Read Online The Fractured Sky by Thomas M. Reid - Free Book Online Page B

instructed Myshik to enter the cave and seek an inscribed circle upon the ground. The symbol was easy to spot, and once Myshik stood within it, Tekthyrios engaged the magic.
    The half-dragon began to sink into the ground immediately, as though it had turned to quicksand. But it did not suffocate him, and once over the initial fear, Myshik found the journey fascinating.
    He descended for several moments then suddenly found himself falling through a white void. He engaged his wings
    on instinct, struck the bottom of the vacancy without much force, and settled easily into a crouch. Myshik tried to peer around, but a bright, pearlescent glow surrounded him, and he was forced to squint as his eyes adjusted. At last, the draconic hobgoblin’s vision returned, and he could examine his surroundings.
    Another figure drew his attention. It lay huddled near his feet, unmoving. It faced away from him, so he could not discern the nature of the creature, other than to note that it was a humanoid dressed in a simple brown robe and had long, rather unhealthy hair.
    Myshik felt over his shoulder for the handle of his axe to reassure himself, then he began to examine the place.
    He discovered that he stood at the bottom of a perfect sphere, and the glow of light seemed to radiate from the walls, indeed the entire inner surface of the room. The chamber was not very large, perhaps only ten paces in diameter. Utterly devoid of any furnishings-or features, it would have proven to be a rather mind-numbing prison, should he have found himself trapped there.
    A cursed existence, the half-hobgoblin thought, glancing again at the figure.
    Is she there? the storm dragon’s voice inquired, bouncing around in Myshik’s head as his father’s and uncle’s once had.
    Yes, he answered. She?
    Indeed, came the reply. Wake her, but do it gently. She has been there a long time and may not know what to make of a visitor, especially one of your… um, countenance.
    As you wish. Myshik stepped closer to the figure.
    Fighting the urge to grip his axe, the half-dragon knelt down beside the figure. He reached one clawed hand out and tapped the woman once, softly, on the shoulder.
    She did not budge.
    Myshik tapped again, then he took hold of her shoulders and shook her.
    With a shriek, the woman rose up lightning fast, turning with fingers outstretched. She lunged at Myshik, who fell back involuntarily from her unexpected onslaught.
    Her wrinkled and pale face framed eyes as black as midnight that burned with hatred, or perhaps insanity. Her gray hair hung in long, limp clumps around her face and nearly down to her waist. Her breath smelled foul, and Myshik could see only a few cracked, yellowed teeth as she sucked in air for another scream.
    She came at him where he had sprawled, hands outstretched to throttle him or claw his eyes out. He let her momentum carry her forward, over his own body, then used his feet to propel her past himself. She soared beyond him and struck the sloping side of the sphere with a gasp and a thud.
    She’s enraged! the half-dragon said as he clambered to his feet. Wants to rend me! How do I stop her without maiming her?
    There was a soft laugh in his head not of his own mind’s making. She is harder to maim than you might imagine, came the answer. Speak to her. Call her name. Kashada.
    Myshik turned to face the crazed woman and saw her gathering herself for another charge. Her face contorted in rage or fear, and her eyes glazed with it. The half-dragon doubted she would make sense of his words.
    “Kashada!” he called out. “I am not here to hurt you!”
    The woman shrieked and rushed at him, her fingers bent into the shape of claws. She reached for his face, his eyes, but the draconic hobgoblin leaped high and used his wings to gain even more elevation. Her pell-mell charge overbalanced
    her, and she stumbled into a heap against the opposite slope of the sphere.
    Myshik dropped deftly to the surface once more. “Kashada!” he