The Book of Whispers by Kimberley Starr

Author:Kimberley Starr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2016-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Beneath me, Orestes’ ears prick up. I prod him to move faster and he gallops. And I hear it.

A river. Running water. It’s like I had forgotten there were such things.

I look over my shoulder to make sure Suzan has noticed. She has, of course. Potestas speeds alongside me. Suzan’s cape flies back and her hair catches the wind in a dark cascade.

We reach the water and dismount. Collapsing onto our hands and knees, we bury our faces in the rapidly moving stream, and drink.

I drink until swallowing hurts. I pull back and look around. Thousands upon thousands of pilgrims have joined us. Harsh through parched throats, shouts of joy. Children wade in and paddle. Two girls jump in together and descend to drink, then rise to splash each other. They shriek with laughter.

‘The Lord is good to us!’ someone shouts.

‘Oh yes, the Lord is very good!’

I turn to drink again. But Suzan is there, tugging at my sleeve.

‘Don’t swallow!’ she says, and points with a shaky finger.

Some yards away a man is sprawled out flat. His boots are still onshore, his head beneath the water. For a long moment, it seems he’s playing a game. A fat, many-mouthed demon rolls over the man’s back, squealing in delight. The man is still. He must come up for air any moment now.

He must.

I spit out the water I was about to swallow. The man is frozen in his moment of great joy, water washing over his head like white streamers.

‘Poisoned?’ Suzan asks, touching her throat.

I shake my head. ‘Father told me about this,’ I say. ‘Too much water, too quickly. His heart stopped beating.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.