Slight and Shadow (Fate's Forsaken Book 2) by Ford Shae

Author:Ford, Shae [Ford, Shae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

A Flock of Crows

When Kael returned to the stall that night, he was surprised to find Eveningwing waiting for him. The boy stood beside Kael’s pallet, his hands clamped behind his back. He was obviously up to something, because he kept digging his toes into the ground.

Well, that — and he looked about as guilty as a thief caught in broad daylight.

“What did you do?” Kael said. He had to fight not to smile when Eveningwing’s face reddened.

He bit his lip and stared very pointedly at the far wall. “I stole the book.”

“What book?”

Eveningwing brought his hands out from behind his back and Kael’s stomach flipped when he saw The Dreadful Journeys of Ben Deathtreader clutched in his hands. “I know most of the words. But I don’t know them all,” Eveningwing admitted. “My memory of them is … fuzzy. I still think you should read it.” He held the book out. “They’re stories of your people.”

“My …?” Then he suddenly remembered what Ludwig had written, about Deathtreader being the literature of the enemy . And it struck him: “It’s a book about whisperers?” he said, so quietly that Eveningwing had to lean in to hear him.

“Yes yes —!”

“Shhh !”

Eveningwing clamped a hand over his mouth. “I mean … yes ,” he whispered, glancing out the stall door. Fortunately, the giants were still at dinner. He thrust Deathtreader into Kael’s hands and silently urged him to read it.

He didn’t need much encouragement.

Even in Lysander’s monstrous library, there had been very few books about whisperers. The King had ordered them all burned at the end of the War — and had made it a crime to own anything at all related to whispering.

Kael flipped past the slashing words of Deathtreader ’s title and came to the first page. The whole book appeared to have been written in the same sinister hand, but the writing was uneven: sometimes the words were smaller, more concentrated. Sometimes the sharp loops of the letters dipped well into those beneath it. And in some places, it appeared to have been scrawled in a different color of ink — almost more like a journal than a book.

The reading started out more slowly than usual for Kael. It took him a moment to get used to Deathtreader ’s peculiar style, but soon he no longer noticed the change in rhythm or ink. The words rose out of the book and seemed to take on a life of their own; the things they described filled his mind, as if he could reach out and touch them.

It wasn’t long before he left the barn and the plains far behind him, and found himself lost — journeying alongside Deathtreader :

I am not your average adventurer. I’m not interested in rocks or trees or even treasures. No, reader — what interests me are mysteries: answers to questions so complicated, that few even think to ask them. And those who do are usually not brave enough, or skilled enough, to seek them out.

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