The Starfall Knight Read Online Free PDF

path through the lanes of hovels remained nothing more than idle eyes.
    A set of shadows crossed Alessa’s vision and she stopped.  Elina approached, flanked by Pelio and Brunos.
    “Where’re you off to?” Elina said.  “Such a rush.”  Her ragged clothes barely covered her pudgy arms and thighs.  Alessa dared not think of what Elina did for the extra food.
    “Washing.”
    The three laughed at Alessa.  Brunos leaned against a dead tree, long since stripped of leaves and bark.  His thin stature did not seem as threatening as Pelio’s sneer or Elina’s unfriendly smile.
    “You’re the full package, ain’t ya?” Elina said.  She spat on the road.  “I used me holes when I was with Leonus.  Didn’t do his washing or none of that servant shit.  Ain’t you got pride?”
    Alessa averted her gaze.  “I like to help him.”
    “I bet you do.  I bet he gets a full helping himself.”
    Pelio joined Brunos and stretched as he leaned against the tree.  Alessa swore under her breath.  If she didn’t know better, they were getting out of the way.
    Elina said, “What’s in the bag?”
    “Dirty clothes and such.”
    “Are you serious?  You gonna waste water on that much laundry?”  Elina took a step forward.  “Show me.”
    Alessa hesitated and said a silent prayer to the moon Vaere, the brown moon and patron of dirt, rock and hope.
    With one hand ready to snatch at her knife, Alessa opened her bag.
    Elina looked inside and gagged at the smell.  She stumbled back.  “He’s been smoking virid all night, ain’t he?”
    “Yes.”
    “Shit on that.  You gotta wash that stink.”
    Pelio and Brunos guffawed and approached.  Pelio said, “We should join him.”
    “He’s out looking for more virid.”
    “All right,” Pelio said.  “We’ll find him.  Maybe save him from a bad trade.”
    Elina stalked off without another word, Pelio and Brunos in tow.  Alessa tied the laces to the sack and continued on her way.
    She reached her shack without incident and closed the door behind her.  Her father was not home, likely working for Tarius.  Alessa took a deep breath and settled her nerves, reminding herself that she had not been caught.
    Alessa opened the bag and drew out the precious package of food.  Along with her father’s share of the spoils, they would have enough for a week, perhaps longer with smaller meals.  She hid the food in the usual spot – underneath the floor where a metal chest was embedded into the dirt – and sat back.  Her father’s shelf of books beckoned to her but there was no time to waste.
    Water was already scarce but thanks to Elina’s inevitable blabbering mouth, Alessa had more laundry to do.
     
    “Welcome, Captain.  And you to, Ranger.”
    Devan followed Benton into the laboratory.  Usually in the service of educating the students of anatomy and natural studies, the laboratory had been closed off for the time being.  Rows of wide metal tables filled the laboratory, each large enough to accommodate not only a human body but also livestock or wild animals.  The remnants of continuing studies stood on the shelves in glass jars.  The morning sun streamed through the windows, warming the chill air.
    A gaggle of professors gathered around one of the examination tables while a Councillor stood to one side with Romaine and Jarrell, the Marshal of Arms.  While Romaine was the Marshal of Rangers and wore only leather armour and a shortsword, Jarrell was equipped for battle.  He wore a chainmail hauberk with a red tabard of the Centaran army, the sigil of the Tree and Lake prominent on the front and back.  Steel boots adorned his feet while his gauntlets, helm and sheathed broadsword lay on a table nearby.  A tight necklace, almost a collar, hugged his neck with a large andonite chip encased in glass – the necklace denoting the Protector of Verovel.  Devan wondered how much it would be worth had it been set into a coin.
    As Devan and Benton approached,