Doubleborn Read Online Free Page A

Thick-bodied, with spindly legs. No faces. They had hoods drawn over their heads, masking them. Tamrin looked more closely. No. There were no hoods. They had no faces. Just shiny shells with eyes. And that wasn’t leather. It was them.
    Tamrin looked to her companion for help, for an explanation. The woman put her finger back to her lips.
    She mouthed silently to Tamrin: they’re chasing me.
    “Look.”
    “Where?”
    “Bushes.”
    “River.”
    “Not going on water.”
    “No. Not water.”
    “Bushes.”
    They spread out, scything their long arms, beating down undergrowth. Three were moving away from Tamrin, two were heading straight for her. The woman’s face pleaded with her.
    Tamrin nodded. She closed her eyes, pursed her lips and blew. When she opened her eyes again she and the woman saw a mist blossom out and cover the whole thicket where they crouched, frozen for silence. Tamrin hoped that the figures would see a tree, old and wide, obstructing their path.
    “Not here.”
    “Here.”
    “Followed her.”
    “Run off.”
    “No.”
    “Can’t.”
    “Must have.”
    “Follow?”
    “Go back.”
    “Go back.”
    “Find later.”
    “Later.”
    “Kill.”
    “I kill.”
    “Finder kills.”
    They disappeared, arguing still in brittle voices.
    Tamrin couldn’t move. The woman took her arm, gently this time, and drew her close.
    “It’s fine. They’ve gone.”
    Tamrin was shaking. The woman put her arm around her and waited.
    “What were they?” Tamrin asked when she could breathe normally again.
    “Shall we get some sun?” the woman asked with a smile. “I’m getting cold.”
    Tamrin tried to smile back. She blew hard and the mist in the thicket faded and died. They crawled out and she screwed her eyes up against the suddenness of the sun.
    “What were they?” she asked again.
    “What are you?” asked the woman. “Making that mist to hide us.” She smiled again. “I’m Winny,” she said. “You saved my life.”
    “What were they?”
    Tamrin knew that Winny wanted her to say what her name was and she wasn’t ready for that.
    “I don’t know. I don’t know if they’ve got a name. Or where they come from. I saw them kill a man. Back there.”
    The world outside the college was becoming as unpleasant as the life inside.
    “They weren’t men?” she said. “In armour or something?”
    “No.”
    Winny untied her scarf and dabbed Tamrin’s cheek.
    “That’s just making it worse,” she said. “Let’s get some water.”
    They found a still section of the river where the water pooled. Winny wetted the scarf and cleaned the blood from Tamrin’s face and arms.
    “Those were terrible thorns,” she said. “I was just on the road over there. Collecting. I heard the noise of the things and I hid in the hedgerow.”
    “Why?”
    “What?”
    “Why did you hide?”
    “You heard them. You heard their voices. Wouldn’t you hide?”
    Tamrin took the scarf and started to clean the blood from her legs. The scratches weren’t deep. They’d soon heal.
    “You’re not scratched,” she said.
    “No?” Winny examined her arms. “Well. Old skin,” she smiled. “It’s tougher.”
    Tamrin looked carefully at her.
    “You’re not old.”
    Winny’s face was smooth enough. Small creases framed her eyes. She had taken the sun a little. Her arms were browner than her cheeks. Her hair was short enough to be a man’s, but cut like a woman’s.
    “What do you mean, they killed a man?”
    “They were carrying him above their heads. They’re very strong. They tossed him one to another and swung him round. He was screaming and his legs looked broken. One of them threw him very high and, just as he was about to catch him, stepped aside and let him fall to the ground. His back snapped and his head thudded on the road.”
    “He was dead?”
    Tamrin hated the story. Didn’t want to hear it. Needed to know how it finished.
    “No. Nearly dead. They just fell on him and started to eat him alive. Then