Tyler's Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

Varkon dropped to the bottom of the cage suddenly. His muscles struck hard against his skin, tightening into heavy cords. He was like a coiled snake, ready to strike. Tyler jumped at the abruptness of the movement, its unreal speed. After what seemed like a long moment, there was a collective scrape of steel as the men present drew their swords.
    “What are you doing, Varkon?” growled Hargill warily. “Stand up, beast, and tell me what is wrong with you. Stan d up !”
    Varkon remained in his pose for another moment, and then a grin curled across his fat lips and over his pointed teeth. His deep eyes snapped into focus. “As you wish, Hargill. As you wish.” Varkon relaxed and rose unhurriedly to his feet. “I’m sorry, friends – instinct.” The grin widened even further, and there was a spark of cold joy in his eyes where so recently there had been only hate.
    “ You will answer my questions, Varkon . Something is afoot. Tell me what you know, or I will kill you now. I swear on my father’s grave.”
    Varkon took one look at Hargill and his sword before beginning to stalk the length of his cage once more. Tyler’s spine chilled; there was something foreboding about this renewed confidence in their prisoner.
    “You know, Hargill, sometimes when I think of your kind …”
    There was a distant rumble far away. Varkon’s eyes flashed happily.
    “When I think of your weaknesses and obvious frailty …”
    The rumble came again. Thunder? In the winter? Tyler thought. He strained his ears and willed all else to be silent. He could not control the thud of his own racing heart.
    “ I cannot help but feel sick …”
    The sound was undoubtedly a drumbeat, and it was very close.
    “By how pathetic you mukwa really are …”
    Another, from a different direction. Varkon stopped his pacing and leant as far forward as his cage allowed. “I’m sure I will feel much better when you are dead.”
    And with that the ghatu spat a black ball of saliva, which landed with a slap on Hargill’s foot.
    “ They are here ,” Varkon hissed as his eyes swivelled up into his forehead. “Death comes knocking.”
    Drumbeats erupted on all sides, followed soon by a keen hissing.
    “Arrows!” yelled Annie.
    Suddenly shouts and crashes accompanied an orange glow that flickered with disarming loveliness through every window in the hall. Hargill clenched his jaw.
    “The village is burning! We are under attack! Curse the ghatu!” He shifted his grip up his sword and jabbed the handle at Varkon’s head, which was drifting between the bars of his cage. Varkon roared as he plunged back into the darkness of his captivity.
    “Protect the village!” Hargill bellowed so that his words drowned even the beating of the drums. “Rally whomever you can for the fight. You all know what is at stake.”
    The great doors to the hall were opened to the sounds of death and burning. Tyler trailed behind the others like a lost lamb. Ahead flaming arrows lit the night, and several houses were ablaze. Even with piled snow on their roofs, the timber buildings were as fireproof as matchsticks.
    Annie gave Tyler’s shoulder a quick squeeze. Although she smiled comfortingly, he could see the tears blinding her eyes. Then she was off into the burning night. Tyler cursed himself for leaving his family in their hour of need. He would have to dodge though the fiery onslaught and make for home.
    After taking a deep breath, he gathered his weight to pounce into the open. A hand caught his shoulder and pulled him back. “Come with me. Now, boy !” It was Hargill. With a grave face, the man dragged Tyler like a sack of coal across the hall to the cellar. “Stay here,” he said, pushing him into the gloom.
    Tyler had never felt so awful his entire life. “Hargill, I can help! Let me fight. What good am I here?”
    “ You will not ,” Hargill said as he stood at the doorway like an enraged giant. “You will stay here . I will find your family. This is