Dragon War: The Draconic Prophecies - Book Three Read Online Free PDF Page B

it as his own. Falling to his knees beside the body, he undressed it, careful not to let his eyes meet the dead man’s glassy stare. He made a quick scan of the corpse to make sure he hadn’t missed any details in copying Kelas’s appearance, but his memory had served him well. He took off his own clothes and armor, which Farren had secured for him before he left Maruk Dar, and replaced them with Kelas’s garb. The contents of his belt pouches, including Kelas’s glass orb, he transferred into the pouches Kelas had worn, and he took a quick inventory of Kelas’s gear. Finally he lifted the sword from the ground beside Kelas’s dead hand and slid it into its sheath at his belt, praying he’d never have to draw it.
    “Oh, Kelas,” he said, forcing his eyes to the face. “I’m … I’m not sorry!” He slapped his own face. “I do not care!” He dropped to his knees. “You failed,” he croaked, “so you died. Damn you!” He curled around the knot of anguish in his gut. “Damn you damn you damn you …”
    He thought at first that the heavy hand on his arm belonged to Kelas, come to shake him out of sleep and inspect his body. He threw a child’s frantic punch and scraped his knuckles against the metal plate of Cart’s shoulder.
    “Aunn?” Cart’s voice was heavy with concern.
    Aunn pressed his fists to his temples and tried to steady himself with a long breath. “Sorry,” he said. “I … lost control. It won’t happen again.”
    Cart lifted him to his feet and put a hand on his shoulder. “I understand.”
    Aunn looked at the warforged, and his confusion must have been plain on his face.
    “I killed Haldren,” Cart explained.
    Aunn’s eyes met Cart’s, two green circles cut into the metal plate of his face, faintly glowing with inner light. The warforged normally seemed utterly inhuman, made of wood, metal, and stone assembled into an automaton designed for war. It was all the more surprising to see such empathy from him.
    “Thank you,” Aunn said.
    Cart clapped Aunn’s shoulder. “It’s a good resemblance. You look just like Kelas.”
    Ashara stood by Gaven, a few yards away where Cart had left him. Gaven stared blankly at the ground. Cart had discovered that Gaven would stand with help, and he’d walk if he was led, but he remained otherwise unresponsive, his eyes wide but unseeing. Walking around the camp with Cart hadn’t improved his condition, evidently. Ashara let go of his arm and came to stand before Aunn, and Gaven slowly sank into a crouch.
    “Let me see,” Ashara said. She examined Kelas’s face carefully, lingering at his eyes, then repeated the examination of Aunn’s assumed face. Aunn stared into her rich, brown eyes as she checked his.
    “The eyes will give me away,” he said, shaking his head.
    “Kelas could never hold anyone’s gaze,” Ashara said. “He knew his secrets were there. You’ll do fine.”
    Aunn looked away. Could that be true? He had always believed that Kelas overlooked the importance of the eyes in a disguise—he had never checked them carefully enough. But perhaps he had been afraid of revealing too much of himself.
    “We can’t leave the body here,” Ashara said. “Is there any fire left in the forge?”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Cart said. “You two start working on the circle.” The warforged lifted Kelas’s body over his shoulder and started down the ridge without looking back.
    “Have you worked with a teleportation circle before, Aunn?” Ashara asked, crouching to examine the circle traced in the ground.
    “No,” Aunn said. A permanent portal was a dangerous way for a spy to travel, since the destination circle was usually a fixed location that was carefully watched. It was a bit like blustering one’s way through a city’s main gate, drawing as much attention to oneself as possible. Not his preferred way of doing things—and as he considered it, he questioned again whether their plan made any sense.
    Ashara kneeled at