Shrouded: Heartstone Book One Read Online Free PDF Page A

long stair down from the royal compound to the hover pads and service buildings on the next lowest tier. The temple and palace sat almost at the crevice apex, backed on three sides by sheer rock and the last by the drop and the stair down. The royal buildings, while situated higher up to afford their proper status, also sat that much nearer to the Shroud. That fact was foremost in Dolfan’s mind as he jogged the last few steps to the palace entrance and safety.
    He slipped through the doors into the foyer and waited for them to shut before plucking his breather. Let Mofitan risk an inadvertent inhalation if he chose to. Dolfan agreed with Tondil; Mof was an ass. He smiled and entered the first hall. Galleries angled off in either direction, but the double doors directly across from the entrance opened on the throne room. He found Peryl and Tondil secreted beside them, peeking at something through the crack around the door.
    “How old are you two?” He crossed the hall tiles with clicking steps. Both spies jumped at his approach.
    “Shhh.” Tondil put his finger to his lips and waved him over. He mouthed a name, Haftan, and pointed to the big doors.
    Dolfan couldn’t resist. Their idiotic mood infected him, perhaps because he needed a distraction. Either way, he brushed them aside and leaned forward to peer into the throne room. Behind him, Peryl started a giggle that was truncated by Tondil’s elbow. Dolfan heard the grunt, but didn’t turn. Beyond the doors, the view of Haftan was far too interesting.
    The high thrones stood on a dais at the room’s far wall. A tapestry hung behind the chairs, depicting the original diagram of the Shroud and its magnetosphere. Dolfan understood the scientific half of the symbols woven into the huge fabric, but the esoteric portion baffled him. Still, the silken images were impressive, two stories worth of them rippling in hues of amber, pink and indigo. In front of the throne, the wide floor spread, covered in the mosaic tiles of smoothed jasper, agate, and other more common stones mined in the planet’s deep crevices. Haftan circled the dome that rose from the center of this. As he circled the Heart, he seemed to be talking to it.
    Every few circuits around the glass bubble, he’d run his hands along the surface, watching the huge crystal inside and leaning his face down close to the dome. For its part, the Heart remained dark, slick and as dim as any ordinary stone.
    Footsteps rang someone’s approach less than a second before Dolfan felt Tondil’s hand at his shoulder. He spun around as the three of them adopted casual poses, leaning against the wall or one another so that, when Mofitan emerged from the far gallery, they couldn’t possibly have looked more conspicuous.
    Mof growled and veered from the entrance directly toward them. “What?” He looked straight at Dolfan, as if whatever they’d done must have been on his head.
    “Nothing.” He couldn’t resist, not with Mofitan glowering at him. “Just watching Haftan woo your throne.” He jerked his head toward the throne room and smiled. Mofitan’s brow came down before he spun toward the doors and stormed in to the throne room.
    “Now you’ve done it.” Tondil sounded far too pleased. He snagged Peryl by the sleeve and towed him after Mofitan with a sideways grin for Dolfan to join them. “Come on. This ought to be a decent show.”
    They passed through the entrance in Mof’s wake, the big doors standing where he’d thrown them open wide. Haftan stood beside the Heart, adopting a defensive posture, legs wide and one arm resting possessively against the stone’s cover. Mofitan had his back to them, but Dolfan could imagine his expression from Haftan’s reaction. Maybe it would be a show, or more appropriately, a showdown.
    Dielel paced and wrung his hands from off in the wings. If he’d been charged with keeping guard for Haftan, he’d failed completely. Mofitan growled again, loud enough to hear across