Rebel Elements (Seals of the Duelists) Read Online Free PDF

if by magic, at the window. The young eunuch stared at Bayan’s injured finger.
    “Feeding the plant. You haven’t seen me do this before?”
    “No. But you always wander over here at supper, so I came to see why. That thing eats blood?”
    “Only when it’s small.”
    “Well, that’s a relief.”
    “When it’s bigger, it eats whole animals.”
    Kipri stepped back. “It grows teeth? It doesn’t lie in wait and ambush them, does it?”
    Bayan laughed, rubbing his finger. “No, no teeth. It’s a plant. It has to stay where it’s rooted. It lures its food in with the sweet smell of its nectar. I’m taking this one as a travel gift to my new home.”
    “Why would they want an animal-consuming plant? For pest control?”
    “The glorified Waarden need pest control like the rest of us?” Bayan snorted. “My father suggested the Academy might like to try making its own seerwine.”
    “Seerwine? Don’t be silly. Seerwine comes from a mysterious vine found only in the forests of Balanganam.”
    Bayan waggled the little stoneware pot at him. “And where did you find me?”
    Kipri’s expression changed to sickened wonder. “This little leech-thing is the glorious seerwine plant? I…I thought it was a kind of grape. Oh, sints, I’ve drunk man-blood.”
    “Now who’s being silly? There’s no blood in seerwine. No animal bits either, in case you were going to ask. Seerwine is pure nectar, fermented, spiced, and sold at outrageous prices to the pompous imperial nobility. It’s the crop with the highest returns on my father’s farm.”
    Kipri raised a skeptical eyebrow. “If you say so. How long do you have to let it feed on you like that, though? Are you going to be too weak and pale from blood loss to perform your classwork?”
    “Another score of days. There’s a rule of ten that seerwine harvesters use: one drop of blood for nine days, two drops for eight days, three for seven, and so on. The day after you give it nine drops, you can feed it a maggot. Later, mice. Or whatever small rodent the Academy has crawling around.”
    Kipri managed a faint smile. “Yes, you can take your creepy blood-drinking plant and go to the Academy, while I’ll be very happy to see my civilized home in the Kheerzaal again.”
    “And, do all those civilized, essential government workers at the emperor’s palace enjoy an occasional glass of bloody, furry seerwine?”
    Kipri pursed his full lips. “You just love ruining my happiness.”
    Bayan’s lips formed a bitter smile. “Then we’re even.”

    ~~~

    Days later, near sunset and the border between Pinamuyoc and Marghebellen, Philo’s carriage rumbled along the stone road, whose pale pavers gleamed like a rippling river in the angled light. Lotte’s cook wagon remained atop the previous hill as some of Philo’s guards attempted to silence the ear-splitting squeak of its wheel with cooking grease. As the horses guided the purple carriage down the switchbacks of a particularly steep hill, Bayan studied the high gray border wall ahead whenever it appeared in his window and marveled at the ancient structure. A few hundred years had passed since the Waarden Empire had relied on the wall’s imposing bulk for protection. He’d heard that the terrible Tuathi tribes had long ago invaded the empire from somewhere just north of Pinamuyoc; maybe the wall had once protected Marghebellen from invasion. Perhaps its broad top had been manned by duelists.
    The carriage slowed. Through the window, Bayan saw an old man with a bandaged leg clapping his hands for aid. Nic, on the driver’s bench, called to the man, offering a ride to the next town, but before the carriage came to a full stop, a chorus of yells burst from the bushes. Nic swore as the horses whinnied, and the carriage jerked to the side, tossing its occupants against one wall before Nic could right it and bring it to a halt.
    “What’s going on?” Bayan panted, disentangling himself from Kipri.
    “Hail, fair