The Sword that Binds (Book of Worlds 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

nothing more than to destroy it in revenge. The only thing stopping her was the fact that without Heartseeker she was as good as dead.
    She washed herself as best as she could with the small stream, then stood and thought about what to do next. Obviously her father’s men would track her here - she was no woodsman and had left a clear trail to follow. Her grandfather had taught her how to survive in the woods, but that didn’t include escaping pursuit from seasoned hunters. And there was no doubt they would continue to track her where ever she went. To the west of Garland Keep were the White Mountains, blocking any chance of escape there, while to the east was the mighty Agraven River, over a mile wide at its thinnest point, which also happened to be where the nearest bridge was at. No chance of using that - the bridge was on her father’s land.
    Her only choice with any chance at all was to enter the deep woods and hope that the trackers were too afraid to follow. If she could stay near the edge and travel along it for a day or two she might be able to escape the trackers and sneak through to the north. The major problem she saw with that was that her father would undoubtedly have men throughout the kingdom searching for her, making that an almost impossible journey. The kingdom was over 400 miles across. To get through without attracting attention she would have to do it on foot, without running as she had the day before. Doing so would take weeks, especially considering she would have to go around every town and village. At some point she would have to cross the Agraven when it cut back to the west and merged with the White Mountains. No, while she was confident she could survive in a fight with Heartseeker, with an entire kingdom out to kill her she doubted she would make it very far in the open.
    All of that left her with only one option. The one thing that scared her more than any other, but was her only hope of survival - no matter how slim a chance it was. She stared at the darkness within the deep woods, the only light being that of the glowing moss that grew on the sides of the trees further in. Nobody knew what was on the other side of the Godwoods, only that it stretched as far as the eyes could see, and nobody had ever returned after entering. Sarena couldn’t sprint through as she had done in the outer forest. It was simply too dark to risk breaking an ankle. Doing so was a death sentence within the embrace of those gigantic trees.
    Sarena walked to the edge of the inner forest and stared inside, trying to build up the courage to take that first step. It’s just one step. Just one, tiny, step. You can do this. When she saw what looked to be a shadow pass over a patch of glowing moss further in she shivered and decided it was time. Her courage wasn’t going to build up, at this rate it would just disappear and she would die trying to cross the kingdom.
    It’s now or never. Sarena thought as a cold sweat ran down her back. She took a deep breath and forced herself to start walking forward. Hesitantly her legs began to move, surprisingly steady considering how terrified she was.
    The last creature that had shown up outside the forest had killed over a dozen soldiers on its own. With Heartseeker she might stand a chance, but she doubted she could come out of it unscathed. Don’t get overconfident. She told herself. Just run from anything you find. Within moments the dim light from the outer forest had completely disappeared, and Sarena had to wait for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. A slight green glow emitted from the moss on the trees, letting Sarena know where the trees were at, but doing little to light the floor of the forest. After a few minutes she was able to make out the shapes of the roots on the ground, and decided that was the best she would get for now.
    After what felt like several hours her eyes had adjusted a startling amount. The moss was getting brighter and brighter over time, until