The Way of the Brother Gods Read Online Free PDF

voice shaking a little.
    Reaching out a hand, Fawbry said, "Come on, now. The threat's all over."
    Tommy turned toward the south and glided down the street, his feet never touching the ground.
    "Wait," Malja said but Tommy continued his steady pace. Malja kicked at the rubble on the ground. To Fawbry, she said, "Get the horses."
    "Where's he going?"
    "We'll find out if you get the damn horses."
     

 
    From the Journal of Malja:
     
I don't know why I'm starting to write in this. I'm not the type and it's not even my journal. But I'm stuck on Horse with too much time, and if I read through this thing one more time, I'll go crazy. Though to be honest, and I suppose that's part of what writing in this thing is about, I've avoided reading a few sections. But there are lot of empty pages and there was a pencil in the book so here I am.
     
And if I don't do this, I've got to deal with the dead and I'm tired of that. I've tried to always listen to Uncle Gregor's advice and pay the dead their honor, but more and more I find myself killing things like those mutated creatures. How do I pay them their honor? They weren't warriors met on the battlefield. They weren't human. Not anymore. I don't know what they were. And that one that asked for mercy. Maybe writing in this will help. Maybe this is another way to pay them honor.
     
We've been traveling for a few days now. Tommy's been leading the way while Fawbry and I dutifully follow. I hate watching him float. He never touches the ground. I suppose burying myself in this journal keeps me from seeing what he's become. He only stops when we refuse to go on and that only happens in the evening when the horses need a break and we need food and sleep. I have to force Tommy to eat. I'm not even sure how much of Tommy is still in there. He's used so much magic in the last few years. Powerful magic. Opening portals and fighting superior forces. If he's lost his mind to magic because of me ... I can't think like that. We'll get him help. He has to be okay. Cole Watts understands magic and machinery and can get the two to work together. She'll be able to help us.
     
The other thing is Harskill. I've always been good at keeping these kinds of thoughts shoved far down and only dealing with them as needed. The sections of this journal about him, I avoid. Mostly. But as I write this, it all is pouring out. Harskill is a big part of what I think about. How can I not? Not that I think he's a sibling or a real family member. That would be crazy. But it's become clear to me in the last few years that my people, whoever my people are, have the ability to travel through portals. So why couldn't one of them come here? And if one can come here, then it must be possible to find my home. So why do I keep hesitating to read too much about him?
     

Chapter 5
    Malja had seen most of Corlin and even some of the northern country, Penmarvia, but as far as she knew, nothing was further south than the Freelands — the land most ruined by the Devastation. Yet not only had Tommy taken them further south, but he had led them around the Freelands altogether. Malja had assumed the Freelands encompassed everything that was south for that had been her experience. Tommy, however, had avoided that desolate land and brought them into the most bizarre place Malja had ever seen — a waterless swamp.
    The land consisted of deep runs where swamp might have once been. When she pictured all these natural chutes and paths filled with water, it made sense. What were now miniature buttes had once been the little islands of trees, dirt, and rocks that dotted the swamp. Lacking enough water to support the area, most of the land had become desert-like in vegetation. Some of the trees still stood, though, with thick roots that stretched far down into the pathways like aged fingers, digging deeper, searching for whatever bits of water flowed beneath.
    "It's like walking through the skeleton of a giant monster," Fawbry said.
    That would