The King of Forever (Scarlet and the White Wolf, #4) Read Online Free PDF

up one of the apples, fearing it would be spoiled or deformed in some way, but it was red and firm. He sniffed it before tucking it into his pocket.
    Tesk bent and gathered one as well. “A magic apple.” He smiled. “Do you think it will turn me into a toad?”
    “Only for a little while.” Scarlet chuckled at Tesk’s look. “I’m kidding. It’s safe enough. Don’t blame me if you get a bellyache, though. It might be not be ripe.”
    “So noted.” Tesk lifted his chin and searched the grove. “North?” he suggested.
    Scarlet nodded. They changed direction and slipped through the trees for some time, silent as ghosts, senses alert for any movement. The land turned wilder, the trees untrimmed, and the ground uneven. Scarlet stopped in his tracks.
    In the lee of a round hill shaded by looming trees was a large animal, not a hundred paces away. A deer, but much bigger than the gangly creatures of the forests of Lysia. It was pale like a snow bear and dotted with sooty spots along its back. The twin antlers were curved in a long, graceful swoop and tipped with wicked points.
    At his signal, Tesk sank down to a crouch. The deer snuffled as it buried its nose in a hump of snow and rooted for the lichen hidden beneath.
    We’re upwind of it, Scarlet realized. Ever so slowly, he raised Whisper, curled his fingers around the bowstring, and pressed into the bow. He closed one eye to take a better aim and waited. He wanted to be sure. He waited so long in the drawn stance that his arm began to shake. Finally, the wind changed and the deer scented them. It lifted its neck— his neck—and turned his rump to the hunters with his scut raised, preparing to flee. Scarlet loosed.
    The arrow hissed through the air and struck. The buck whistled out a panicked breath and collapsed, his legs kicking.
    Tesk released the breath he’d been holding. “Well done!” He grinned. He clapped Scarlet on the shoulder. “Very well done, ser. I wasn’t sure you were going to take him. What were you waiting for?”
    “I had to be sure he was fair game.”
    “And how did you find that out? Did the reindeer speak to you? I did not know your magic worked that way.”
    “It doesn’t, but bucks and hinds both grow antlers here. In Lysia, only the bucks have them, and we don’t hunt the females in springtime.” Scarlet curled his hand like he held something cupped in his palm, and Tesk’s jaw dropped.
    “You were waiting for sight of his balls ?”
    Scarlet shrugged as Tesk erupted into laughter so loud he knew they wouldn’t get near another animal today. They’d probably spooked the game for half a league. He chuckled as Tesk wheezed in mirth and held his sides.
    “Want-wit,” Scarlet snickered. He laid his bow on the ground and knelt by the spotted reindeer. “He’s a big one. Rain-deer did you say?” He slipped the curved hunting knife that Liall had given him from his boot. “Why do you call them that?”
    He’d barely grasped the animal’s antlers when he heard a sound like hissing steam behind him. He turned and saw nothing, then looked up.
    He had never seen an ice cat before. It wasn’t much larger than a dog, but it was wiry, the muscles beneath its short gray coat rippling like water. It perched on the branches of the apple tree, black claws dug deep into the wood, sharp ears forward, short tail slashing with fury.
    Scarlet froze. There were river cats in Byzantur almost this size, but they were shy, reclusive creatures that fled from all contact with humans. He had never heard of one attacking a person. Not ever.
    The ice cat opened its jaws and hissed again, a cloud of mist rushing past twin fangs the size of daggers. Its peaked shoulders tensed to spring. When it moved, it leapt from the branches soundlessly, its gray body matching the color of the clouds against the sky, nearly invisible.
    Tesk’s arrow took it through the neck in mid-leap. Blood sprayed from the hole, and the graceful leap turned to a screaming,