off in the distance. He would then scramble to his feet and run down the road in the faint moonlight until he collapsed from exhaustion.
    But tonight he awoke and found himself surrounded by incredibly tall trees, their canopies swaying back and forth with each gust of wind. He wondered how he got this deep into the forest. He remembered hearing a howling noise that chilled him to the bone as he slept along the roadside when something dark streaked past him and barreled into the forest. A flash of light erupted seconds later, which brought the howls of the creature to an end.
    That was enough to send him running down the road until it came to an end. His fear of the howling creature overwhelmed his reservations about the forest, and he leapt into it. As he crashed through the thick branches, he remembered checking his nav-compass to obtain a bearing, figuring if he ran to the west, he might reconnect with another road. His hopes were dashed when he saw the needle spinning wildly, and the display flashing random numbers. He continued running until his legs burned with pain and he collapsed from exhaustion. He crawled along the forest floor in the dark until he bumped against the trunk of a tree. He leaned his back against it while struggling to keep his eyes open in the overwhelming darkness of the forest. He eventually surrendered to fatigue and fell asleep.
    All of these events led to this moment. He knew he had to leave the area and quickly. He didn’t want to try to walk out of the forest to find a road. He didn’t know