The Young Dread Read Online Free

slightly different key, and the effect of the noise alone was almost overpowering. They were ready to fire.
    The apprentices with disruptors were closing in on three others, who were positioned in the middle of the open space. One of the three defenders wore a metal helm, just as the Young Dread had done on the previous night. She could see his clear eyes studying the attackers as they approached. The other two defenders carried shields of the same shimmering metal as the disruptors. The concentric circles of those shields began to rotate, each in its own direction and at its own speed, creating a dizzying view.
    “Attack!” called a man at the opposite edge of the clearing from Maud. He had a graying mustache and long hair with streaks of silver. The Young Dread had met him too during her last waking. He was Gordon, House of the Ram, an excellent fighter and teacher.
    The attackers charged the defenders, and all three disruptors fired. From each barrel, thousands of electrical sparks shot out, hissing and buzzing like swarms of wasps, flashing in the light of the rising sun. If those sparks reached a human head, they would surround it and destroy the victim’s sanity, and they would never leave. Facing a disruptor without fear was one of the hardest tasks of a Seeker apprentice. But these students looked well trained.
    The defenders watched the sparks coming at them from all sides. With practiced ease, they took their positions, the one wearing the helm in the middle, the two with shields each putting a hand on one of his shoulders, the rings of their shields spinning faster and faster.
    The sparks were upon them, and they swept their shields through the storm. Electricity crackled as the sparks hit the metal, and the Young Dread saw the shields almost glowing as they absorbed the onslaught. The hiss and crackle became louder; then the sparks were thrown back out at the attackers in wild showers that burst from the edges of each shield like fireworks.
    The attackers dove for the ground and covered their heads as the sparks passed over them. Finding no human target, the electric flashes collided with the dirt and burst into nothingness in explosions of rainbow-colored light.
    Now all six fighters drew their coiled whipswords, cracked them out into solid form. The Young Dread watched the oily surface of each whipsword slide about itself, then solidify into whatever shape the fighter had chosen. The combatants now fought hand to hand.
    “Nicely done!” called Gordon from the edge of the clearing.
    He’d seen the Young Dread. Like Gwynna, he inclined his head to her in a gesture of respect, but there was caution in his eyes. Maud inclined her head to him as a compliment on his students’ fighting abilities.
    As soon as she left the clearing, it became obvious that she was being followed. The footsteps were light but not very skillful. It was someone quite young and small, then. The Young Dread made no sign that she was aware of her pursuer until she was in a shadowy section of woods. Then she turned suddenly and found herself facing a girl who could have been no more than four years old. She had fair hair that was nearly white, and dark brown eyes. She was so young, she wore a loose smock dress, not the trousers and blouse worn by Seeker apprentices of both genders.
    The little girl gasped when the Young Dread turned on her. She stood petrified, her mouth hanging open as though she’d come face to face with a bear. Then her thumb came up and plugged her mouth, and she began furiously sucking—her wide eyes glued to Maud. She must be the child of one of the instructors. Perhaps Gordon, Maud thought. She had his eyes.
    The girl regained her wits and stepped backward very slowly, as if backing away from the bear. No, not a bear. The girl was looking at the Young Dread as if she were an otherworldly apparition in a fairy story—a creature who was very much other. When she’d backed up far enough to put a large tree between