Lorik The Defender (The Lorik Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

safe?”
    “No,” he said.
    “But surely we have you to protect us,” she said. “I am not afraid.”
    “You are very trusting,” Lorik said. “The problem isn’t our ability to fight. It’s the fact that there are so many of you to protect. If we come under attack, I’m not sure how things will turn out.”
    “Do you think there will be another attack?”
    “We fought a large group of the creatures not far from here two days ago,” Lorik explained. “There’s no reason to believe more couldn’t find us. If they do, my men will fight and you must keep these people together. If they scatter, we can’t protect them.”
    “When did our world come crumbling down, Lorik?” Issalyn said. “Things weren’t good before, but we didn’t battle nightmares come to life.”
    “I don’t know,” Lorik said. “Things always change; all we can do is change with them.”
    “I don’t like these changes.”
    “You miss your castle?”
    “I miss everything and nothing,” Issalyn said.
    “I would not pretend to understand a queen’s life.”
    “I was queen,” Issalyn said. “I had everything, except what I truly wanted. Did you know my husband?”
    “No,” Lorik said. “I was just a simple man. I hauled freight out of the Marshlands.”
    “You were a teamster?”
    “Yes, like my father and his father. It was a good life, but not the one I was destined for.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I spent years doing the things I knew, the things that were familiar and easy. I thought that was all there was to life. But then things changed, and I realized I wasn’t happy just doing what my father had done. I needed more, even though I didn’t know what it was I needed.”
    “And what did you need?” Issalyn asked stepping closer to Lorik and putting her hand on his massive arm.
    “Purpose,” he said.
    “What purpose? What is it that you found that makes you so sure of yourself?”
    “I have a deep need to protect the people I care about,” Lorik said. “My journey had taught me that I’ll never be happy sitting back and letting people suffer, even if I have all the best things in life.”
    “So, you are a protector. I admire that. My husband should have been the protector of our people, but he was only interested in pleasing himself.”
    “I would not judge,” Lorik said.
    “But I can judge. I was his wife. I knew him as well as any woman, and better than most men. He was a pig. He was selfish and unfaithful. He provided for me only because he felt that it added to his prestige.”
    “I’ve known women who would gladly trade you places any day,” Lorik said. “At least he didn’t beat you.”
    “There are other kinds of abuse,” Issalyn said.
    “True enough, and I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be, it is over now. Everything we have known is over.”
    “You are still queen,” Lorik said.
    “You and I both know that my crown,” she brushed the golden band with its many jewels, “is only temporary. I am queen because there is no king, but when that changes, I shall be swept aside.”
    “Perhaps, but I doubt it,” Lorik said with confidence. “Our people need you now more than ever.”
    “They need a protector,” she said.
    “They also need someone to give them hope and lead them into a safe future.”
    “And you think I can do that?” she asked.
    “Yes,” Lorik said. “I do. I think, even if you desire a different life, that for now you should be the rallying point for our people.”
    “Vera tells me that you are a king,” Issalyn said. “She says that the forest elves in the Wilderlands made you their king.”
    “No,” Lorik said. “They have given me the privilege of being their representative to our people. But I am not a king.”
    “She said you climbed the King Tree and that the elves consider you the king of Ortis.”
    “I think that is more about what Vera thinks should be than what actually is.”
    “You carry legendary swords,” Issalyn said, moving to stand in front