Sunborn Rising Read Online Free PDF Page B

to hold Barra, and still wave their fangs about freely.
    Vallor strictly enunciated each word before beginning the next. “So busy looking ahead. No idea what was going on behind you.” Vallor hesitated, sniffed at Barra and grimaced. “And you’ve been chewing grappabark.”
    Barra huffed a few times toward her own nose, and noticed the sweet dark smell, pungent and thick. Wrinkling her nose, she said, “But that could have been anyone.”
    Venress Starch raised a brow. “It was you.” She smiled, lines of tiny sharp teeth exposed, and said, “Now what are you going to do?”
    Abruptly, Barra fought back. She squirmed, pushed, and kicked, but the Haggidon only held her tighter. Barra’s fur, slick as it was, couldn’t slip her free from Vallor’s grip. But then something new happened. The muscles that controlled Barra’s fur for stealth were reacting instinctively, pushing against Venress Starch’s hold.
    Vallor pondered her captive, suspicious. She suddenly felt like she was trying to hold onto a water snake. The tighter she gripped, the more she thought the bup was going to squirt free. But Barra didn’t recognize how close she was to escape, and she gave up. Vallor asked, “Well?”
    “Please let me go?” Barra asked begrudgingly.
    “Humph,” Venress Starch grunted, disappointed. She released Barra without warning, and the bup fell a short distance before lashing out with her tail and pulling herself onto a branch below. Vallor dropped down beside her. “Well, at least your reactions have improved.”
    The two walked and climbed together for hours. Venress Starch identified shrubs and flowers and noted each one’s utility. They examined some of the gardens, the plots that were chewed out of the boughs and filled with wood pulp in order to grow and feed special plants. Barra usually enjoyed her walks with Venress Starch, but she was having a hard time paying attention. She couldn’t stop thinking about her father’s journal.
    “What’s wrong?” the old Arboreal asked Barra with deep concern.
    But Barra dodged the question. “Nothing, I’m just tired I guess.”
    Vallor knew there was more to it, but offered another excuse instead of pressing the matter. “Maybe hungry, too? Midday is long past.”
    Barra was astonished to hear the time. She hadn’t even noticed the flowers of the Coppice changing over to their afternoon cycles. The middle of each day was marked with an exotic cascade as some plants closed and others opened, colors and shapes metamorphosing throughout the treescape. The display was especially beautiful in the Coppice because of the specialized flora that grew there.
    “Why don’t you go? Look for some food, and maybe I’ll look for you, later.” Vallor blinked slowly, respectfully, at the distraught Listlespur—her way of saying goodbye. Without further hesitation, she lifted herself up into the branches overhead and disappeared.
    Barra couldn’t find anything she wanted to eat, but the gurgling in her stomach won out, and she made her way to one of the many food gardens in the Coppice. Tory was there with another Rugosic named Juddol, and they were arguing about something.
    Clearly happy to change subjects, Tory called out, “Barra! Hey, over here. Sit with us.”
    Barra clambered up to the two bups and sat between them. “Did you eat yet?” Tory offered a handful of spiderfruits. The nuts were gray sacs suspended in cushions of crunchy webbing made from a sweet resin. Barra was happy to take half and popped them into her mouth all at once.
    Juddol rolled his eyes. “We were talking?”
    “Sounded more like arguing,” Barra muttered while chewing.
    Without blinking, Juddol stared at Barra with the most emotionless, flat expression he could manage. Barra smiled widely back, making sure to show the contents of her mouth.
    “That’s attractive,” Juddol said, wrinkling his face in disgust. Turning his attention to Tory, he promised, “We’ll pick this up again