Strength of Stones Read Online Free

come?"
    Jeshua shook his head and didn't answer. He finished with his torso and kneeled to let his legs soak. The bottom of the stream was rocky and sandy and cool. He looked up and let his eyes follow the spine of a peak in Arat, outlined in sunset glow. "Where is Mandala?"
    "No," the boy said. "My polis."
    "It kicked you out," Jeshua said. "Why not let somebody else try?"
    "Somebod alread' tried," the boy informed him with a narrowed glance. "Dat dey tried, and got in, but dey didna t'rough my dur go. Dey -- shee -- one gol, dat's all -- got in widout de troub' we aw ekspek. Mandala didna sto' 'er."
    "I'd like to try that."
    "Dat gol, she special, she up an' down legen' now. Was a year ago she went and permissed to pass was. You t'ink special you might be?"
    "No," Jeshua admitted. "Mesa Canaan's city wouldn't let me in."
    "One it wander has, just early yes'day?"
    "Hm?"
    "Wander, moob. Dis Mase Cain' you mumbur 'bout."
    "I know."
    "So't don' let dis you in, why Mandala an' differs?"
    Jeshua climbed from the river, frowning. "Appel?" he asked.
    "Me, m'appel, not true appel or you got like hair by demon grab, m'appel for you is Thinner."
    "Thinner, where do you come from?"
    _"_Same as de gol, we follow de polis."
    "City chasers?" By Ibreem's estimation, that made Thinner a ruthless savage. "Thinner, you don't want to go back to Mandala, do you? You're afraid."
    "Cumsay, afraid? Like terrafy?"
    "Like tremble in your bare feet in the dirtafy."
    "No' possible for Thinner. Lead'er like, snake-skin, poke an' I bounce, no' go t'rough."
    "Thinner, you're a faker." Jeshua reached out and lifted him from the water. "Now stop with the nonsense and give me straight English. You speak it -- out!"
    "No!" the boy protested.
    "Then why do you drop all 'thu's' but in your name and change the word order every other sentence? I'm no fool. You're a fake."
    "If Thinner lie, feet may curl up an' blow! Born to spek dis odd inflek, an' I spek differs by your ask! Dis me, no fake! Drop!" Thinner kicked Jeshua on the shin but only bent his toe. He squalled, and Jeshua threw him back like a fingerling. Then he mined to pick up his clothes and lumbered up the bank to leave.
    "Nobod dey neba treat Thinner dis way!" the boy howled.
    "You're lying to me," Jeshua said.
    "No! Stop." Thinner stood in the river and held up his hands. "You're right."
    "I know I am."
    "But not completely. I'm from Winston, and I'm speaking like a city chaser for a reason. And speaking accurately, mind you."
    Jeshua frowned. The boy no longer seemed a boy. "Why fool me, or try to?" he asked.
    "I'm a free-lance tracker. I'm trying to keep tabs on the chasers. They've been making raids on the farmlands outside of Winston. I was almost caught by a few of them, and I was trying to convince them I was part of a clan. When they were buried, I thought you might have been another, and after speaking to you like that -- well, I have an instinct to keep a cover in a tight spot."
    "No Winstoner has a tattoo like yours."
    "That part's the truth, too. I did find a way into the city, and it did kick me out."
    "Do you still object to taking me there?"
    Thinner sighed and crawled out of the stream. "It's not part of my trip. I'm heading back for Winston."
    Jeshua watched him cautiously as he dried himself. "You don't think it's odd that you even got into a city at all?"
    "No. I did it by trick."
    "Men smarter than you or I tried for centuries before they all gave up. Now you've succeeded, and you don't even feel special?"
    Thinner put on his scrappy clothes. "Why do you want to go?"
    "I've got reasons."
    "Are you a criminal in Ibreem?"
    Jeshua shook his head. "I'm sick," he said. "Nothing contagious. But I was told a city might cure me, if I could find a way in."
    "I've met your kind before," Thinner said. "But they've never made it. A few years ago Winston sent a whole pilgrimage of sick and wounded to a city. Bristled its barbs like a fighting cat. No mercy there, you can believe."
    "But you