Read Online Lorik The Protector (Lorik Trilogy) by Toby Neighbors - Free Book Online

in all the years they had spent together in Hassell Point.
    He was still trying to figure out what had made Vera so angry when Jons joined him. The slender sailor leaned back against the railing and looked up at the sky. Scattered clouds scuttled across the blue expanse.
    “This was exactly the kind of day that Selber loved,” Jons said. “He wouldn’t want you to be unhappy.”
    “That’s unavoidable,” Lorik said.
    “That’s what most people say about the rocks here in the Graveyard, yet Yulver has spent his life avoiding them.”
    “Not you, too,” Lorik said. “Vera was just here trying to cheer me up. She thinks I have a need to save people.”
    “Do you?”
    “Of course not, but I do believe in honor, in helping those in need.”
    “That’s a good thing,” Jons said.
    “I agree.”
    They stood silent for a moment. There wasn’t enough room on the ship for a truly private conversation, but the other passengers did their best to give Lorik and Jons space.
    “I’m sorry about your arm,” Lorik said. “I should have listened to you.”
    “Nonsense,” Jons said. “We all made our own choices, including that wretch we left on the rocks back there. He’s paying for his mistakes. I could have gone back to the ship at any time. No one could foresee the events that were coming.”
    “Still, it’s keeping you from doing your job.”
    “That’s not such a bad thing,” Jons said. “I could get used to lounging about on deck all day.”
    “That’s not going to happen,” Yulver said as he walked back to where Lorik and Jons were talking. He growled an order to the men at the bow of the ship whose job was to use long bamboo poles to keep the boat from drifting too close to the submerged rocks. The poles, found only in the Marshlands, were strong but lightweight—one of Yulver’s secrets to navigating the Sailor’s Graveyard.
    “There’s a storm coming,” he told Lorik. “There’s no way to clear the Graveyard before it hits.”
    “Are you certain?” Lorik asked.
    Yulver gave the teamster a withering look that made the bigger man shut his mouth.
    “I’ve been sailing longer than you’ve been alive. The storm is coming. And it’s apt to be a bad one. I want you to get all the passengers ready.”
    “Okay, what do we need to do?”
    “I don’t know yet, but we’re all going to get wet and if we aren’t careful we could lose a man or two, or worse, wreck the ship. If the storm lasts long enough I may need you to relieve my men at the oars. You think you can get these volunteers of yours in some kind of order?”
    “We’ll be ready,” Lorik promised.
    “Good, there isn’t much time left. I’m guessing the storm will be on us within an hour.”
    Yulver walked away, returning to his position at the helm. Lorik looked up at the blue sky. There were a few more clouds, but he saw no sign of foul weather.
    “How does he know a storm is coming?” Lorik asked Jons.
    “I’m not sure. I’ve heard tell that some folk can feel a storm coming in their bones, especially after an injury.” Jons pointed to his broken arm. “Perhaps I’ll be able to feel foul weather coming on now.”
    “You can thank me later,” Lorik said.
    They both laughed, and Jons went to see what he could do to help. Lorik looked back out over the ocean. All around them were jagged rocks, like the rotting bones of some huge beast. He couldn’t imagine them surviving in the middle of a storm. Yulver had them on a slow course, twisting and turning through the rocky seas. So far they had sailed safely through the Graveyard, but if the storm was as bad as Yulver predicted, he wasn’t sure how long they could keep their safe trek up.
    He decided the most important thing to do was to make sure Stone and Vera were ready for whatever was coming.

Chapter 8
    It only took half an hour for the weather over the Sailor’s Graveyard to change completely. The clouds, which had been white and fluffy, began to fly across the sky