The Gatherer (Brilliant Darkness 2.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

safety, security, and prosperity.
    I point to my home. "We will arrive in time for breakfast."
    Kaiya’s stomach rumbles.
    We descend from the platform on a swinging rope ladder—a long, tense climb that she makes bravely—and begin to walk uphill toward the walls of the Cloister. Although her father couldn't be near, I can't help but glance behind me regularly. His dark, earnest gaze presses on my back.
    The Eternal Flames—a wall of natural fire that never dies out, even in storms—rise from a fall of rocks near the top of the hill. The sky above it wavers through the fumes. My eyes begin to water, the air smells acrid, and my lips feel oily—the familiar sensations of home. The Flames are a reminder of the perseverance of my Sisters.
    The fire meets the end of the Cloister’s western wall, leaving no gap. Staying a respectful distance away, we turn the corner and make for the gate some distance along the wall.
    "Alev?" a voice calls from above as we approach.
    I shade my eyes against the sun peeking over the wall. It is Brande, a Sister a few years older. I wave.
    "Open the gate!" she calls.
    Six massive greenheart tree trunks, lashed together and mounted on the wall to serve as the entrance, are pulled open just enough for us to enter. I greet the guards who wait to push the gate closed.
    All Sisters share the various duties of maintaining the Cloister, but we have unique responsibilities, too. I am a Gatherer. Brande is a guard. I wonder if my role will change once Adar becomes our leader. She may have other plans for me.
    I guide Kaiya in. Her gait is more fluid, the set of her shoulders looser; the sting I gave her the night before fades. I am glad. She has had to endure more exposure to the venom than she should.  She shudders as the gate slams shut, and doubt shoots through me again.
    Brande descends the wooden ladder gracefully. Her curly black hair is pulled back, making the perpetually fierce expression on her thin face even more severe. She eyes the girl.
    "Congratulations—you were successful. Were there any difficulties?"
    "No." I keep my face impassive as I lie. "Where is Adar?"
    "She is with Niran in the great hall. You should not delay." We are not given to shows of emotion, but there is sadness and sympathy in Brande’s eyes. I nod my understanding.
    The majority of the compound lies a good bit north of the Eternal Flames, over the crest of the hill we move up now. The hill provides our home with a natural protection from the fire, but the Flames' smoky fingers reach every corner. As Kaiya and I reach the top, the Cloister spreads out below us.
    The grounds follow the contours of the plateau, rising and falling gently between the eastern and western walls, the northerly mountainside, and the Flames behind us. Patches of determined grass grow sporadically around the silvery white stands of powder trees.
    The great hall, where we take our meals and hold gatherings, sits at the highest point of the Cloister, close to the western wall. Large and circular shaped, it is constructed from the same gray rock as the outside walls, mined from our mountain. The long, low kitchens lie next to and behind the hall, and the laundry and armory buildings are down the next hill. Homes of various sizes spread out beyond that. The training grounds and our destination, the children's compound, lie out of sight in the center of the complex.
    Kaiya drinks in the sights of the Cloister, interest and intelligence flashing in her eyes. She turns to the angry buzzing sound coming from across the top of the hill on which we walk.
    The jewel wasps’ enclosure, covered by a fine mesh, stands in an open stretch of grass. The insects flit in and out of their nests made of mounds of hardened gray-brown mud. They move so fast, they are almost impossible to see.
    Covered in emerald and red and about the length of a finger bone, the wasps seem to radiate danger. Only their minder is fearless enough to enter and care for