Dockalfar Read Online Free PDF Page B

he had some vague idea where he was, or what these strange beings wanted with them, then maybe he could think on what to do. But he knew nothing.
    Absolutely nothing.
    “I don’t know,” he murmured helplessly. “I can’t even convince myself that this is real.”
    She was silent, watching the spriggan as it wandered back from its horse, a smaller skin than the ogre’s clutched in its hand and a chunk of meat that it was stuffing into its broad mouth. It sat down a few yards from them, peering at them from the slit of one eye. It continued this the entire time it chewed on its meat, shifting its gaze only to lift the skin and sloppily drink from its contents. Finally it lowered the skin and took up its inspection of them.
    It lifted one hip to scratch at an irritation under its loin skin, then moved closer.
    Alex drew breath, not knowing what to expect. But it only thrust out the skin and glared foully at them.
    “Don’t suppose bakatu can foul it any more than goblins.”
    “What is it?” Alex warily took the proffered skin. The spriggan rolled its black eyes.
    “What you think? Water. Stupid bakatu.”
    Alex sniffed it, glanced at Victoria, who shrugged, then took a tentative sip. It was water. It was musty from the skin, but cool and pure. He took a longer swallow, rejoicing at the relief to his dry mouth. He passed it to Victoria, wiping his mouth on the back of his arm. The spriggan was still watching, almost curious.
    “Where are we?” Alex took a deep breath and ventured the question, hoping the little man’s generosity might mean he was more open to conversation.
    “This? Boarder of the Alkeri’na.”
    “Where’s that?”
    The spriggan shook his head and spat.
    “The land’s Elkhavah, if that’s what you’re asking, bakatu.”
    “How… how did we get here?” That was the important one. He held his breath in hopes of an answer.
    “Portal.” The spriggan reached out one long arm and snatched his skin back from Victoria. “Portal at the End Of The World.”
    “What’s the portal?” Victoria ventured.
    “Gate between worlds,” Bashru replied.
    “Why are we here?” Alex asked.
    The spriggan’s eyes narrowed. “None of yer business.”
    “None of my business?” Alex gasped.
    “How’s it not my business.”
    The spriggan clamped his mouth shut and turned away, disinclined to further the conversation. Alex forced his voice back to calmness.
    “All right. Why do you keep calling me Bakatu. That’s not my name. My name’s Alex Morgan. This is Victoria.”
    The spriggan looked over its shoulder at them. “What’s it to me? Bakatu’s what you are. Or as close as I can figure.
    Haven’t been one of your kind through the portal in close to three hundred years, far as I know.”
    “And you won’t tell us why we’re here now?”
    “No, I won’t. Not my business either.” Then he frowned, staring hard at the horses. Alex followed his stare and saw nothing but the bulky bodies of the horses. The spriggan shook his head and took another swig of water. A moment later there was a figure crouching at his side. The spriggan let out a yelp and scrambled away, trailing water. Victoria gasped and dug her nails into Alex’s arm, but he was fairly proud of his own control at the sudden appearance of the shadowy assassin. The spriggan was cursing fluently, shaking one fist at the wispy cloaked figure. The cloak was mostly black now, with traces of shadowed green. The hand that touched the ground was dusky. Tendrils of hair that escaped the hood were as dark as the cloak.
    “Twice damn you, Ciagenii,” Bashru cried. “You like to scare me to death.”
    The assassin rose in one fluid movement, the cloak made not a sound as it moved about his body. He flowed past the grumbling spriggan to stand before the fire. The ogre glared up at him.
    “What you want, Dusk?”
    The assassin lifted one arm, trailing filmy strands of his dark cloak, and indicated the eastward direction they had been