Dawn of the Flame Sea Read Online Free PDF

the southeast. The fire I have bound with my will to the anima, and the anima knows where they have gone. We will find them.”
    The scouting leader eyed the torch in question. “Well, it looks like it needs more
dromid
dung.”
    â€œWe still have another finger or two before Pak will need to make another torch,” Koro reassured Kuruk. “When we stop for that, I will use a bit of anima to pull up a little more water for us to drink.”
    â€œGood,” Charag grunted. “Marching in sand with my battle-axe is thirsty work.” Unlike the long, bladed pole Kuruk used as a walking staff, and the lightweight bow and quiver of arrows Tureg wielded, he carried a heavy axe crafted of stout hardwood for the shaft and fastened with the wealth of two thick blades made of sharpened bronze.
    â€œTry marching with enough firewood for fifteen days,” Pak grunted.
    Charag gave him a disdainful look.
    Pak stuck out his tongue, then started to purse his lips.
    â€œEnough, Pak. No conjuring sand devils,” Koro added. “We don’t need them to be seen.”
    â€œHeed your master,” Kuruk agreed, chiding the young male with a jerk of his chin. “We are here to track those White Sands fools. Their animadj seemed to know of a place to settle to the north. For that many people, it would have to be a large and lush oasis. If they find such a place within half a moon’s travel—”
    â€œThen we will attack and take them over as war slaves, claim their land for our own, and crush the Water Spears from each side,” Pak recited, lifting his own eyes to the sky.
    It was said that sky-anima was the rarest of all kinds that could be conjured, and thus the most instantly powerful, if the most fleeting, for it made the lightning strike and the air boom and tremble. Stone anima lasted far longer, was the most reliable, but air anima combined with fire or water was most impressive. Air caused the rains that made the landscape flood, which could kill people even on a cloudless day. Everyone therefore implored the anima in the sky for kindness, patience, and mercy. Or mostly just for patience with others.
    Pak glanced next at the torch in his teacher’s hand. “Koro . . . Kuruk is right; the wind is picking up and devouring the torch faster than we estimated. We should stop now, or as soon as we reach the next flat stretch. Those low rocks we saw from the last dune are near; it may be over the next rise, or the next two or three. We should check to see how close we are, and create a new one.”
    Pursing his lips, Koro eyed the pitch-and-dung-wrapped torch tip for a long moment, turning it a little to check how short the flames had become in the last
selijm
of travel, and nodded. The wind could and did disperse the smoke it gave off, but it was starting to smolder a bit more and burn a bit lower than it should. It would be better to prepare a fresh one. Fresh burned clean; the thin smoke from a mere torch would be lost in the wind, up until it started to gutter. Conjuring a sand devil, by contrast, was something that could be seen for upward of a full selijm, the distance a healthy person could walk in an hour.
    However, when they crested the next dune . . . they found the sand rippling down into hard-packed earth, and a slight rise of rugged rocks. Hard desert, as opposed to the soft stuff they had slogged through. Squinting, all five men stared at the new terrain.
    Finally, Tureg spoke. “I see cracks in the terrain ahead. Canyons,” he stated, shading his eyes from the sun’s glare. “There may be water in there, or there may be game. But mostly, there will be a lot of backtracking as we try to follow the flames, which point straight and true regardless of what the actual trail chooses to do. This is where the anima-flame can do less for us than clear tracks would.”
    Kuruk grimaced. “That may be true, but we still have a job to