Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms Read Online Free PDF

impatiently, leaped, ran on and leapt again, finally
detecting a deposit and pushing against it to gain
impetus.
    Three of the
soldiers were trotting over to where the prone figure lay. As she
arrived, one of them, Rodann, was retrieving his weapon, whilst the
others were chatting animatedly and clapping him on the back. Keris
landed in front of them, and the conversation tailed off. She
regarded the victim. It was one of the men; the younger of the two,
she remembered. He was laying face down, the wound made by the
shuriken clearly visible in his back. His sandy hair moved lightly
in the breeze. Keris suddenly felt weak, bile rising up into her
throat. Her stomach was knotting. Why did
this happen? Closing her eyes with her jaw
clenched, she fought to regain control. Finally, she opened her
eyes again and turned to face Rodann. His face was
unreadable.
    “What happened here?” she
demanded.
    Rodann spoke up, “Escaped
tribute, my Lady.”
    “He is
dead! You did not think to chase him
down?” The two soldiers with Rodann shifted uneasily, contaminated
with his guilt.
    “Apologies my lady, I should have
explained to you that we are testing a new method of restraint for
the tributes. They have been fitted with lodestone
breastplates.”
    To impede their
progress , she realised. The act of running
would cause the lodestone to push the man backwards, the harder he
tried to run. He probably panicked, not realising what was
happening to him and only pushed the harder. But why kill
him? So he could not tell
others .
    All of a sudden
she was struck by a horrific thought. Rodann planned this all along. He had been
looking for a way to test his asinine devices. Now a man is dead, and I am responsible . Perhaps someone had put him up to it? The keep had a
complex political structure, and her rapid advancement in the ranks
of Keltar had made her her fair share of enemies. She thrust the
thought to the back of her mind. There was nothing to do now except
take charge of the situation. She rounded on
Rodann.
    “Get back to the others now and
remove those breastplates. You will watch the tributes closely, and
if they flee, you will chase them down and bring them back. I do
not intend to lose another. Do you understand?”
    “As you command.” Rodann pursed
his lips; then motioned to the other soldiers and they began
walking back to where the carts stood.
    Keris stood, looking down at the
fallen man for a moment. Then she turned and followed the soldiers,
her flying cloak flaccid about her shoulders like a useless
appendage.
    ~
    The wheels of the carts clattered
across cobbled stone as the tribute convoy passed under massive
wooden gates and into the great city of Chalimar. Keris had packed
away her cloak and was riding the graylesh once more. Following the
incident on the road, the remainder of the journey had been
conducted without incident and in near silence. Her first instinct
had been to report the matter to Mordal, but she was certain it
would be a waste of time. There was also the fact that it was
likely that she would have to work with Rodann again and it was
never good to have an enemy as your Captain. Nevertheless, she
resolved that she would have to watch the man more closely in
future.
    The late afternoon streets were
eerily quiet. The city under the Prophet`s “protection” was a
depressing place outside of the keep. The houses were of rough
stone, with peaked wooden roofs, closely packed together. There
were wooden shutters over most of the windows, despite the fact
that it was day. A few people glanced nervously at the soldiers and
their three tributes, but most ignored them and hurried on. They
were passing through the merchants’ quarter and she saw that most
of the stalls were empty. The rest of the sellers were engaged in
the act of packing away their wares. It felt as if most of the
citizens of this once proud city were cowering inside their
homes.
    They passed through the narrow
streets which eventually