Read Online Bones of the Empire by Jim Galford - Free Book Online

ourselves overly with honor and rank. However, they are willing to consider a place for you in a household, rather than as a laborer.”
    “What do I have to do to get out of here?”
    “Several things,” Yiral replied as she sat at the end of the bed, near his paws. She smoothed her robes and continued to keep her eyes on her own hands. “First, I need you to prove that you can read and write. Our children are taught that much before they are four, so I must begin there.”
    Raeln laughed at her, getting a scowl in reply. “Four? Most of the humans don’t learn that until they are eight or more, if they learn it at all. My people might learn it by two, but I’ve never heard of a human…” He watched Yiral’s face. She was absolutely serious. Clearing his throat, he said, “I can read and write.”
    Nodding, Yiral passed him a rolled parchment, which he took. “Read it to me.”
    Raeln grinned at the idea of how easy his task was, unrolling the parchment. Inside, he saw endless flowing patterns of the Turessian runewords, like those on Yiral’s face. They were as meaningless to him as trying to read words on the waves of a river. He could not even be certain which way the parchment should be arranged.
    Sighing, he rolled the parchment back up. “I can’t read that,” he said, leaning over the side of the bed. Putting the tip of his first finger’s claw into the dirt of the floor, he traced out several words. “My name, the names of my family members, and the proper spelling of the major cities from the region where I lived. I don’t know Turessian, but I’m not illiterate.”
    Yiral bent to study the text on the ground, which she then smoothed away with her boot. “I can read your people’s script. I will award you this test, though many of my fellow preservers may consider reading and writing that language to be little better than the paintings goblins and other rodents make on their cave walls. You will need to do far more, Raeln. You have only proven that you can match the skill of a child. I would ask for a more…drastic…test of your wisdom. If you wish, I can make the case for you working in a house now, but if you can pass another test, you may be able to ensure a far easier life for yourself, even after I am gone. With that, you might even be able to convince my brothers and sisters to allow your friends to join you.”
    “Do whatever you need to,” he answered without hesitation, thinking anything they did to ease his life would also mean it would be easier to escape.
    “You are not ready. Rest a few more days. I will have slaves bring you meals until your strength has returned. You will need it.”
    Without another word, Yiral got to her feet and started toward the door. She stopped there with her back to him, as though thinking for a while. Turning slightly without looking directly at him, she finally said, “We are not an unkind people, Raeln. If you wish company, we would not be averse to sending a missive to another clan to see if there are more like you in the region. A trade would be simple and possibly ease the burden I see in you. There is no reason to run if you have another at your side—”
    “Just send my friends to me,” he snapped, straightening his back and readying his mind to return to meditation. “I don’t want or need company of the kind you’re suggesting. Prepare your tests. I’ll wait.”
    Yiral smiled slightly at that before hurrying from the building. The lock clicked shut with a sharp finality that made Raeln flinch.
     
    *
     
    Several days later—how many, he had trouble guessing, given how much of each day he spent resting and how randomly the meals were brought to him—Raeln stood ankle-deep in snow with the sun rising behind him. From what he could see of Feirenn’s lands, the clan occupied a region east of the stony hills where he and the others had been found, mostly settled into a dense section of evergreen woods. Huts of varying quality had been