Harbinger: Fate's Forsaken: Book One Read Online Free PDF Page B

with those
beady black eyes. And of course, you know what that means —”
    “You’ll have to
clean the droppings off your doorstep?”
    Roland frowned
at him. “No. It means we’ll have company tonight.”
    Amos snorted.
“Company? You know as well as I do that there hasn’t been a traveler in Tinnark
since before either of us was born.”
    “Mayhap there
would be, if tales of your crotchety ways hadn’t seeped down the mountains and
scared them all off.”
    Kael knew there
was no point in trying to interrupt them. Roland and Amos had been friends
since childhood, and now that they were old widowers, neither had anything
better to do than grump at the other — or heckle Kael.
    When Roland
noticed him trying to sit quietly, he grinned through his beard. “What have you
got?” he said, his voice as rough as his calloused hands.
    Kael put a
spoonful of stew in his mouth and grimaced as the flavors hit him. “Rabbit and
blackberries.”
    Roland laughed.
“It’s quail and pine nuts for me. Amos?”
    “I don’t know.
Leeks and salmon.” He didn’t like Roland’s game. He’d lost his sense of taste
years ago — which was perhaps why his tonics were so notoriously foul.
    “Salmon?” Roland
dipped his spoon into Amos’s bowl. His dark eyes roved while he chewed. “That
isn’t salmon — it’s hog, you crazy old man!”
    Half of what the
hunters caught was dried and stored for winter; the other half was prepared and
tossed into the pot — without a care as to how it all might taste
together. Rabbits and blackberries certainly wasn’t the worst mix he’d ever
had.
    “How did it go
today?” There was a glint in Roland’s eye — a glint he always got when he
had the chance to talk about hunting. The joints of his fingers may have been
too swollen to draw a bow, but he still had the heart of a young man.
    “Not well. I
didn’t come back with anything,” Kael said, keeping his eyes trained on the
table. It wasn’t a lie, but when he saw the disappointment on Roland’s face, it
felt like one.
    “Aw well, that’s
all right. Sometimes the forest is mean, and sometimes she’s less mean. But at
least she weren’t mean to everybody: Marc and Laemoth brought home a whole sack
of game and a deer.” He grinned and
elbowed Amos, jostling the stew out of his spoon. “A deer, this late in the
season. Can you believe it?”
    “I’m amazed,”
Amos grumped as he tried his bite again.
    Roland arms
crossed over his bony chest. “You ought to be. The elders think it’s a good
sign for us. They think the winter won’t be so harsh this year.”
    “Do they? Well
my joints tell a different story — it’s going to be as cold and miserable
a winter as ever in these blast forsaken mountains, mark my words.”
    Roland laughed.
    While they
argued over the next thing on their list, Kael sat in silence. He was grateful
for the noise in the Hall, grateful that they couldn’t hear the sounds of rabbits
and blackberries waging war in his stomach. Dinner was coming to an end, and at
any moment the elders would stand and ask anyone who had business to approach
them. That was the moment he was dreading.
    “Are you feeling
all right?”
    Roland’s
question brought him back to the present. He wiped at the cold sweat on his
face and nodded.
    Roland gave him
a long look, then shrugged. “Well all right. I want you to feel good tonight
because I’ve got a surprise for you.” He leaned forward and his face split into
a wide smile. “I’ve been talking to the elders for weeks now — battling,
really. Bunch of stubborn old coots. Anyways, I think I’ve figured out a way to
get you in.”
    “Get me in
where?”
    Roland looked at
him incredulously. “The hunters, of course!”
    Kael’s stomach
sank to his feet. He felt like he was going to be sick. Whatever Roland had
planned wouldn’t work, not if he didn’t have his bow. Why hadn’t he been
patient and waited one more day to go on the hunt? Why hadn’t he let up