Crimson Read Online Free PDF Page A

were my fiercest adversaries during the first war.
    “But then the Templars turned against both sides and the war shifted. The government fell and the Templars and their government puppets took over. Your parents went on to become two of the greatest leaders in the resistance against the new government forces. I became their lieutenant, their closest guard, their protector. And in time their closest friend. Old enemies became close friends. In the time before you were born they were high among the people most wanted by the government. Of course, just like you, they were Nons and by that stage, sadly, they were among the last few left. The Templars were so good at hunting us down. But your parents were better. Always it seemed one step ahead.
    “Then your sister came along. It all changed.”
    That sentence nails me. “I have a sister?” I ask incredulously.
    “Yes. You have a sister,” he says,
    My heart drops. “A sister?” A question aimed at nobody.
    In a daze I slide down into my seat. I don’t remember any sister. He waits a moment for me to recover and then continues.
    “Then suddenly they had something more important than all that to dedicate their lives to. We tried to get all your family out, we really did. And for a while there it worked. After a while your parents dropped off the government’s radar. And it was not long after your sister was born when they were joined by you. You two were all that really mattered to your parents. By then, the resistance ceased to exist in their eyes. I don’t blame them. You girls were so beautiful.”
    “Do you know her name?” I interrupt.
    “Claire,” he says with a gentle smile. “You really were both such cute kids.”
    “What happened next?” I ask.
    “You need to know that unlike so many of the other abandoneds, your parents didn’t actually abandon you. I think you must have been four years old; or… you’d have just turned five. We – the resistance – didn’t know where they were. They’d changed everything, taken new identities and moved away from it all. We thought it for the best that we didn’t know where they were. The government seemed to have spies everywhere and so many like your parents had already been found. In the end it didn’t help, the government still found them.
    “We thought we were protecting you. Instead we failed. At the last moment we got word that the government was closing in on your parents. We found out where they were heading. A group of us hoping to protect your parents arrived just as Templars stormed the place. Your parents had hidden away on a quiet farm. On any other day it would have been quite beautiful. Today it was surrounded with government knights storming across those fields.”
    He pauses to compose himself for a moment. “Those troops got to your parents first. When we arrived it was too late, but we fought back anyway. They stole Claire away before we could stop them. We fought so hard to get to her. It was the bloodiest battle we had fought in a long while. But they got away. Everyone felt that loss.
    “By the time the battle was over, the few of us remaining held the farm and the Templars retreated. And, to my amazement, I found you. Somehow you’d managed to hide yourself unseen under a table. Maybe it was just luck that all of those troops were too stupid to look down to see you. I realised that I still held that promise to protect you, to keep you safe. And the only way I felt I could do that was to keep you at a distance from me while I watched over you. I thought if people worked out the connection between me and you…” He shakes his head. “I guess that was still a mistake. In the end I didn’t keep you safe. Twice I’ve had to learn that lesson.”
    “Do you know what happened to my sister, to Claire?” I ask tentatively.
    “The government have been keeping her captive this whole time, somewhere. I don’t know much more than that.”
    “She’s still alive?” I ask