Adam's Journey (The Aliomenti Saga - Book 8) by Alex Albrinck

Author:Alex Albrinck [Albrinck, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Fabinarium Publications, LLC
Published: 2016-11-16T07:00:00+00:00

~~~36~~~

1017 A.D.

Adam spread his nano swarm out into a wide, flat platform floating vertically above them. He then instructed the nanos inside his father to signal back, letting the platform rotate and orient on the strongest portions. He kept the platform up and rotating, and adjusted his path slightly as the nanos computed the direction toward the signal source… until they indicated the signal had gone behind them. He turned the craft around and moved at a snail’s pace until he’d identified the precise point at which the signal flipped sides and glanced down.

He saw a barn below. He let the invisible platform disassemble and sent it inside the barn, transmitting video back to his communication nanos.

He found his father sleeping across the top of several piles of hay, a blanket for one of the horses stretched across him for warmth.

He shared the picture with Genevieve via a telepathic image projection.

She offered him a sideways glance and looked away. “That doesn’t make me feel any grief or pity for him.” Left unsaid, but not unthought: he deserves to suffer.

Adam shrugged. “It’s been like this since he left. He’s slept most of his days outside so that he doesn’t have to spend any of his money. Most of the time, he only eats what he can forage—berries, some vegetables dug from the ground, the rare piece of fruit—and the occasional small animal he can hunt. He’ll work jobs occasionally, and has used the earnings to buy a handful of knives and a sword. He’s also worked in exchange for lessons in using those weapons, and has developed decent skills. He’s been in the village I described to him on the road to meeting you all those years ago, ironically. Working, saving money, still sleeping outside and eating only what he can find. He learned to fish from the sea, which added to the meat options. Yesterday, he’d finally counted the money in his coin purse and found he had enough to buy a small boat. He hid the boat and slept in this barn.” He smiled. “The animals, curiously, didn’t make any sort of ruckus when he went inside.”

Genevieve’s head snapped in his direction, before turning back toward the barn. The elder Adam slipped quietly out of the barn doors in the pre-dawn hours, sprinting away with a pair of eggs in each hand. They discovered the reason for his haste: a heavily bearded farmer burst out of the barn after him, shouting, shaking a fist. It was only then, when the farmer started shouting, that the barn animals began their own noisy symphony.

Genevieve offered him a curious look. “How did he do that? I’ve worked with animals for quite some time and they’re normally quite noisy around the newer villagers.”

He shrugged. “It’s a skill he’s learned over the past decade. He’s learned to enter barns slowly, with confidence, which means he exudes a type of scent the animals can detect and trust. He’ll generally bring in food and offer it to them, ensuring that they see him as they do with those who work with them daily.

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