Tyler's Dream Read Online Free Page A

rate, the boy cannot hear any more. Where should we keep him until we know what to do? The cellar? A fitting place for a weasel.”
    “The damage has been done, Glivin,” mused Hargill, stroking the curls in his beard. “We will be forced to explain everything later, so I see no reason to hide him away. Now, we have spent too long on this already. Let us have a look at this cage. Tyler, come .”
    The cage seemed to breathe. Hargill stepped forward and then thrust his torch towards it, so that both light and hot drops of oil flickered between the bars. Tyler drew in a thin breath.
    A beast lurked within the shadows of the cage, and its terrible face, its large and frightening eyes, now leered towards them with deadly menace. The cage, although about seven feet high, was much too small, and so the creature was forced to hunch over like a wild animal perpetually stalking its prey. Tyler stared at the braided hair, the necklaces and ornaments of twisted iron, the tattoos … most especially the tattoos. Almost every inch of the creature’s murky skin was covered with them: lavish black designs that curled across its chest, legs, and arms so that only its right cheek remained relatively untouched, with only a small crescent moon drawn across it. This thing had missed Mother Nature’s attention entirely – or worse, it must have slipped from her loving embrace when the world was made and had lain ugly and cold on dirt.
    “I don’t believe it,” whispered old Trandle, who had been unusually reserved up to this point. “They’ve captured a ghatu.”
    Glivin laughed. “I have not seen one of these since my journey to Rithvaren. Their ugliness never fails to astound!”
    “I would not be so light-hearted, Glivin,” reminded Annie quietly. “The smell of death still hangs about this cage. This creature must have murdered Innor and probably everyone with whom he was travelling.”
    As if suddenly angered by this thought, Glivin drew his sword. He let the light play on it for a moment for the ghatu to see, and then he struck its blade across the bars. “I will kill this one myself,” he snarled. “Innor’s death will be avenged.”
    Until now the ghatu had been motionless in its leering pose, but at this sign of aggression, it withdrew from the bars and began to pace menacingly. The stripes of light that lanced into the cage slipped across its body as it moved. “ Varrak uzun-Vi ,” it said in a voice so harsh that Tyler could not help but cringe at its inhuman tones. “ Ukarvana Vu nuza .”
    There was silence for a short moment.
    “What did it say?” asked Glivin.
    “I can’t imagine anything too flattering,” laughed Trandle.
    Glivin growled and drew back his weapon as if to jab it through the bars.
    “Glivin, enough ! There are more important issues at stake,” reminded Hargill sternly. “We mustn’t kill the thing before we find out why is here, so far from the mountains. Have you ever heard of a ghatu travelling alone for such a distance?”
    “We should use the Lingiun pebble,” muttered Roy. “Find out as much as we can about why it is here.”
    Hargill nodded at this, and without further comment he untied a pouch from his belt and tipped out the likeness of a small pebble. After giving it a rub between his fingers as though warming it, he popped it into his mouth.
    “ MaiV sakaza-nap, Vraitha yama-Vza pra ,” he intoned with the same savage beat the ghatu had given to its words.
    “The pebble fits below the tongue and moulds it accordingly,” Annie whispered to Tyler upon seeing his confusion. “Be patient; the time for answers will come.”
    Tyler flashed a thankful look at her.
    “So!” announced Hargill, popping the pebble from his mouth. “The ghatu is willing to try the pebble for himself. I feel the discourse will be more productive if we can all understand what is said.”
    There was a general murmur of agreement.
    Agatha said, “But what if the beast swallows it? Surely it is