Nightpeople Read Online Free PDF

You’ll see.’ It took only a couple of minutes until the other shoe was tied securely and he stood again, reslinging the bag across his shoulder.
    â€˜Ready?’
    â€˜I …’ Saria looked back at the path to the hut, and for a moment considered running towards it, fleeing back into the darkness.
    Then the memory of the call, so distant, so commanding, which had flooded her as she was falling asleep, came back.
    â€˜This way.’ Dariand turned, hopped across the creek and without waiting vanished into the scrub. Saria had to scurry to follow him.
    He was following an old path up the side of the valley towards the daywards ridge, which for Saria was forbidden territory. Near the water the trees and scrub were so thick that on several occasions the only way Saria managed to follow was by listening for the crunch of the man’s footsteps. As they moved upwards, the scrub and trees became increasingly sparse and Saria soon found herself trotting across open ground in the broad moonlight, following Dariand up the trail.
    Soon they were almost to the rim of the valley and much higher than Saria had ever explored. Some of Ma Lee’s rules she had been happy to break, but the one about never leaving the valley had been drilled into her from a young age, and the thought of venturing beyond those protective ramparts of red stone, especially in the dark, sent shivers through her.
    They climbed steadily until the trees and shrubs ended, leaving only the bare, rocky landscape that formed the upper slopes. Ahead, the rim of the valley hunched low against the sky, dark and menacing. For as long as Saria could remember it had been the edge of her entire world, and the thought of suddenly walking over that barrier filled her with a sudden mixture of dread and anticipation. She stopped, glancing behind to where the valley still slept. Somewhere down there Ma was snoring through the last couple of hours of the night. The lizard she’d reached yesterday was still lying in torpor, waiting for the life-warming sun to stir its blood back into activity, and the creek still burbled over the rocks.
    â€˜It’s not your home any more.’ Dariand had stopped just ahead and was watching her. ‘I know what it feels like, trust me, but there’s a lot more out there than this valley.’
    Something in the man’s voice seemed different: a sort of wistfulness that she wouldn’t have expected him to feel.
    â€˜It’s been here a long time, though,’ he continued, ‘and it’ll keep going on that way. Even after you and me and Ma are all gone. Come on, now. We’ve gotta keep moving, before we run out of darkness.’
    Saria!
    The call slid silently through her, as if echoing Dariand’s words.
    Saria took one last, lingering gaze at the valley that had been her home, and then, turning her back on it, followed Dariand up the path.
    At the top of the ridge she gasped as the horizons of her world expanded. Land and sky seemed to stretch away forever. The nightvault was peppered with more vaultlights than Saria could have dreamed possible. They shimmered and sparkled, so thick in some places as to lend the nightvault a pale, liquid appearance. Ahead of them, far off, the daywards horizon glowed deep pink.
    â€˜We need to move fast. We won’t get far today.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Once the heat gets too great we rest, and travel again in the evening.’
    â€˜Where are we going?’
    To Saria’s surprise, Dariand pointed behind them, away from the sunrise, back across the valley.
    â€˜That way. Nightwards.’
    â€˜Then why come up out of the valley this way?’
    â€˜This is the only path. Now, stop asking questions. We need to meet Dreamer Gaardi.’
    â€˜Why is he coming?’
    â€˜It’s always good to have a Dreamer with you when you travel in the Darklands, girl. They understand this place better than