Read Online Iriya the Berserker by Hideyuki Kikuchi - Free Book Online Page A

was staring at the Hunter’s left hand.
    “You must’ve imagined it.”
    “Okay . . .”
    The stupefied boy still didn’t quite comprehend either this situation or the one before it, yet his ears caught a voice not entirely angry or cold, saying, “What, are you trying to weasel out of this? If we’re talking silver arrows here, it can only be her . Gianne—gaaaah!”
    D gave his hand a violent shake, as if to deal it the coup de grâce, and then asked, “Can you walk?”
    Nodding, the boy stiffened. He’d just remembered the business with the demonic invertebrates. Wrapping his arms around himself, he was starting to collapse when D said to him, “Iriya was taken.”
    The Hunter’s words ran a stiff wire through the boy’s sagging frame.
    “ Taken? Where is she?”
    “You were the last one to see her.”
    Stunned, Meeker shrank back. The little blue eyes in his tiny face blinked repeatedly, then unexpectedly focused on a point in space. “Oh, that’s right! There was this woman named Lorelei—and she went that way!”
    He pointed in the direction of the road that’d brought D there.
    “How long ago was this?”
    After thinking for a moment, the boy replied, “I don’t really know. Ten minutes, maybe twenty—”
    “I’m going after them. You wait here.”
    “No! No way am I doing that!”
    “I’ll bring her back. You’ll just be in the way.”
    The boy fell silent. “I—I could help . . . somehow.”
    “No one’s after you. Just stay here a while.”
    Without waiting for Meeker’s reply, D leapt from the stone lip and sailed through the air.
    “Will we make it in time? You don’t have a horse!” the hoarse voice said, becoming a wind that whispered in the Hunter’s ear.
    As he landed, D raised his left hand.
    “Fortunately, we’re downwind of them, yessir,” the hoarse voice said with satisfaction. “Those woods over there. But make it fast. I smell blood. We might be too late!”
    Less than two minutes later D charged into the forest more than a mile and a quarter away from the quarry. Although it stood to reason that a dhampir would inherit some of the leg strength of the Nobility, this young man had a speed that would shock even pure-blooded Nobles. Taking no measure of his surroundings, he dashed another two hundred yards, then halted.
    “There we go,” the hoarse voice said.
    A clearing suddenly appeared between the clusters of trees. Just off to the right stood a black carriage with a team of four horses, and about ten feet from it Iriya crouched on the ground. Lavishly decorated with gold and drawn by gorgeous black steeds, the carriage was clearly that of a Noble. Iriya had been brought to this clearing by Lorelei. And a Noble had been waiting here. It was obvious what had occurred. Even the speed of D’s legs hadn’t been enough to prevent this tragedy from unfolding.
    However—before D could even approach Iriya, he noticed something: there was no smell. Actually, there was the lingering scent one would expect to come from the gore clinging to the dagger Iriya clutched in her hand, but no scent of blood drifted from her. And her throat was free of wounds.
    “Looks like she’s okay. Not only that, but she might’ve bagged a prize turkey, too.”
    The hoarse voice was referring to the jet-black cape and other garments that lay midway between Iriya and the carriage. Ash-gray dust clung to them in spots.
    D lifted the cape. Dust billowed up, falling back to the earth or riding off on the almost imperceptible breeze.
    “A knife for self-defense and a bracelet with electronic weaponry, plus the cigar and that crest—no doubt about it, these are all that remain of Mitterhaus.” The hoarse voice trailed off in surprise.
    D looked at Iriya.
    “It’s just—well, I can’t really see that girl dispatching a Noble and not even getting bit . . . When you think about it, Mitterhaus is a ruthless, vile monster, one of the ten worst on the entire Frontier! To take him down so