Heights of the Depths Read Online Free PDF

courteous.”
    For a moment Eutok looked as if he hadn’t the slightest idea what Karsen was talking about, and then it dawned on him. With a look of derision, he grudgingly said, “May I please have some water? I have a water skin on my belt; I simply haven’t the strength to reach it.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    “Idiot!” he said with a snarl. “When I say I have not the strength to—”
    Even as he spoke, his arm moved as if on its own and brushed against the brown water skin that hung from his waist. He looked down in surprise as if the arm wasn’t his but rather someone else’s. “I’ll be damned.”
    “One can only hope,” said Karsen.
    Eutok ignored the comment, pulled free the water skin and was about to drink from it when Karsen said, “Take only as much as you need to minimally slake your thirst. If you drink too much, you’ll dilute the juice’s healing properties and make the process take longer.”
    He expected Eutok to respond with some dismissive or irritated comment, but instead Eutok simply nodded. In fact, he went him one better. He took a small swig, rolled it around in his mouth, and then spat it out. Karsen hated to see water wasted on principle, but had to admit that Eutok’s way was the most sensible.
    “How long before I can move as of old?” said Eutok.
    “A day. Two. Your body needs time to fully recover.”
    “I’m not going to keep lying here, exposed to the elements or potential enemies,” he said.
    To Karsen’s surprise, Eutok forced himself to a sitting position. Karsen was about to caution him to take it easy. Then he decided that it really wasn’t his place to worry or his problem to worry about. He had other, far greater, concerns. “All right, then. I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain. Tell me which way the draquons went.”
    “How would I be doing you any favors?” said Eutok. “She is a human. You’re a Laocoon. Consorting with her will bring you to no good end.”
    “Your opinion would mean a great deal to me had I asked after it. Again: which way—”
    “I heard you the first time. Again, how do I know you did not poison me?”
    Karsen’s eyes widened with incredulity. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
    “For now, yes. But Laocoon are crafty, and Bottom Feeders have no scruples. You are both and thus doubly a threat. You could have given me something slow acting that temporarily energizes me but, after a time, kills me.”
    “I have no knowledge of a drug that would accomplish such a thing, much less how to prepare it.”
    “So you say.” Slowly he hauled himself to his feet. He swayed as he did so, gasping for air at the exertion.
    “We had a bargain, Trull!”
    “Yes, we did, and I intend to stand by it. I will take you in the direction I saw them go.”
    “You cannot be serious! You can barely move!”
    “I become stronger with each passing moment.”
    “I am hemorrhaging time, Eutok! I keep falling further and further behind!”
    “You are on hoof while the Travelers are astride flying draquons. If you seriously thought you ever had any chance of overtaking them, then you are completely delusional. And what did you think would have happened even if you had managed to sprout wings and catch up with them? Eh?”
    “I would have found a way,” he said, but he sounded less than convincing, even to his own ears.
    “You would have found a way to oblivion, is what you would have found,” said Eutok with a sneer. “You must know that your only chance was to pursue them to their destination, wherever that may be, and then try to rescue the girl from them at that point.”
    Karsen hated to admit that what Eutok was saying made sense. Unfortunately, it did. “All right,” he said reluctantly. “Let’s admit that is the case.”
    “Then time is not of the essence.”
    “They could be bringing her to some place for the purpose of killing her!”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. If that was their intent, they would have already disposed of