The Dark Remains Read Online Free

she had drawn, but she didn’t have a choice. She turned it over.
    Lightning slashed across a black sky behind a barren landscape as gray as ash. White shapes stained red scattered the ground. Perched on a twisted tree was a dark form, its eyes like hard beads.
    A hiss escaped the old woman. “The Raven …”
    “What does it foretell?” Lirith said, surprised at the calmness in her voice.
    “The raven scavenges on the fields of the dead.” The old woman’s hand shook as she took the card. “Fields poisoned with spilled blood, where nothing will ever grow again.”
    The dimness closed around Lirith, and the stifling air pressed against her so that she could not breathe. She blinked, and it seemed the images on the
T’hot
cardmoved. Sinuous lightning slithered across the black-ink sky. The bird opened the cruel hook of its mouth as if laughing.
    Lirith swayed on her stool, but a strong hand gripped her shoulder. She blinked, and the images on the card were motionless again. She looked up to thank Durge for steadying her—
    —and froze. It wasn’t Durge who stood above her, but Sareth.
    “Are you well,
beshala
?”
    She licked her lips. “It’s nothing. I just need some air.”
    “I will help you outside.”
    Aryn and Durge looked concerned as the Mournish man helped her stand.
    “You flee your fate,” came the old woman’s voice behind her. “Yet you cannot escape it, for it lies within you.”
    Lirith stiffened, then stepped from the wagon into the gray-green air of the grove. She turned toward Sareth. His eyes were filled with such a strange softness that she almost gasped aloud. Why should he act this way for a stranger?
    “I must apologize for my al-Mama,” he said, his deep voice husky.
    Lirith forced her chin up, meeting his eyes. “Why? Are her tellings not true?”
    His cheeks darkened, but he did not reply.
    “Your leg,” Lirith murmured before she could stop herself. “Was that the price you paid for your
shes’thar
?”
    His smile returned, but it was fiercer now, sharper. “No,
beshala
. That was the price I paid for my pride.”
    Lirith opened her mouth, but before she could answer Durge and Aryn stepped from the wagon. Aryn’s face was pale, and Lirith did not fail to notice the way Durge hovered close to her.
    “We should get back to the castle,” he said.
    Aryn lifted her hand to her chest. “I don’t feel well.”
    Lirith took the woman’s hand. “Do not fear, sister. Youhave only eaten too many sweets, that’s all. The feeling will soon pass.”
    She led Aryn from the grove as Durge followed three paces behind. Only after a moment did she remember to look over her shoulder, to bid Sareth farewell. But the grove was empty, save for the now-shut wagon and the soft music of chimes.
    Lirith turned her face forward. Together the three walked back toward the castle in the fading light of sunset, their shadows stretching out before them.

4.
    They arrived at the castle just as the gates were closing. The land in all directions was steeped in twilight, but the last few rays of sunlight still fell upon Ar-tolor: a golden island in a deep, purple sea.
    “Your Highness,” said a guardsman clad in black and green, stepping from a side gate to bow to Aryn. He turned and bowed to Lirith. “My lady. It is well you are here. We have scoured the castle for you.”
    Alarm rose in Aryn’s chest, and she glanced at Lirith.
    “What is it?” Lirith said.
    “Queen Ivalaine wishes to see you both. We have been searching for you all afternoon, my lady.”
    Durge stepped forward. “If the ladies’ absence has caused trouble, then you may lay the blame for it upon me. It was I who accompanied them from the castle.”
    Aryn grimaced. That wasn’t right. It wasn’t because of Durge they had gone to see the Mournish; it had been her idea.
    “Why does the queen want us?” she said before she could consider the wisdom of the words.
    The guardsman started to make a crude gesture with his left