Read Online Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 3 - The Amber Enchantress by Troy Denning - Free Book Online Page A

your halflings.”
    Sadira took him around the north side of the foundation, to a short stretch of moonlit cobblestones
    —
    all that remained of the ancient road the tower had once guarded. The lane ran a dozen yards north before being swallowed by the endless sands of the desert. The half-elf paused here, listening for signs of the halflings, then dashed into the sands across the road. Milo followed a few steps behind, easily keeping up with her in spite of his awkward robe.
    Sadira guided them into a dark trough and waited. Soon, her elven vision began to function, lighting the night up in a vivid array of colorful shapes. The special eyesight was one of the few inheritances she valued from her father. When no other light source was present, it allowed her to see in the dark by perceiving the ambient heat that all things emitted.
    Sadira instructed
    
     Milo
    
     to grip the tip of her cane, then set off through the pink-glowing sands. She had to stay in the dark troughs and not look at the glittering crests of the dunes. Even the weak light of the moons would wash out her elven vision, rendering her as sightless as a man staring into the crimson sun. Still, by staying in the shadows, she would have the advantage over any halflings they happened upon. The little men did not share the gift of elven vision and were as unseeing in the dark as humans.
    Despite his own blindness, Milo easily kept pace with Sadira. Within a few minutes, they had snuck a hundred yards into the sands, and the half-elf stopped at the base of a large dune. To their right was a small expanse of rocky, moonlit scrubland, with even higher dunes on the
    far side. In order to proceed any farther, they would have to cross the open area or climb over the mound ahead. Sadira elected to wait here, for any halflings approaching camp from this general area would face the same obstacles.
    “Do you see something?” whispered Milo.
    Sadira shook her head, then remembered he could not see the gesture in the dark. “No,” she said. “It's better to hide. If the halflings hear us moving about, we'll never find them.”
    They waited several minutes, the music of the ryl pipes
    drifting to them on the wind. Sadira's body responded to the melody of its own accord, and she could only keep from swaying to its rhythm through a conscious act of will. Milo did not show as much restraint as she did, letting his head bob in time to the insistent beat.
    At last, a short trill sounded from the other side of the moonlit expanse. It was answered immediately by another, and then a third.
    “Do you hear that?”
    “Yes,” Milo replied.
    “Come with me,” Sadira said, concluding that her quarry was approaching camp somewhere beyond the open expanse.
    The sorceress stepped onto the edge of the scrubland, then waited while the moonlight washed out her elven vision. The sweet smell of newly cropped tinchweed was mixed with the sour odor of fresh inix dung, and the sorceress guessed that this was where the drivers had grazed their mounts at dusk. The halflings had probably been here even then, watching in silence
    —
    no doubt looking for her and the cane that she had neglected to return to Nok. It was an unfortunate time for the halfling chieftain to decide that he wanted his weapon back, for she had no intention of giving it to him.
    After Sadira's sight returned to normal, she started across the brush-flecked field at a sprint with Milo close behind. They were about halfway across when a loud trill sounded from the shadows just ahead. Sadira halted, realizing that the halflings were even closer than she had thought.
    Milo continued past her, whispering, “Let's catch him!”
    A thick-tongued voice cried out from ahead. “No, Milo!”
    “Osa?” he gasped. A strident chirp sounded from ahead of the captain. He stopped abruptly and raised his sword, crying, “By Ral's light!”
    As Sadira moved forward to see what was wrong, the tip of a barbed spear burst through