Grym Prophet (Song of the Aura, Book Three) Read Online Free PDF

Berne, “But I’ve run a few good ‘uns back and forth from the Blackwood above it, where there’s some small bis’ness to be had. I’d be glad t’answer any questions y’might have, if they’re in my knowledge to answer, so t’speak.”
     
    “Thank you,” Elia said. “It’s about water in the mainland, you see… I haven’t had a problem here, in the Inkwell, where it’s all around… but in the hot, dry places and places with no rivers, I need to have a source of water always at hand, or I’ll lose the ability to Change.”
     
    “Oh blazes,” Gribly swore, “That’s going to be hard to do, if the Grymclaw’s anything like Blast, in the desert. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that.”
     
    It was a pitiful and potentially fatal mistake to make on such a quest. Elia was a Treele water-nymph, which meant that she had the ability to switch between two physical shapes at will: the human-like form she and all in her species could used for daily interaction, and the enchanting, naiad-like Swimmer Form unique to her tribe. The Reethe, but not the Zain, could all do similar Changes, though their Other Form was different. It had never occurred to Gribly that they needed water to keep their ability. Would it kill them to lose it? Elia usually slept in her Swimmer Form, so she’d told him. What would she do when there was only enough water to drink?
     
    “Hmmm,” Captain Berne said, obviously surprised and reasonably put-out. It was a serious problem, for sure. “Well…” he began, then lapsed into silence again.
     
    “I wonder if the Aura thought of that, when they put all this into motion,” Gribly thought aloud.
     
    “’Course they did,” grunted the nymph Captain gruffly, “T’ Aura thinks of everything… if they rightly even need to think at all, the way we mean when we say the word… Hmmm… This is a puzzle an’ no mistake.”
     
    “Is it really that dry in the Grymclaw?” Elia asked, “I don’t need very much water to keep my Second Form, just enough to bathe most of my skin, and even then I can last a week at most between wettings.”
     
    “Ah,” said Berne, nodding, “That makes it a mite easier, for sure. Let me put m’thinkin’ cap on fer a few more hours an’ I’ll have this ‘un out in no time.”
     
    “You think you can?”
     
    “Oh, most assuredly. This’s a captain’s job, y’know, mistress Wave Strider… to figure out the hard-to-chew things before they’re even in ‘is crew’s mouth…”
     
    “That’s bizarre,” Gribly commented, but neither nymph seemed to hear him.
     
    “Well then,” Berne continued, “I’d best be into m’cabin t’puzzle this’n out. You two can ‘ave all the time y’need to put yer own heads t’wards it, but don’t be too knotted up if’n y’can’t decide. I’ll do the heavy thinkin’ this time around.”
     
    “Many thanks,” Elia told him before he headed below. Sighing, she turned to Gribly, some of the luster in her eyes gone. “I never thought I’d be a burden like this… No matter what the captain decides, I’ll slow you down in your hunt. Maybe… maybe I’ll stay behind.”
     
    “No!” Gribly interjected, then, quieter, “No… I don’t think that’ll be necessary. We’ll find a way, and this is as much your quest as mine, now. With any luck we’ll all find the answers we need, once we reach the Aura.”
     
    “Yes, I hope so…” she stepped a little closer to him, and he touched her hand reassuringly. “What was his name? I don’t remember anymore. Byorne might have told us, back before…” Before their ranger-guide had been murdered by the same beasts that had massacred her tribe. Yes. He had, now that Gribly thought about it.
     
    “Wanderwillow. Sounds… oh, tree -ish, don’t you think?”
     
    She smiled. “Yes, it does.”
     
    They stood there silently for a minute, hands touching but not exactly intertwined. Gribly could barely have been happier, until he