The Forever Knight: A Novel of the Bronze Knight (Books of the Bronze Knight) Read Online Free PDF Page A

both got quiet, the horse hooves echoing around the canyon. The claws of the kreels clicked on the sandy road as their tongues flicked in and out. Cricket looked at me. She wanted a story.
    “Norvor’s a lot like Akyre, I guess. Just a bunch of barons fighting for territory now. No real king or queen any more. There’s been fighting in that part of the world since I can remember.”
    “Yup,” nodded Cricket. That much she already knew. Everyone figured it was the fighting that took her family away, but Cricket couldn’t remember.
    “I had to be a freelance,” I continued. “Didn’t want to be, but I was exiled from Liiria then. Not much else to do but hire out my sword. The Diamond Queen was rich enough to pay, so I took it. Got a lot of cuts and scrapes working for her, but this was the worst of ’em.” I gestured to my blind eye.
    “Norvor,” she echoed. “The people who brought me here talked about Norvor, thought I might have come from there. I told them I was sure Akyre was my home. Don’t know why, though.”
    “You’ll remember one day,” I told her. “If you want to.”
    “Of course I want to! It’s all in my head, waiting for me to discover it. Maybe it’ll come to me in a dream someday.”
    “Or maybe a chicken will tell you where you came from.”
    We laughed, which was good because neither of us liked the way the conversation had gone. The sun was warm and the sky was crystal clear, and all of a sudden I just started talking.
    “Gilwyn thinks I should go away,” I told her. “He says Jador doesn’t really need me right now. Says it’s time for me to find out about myself, just like you.”
    Cricket’s round face tightened. “Huh?”
    “I’m thinking he’s right. I’ve been restless here. That’s the itch. I need to see what’s out there for me, maybe do some good in the world. Like a knight-errant. Try to find my mission.”
    “You’ve got a mission, Lukien. You’re Shalafein!”
    “Yeah, well, I’ll still be Shalafein. I’ll just be doing it somewhere else. Don’t you know how a knight-errant works? He rides around helping people. I’d be doing that in the name of Jador.”
    Cricket looked puzzled. “Sounds like being a mercenary to me. You’re the Bronze Knight, Lukien. Why do you need to go around proving yourself all the time? Why can’t you just stay here?”
    “Because I’m going mad here, Cricket.” I slowed down, letting the Jadori get further ahead. “You remember when you told me how you like to keep doing things, how sometimes you can’t control yourself because the stuff in your head drives you crazy, because you’re trying to remember so hard that you can’t stop your mind from buzzing? That’s what it’s like for me. You need to remember things . . . but I need to forget.”
    Cricket lifted her chin. “You mean Cassandra.”
    “Yeah. Cassandra.” I touched my sword, thinking its power would make me feel better. “Maybe we’re the same, you and me. Always looking for trouble. Sometimes I have to fight just to feel something besides sorry for myself.” I looked at her. “You understand. I know you do.”
    Cricket nodded. “I do. Just thinking about myself, I guess. With Minikin gone, and now you . . . What’ll happen to me, Lukien?”
    “Oh, you’ll be fine,” I said. It was all I could think to say, the kind of thing no one ever wants to hear. “If it wasn’t safe here I wouldn’t be going.”
    “But what’ll I
do
? I don’t even know who I am. And Gilwyn’s always too busy for me. He’ll just shovel me under with chores.”
    She looked genuinely scared. Not about the chores, which was nonsense, but about being alone. And that’s when I had my idea. At first I just smiled as it came over me, then I chuckled. Cricket grimaced.
    “It’s not funny.” Her face got gloomy. “I don’t want to stay here without you.”
    “Well,” I said, taking a deep breath, “a knight should have a squire. What about that?”
    “A