TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy) Read Online Free Page A

I’d been taken to an indoor, purpose built plastic climbing mountain every few days. In that time segment, my tutor and I could climb to impressive heights in the comfort of temperature controlled warmth, and it had been handy to be able to climb down again without having to worry about bad weather setting in. I liked swimming, if the temperature of the water was warm, and I enjoyed skiing and riding too, but I really didn’t like to run. My natural endurance wasn’t that strong and running always reminded me of this. Even though I’d been made to include running in my schedule since I was nine turns of a marker, I still couldn’t enjoy it, and the discomfort I felt when my lungs started burning hadn’t been a pain I’d gotten used to like the pain of combat injuries, or the pain of time travel, which now, I almost enjoyed. 
    Unlike me, Mirren loved to run, and as we headed through the trees along the bone jolting, concrete running path in the park, I glanced at her. She was breathing steadily through her nose and her face had already settled into a blissful expression. I grimaced. I knew she entered into another world as she ran lightly along beside me, but I silently thanked her for setting an easy pace. I wondered what is was she thought about as she ran and I tried to enter another world myself, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I hated running and I kept wondering how much longer I had to keep running before I was going to be able to stop. There was definitely no blissful facial expression for me!
    Behind us, I heard one of my minders who ran with a heavy step. I had a feeling he hated running too, but the Aldirite guards took turns to run behind us and this particular guard was lucky, he only had to run with us once a week at the most. 
    We passed other runners on the path and I wished I didn’t have to hide my music cartridge from my tutor and the guards. It would probably have helped me if I’d been able to run to the beat of twenty first century music, like every other person who jogged in the park. We were supposed to blend in to time segments and not draw attention to ourselves, but we were also supposed to remember who we were. Aldirite music was performed at celebrations only and it was made with wooden instruments, water filled pipes, and finely tuned pitch strings. People of my race often sang as they worked too, and probably because of this, our songs were mainly about harvesting, cooking, wood turning, crystal shaping and other such community tasks. The songs on my cartridge were definitely not about things like that........
    As the sun rose into a mostly clear sky, we ran past a park bench and a young man watched us go by with a hopeless expression on his face. His eyes darted while he frowned to himself and his clothes hung loosely on his bony frame. I wondered what it was that had removed his hope and I glanced at him sadly as I passed him while, beside me, my tutor didn’t see him at all.
    My run finished eventually, as it did every morning, and I crossed the busy street with Mirren and headed thankfully back to the house.
    While I was here in this time segment, I was required to go to school to enhance my social and historical appreciation of this era. Questers had to be able to speak the major languages of all the significant eras and they also had to be aware of the acceptable social customs of each time segment they were dropped in. It was thought that school was a good training ground for both these things, and all questers spent a fair amount of their time at a few different schools before they made their final challenges.
    Going to school in this particular time segment had been unexpectedly enjoyable for me and, when I was back in my rooms, I bathed quickly and changed hastily into my scratchy school uniform. I certainly dressed for school with a lot more enthusiasm than I’d changed earlier for my morning run.
    When I was dressed, I stood in front of the mirror in the