Silver Dragon Codex Read Online Free PDF Page A

around. What if there’s nothing there?”
    “This one must agree.” The purple-robed mesmerist crossed his arms regally. His voice was strange and flowing, the unfamiliar syllables of Jace’s language fumbling on Ebano’s tongue. The mystic spoke only a little bit of Common, mostly restricted to the pat phrases that Worver had made him memorize for his act. Ebano could go on and on about the “movement of the stars” or the “shrouded future,” but when he had to communicate on his own, he was pretty well stumped. He also couldn’t figure out the word “I,” so most of the time he used his own name or just “this one.” Like all the other strangefolk in the circus, Jace just took Ebano in stride. The foreigner was an excellent hypnotist, and that’s what kept the crowds coming in—not his conversational skills. “This one thinks … how you say? … danger.” Ebano’s voice changed, took on the deeper timbre of stagecraft as he intoned one of his rote lines. “I see dark clouds in your future.”
    Jace rolled his eyes. “Yes, Ebano, I know. Dark clouds. You’ve said that three times.” Jace continued stuffing bread rolls and a bit of sausage into his travel sack and checked his water skin to be sure it was full. Belen had gone back to her tent to change clothes and pack. Jace shared his wagon with Cerisse and Ebano. They’d followed him back and refused to leave, wringing the story out of him drop by drop. Forced to talk while he packed or lose valuable time, Jace ducked around them while he struggled to remember anything he’d need in the woods. “We have to go. If we don’t, Belen is put on trial without any evidence to prove her innocence.”
    “Jace, I’m just saying, how do you know you’ll find anything?” Cerisse ventured, shifting from foot to foot. When Jace glared at her, she stomped one foot and waved her hands to ward him off. “I’m not saying Belen’s guilty! I’m just saying that it’s been five years. What if there’s no evidence left to find? You shouldn’t risk yourself—”
    “Belen’s going,” he growled, “so I’m going. We’ll find something.”
    Ebano lifted his hand and passed it through the air, pausing to show them a card that had suddenly appeared between his fingers. “Ah.” He muttered rapidly in his strange, chirping tongue. Working to find the words, the tall, thin man fumbled for the lines he used on stage and came up with, “Much danger in your future. Dark clouds.”
    “Ebano, I know. I know how to fight—a little—and for the most part we should be safe. There’s nothing out there, remember? Mysos said the village was abandoned.”
    “But what if … I mean … she’s … the village …” Cerisse shook her head, her braid swinging about like a striking serpent. “What if she remembers and it’s not good? The dragon that attacked the village ate the people in it!”
    “You think Belen would hurt me? Hurt any of us?” Jace snatched one of his clean shirts and stuffed it in the knapsack. “Not a chance.”
    “Ah.” Ebano hummed, brightening. “I have it. Not go alone. This one goes also.” He dropped his voice and intoned dramatically, “The gods have decided.”
    “What?” Jace nearly dropped the bag. “You can’t—”
    “That’s a good idea, Ebano!” Cerisse brightened. “I’m going too!”
    “You … hey!”
    “Don’t be jealous, Jace,” Cerisse sniffed. “Belen is our friend as well as yours. She watches my little brothers and sisters while I practice. I wouldn’t be able to juggle seven flaming boatswain pins at once without her help! And Ebano here”—Cerisse thumbed toward the gangly man in his mystic robes—“wouldn’t even be able to speak our language if she hadn’t tutored him. Besides,” Cerisse tossed out, “I can’t stand thinking of you and Belen alone. In the woods. The cold … dark … woods.”
    “Cerisse! Ebano! Have either of you ever camped out in a forest? There are monsters there,