Read Online Dawn of the Ice Bear by Jeff Mariotte - Free Book Online Page A

believe,” Kral said.
    â€œBe that as it may, it is true,” Tarawa insisted.
    â€œI have seen more than one during my brief time in Stygia,” Mikelo said.
    Kral shuddered visibly. “Once I have the Teeth, I will never again set foot in this cursed land.”
    â€œI have said much the same thing,” Tarawa said, “nearly every day since I was brought here. And yet, here I am.”
    She was a slave, and Donial doubted that escape was an easy option for her. But he was sure that Kral would make good on his pledge. This place was as alien to the Pict as the surface of the moon, and probably less appealing.
    â€œHave no doubts,” Kral assured her. “I will not tarry here a moment longer than necessary. Now, can we get to al Nasir’s place?”
    Tarawa looked back toward the big snake, now completely vanished down the street. “Hurry,” she urged, leading the way again. “Before we encounter another one.”
    A short, brisk walk later, they stood on the outskirts of an enormous compound of large, dark buildings. All were dark, hunched against the sky like crouching warriors waiting to spring. A wall surrounded the whole compound, which seemed almost as large as the entire rest of the town, but it was barely more than a man’s height, as if Shehkmi al Nasir was not truly worried about intruders.
    In a way, that scared Donial more than anything else.
    â€œHe is inside,” Tarawa said. “If he were out, I would know of it. Anyway, for the past month or more he has almost never ventured beyond his walls. Most of his time is spent inside the temple, there in the center of the compound.”
    â€œDo we know if the Teeth has been delivered yet?” Kral asked.
    Tarawa shook her head. “I think we need to go inside to find out.”
    â€œThen why do we stand here?”
    â€œShh!” Alanya grabbed Kral’s arm. “Listen.”
    The group hushed immediately, and in the silence, Donial heard the sound that had alerted his sister. The unmistakable scuff of feet on the road. Many of them. Men trying to walk quietly, Donial guessed.
    â€œComing this way,” Kral whispered. “Where can we hide?”
    Tarawa pointed toward an arched gateway—one of the entrances to al Nasir’s vast compound, but unguarded, it seemed. “In there!”
    They hurried across the narrow street into the shadows. Here, standing so close to al Nasir’s home turf, Donial felt a chill. It wasn’t possible that the sorcerer could know they were here—was it? Could the people coming their way be guards sent out to fetch them?
    In less than a minute he knew the truth. It was Gorian and his mercenaries, having arrived from the camp they had made the night before. They approached al Nasir’s campground with all due stealth, but there were too many of them to remain completely silent. Their feet chafed the earth, their weapons and armor jingling softly with their progress.
    Donial watched them approach. He didn’t know what to do about their presence, if anything. Nor was there opportunity to confer with his comrades. Any word uttered now, no matter in how low a whisper, would alert their competitors to their presence. He stood, still and silent, willing them to just pass by. But then Sullas glanced their way, as if his eye had been drawn by some hidden magnet.
    â€œThere!” he said, glaring into the shadowed archway. Pointing.
    He stood there still when the snake shot from an alley and caught him in its enormous mouth.
    Â 
    Â 
    KRAL DREW HIS sword from its scabbard for the second time since they had left Tarawa’s house. This time, he fully expected to use it—but on men, not on some horrific beast. That was before the creature exploded into the midst of the mercenaries, though. Its gaping maw clamped across Sullas’s middle, splitting the man virtually in two. With a single, horrible bite, it swallowed Sullas’s