The Hidden Fire (Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

closed and naked to the world, worked in such fine detail that
Kyric could see blemishes in her skin.
    Then
she opened her eyes.  And they were the cat-like diamond eyes he had seen so
many times, green and glowing, looking at him accusingly.
    Suddenly
he was almost out of air.  He looked at Rolirra, pointing to himself, then to
the surface, and started up.  She stopped him and opened her mouth.  She was
taking deep breaths of water, and she signaled him to do the same.  He had
noticed that the water wasn’t salty, but what did that have to do with
anything?  He couldn’t breathe water.  She pried gently on his lips with her
fingers, mouthing, Go ahead, it will be alright .
    He
couldn’t stay under any longer.  He swam for the surface, but Rolirra grabbed
his ankle at the last instant.  His lungs ached, and the edges of his vision
began to darken.  He desperately tried to kick free.  He clawed at the water as
she pulled him back.  He was suffocating.
     

CHAPTER 4:  Cat’s Eye
     
    He
woke gagging on water, his face and hair wet.  He coughed and spit and was able
to breathe.  Aiyan stood over him with a water skin.
    “You
were thrashing all around and wouldn’t wake up,” he said.  “Thought you were
going to hurt yourself.  I tried yanking your leg first, but it didn’t work.”
    Kyric
sat up and vomited half a gallon of clear water onto the floor of the cabin. 
“How much of that did you pour into me?”
    “I
only splashed a little on your face,” Aiyan answered.  “You must have had a
thirsty night.”
    Kyric
slipped into his shirt and reached for his breeches.  “Aiyan.  I’ve had a
couple of dreams that feel very real.  They’re not normal dreams, not even for
me.  There’s this girl that’s taking me places and showing me things.  I don’t
know what it means, but there seems to be little coincidences — the first time,
there was that fire right after I dreamed a firebird set the ship aflame.  And
just now I dreamed that I was drowning.”
    Aiyan
shook his head.  “I’m afraid I know little of the dream world.  This would be a
question for Master Zahaias.”
    “I’m
probably making too much of this,” Kyric said.  “I most likely sleepwalked and did drink a gallon of water.  Anyone might dream that they were drowning after
that.”
    “Perhaps,”
said Aiyan.  “I can tell you this much — now is the moment of the sleeping
moon.  It’s a time when dreams can be significant.  I’ve had an interesting one
myself.”
    “Yes?”
    “I
dreamed that I was seventeen again, fighting in the war against the Jakavians.” 
He fell quiet while he tied his sash.  “I thought I had stopped having that
dream years ago.”
    As
they finished morning practice, Kyric said, “If swordsmanship is required, I
suppose it will be many years before I can try for Esaiya again.  How long does
it take to become skilled at this?”
    “You’re
at an age where you can take long strides.  If we keep practicing like this for
five hours a day, technical proficiency will come quicker than you think.  I
was little more than a year younger than you the first time I picked up a sword.
 Within a year you’ll know if you can aspire to the highest levels of this
form.  With talent and dedication, you could be stepping onto that level in
three years.  After five years, I can tell you that any improvement comes in
painfully small steps.
    “But
technique and training is only part of the reason that we are the best
swordsmen in the world.  If you can open yourself to the weird as you fight,
you gain remarkable insight and intuition within the eternal moment.  With
guidance from the Unknowable, the ultimate goal is to simply hold onto the
sword and allow it to do the fighting.”
    Kyric
shook his head.  “How do I learn to do that?”
    Aiyan
smiled.  “That is part of a mystery that the masters call the symmetry of
power.  The Way of the Flame is not one of meditation — it is a way