The Wild Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

greater now than it was before.”
    Her slight human body was stiff, tense. “You don’t know that, Darmuth—”
    But Ferize broke off, looking past him. Darmuth felt the familiar presence, the pressure of a primary in full command of the magic. He straightened and moved away from the door, taking his place at Ferize’s side as he turned to look at the doorway.
    Ylarra stepped lightly into the chamber. Her smile was cold. “Perhaps you should be blamed,” she said. “Now, tell me why.”
    Ferize’s voice was low. “Brodhi returned before time.”
    â€œAnd could you not prevent that?”
    â€œI could not.”
    Darmuth felt his breath catch briefly as Ylarra looked at him. “And you?”
    â€œAlisanos took Rhuan,” he answered. “Would you have had me defy the deepwood?” He grinned briefly. “I was but a victim, Ylarra. As much as Rhuan was. It was Brodhi who willingly returned to Alisanos.”
    As he expected, Ferize erupted. “And so you shift the blame? Attempt to distract? Brodhi had his sire’s welfare at heart! The welfare of a primary.” She looked again at Ylarra. “That is why he came. To warn Karadath of Alario’s intentions.”
    â€œTo get a child, another dioscuri on the human woman; yes, we know.” Ylarra’s slight gesture was dismissive. “It was not necessary for Brodhi to come here; Karadath is prepared for any action Alario may undertake, any threat he intends. They have been battling for two hundred human years. But we have taken into account that Brodhi did indeed act in his sire’s best interests, not through any desire of his own to give up his journey. And Rhuan indeed had no control over Alisanos; that, too, we have taken into account.”
    â€œWhat punishment for them?” Darmuth asked. “And what for us?”
    The primary smiled. “For them, and for you, in equal measure. It begins again, their journey. Thus, so does yours.”
    Darmuth exchanged a quick glance with Ferize; she seemed no more the wiser than he. “And?”
    â€œAnd,” Ylarra echoed. Amusement laced her tone. “Five additional human years in the human world. You may take that as punishment deferred or punishment levied. That is your choice. You are once again to attend your dioscuri , to monitor his behavior, his thinking processes, to hear him as necessary, and to report to us. In the meantime, you escape the unmaking. But if either Brodhi or Rhuan again returns too soon to Alisanos—by any means, and for any reason—punishment indeed shall be levied. They will be neutered, and you both shall be unmade. So, it is in your best interests to see that neither returns before time.” Her eyes were cold. “I suggest you hasten. Brodhi and Rhuan are back among the humans.”
    Eyes fixed on the floor, Darmuth waited until Ylarra departed. Then he looked at Ferize. Her scale pattern faded before his eyes even as his own came up to the surface of his flesh. “Did you hear what Rhuan’s farm wife suggested in the Kiba?”
    â€œWho? Oh.” Ferize scowled at him. “I was not there.”
    â€œShe suggested that they may not be gods.”
    Ferize’s eyes hazed briefly yellow. “They wield the wild magic. If not gods, what are they?”
    â€œ We wield the wild magic.”
    Her scale pattern bloomed. “Not as they do!”
    â€œPerhaps not, but what if she is right? What if the wild magic has poisoned them?”
    â€œDoes it matter?” Ferize walked by him, heading toward the door. There, she turned. “Darmuth, they can unmake us. If that does not define a being who is a god, I don’t know what might.”
    Smiling, he let her go without further questions or comments. Ferize had always been more excitable than he, and occasionally, it was enjoyable to provoke her.
    Then his smile faded. It was true that only the primaries