Lokant Read Online Free PDF

you. Your injuries are severe. Your recovery will take
months; months of lying here, useless and in pain. And you may not
recover at all.’ He leaned down towards Devary’s face, his eyes
cold. ‘If you accept the assignment, I will ensure that you
recover. If you do not, I will ensure the opposite.’ He
straightened again and shrugged. ‘And if you persist in refusing my
offer, I will be obliged to send another after Miss Sanfaer.
Someone less sympathetic to her.’
    Devary closed his eyes.
He knew the sort of operatives that would be sent after Llandry if
he refused. If she was to be protected, he had no choice but to go
after her himself. Once he found her, he would discover a way to
hide or defend her.
    He opened his eyes.
‘Very well,’ he said coldly. ‘But this is to be my last assignment.
I must be allowed to retire.’
    ‘Agreed,’ said the man,
pleasant now that his purpose was achieved. Devary found his arm
seized in an uncompromising grip, and before he was aware of his
resented employer’s intention his surroundings dissolved into a
mess of colour and they were gone, spinning across the worlds to
the last place that Devary wished to go.
     
    ***
     
    ‘Aysun, slow down.
You’re going too fast.’
    The person speaking
from behind him was out of breath and just a little bit frantic.
Frustrated, Aysun didn’t pause to acknowledge his companion’s
request, but he did slow his pace. A little.
    ‘Thanks,’ the voice
muttered darkly.
    Aysun ignored the
words. Strapped to his wrist was his locator; the device was locked
onto a ring that his daughter wore, and its function was to guide
him to her. As long as he had remained in Glinnery it had displayed
nothing at all, and for a time he had feared that Llandry had lost
her ring. But then a greater fear had occurred to him: perhaps she
had instead gone off-world. Perhaps she was in the perilous
Uppers.
    Now he himself stood in
the light-drenched Upper Realm. The moment he had stepped through
the gate, his locator had flashed, and a winking point of light had
appeared on the display. The confirmation of his suspicion had both
relieved and dismayed Aysun: Llandry was alive and still wearing
her ring, so it would be possible to find her. But the longer she
remained in the Uppers the harder that task would be, and the
greater the danger that she would be injured or killed before he
could reach her.
    Hence his hurry. His
companions, however, felt differently.
    Footsteps beat rapidly
behind him and then Eyas drew level with him, panting and wearing a
scowl on his tanned face.
    ‘If you want me to keep
you from being eaten, mauled or gored, we’re going to have to work
on this arrangement,’ his friend said. ‘That means I, the trained
and experienced summoner, must be in front, in order to ensure that
our surroundings are clear of dangers before you advance. If you
insist on leading the charge, I can’t answer for the
consequences.’
    ‘You’re too slow,’ said
Aysun. ‘While you dawdle, she’s moving further away.’
    Eyas threw up his
hands. ‘Then I don’t know why you asked the rest of us to
come.’
    Aysun glanced over his
shoulder. Behind him walked Nyra, a tall and gloriously winged
citizen of Glinnery. She was a sorceress and a friend of his
wife’s. He had needed a sorcerer to open a gate to the Uppers, and
he would need one again when it was time to return home. Nyra had
insisted on accompanying him in the search for Llandry.
    Their other companion,
however, was nowhere in sight.
    ‘Where’s Rufin?’
    Eyas shrugged. ‘He
circled around us a moment ago and went into the trees. He was
loading his gun.’
    ‘Trouble?’
    ‘I’m not sensing
anything.’
    Aysun nodded. Eyas was
a fellow Irbellian expatriate. He had moved to Glinnery years ago
to train his summoner abilities - for there was little quality
training to be had in Irbel, with its focus locked firmly on
engineering - and he was now one of Glinnery’s best. Which was why
Aysun