Read Online One Realm Beyond by Donita K. Paul - Free Book Online Page B

who to blame. And if we did this foolhardy thing, we couldn’t do it for one boy. We’d have to rescue them all. How could you look another man eye to eye if you’d left his son to that purgatory?” Ruese sighed. “And we still would have to think of a place to send them. Nothing will ever be the same, Lem. You know that. It’s already too late. Our life will remain smashed to bits by the hand of the King’s Court.”
    “But we’d know Arend’s alive. Aria would know our firstborn lives.”
    Cantor glanced at Bixby, and his concentration faded. What little color her face had held had paled, her eyes brimmed with tears, and her breath came in shallow puffs through parted lips. He withdrew his hand.
    She lost the faraway stare and focused on him.
    He whispered, “Does impress mean that the guard changes the character of these captives?”
    Bixby nodded.
    “How?”
    “I don’t know how, but I know that the young men forget the loving homes they came from. They forget what their families have taught them.”
    “And the king does this?”
    She half shook her head. “Yes and no. There’s another man, called the Croguer. That’s not his name, but his position. His duty is to quell those under the king, but it is thought that he also influences the king to do more wickedness. The king is very much under that evil man’s thumb.”
    “Has the Realm Walkers Council been told?”
    An expression crossed Bixby’s face that reminded Cantor of the looks exchanged between Ahma and Odem.
    “Are you going to pursue a career as a realm walker?” she asked.
    Cantor nodded.
    “Then you will have to know that any good done in the name of the council is done by renegades. These realm walkers follow the urgings of their own conscience and not the orders of the old corrupt hypocrites who rule in Gilead. Surely your mentor has told you this.”
    “Both Ahma and Odem believed in a student being given the facts and then left to puzzle out the situation so that the learning is embedded more deeply than just at the mind’s level.”
    Bixby bobbed her head as if she had heard of that method of teaching before.
    Cantor remained quiet as he contemplated the creature perched in the tree across from him. At this point, he wasn’t even sure Bixby was human. Perhaps she really was a sprite. Her gaze had left him. Judging by the concentration displayed on her face, he supposed she listened to the two brothers, not the forest stirrings.
    “Let’s meet these men,” he said. “We should warn them of the approach of the King’s Guard. Although I think we have put enough distance between them and us that they aren’t an immediate worry.”
    She agreed. “But these men might stumble into their path.”
    “So we should caution them.”
    Her smile came back as she studied him. “And perhaps help them free the captives?”
    He felt his whole being respond to the optimism that guided this unusual woman. This was what he wanted, but he hadn’t dared let the idea gain solid foothold in his brain. He needed no more encouragement than her suggestion.
    Even before finding his dragon and reporting to Gilead, he would begin his life as a realm walker.
    He gave one strong, decisive nod of his head. “Yes. We shall see what we can do.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?
    B ixby tamped down the excitement bubbling through her veins. Could this young man, who had blundered into the forest and happened to climb a nearby tree, be one of the companions her mentor hinted would enter her life even before she found her dragon?
    Stealing through the forest canopy, Bixby led the way. Cantor followed. His balance matched hers. Neither of them faltered as they used limbs high above the ground as if they were a smooth dirt road. She appreciated his skill and marked it as a plus in her assessment of Cantor as a possible cohort in the plan for the future.
    Still, Cantor might not be the type of comrade she wanted. He certainly didn’t know much about council politics. Clearly