Jalia in the North (Jalia - World of Jalon) Read Online Free

he was supposed to know how Fairie healed people when he had always believed they did not exist.
     
    The corridor seemed to go on for miles, though Daniel suspected this was more a mental problem as he felt extremely uneasy walking among the bodies of so many dead while naked, and without a weapon to his name. He gave serious thought to breaking off a leg or an arm from a mummified corpse to use as a weapon, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
    Finally they reached a door and Jalia whispered to her ring. The door groaned as the levers in its lock moved reluctantly.
    Jalia peeked out into the room beyond. It was deserted and she beckoned Daniel to follow. She ordered her ring to lock the door, as she wanted to leave no clues to where they had left the dungeon.
    The room they entered was bare of any ornament. Daniel would have given a great deal for a tablecloth or a tapestry to cover his manhood, but had no such luck. The room led to another room and that led to a corridor with a guard stood beside a door at the end of it. Jalia whispered to her ring and he fell asleep. It was tempting to take the man’s clothes and weapons, but that would create too obvious a trail for those who might soon be looking for them, so they hurried past and slipped out into the street.
    Ranwin was remarkable for its lack of citizens. It looked like a ghost town, deserted and with no sounds of activity. They kept close to the walls of buildings and used alleys wherever they could. When they came to a wide street, Jalia nudged Daniel and pointed. He looked up to see bleaching skulls stuck to pikes along the rooftops. He frowned because many of those skulls were so small they could only be of children.
    They passed a door from which the smell of cooking food wafted. Jalia commanded her ring to unlock the door and the two made their way inside. They tiptoed down a dark hallway to a door that led into a kitchen. An old man was cooking eggs in a wide flat iron pan over a stove. He hummed softly as he worked.
    As Daniel entered the room he knocked over a stool and the man spun around. He stared at Daniel as though he was a ghost, putting down his pan and backing away. “The High King, you must be the High King.”
    “What’s a High King? Does that mean he sits on a taller throne?” Jalia asked.
    Daniel grimaced at her comment. He hated it when she pretended to be stupid. He was well aware she used apparent ignorance to get people to underestimate her, but he still found it irritating. The man continued to back away and it looked as though he might bolt. Daniel had no choice but to grab him and twist the man’s arm behind his back.
    “We don’t want to hurt you, we just want some clothes and maybe a weapon,” Daniel said as the man struggled to free himself. Jalia had already left the room to search the house, stopping only to move the pan away from the flames as she was feeling a little hungry and it seemed a shame to waste the food.
    “He will kill me if he finds you here,” the man said anxiously.
    “Then be quiet. We have even more reason than you to avoid anyone finding us.”
    The logic of Daniel’s words got through and the man stopped struggling. He stood straighter and announced proudly.
    “I am Sandor Jant, a worker of glass. I cut and polish it to create works of beauty.”
    “I am Daniel and the girl is Jalia. What is going on in this city?”
    “You should be dead. The King ordered that all young men and boys be killed for these last ten years, only old men like myself live because we practice the ancient crafts that once provided the city with its wealth. Men are killed the moment they enter Ranwin while the women that come are left to starve to death in the dungeon.”
    “What about the Guards?” asked Daniel, “I saw several young men on the walls?”
    “He trusts his Guards. There is a prophecy that has driven the King insane. It says he will be killed by the returned High King.”
    “So why kill all the boys and