Sword Quest Read Online Free PDF Page A

with carvings was revealed. The chief scholar placed a small piece of fine birch bark over the stone, took out a tiny stick of charcoal, and traced the strange script on it. 013-Unidentified could see the lines clearly as the scholar held the bark up to the light, but the odd marks meant nothing to him.
    “Indeed, indeed, Your Majesty,” said the chief scholar. “I do not recognize this script at all. Very strange, very strange indeed. I must study this further.”
    “ Two Leasorn gems!” Hungrias fanned his wings happily. “What a year for tribute this has been! We must celebrate. Tell the cooks to prepare a special meal. Oh, yes”—he pointed a wing at 013-Unidentified—“we shall see what this one tastes like tonight! Be sure he is still alive when he is placed on the spit. It improves the flavor so much.”
    Dozens of pairs of hungry eyes fastened upon him as 013-Unidentified was dragged off to the kitchen,where he was lashed to a metal pole over a fire. Slaves, turning their faces aside, slowly rotated the spit as flames crackled eagerly.
    013-Unidentified fainted from the heat.

A righteous heart can beam a light in the darkest place.
    —FROM THE O LD S CRIPTURE
    3
C HOICE
    G radually 013-Unidentified became aware that a raven was clacking his beak loudly. “Come,” the raven rasped, beckoning. “Come, you don’t want to be late.”
    “No!” 013-Unidentified whispered. For some reason, he didn’t want to go anywhere with this stranger.
    “Come,” the bird insisted. “I’ve been ordered to bring you, and bring you I must. But if you ask, I must bringyou back again. Those are the laws I obey.”
    Out sprang a claw that clasped around the white bird’s neck. He gasped. His conscious soul was being lifted out of his body! The raven flew out of the kitchen. Nobird seemed to notice. 013-Unidentified turned back to look, and saw his body still on the fire.
    “Where are we going?” he asked the raven, choking.
    “To Yin Soul.”
    They flew over an endless stretch of gray, an angry ocean beneath them. It seemed only minutes before the raven dropped 013-Unidentified. He landed before he could open his wings.
    He was in a small red room, the walls lined with looming bookshelves. On the far side was the red frame of a fireplace, surrounded with red incense and sputtering red candles. The sharp cinnamon perfume they gave off stung his eyes.
    “Hello, dear 013-Unidentified.” The youngster jumped at the sudden words; they were whispery and thin. A scaly creature in a broad red manteau nodded slightly as he scuttled from behind a pile of books. He looked a lot like an archaeopteryx, except he was larger and had four wings. “I am Yin Soul. Come here, young one, and perch beside me.”
    013-Unidentified obeyed in a dreamlike trance. Thecarpet underfoot, woven with a design like red and yellow flames, felt so plush.

    “I do feel very sorry for you.” The creature’s eyes softened with what looked like a fatherly fondness. “You were going to die. They wanted to cook and eat you; howcruel! But now you’re here. You want to live, surely? Everybird wants to live!” Yin studied 013-Unidentified. He began again, quietly. “I like your spirit. Facing the reality bravely. But don’t you want to fight your enemies? Don’t you want to steer the flight of your life? I can save you from that fire. You’d be free.”
    013-Unidentified gaped. “Free! I—”
    Yin Soul’s eyes bore into 013-Unidentified’s. “But being free is not enough. You know that your enemies deserve to be punished. They deserve to be punished for causing you pain, for every injustice, for every feather they tore loose. Some even deserve death! I know a way for that. Hero’s Day is the day of the fifth full moon in a year and a half. You know the legends about a magical sword that can be found at Kauria, the Island of Paradise. If you find the sword on that particular day, you will have power over all your enemies. Then you can do