Hope and Red Read Online Free PDF

Silverback, or Hammer Point when so many other points of interest lie waiting for us, just begging to be plundered? Sadie the Goat may be through. But Sadie the Pirate Queen is just getting started.”

3
    T he coast of Galemoor was comprised of jagged black rock worn smooth by the constant crash of icy waves. Further inland, the dark soil was hard but, when churned properly, rich and nourishing enough to grow an abundance of crops, particularly the barley and hops the Vinchen monks used to brew the brown ale that was prized all through the empire.
    Most of the island was given over to agriculture, but in the center was the Vinchen monastery, hewn centuries ago from the black rock of the island by the disciples of Manay the True, one of the wisest grandteachers in the history of the empire. The long, rectangular buildings formed a large closed square around a courtyard, and in the center was the temple. The south side of the monastery contained the communal living quarters for the monks, and a separate—but still humble—dwelling for the grandteacher. The north side contained the kitchens, and the west side contained the brewery.
    Grandteacher Hurlo had seen many boys arrive at the black iron gates of the monastery with looks of horror in their eyes. Most of them were rich, spoiled, and likely sent to become Vinchen because their parents found them difficult to manage at home. Hurlo remembered a time when being a Vinchen had been desirable. Fashionable, even. But those brought to him now took years to appreciate what he and the other sworn monks were trying to give them. Still, he had grown to accept that it was the way of things now.
    He didn’t know what to expect of the girl, though. She was something completely new, both for him and for the order. Captain Toa brought her to the gates dressed in filthy rags. Her dark blue eyes took in everything around her, yet gave nothing away.
    “Hello, child,” Hurlo said to her. “I am Grandteacher Hurlo. Welcome to the Vinchen monastery.”
    “Thank you,” she said in a barely audible voice.
    “Good luck, then, Hurlo.” Sin Toa offered his thick, hairy hand.
    “Good travels,” said Hurlo, taking it warmly.
    Once Toa had left, Hurlo gathered all the monks and students in the courtyard. They eyed the little girl beside Hurlo with varying mixtures of surprise, confusion, and distaste.
    “This is Bleak Hope, a child left orphaned and homeless because of the actions of a biomancer,” he said. “She will be staying with us, helping with chores and other menial tasks until she is old enough and strong enough to depart.”
    None of the monks were disrespectful enough to speak out, but Hurlo heard several gasp audibly. This didn’t surprise him. No female of any age had ever stepped inside the monastery. Now they would be living with one every day, possibly for years.
    “You may return to your duties,” he said calmly. As he watched them slowly disperse, casting frequent glances at him and Hope, he decided it would be interesting to observe how they handled this adjustment.
    The Book of Storms said that there was only one Heaven, but many hells. Each hell was unique, but just as cruel as the next. This, the book said, was because there was no limit to human suffering, and no end to the number of ways the world could inflict it.
    Grandteacher Hurlo thought often of that passage. He suspected that to the young boys who had recently joined the Vinchen order, Galemoor itself might be a hell. Far from the large cities and luxurious northern estates of their childhoods, it was located in the center of the Southern Isles, as far from the warm, sunny capital of Stonepeak as one could get.
    For many of the older brothers, change alone was a kind of hell. Adding one unexpected element to a routine that had become rigid from years of repetition sent these men into something like panic. They seemed not to mind the girl as long as she didn’t affect their day in any way. But if she