Read Online Gaia's Secret by Barbara Kloss - Free Book Online Page B

behind me.
    “What’s going—”
    "What is it?" Alex cut me off.
    "Guards. I think someone saw us enter."
Cicero’s brow furrowed as he peered off into the forest. I couldn’t
see anything but green.
    “We’re hiding from—”
    "Are you sure?" Alex interrupted me again.
His eyes narrowed as he peered around with his father. Sonya held
her finger to her lips, motioning for me to remain silent. As if
talking got me any answers.
    My ears perked. I heard something off in the
distance, a sort of muffled patter. Something about the sound was
familiar to me but I couldn’t figure out what. The patter was faint
at first, but grew louder and louder with each second. I knew that
sound. I knew it like I knew my own voice. It was the rhythmic
pounding of hooves.
    Cicero mumbled something and Alex shoved me
on the ground so that I was lying flat between him and Sonya.
    The pounding roared in my head, drowning out
my racing heartbeat. Whoever was coming was riding hard, and it
sounded like there was more than one of them. Whatever they were
after, I was about to find out.
    The pounding ceased. They were here.
    After a few seconds of unbearable silence, I
had to look. I lifted my face inches off the ground and peered over
Alex. Silver glinted through the trees on the ledge where we had
stood moments ago. I counted four riders, and they looked like some
sort of guard. They wore breastplates of silver, dotted with greens
and blacks, their baldrics holding long swords. The hair on their
heads and faces was long and unshaven; their expressions were
filled with such cold hatred that my breath stuck in my chest.
    They were searching for something.
    A fifth rider appeared in my line of sight,
but he was different from the rest. His face was hidden beneath a
drawn hood and the rest of his powerful frame was veiled in rich,
black wool that blended with his velvety black stallion. An
enormous silver blade hung at his waist, glinting in the sunlight.
He looked out of place in this world filled with color and life.
Like the night had delivered Death himself.
    My head was shoved back down and my eyes
locked with Alex's, his face rigid with warning, his eyes flashed
with violence.
    One of the riders jerked his horse around and
started in our direction. The others followed him. My heart thudded
in my ears. The rider stopped in front of the boulder we were
hiding behind, his horse raking at the ground.
    I held my breath.
    "So he was wrong,” the soldier barked in a
gruff voice.
    “Keep searching,” answered a deeper, velvety
voice. The black rider. “Considering the current circumstances, you
should not be hasty to give up.”
    His voice unnerved me. It touched my newfound
awareness with a stiff chill.
    "We're wasting our time," said a third.
"There's no one here."
    “My Lord is never wrong,” growled the black
rider.
    Everything went silent and I felt smothered
by the anxiety of my companions. I didn’t move. I didn't breath. I
didn't even dare to blink. 
    The silence menaced.
    A stiff breeze barreled through the forest
and the trees bended and creaked loudly in response.
    “Search the grounds, and stick to the main
road,” barked the voice. “I shall notify my Lord at once.”
    Leather reigns snapped, horses whinnied, and
the riders vanished down the trail. All but the black rider.
    He lingered there, just on the other side of
our boulder. There was a darkness to him—a malevolence that made my
soul recoil. Ice-cold fingers touched me then, searching and
sifting through my thoughts. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I shut
my eyes tight, fighting against the strange invasion. Another gust
of wind ripped through the forest. At once the chill ceased, the
rider spun and rode off after his companions.
    The moment the guards were out of sight, the
Del Contes were on their feet, their concern and anxiety
overpowering. Running from guards didn’t seem like something any
honest person would do. Which made me wonder, what if my dad’s role
in