Sands of the Soul Read Online Free PDF Page B

sidestep the brunt of the attack, the creature still tore open her shoulder. The blow brought Tazi to her knees. She dropped her dagger and clutched at her shoulder. Once again the shadow swooped in and sliced across Tazi’s chest.
    Instead of the warm blood Tazi thought she was going to feel ooze down her chest, a chill stole over her. It was as though she was sinking in cold waters. She could vaguely make out the face of Erevis Cale, but it had an unreal quality to her. A gray mist obscured her vision then, and everything became darkness.
    Tazi couldn’t remember much after that. Her parents later told her what they were able to learn about the shadows. It seemed that they fed off the souls of their victims. Many had perished that night, but Tazi was spared, thanks to Cale’s brave intervention. She was told he managed to stop the shadow demon before it was actually able to feed on her soul. Furthermore, after he successfully wounded and drove the creature from the Uskevren mansion, most of Tazi’s essence flowed back into her. It took song priests many hours to reunite the rest other soul and life-force with her body. Tazi recalled the long and painful months of recuperation that followed.
    She trained tirelessly, trying to regain her former strength and agility, but every day was a struggle. She was amazed to discover how weak she had become, and she was too frightened to admit it to anyone. Those closest to her saw how tired and pale she was, but she persevered through her own self-imposed training and had reached a point, or so she thought, when she was ready to try her hand at some of her more larcenous activities. When the winds of Marpenoth turned cool again, Tazi woke up feeling oddly refreshed. She took it as a sign that she was ready again, but she had failed tonight.
    “Sorry to interrupt your daydreams,” Kalli said, “but your stew’s ready.”
     
    Kalli looked at her, clearly disturbed by the vacant look in Tazi’s eyes.
    “It looks good,” Tazi replied after a moment’s hesitation. “It should be fine,” she added, sensing Kalli wanted her to say something else.
    Kalli placed both her hands on the wooden table and leaned closer to Tazi.
    “Child, what is wrong?” she whispered.
    Tazi looked up into Kalli’s face. She could see how worried Kalli was. Glancing past the older woman’s shoulder, Tazi could see that Alall was watching the scene from behind the bar. As soon as Tazi caught his eye, he turned his attention b’ack to the mug he had ostensibly been polishing for the past five minutes. If everything had been normal, Tazi would have laughed at the two mother hens clucking over her, but all she felt was suffocation.
    “Just leave it be,” she whispered to Kalli and saw the hurt register on the woman’s face.
    Kalli straightened her back and turned to leave. Tazi shot out her hand and caught the woman’s wrist lightly. Kalli turned at her touch.
    “One day,” Tazi promised, “I’ll try to explain.”
    If I’m ever able to explain it to myself, she thought.
    “When you’re ready, child, I am always ready to listen. You know I…” but the older woman was unable to say more. Tazi’s words had been enough to soften Kalli.
    “I know,” Tazi said sincerely and squeezed Kalli’s hand once before letting go.
    Kalli smiled at her and walked away, leaving Tazi to her solitude.
    She picked absently at the bowl of steaming stew, one of Kalli’s finer concoctions, with little interest. She knew if she didn’t at least play with the bowl for a little bit, either Kalli or Alall would find some excuse to come back over and worry over her. Tazi really didn’t want to say something to either of them that she would regret later. They had been too good to
     
    her over the years to deserve that kind of treatment. The only other person outside her family that she had known longer than the Ulols was Steorf.
    Why does his name keep floating up tonight? she wondered.
    Pushing the bowl away