The Stone Warriors: Damian Read Online Free PDF Page A

like a man and less like a warrior.
    “I haven’t heard that sound with my own ears in—” He paused, as if unsure how many years it had been. “—a very long time,” he said finally, appearing sad for a brief moment, before his jaw clenched and he was a warrior again.
    “I’m sorry,” she said.
    He raised his eyebrows in question.
    “For whatever happened to you back then,” she explained. Then she shrugged and added, “and for what I’m about to do now.”
    “The blood debt is paid,” he repeated darkly. “We part company now, and I will be about my own business.”
    “What business is that?” she asked, more out of curiosity than anything else. She couldn’t let him leave, even if she had to shoot him to stop him, because she had a strong feeling that Nick definitely would want to meet him. But what business could a thousands-year-old warrior possibly have in 21st century America?
    “It has nothing to do with you,” he said coolly, “but you did free me so I will tell you this much. I must find my brother warriors.”
    She frowned. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but they would have died a long time ago, wouldn’t they? Unless . . . were they trapped in stone, too?” Was that what Nick’s four statues were about? Were all of them ancient warriors who’d been cursed?
    “That is not your concern.”
    Casey was getting a little pissed about being constantly brushed off like an irritating bug. So she took more pleasure than she should have from what she said next.
    “Well, look, I hate to rain on your parade”—okay, that was a lie—“but I still need your help. They got the Talisman, and I need to get it back before people start dying.”
    DAMIAN SCOWLED at the woman while trying to decide if he was honor-bound to continue helping her or not. Typical woman. They used words as weapons to compensate for their other weaknesses, constantly twisting their meaning, pretending to say one thing while intending another. Unfortunately, this particular woman probably had the right of it this time. There was no question about what she’d said when she’d broken the curse. She’d asked for his help. A broad and nonspecific bond that he’d never have agreed to normally.
    On the other hand, he didn’t want to risk being trapped in that damn stone prison again. Helping her would mean delaying the search for his fellow warriors and for their leader, Nicodemus. Sotiris would never have succeeded in cursing Nico the way he had the rest of them. Damian believed this with all his heart. Nico was too powerful, Sotiris’s equal even on a bad day. And if the day was good, Nico far surpassed him. Which was why Sotiris had resorted to cursing Damian and his fellow warriors instead, hoping to weaken Nico enough to defeat him.
    But unless Sotiris had succeeded in killing him on that long-ago battlefield, Nico would still be alive even all these centuries later, because sorcerers were virtually immortal. Maybe he should find Nico first. It was possible that he’d already located the others, that Damian was the last of the four to be freed. That would be a joyous reunion.
    First, however, he had to deal with this woman, and that meant helping her retrieve this talisman she was so concerned about. But a few days’ delay was better than the alternative. And maybe while they recovered the artifact, he could do some searching of his own. She was a creature of this age, which meant she’d have modern devices at her disposal and the knowledge to use them.
    He’d told her the truth about his imprisonment: he’d watched the world change and expand from within his confinement. But seeing something happen wasn’t enough to know it. He knew things called computers existed, and he knew in principle what they were capable of. But he had no idea how to use one. He knew about cars, but not how to drive. About electric lights, but not how they were powered. On the other hand, give him a weapon, any weapon, and he would