Oath Breaker Read Online Free PDF

the pale-pelt breathe again? No, said Torak.
     
Wolf tilted his head and looked at Torak, his amber eyes puzzled. Then--why?
     
Because, Torak wanted to tell him, I have to avenge Bale. But he didn't know how to say that in wolf talk, and even if he could, he didn't think Wolf would understand. Maybe wolves didn't seek revenge.
    Side by side, they sat watching the midges darting over the brown water. Torak caught the flicker of a
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trout and followed it deeper.
He'd always known there were differences between him and Wolf; but Wolf couldn't seem to grasp that. At times it made Wolf frustrated, especially when Torak couldn't do everything a real wolf could. Thinking of this made Torak sad, and vaguely uneasy.
    He looked around to find that Wolf had gone, and clouds had darkened the sky. Someone stood in the reeds on the other side of the river, staring at him. It was Bale.
Water ran soundlessly from his jerkin. Seaweed clotted his streaming hair. His face had a greenish underwater pallor, and his eyes were dark as bruises. Angry. Accusing.
    Torak tried to cry out. He couldn't. His tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth.
Bale raised one dripping arm and pointed at him. His lips moved. No sound came, but his meaning was clear. Your fault.
"Torak?"
The spell broke. Torak jerked around.
"I've been calling you!" said Renn, standing behind him, looking cross.
Bale was gone. Across the river, dead reeds creaked in the breeze.
"What's wrong?" said Renn.
"N-nothing," he faltered.
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"Nothing? You're as gray as ash." He shook his head. He couldn't bring himself to tell her.
She gave a small, hurt shrug. "Well. I saved you a flatcake." She held it out, wrapped in a dock leaf to keep warm. "You can eat it as we go." From the canoe, Renn watched Wolf running between the trees: now lifting his muzzle to catch the scent, now snuffling in the brush.
Too many times, he'd found the places where the Oak Mage had stopped to eat or camp. Thiazzi seemed in no hurry to reach the Deep Forest, and this worried Renn, although she hadn't mentioned it to the others. Fin-Kedinn was preoccupied, while Torak ...
    She wished he would turn and talk to her. He sat in front, his back straight and unyielding as he searched the banks for signs of Thiazzi. Angrily, she dug in her paddle. He didn't care about anything except finding the Oak Mage. He didn't even care that Fin-Kedinn was in danger. At last they reached the rapids, and went ashore to carry the canoes around them. Wolf was already trotting purposefully up the Blackwater. "How far to the Deep Forest?" asked Torak as they set down the second canoe.
"A day," said the Raven Leader, "maybe more."
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Torak ground his teeth. "If he reaches it, we'll never find him."
"We might," said Fin-Kedinn. "He's taking his time."
"I wish we knew why," said Renn. "Maybe it is a trap. And even if it isn't, he'll soon know he's being hunted."
Fin-Kedinn nodded, but did not reply. All day he'd been distant and uncommunicative, and every so often he narrowed his eyes, as if the Blackwater revived memories that cut too deep.
     
Renn didn't like it, either. She didn't know this river, as Fin-Kedinn had never led the Ravens to camp on its banks, but she thought it was well named. It was shadowed by dank trees, and so murky that she couldn't see the bottom. When she leaned over, it gave off a sour smell of rotting leaves.
    Once they had the canoes in the water again, she insisted on sitting in front. She was sick of staring at Torak's back, wondering what he was thinking. No doubt it was about finding Thiazzi. Although what, she wondered, would he do if he did? Clan law forbade killing a man without warning, so he'd have to challenge the Oak Mage to a fight. Her mind shied away from that. Torak was strong and quite good at fighting, but he wasn't yet fifteen summers old. How could he challenge the strongest man in the Forest?
    "Renn?" he said, making her jump.
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She twisted around.
"When someone's asleep, can you tell if