Roads of the Righteous and the Rotten (Order of Fire Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

king to protect them then who can they call on? And if they need protection from their own king, then what kind of kingdom is it?”
    “A kingdom that’s damned,” Shahla answered.
    “Aye,” Zar agreed.
    “And what of Cyana? Is Dandil no better than Tiomot?”
    “Anyone’s better than Tiomot.”
    “I never hear much about Dandil,” said Shahla. “It’s because I’ve never lived out of the meadow, I’m certain. Not like you—you’ve been everywhere.”
    “Not everywhere, I’m afraid. But I have been to a place or two.”
    “Every time I heard a stranger had entered the meadow, I would hop on Dalya and ride through the village hoping it was you,” said Shahla, pulling her eyes away from the fire and resting them on Zar. “This time you were gone for so long.”
    “Four years, was it?”
    “Nearly five,” Shahla answered. “I was always waiting for you to come back and take me away.”
    Zar was sure it was the fight earlier that had stirred up her emotions, and perhaps the fact that she was with him out of the meadow, on her very own adventure.
    “You’ve been with me for barely a day and you’ve been in a fight. That isn’t what I wanted.”
    “It was unavoidable,” said Shahla.
    “Was it? I could’ve taken the main road—we wouldn’t have had any trouble. I don’t want you fighting. Your father wouldn’t want you fighting.
    “You and Father still treat me like a child,” Shahla protested, “but I’m not. Would you rather I stay in the meadow my whole life and not see the world? You would protect me from every shadow and piece of dust that floats my way, and keep me trapped in the safe places of the world where nothing ever happens, like a baby in its cradle.”
    Zar was moved at the woman’s eloquence. “We know how the world is,” he said, “and yes, we wish to keep you safe from it. But, you make a valid point—you are no longer a little girl, and if you wish to explore the world you shall.” Zar gazed over the fire and into her eyes. “Trust me, you will have your day.”
    The two continued east in the morning towards Karthin, the next town on their way to Gara. It was nightfall when they made it into town, and Zar showed Shahla to an inn where they could have a hot meal, and paid for a room for her to sleep in.
    “As for me, I’ll be sleeping in the wagon,” Zar told her.
    “In the wagon?”
    “Aye. We can’t leave a wagon full of goods for the thieves to carry away,” Zar explained. “I’ve learned to be a very light sleeper.”
    Shahla chuckled and her eyes squinted in curiosity. “Father and I usually just bring the wares to the room with us.”
    “Do you want to carry all that steel?”
    Shahla shook her head and laughed.
    “Then I’ll see you in the morning. Get a good sleep. I’ll be right outside.”
    Zar scooted over the bundles of arrows and wrapped weapons and laid a blanket down in the wagon. It was the middle of the night when he awakened to the sound of footsteps. From what he could hear someone was standing outside the wagon, still, as if they had hesitated or were deep in contemplation. He laid there wearily for a while until the footsteps could be heard again, this time faintly diminishing until they deadened in the still of night. The fool thought better of it, Zar thought, dozing off and recommencing the light sleep he had been pulled from.
    They got back on the road in the morning. The woods dwindled to a sparse assortment of trees, littered sparingly across the sandy brown plains of the east, where the forests had been cleared by the people of old exposing the fields to the sun. They looked to have been under the sun for so long that they were turning its color, baked year after year and turning lighter each time, with scarcely any grass remaining, but only an awkward combination of what looked to be dried dirt, weeds, and sand. They came to Gara just before the dusk, heading straightaway to the house of Timber, Barek’s old friend and