The Thief Queen's Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page A

asked, absently scratching his hairline.
    The king exhaled. “Long ago, before most of western Serendair was settled, that part of the island was a penal colony, where criminals, thieves, murderers, and thugs of all sorts were sent to live, away from the civilized towns and villages east of the Great River. Eventually, when the western part of the island was being settled, the descendents of the thieves who had been exiled there came into conflict with the law-abiding settlers. Finally it was determined that those people who were the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original criminals should be locked up within the heavily guarded walls of the Gated City.”
    “That doesn’t seem fair,” Ven said.
    “I agree, but this was long before my grandfather was king. It was believed that while these people were not criminals themselves, as far as anyone knew, they had been living in lawlessness all their lives. The Gated City is a prison of a sort, because the people who live there are not free to leave. But they have houses, and shops, businesses, and schools, just like any other city. They even have their own laws and law enforcement, so the constable of Kingston has no right to enter there. Unless, of course, he wants to go shopping.” The king tapped the token humorously.
    “So do you think this gift came to your father from the Gated City?” Ven asked. He was already imagining what the stores and schools inside a walled former penal colony would be like, and his mind was racing with excitement.
    “It might have,” the king said. “I wondered if it was an invitation to visit there, but that was just a guess. There is a message inside the box, but it doesn’t say who sent it.” He held the open top of the box next to the light of the stone in Ven’s hand. The radiance from the stone showed that the top was carved in symbols like the ones on the token. “This language is a series of mathematical codes. It was one of the first puzzles I ever tried to solve. My father gave it to me on my eleventh birthday to work on. Finally, after almost two weeks, I broke the code.”
    “And what does it say?”
    The king’s bright blue eyes gleamed in the reflected light, and he smiled.
    “The message reads: ‘The brightest light in the darkest shadow is yours.’ I have no idea what that means—or what it has to do with the glowing stone. I had always planned to investigate, to go inside the Gated City while I was out traveling the wide world. But then my father took ill, and I was called home from my wanderings to be with him. He told me on his deathbed that there was a great treasure within the Market, but he was very sick, very weak then, and sometimes what he said made little or no sense.
    “So I have always wondered what the strange message meant, as well as what lies beyond those gates. I’ve heard reports, but no one has ever really been able to tell me what it’s like inside that city. I can’t officially send someone in there; it might be seen as an invasion, because they have their own laws. Someday I hope that someone I trust, someone curious and brave enough will want to go in and then tell me about it. That way I will know if the things I have heard about the place are actually true.” He laughed at the excitement in Ven’s eyes. “Maybe that person might be able to solve this riddle at the same time.”
    “At your service, Your Majesty.” Ven bowed slightly, as his father had taught him to do.
    “I was hoping you would say that,” said the king. “But remember, this task might prove a dangerous one. You should not go alone.”
    Ven nodded. “I have a good group of friends who might like to do a little shopping in an exotic place,” he said. “None of them have any money to buy anything, so they will be able to pay attention to what’s going on around them.”
    The king reached into the pocket of his work clothes and pulled out a small leather sack tied with a drawstring.
    “I had