BlackWing: First Ordinance, Book 3 Read Online Free Page B
Author: Connie Suttle
situation, search for possible involvement by Cayetes or his empire and report our findings to Kooper without anyone being alerted to our presence," Justis shook his wings. "Look—another jumper."
"When will they learn that these waters are deep and the current too strong to swim?" Gurnil shook his head as Justis leapt over the rail and snapped his wings open; he was determined to rescue another foolish tourist from the water below.
* * *
Vogeffa II
Quin
Curious stares met us as we rode into the village of Hay. All the faces I saw were similar—most had never had formal education. Few could read the Vogeffan language. Four generations without an official government, as poor as it was, had taken a toll on the planet's inhabitants.
It made me think of Fyris, and the damage Tamblin had done in less than a generation. Somewhere, on a planet known as Harifa Edus, Amlis, Rodrik and Fyris' survivors lived. I hadn't thought of them since my arrival on Vogeffa II.
I'd never seen their new world; I'd trusted Queen Lissa and Kaldill when they said it was suitable. I also wondered what Amlis had done in the way of sending children to school to begin learning for the first time.
Although most residents of Hay couldn't read, there was one area in which they hadn't suffered. They were shrewd bargainers, and the evidence of their trade with Gungl was everywhere. They'd sold their meats, vegetables and fruits to those in the city for things they didn't have or couldn't manufacture themselves. Until now, too, they'd been safe from predation.
That troubled me. I'd begun to think that Cayetes may have planned this all along—to empty the city of useful bodies while the small villages outside Gungl thrived. I saw few that weren't healthy and flourishing.
With the meeting in Gungl, he'd revealed his plans to take what he'd allowed to grow all along—healthy bodies. It worried me that we were about to tell them what we knew; they didn't have any reason to believe or trust us.
That was until the strange boy and his father stepped from a house near the center of town. The man was the local leader and the boy was his son. The boy blinked at me with white eyes—there were no pupils. He was physically blind; that meant he saw everything else—or nearly so. He frowned at me; he couldn't tell what I was and that puzzled him.
"Lafe, stop here," I said, patting my horse's shoulder and asking him to stop as well.
"Father, the horses trust her," the boy lifted his face to his father's.
"Welcome," the boy's father said. "Randl told me someone would come."
* * *
My second meal that day was much better than my first—I had eggs, bread and cheese while Lafe told Randl's father, Brandl, what we knew. Randl nodded as Lafe spoke—the boy was a clairvoyant—a powerful one.
His mother, unsurprisingly, was an abnormal from Gungl. She was also dead—of an unusual wasting disease when Randl was barely two years of age. Somehow, the talent she'd had was inherited—and strengthened—by her son.
Terrett sat beside me, eating and listening carefully while Lafe and Brandl spoke. I worried that anywhere these people went, they still wouldn't be safe from Cayetes' Storm. They weren't prepared to stand and fight, either—they had no weapons, no training and little time to prepare for the battle that would come should they choose to fight.
"There are sixteen other villages," Brandl told Lafe. "All scattered. Not much beyond that—the lands become low and marshy past that point. Except for sea plants, nothing grows in that water—it's too salty."
He was right—Vogeffa II was mostly marsh, with only a few high points of land dotting its surface. Gungl was the largest city on the highest ground. Everything around it was lower, sloping toward the sea, which covered ninety-eight percent of the planet's surface.
"Father, we have little time. I see Cayetes' army coming in three days," Randl said. "That will only give us time to reach Reed."
"Reed is
"When will they learn that these waters are deep and the current too strong to swim?" Gurnil shook his head as Justis leapt over the rail and snapped his wings open; he was determined to rescue another foolish tourist from the water below.
* * *
Vogeffa II
Quin
Curious stares met us as we rode into the village of Hay. All the faces I saw were similar—most had never had formal education. Few could read the Vogeffan language. Four generations without an official government, as poor as it was, had taken a toll on the planet's inhabitants.
It made me think of Fyris, and the damage Tamblin had done in less than a generation. Somewhere, on a planet known as Harifa Edus, Amlis, Rodrik and Fyris' survivors lived. I hadn't thought of them since my arrival on Vogeffa II.
I'd never seen their new world; I'd trusted Queen Lissa and Kaldill when they said it was suitable. I also wondered what Amlis had done in the way of sending children to school to begin learning for the first time.
Although most residents of Hay couldn't read, there was one area in which they hadn't suffered. They were shrewd bargainers, and the evidence of their trade with Gungl was everywhere. They'd sold their meats, vegetables and fruits to those in the city for things they didn't have or couldn't manufacture themselves. Until now, too, they'd been safe from predation.
That troubled me. I'd begun to think that Cayetes may have planned this all along—to empty the city of useful bodies while the small villages outside Gungl thrived. I saw few that weren't healthy and flourishing.
With the meeting in Gungl, he'd revealed his plans to take what he'd allowed to grow all along—healthy bodies. It worried me that we were about to tell them what we knew; they didn't have any reason to believe or trust us.
That was until the strange boy and his father stepped from a house near the center of town. The man was the local leader and the boy was his son. The boy blinked at me with white eyes—there were no pupils. He was physically blind; that meant he saw everything else—or nearly so. He frowned at me; he couldn't tell what I was and that puzzled him.
"Lafe, stop here," I said, patting my horse's shoulder and asking him to stop as well.
"Father, the horses trust her," the boy lifted his face to his father's.
"Welcome," the boy's father said. "Randl told me someone would come."
* * *
My second meal that day was much better than my first—I had eggs, bread and cheese while Lafe told Randl's father, Brandl, what we knew. Randl nodded as Lafe spoke—the boy was a clairvoyant—a powerful one.
His mother, unsurprisingly, was an abnormal from Gungl. She was also dead—of an unusual wasting disease when Randl was barely two years of age. Somehow, the talent she'd had was inherited—and strengthened—by her son.
Terrett sat beside me, eating and listening carefully while Lafe and Brandl spoke. I worried that anywhere these people went, they still wouldn't be safe from Cayetes' Storm. They weren't prepared to stand and fight, either—they had no weapons, no training and little time to prepare for the battle that would come should they choose to fight.
"There are sixteen other villages," Brandl told Lafe. "All scattered. Not much beyond that—the lands become low and marshy past that point. Except for sea plants, nothing grows in that water—it's too salty."
He was right—Vogeffa II was mostly marsh, with only a few high points of land dotting its surface. Gungl was the largest city on the highest ground. Everything around it was lower, sloping toward the sea, which covered ninety-eight percent of the planet's surface.
"Father, we have little time. I see Cayetes' army coming in three days," Randl said. "That will only give us time to reach Reed."
"Reed is
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