River Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

saw the blood, his blood, and just before he fainted, he thought,
Good thing my brothers aren’t here to laugh.
    For a few days, things were murky, though that may have had something to do with the sappy substance the camp cook and surgeon kept shoving between Razo’s lips. The bitter flavor clung to the back of his throat and made everything he ate taste like ashes.
    “Will it leave a scar?” Razo asked the cook when he felt well enough to sit up in the back of a wagon.
    “Without a doubt,” he said.
    “Not in Ingridan yet and already a scar,” said Razo as Enna and Finn rode up beside the wagon. “That doesn’t bode well, I say. And you two’ll be next.”
    “We don’t have your luck,” said Finn.
    “At least you won’t have to worry anymore about dagger boy,” said Enna. “Captain Ledel relieved him of his rank, weapons, and clothing and left him to starve days from the nearest village. Pretty harsh, I thought, for just tickling you.”
    “Ha.”
    By the time Razo could ride his horse, Bee Sting, again, the Suneast River had split into a massive delta, forming dozens of smaller rivers, and in the long stretches between their banks, barefoot farmers planted in fields so dark, they oozed greenness. As they rode forward, Ingridan stood up taller and taller on the horizon. All the buildings were white, all the roofs red, and the sameness reminded Razo of an army in uniform or some fluffy, frosted dessert that gushes out of its bowl. He liked the idea of the dessert better.
    “Where’s the ocean?” he wondered aloud.
    “You cannot see it from this vantage.” A Tiran soldier with hair so pale that it was nearly white rode up beside him. He had removed the blue jacket of his uniform and rolled up his tunic sleeves. Razo wondered if Captain Ledel, who was a terror for order, would notice and reprimand him, but the soldier did not seem worried. He reached out his hand. “I am Victar, third son of Assemblyman Rogis.”
    Razo hesitated before shaking his hand. “I’m Razo.” That did not seem like enough. “Sixth son.” Victar appeared to expect more. “Of my ma in the Forest.”
    Victar had a pleasant smile. “With so many sons, it’s no wonder you are a professional soldier. I as well may have little to inherit and must earn my own way.”
    “Inherit?” Razo laughed. “That word’s too fancy by half. In the Forest, everybody’s just as poor as everyone else.”
    “You are very open to admit as much. In the city of rivers, only the dead can close their mouths, so the saying goes. If it crosses my mind, I might reveal what you just said in any tavern or barracks.”
    Razo shrugged. “Go ahead, though I don’t know who’d care.”
    Victar kept riding beside Razo and appeared disposed to chat, so Razo learned that to be considered for an assembly seat, one must be a noble and have land worth at least four hundred thousand gold fulls (which Razo gathered were a type of coin). When he inquired where Bayern’s Own would be housed in Ingridan, Victar spoke of Thousand Years.
    “The prince’s palace. Its full title is the Palace of the Power That Will Stand for One Thousand Years, so named by the prince who built it.”
    “And has it?” asked Razo. “Stood for a thousand years?”
    “We won’t know for another seven hundred.”
    “Victar!” a Tiran soldier called, anger twitching his face. Razo recognized him as the one who had run away from the stabbing. Razo laid his arm across his belly.
    Victar lowered his voice and barely moved his lips. “That is Tumas. He was close friends with the disgraced soldier who wounded you, and I heard him rant that it was your fault, that you thrust yourself on the blade on purpose.”
    “Ha, that’s lovely. I’d hope I’ve got more sense than that.”
    “But a man like Tumas won’t hear reason. He is not an easy foe, Razo. He has many friends and they will try … Just, avoid them, if you understand me.”
    “Great, already the Tiran want me