Fortress Draconis Read Online Free PDF Page B

Vorquelf pointed to a trio of parallel lines, with the centermost a bit longer and thicker than the other two.
    The lines weren’t terribly distinct, just shallow marks in the dirt.
    “That’s a frostclaw track? It’s not much.”
    “You’ve lived your life on cobblestones, so now you learn something.” The Vorquelf pointed back along the path Will had taken to reach his side. “See your boot print? See how crisp the heel mark is? The ground is still moist from the rain. As that print dries out, the edges will crumble, and the wind will erode it. If the rain comes again, it’ll melt the edges, leaving your heel print just a shallow oval in the dirt. The rain melted the edges of these marks. They’re likely less than a week old.”
    “But… frostclaws, they can’t be here. King Augustus, he made sure that wouldn’t happen.” Will shivered, and suddenly realized he was well away from the city where he’d grown up. He was out and exposed and there were horrible things in the wild that he wanted nothing to do with.
    “Boy, the world you know is a mosaic, remember? Some pieces are true. Augustus did make the world safe for a while. He kept Chytrine back,for a while. Over the years, she’s gotten stronger, bolder. She sends frostclaws, vylaens and gibberers this far south, testing, probing, searching and scouting. She’ll be coming, and soon.”
    Resolute stood and, with one swift knife stroke, gutted the rabbit. “Augustus bought the world a generation in which to prepare for her to come back. If you’re any example of what’s waiting for her, that time has been utterly squandered.”
    Will heard the sharp crack of Resolute’s openhanded slap against his thigh before the pain registered. His eyes snapped open. He grabbed for the saddle with one hand, the other tightening down on the rope lead. He steadied himself and raised his head, little pops crawling up his spine bone by bone.
    “I’ve got the horses.” He raised his hand to show the rope looped around it several times. “I’ve got them.”
    Resolute remained stone-faced in profile, silhouetted against the dimming western sky. “Not the horses I’m worried about, boy. Night’s coming on. Frostclaws will be about.”
    Will shook his head to clear it from the logginess his brief saddle-nap had caused. The way Resolute left off speaking told Will that the Vorquelf expected something of him, and expected him to figure it out. He’d been left to do a lot of that over the past three days, amid fetching and carrying, caring for the horses, cleaning up, and learning to memorize every birdsong, animal call, beast track, and plant.
    Plants!He’d had to learn them by leaf, flower, fruit, root, scent, taste, and medicinal powers. Will had gotten to hate flowers and trees, and was longing to be back in some civilized place where plants were restricted to parks and gardens. Many times, Resolute had even awakened him by thrusting some plant under his nose and demanding that he identify it instantly.
    It hadn’t been all bad. Resolute would let him chewmetholanth leaves to ease some aches and pains—though the supply ofmetholanth was never sufficient, or his pains were overabundant. Every night Will had collapsed exhausted and aching. In the mornings he woke stiff and sore, moving even more slowly than Crow did.
    So,what is it the Vork wants now? Will blinked his eyes and looked around. With night coming on they should be seeking shelter. Usually, by this time of the day, they’d have already ridden off the main road to some hovel or cave his two guides already knew about. Those tracks, though, had headed off through forest for the most part, and now grassy fields lay on both sides of the road.
    The road itself had widened, and the plants weren’t meadow grasses. They were something else, something Will didn’t recognize, but he could see that they were arranged in rough rows. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he knew it wasn’t natural.And if it ain’t natural, that means…
    The young man