The Gauntlet Runner by J. Scott Coatsworth

Author:J. Scott Coatsworth [Coatsworth, J. Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Tharassas Cycle
Publisher: Water Dragon Publishing
Published: 2023-09-21T07:00:00+00:00

16

Clayton

Spin lay atop aik’s pack, soaking up sunshine.

It was glorious to be awake and alive again in the world, to have time to himself without humans asking him questions or demanding information.

Far above, one of the three remaining satellites was passing overhead. He tapped into it, soaring with it high over the world for a moment as it completed its arc. Its mind was a simple one, tasked with keeping the small craft in its assigned orbit and performing minor repairs. Still, he felt it brighten whenever he reached out to it.

The caravan was trekking down a long road, creatively named the Northern Road for its position along the northern side of the valley. Spin shook his nonexistent head.

Humans were capable of astounding acts of art and feats of beauty, but the founders of this colony seemed to have been a bunch of simpletons.

He tasked the satellite with searching for his lost friend. If Raven appeared outside at the proper moment, its mind would record him, something Spin could retrieve at another transit.

Then he disconnected and allowed himself to drift into a pleasant slumber, dreaming of a little girl’s laughter.

• • •

The caravan rumbled into Clayton late in the afternoon of the next day, coming out of the forest of violet pines that had hemmed in the road for the last couple hours. The tall, shaggy trees were more plentiful here in the higher climes, whispering in the wind as if they were talking about the passing caravan.

He was glad to be out of the strange wood, to be able to see to the horizon again.

Oyer let him drive the carriage for a bit on the Northern Road. It was a calm, cool day, fluffy white clouds scudding across the otherwise clear green sky.

Inside, he was anything but calm.

You should go. These people don’t deserve you.

The voice inside his head — from the gauntlet, he was sure — had become more insistent. It had pestered him the whole night before, hounding him out of a good night’s sleep, leaving him tired and wearing his patience thin. He’d come the conclusion that the gauntlet was something of a bastard. A bastard that couldn’t keep its hole closed.

Shut up. Just shut up.

Raven’s waiting for you. Why won’t you go?

He bit his lip until it bled. Pain seemed to be the only thing that shut it up for more than a few seconds. When he closed his eyes, he could see the strange skull from Triya’s storage room, its baleful, glowing red eyes haunting him.

The ground had rumbled ominously a couple times during the day, but all seemed quiet now. The peaks of Heaven’s Reach had receded as the road veered a little to the south. The mountains were like a row of sharp teeth along the horizon. Aik imagined them closing on him, chewing him to bits and spitting him into the valley. No, not calm at all.

He hid it from the others. He was the strong one. The dependable one. He’d

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