Read Online A Thread of Time: Firesetter, Book 1 by J. Naomi Ay - Free Book Online

to the ocean?  We are already nothing
more than skin and bones from lack of food.  And, if we were to get there, who
here can build a boat to cross it?  We haven’t a stick of wood or a nail to
fasten it together.  The ocean is enormous, the water a cruel master, and the
wind, his mistress.”
    “We have no choice,” my uncle Pellen
interrupted.  “The motherland is the only place where we will be safe.”
    “I have a boat,” I almost announced, but
Dov tugged my hand sharply and bid me to be quiet. 
    “Your boat won’t fit everyone here,” he
hissed.  “It will only be enough for you and I, your uncle and cousin.”
    “My mother and Auntie?”
    Dov shook his head.  “The Duke’s army has
taken them away.  That’s what they do in every village.  Or, they kill them.” 
His voice went soft, as if he wished to bite back the words, to save me from
their meaning.
    “Is that what happened to your parents?”
    “Mhm.  But, I came here.”  He squeezed my
hand again as if to show he had done this all for me.
    Pellen and the other adults argued back and
forth while the sun rose above the treetops.  Odd rays of light shone down
through the forest, illuminating the brush like a torch from another world. 
    The light almost seemed to make a
staircase to the outer space where my brother lived.  I imagined Taul stepping
into those golden beams and magically, rising upward to the stars.  From there,
he would board a ship that would take him to a warm and happy planet.  Or, he
might live there on that ship, sailing from star to star as I dreamed of
sailing upon the sea, both of us searching for a place we would be safe.
    “Jan,” Pellen whispered while the other
villagers continued to argue.  “Where is your boat now?  Do you think we can
sneak over to it tonight?”
    I turned to my uncle, to tell him I
thought so, when instead, my eyes were drawn to my cousin’s face.  Amyr had his
chin tipped upward and his eyes were open as if he was staring at the sun. 
Their color was as silver as the rays, echoing the light which seemed to circle
about his body like a shimmering aura. 
    “Amyr!” I gasped.  “What has happened to
you?”
    Amyr blinked and the aura instantly
disappeared, making me doubt that it had ever been there.
    “It’s not far from here, is it, Jan?”
Pellen continued, obviously not having seen the light surrounding his son.  “Do
you think you can find the wharf in the dark?”
    “I can find it,” Dov declared.  “And, I
can help to sail the boat.”
    “Then, it is decided.”  Pellen set Amyr
down beside Dov, slowly rising to his feet.  His knees creaked as he leaned
forward, reaching with a hand to rub the small of his back.  “I am unused to
sitting all night upon the forest floor.”  He smiled apologetically, although
no one faulted him for ailing in this way.  “I shall go find something for you
children to eat.  Jan, I know you want to come hunting, but I would prefer you
stayed here to look after the boys.”
    “Yes, Uncle.”  I didn’t mind staying as I
was tired from lack of sleep, during a night filled with fear and freezing
temperatures.  Thoughts of my mother and Auntie swarmed at the back of my mind
threatening my resolve not to break down in tears.
    “Keep quiet and well hidden.  I shall be
back as soon as I can.”
    I watched as Pellen disappeared among the
trees, wondering if he too would not return. 
    “We could go by ourselves,” Dov whispered. 
“If we had to, I mean.”
    “He’ll return,” Amyr replied with his
knowing certainty. 
    Despite our desperate circumstances, my
cousin had awoken this day in better health.  There was faint color in his
cheeks and he was sitting up unaided.  His odd eyes reflected a spectrum of
green shades like the forest and his wavy black hair seemed to shine with the
remnants of that strange aura.
    I wanted to ask him of our mothers, but
took his silence as the response.  Surely, if they would join