The Automaton's Treasure

The Automaton's Treasure Read Online Free PDF

Book: The Automaton's Treasure Read Online Free PDF
Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke
Qilar, away from the Ocean's Dagger , back to my home.
    “Stay strong,” Safin whispered. “They lie.”
    “They don't talk,” I snapped.
    “They still lie.”
    I plunged the oar into the water. The captain gazed after the baelfires, his face full of longing. It mirrored my own feelings, my own desire to leap into the water, to chase them through the darkness.
    Rafi grabbed the captain's hand and squeezed it tight.
    “Look,” Safin said. “Look at their hands.” His voice was urgent. I looked and it wasn't the captain and the first mate holding hands, but me and her . The baelfires might have claimed that they could take me to her, but she was the one who held me in place, the one who kept me safe.
    I didn't think our trip through the baelfires would ever end. They flooded the swamp with light, but I rowed forward, sweat pouring down my back.
    And then they blinked out and were gone.
    “Is that the house?” the captain asked.
    I jerked my head up. A house had formed in the sudden darkness, with white-washed walls and lights in the windows. It perched on the edge of the water, and lanterns—true lanterns and not baelfires—lit a path from the river to the door.
    “The great treasure!” cried Safin.
    “It's the house,” I said, weariness dragging down the edges of my voice.
    Safin slithered down my leg and rushed to the edge of the boat, curling his claws around the side. His eyes glowed.
    “Yes!” he clattered. “Yes, yes, yes!”
    The captain nodded at Rafi, who stood up and shouted for the boats’ leaders to tie off at the rickety pier jutting over the river.
    The captain climbed ashore and turned to face his men. “Rafi, Marjani, Hafsa, come with me. The rest of you wait for Hafsa's signal.”
    Hafsa nodded.
    I crawled out of the boat, aware of a wary intelligence passing through the trees, watching us, waiting. It was the first time I'd been on land for almost half a year, and my legs wobbled and shook. Hafsa caught me, and said in a strained voice, “You'll adjust.”
    “This way!” Safin shouted. “The great treasure will be delighted to see me!”
    Another mistranslation. I was tired, and frightened, and I missed my life back in Jokja. But on shaking legs I followed the captain as he made his way up the house's front steps. The lanterns bobbed alongside us, winking like the baelfires. I trembled.
    We came to the front door. Safin stood up on his hind legs, twisted the doorknob with his little clawed hands, and scurried inside.
    “Great treasure!” he shouted.
    Magic seeped out of the house, strong enough that I could feel it wrapping around me, thick and warm and heavier than the air. I was wary of crossing the threshold, and the others held back too, even the captain. Through the doorway I saw no great treasure, only a small room with a lit hearth, shelves of books and trinkets, and an old woman sitting in a rocking chair.
    “My life's light,” she gasped in Qilari, rising to her feet. I don't think she even saw us as Safin scrambled up her skirts and wrapped around her neck as he'd done with me so many times before.
    “The hell is this?” the captain roared, shoving us aside. “Where's the treasure?”
    The woman glared at him. “A long way from the Empire,” she said, not in Qilari but Empire, in the dialect of the aristocrats.
    “I'm from no country,” the captain said.
    The woman glared at him for a moment longer. Then she gasped. “You're from the Mists,” she said, and the magic intensified. I could smell it now, a scent like rotting flower petals.
    The captain drew back and pulled out his pistol. “Not anymore. Where's the great treasure the automaton promised us?”
    The woman curled her hands into fists. She didn't look away. Safin tightened around her shoulders, his eyes wide.
    The great treasure lives.  
    The great treasure will be happy to see me.  
    I bent over and vomited. Hafsa shouted and jumped back. She asked me what was wrong. I ignored her, only wiping my
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