Read Online Red by Ted Dekker - Free Book Online

a horse and then walked away.
    His own Guard had nearly killed him at the edge of the forest. He bathed in the lake on the eve of the fourth day. Normally the cleansing of the disease felt soothing, but at this advanced stage of the disease, the pain was nearly unbearable. Entering the water had been not unlike pulling his skin off. It was no wonder the Scabs feared the lakes.
    But the pain was only momentary, and when he emerged from the water, his skin was restored. Rachelle had finally and passionately kissed him on the mouth, now rid of its awful odor. The village had celebrated the return of its hero with more than its usual nightly celebration.
    But the memory of that terrible condition with which the Horde lived every day never left him. And neither did the image of the woman from the desert. The only thing that separated her from Mikil was a bucket of Elyon’s water.
    Regardless of what he might want to think about the Desert Dwellers, one thing was indisputable: They had rejected the ways of Elyon. They were the enemy, and it wasn’t their rotting flesh that Thomas hated as much as their treacherous, deceitful hearts. For the sake of Elyon, he and the Forest Guard had taken an oath to wipe the Horde from the earth or die in their attempt to do so.
    â€œDid it work?” Mikil asked.
    â€œDid what work?” His head throbbed. “The dreaming? Yes, yes it worked.”
    â€œBut no way to bring down the cliff, I take it.”
    Hoofs pounded around the corner. William and Suzan rode on sweating mounts. The cliff?
    The cliff! Black powder.
    William pulled up and dropped to the ground. “Thomas! Our lines are breaking! I’ve brought two thousand from the rear and another two thousand will arrive in the night, but they’re too many! It’s a slaughter out there!”
    â€œI have it!” Thomas cried.
    â€œYou have what?”
    â€œBlack powder. I know how to make black powder. In fact, I know a dozen ways to make it.”
    Suzan dismounted. All three looked at him, at a loss.
    â€œThomas ordered me to hit him on the head so that he could dream,” Mikil said. “Evidently he has the ability to learn things from his dreams.”
    William blinked. “You do? What could you possibly learn that—”
    â€œI’ve learned how to make black powder,” Thomas said, marching past them. He turned back. “If we can make black powder, we have a chance, but we have to hurry.”
    â€œYou plan to defeat the whores by sprinkling powder on them?” William demanded. “Have you gone mad?” His designation of the Hordes as whores had become commonplace among the Forest Guard.
    â€œHe plans to use the powder to break the cliff off,” Mikil said. “Isn’t that right, Thomas?”
    â€œEssentially, yes. Black powder is an explosive, a fire that burns very fast and expands.” He demonstrated with his hands. “If we could pack black powder into the crack at the top of the cliff and ignite it, the entire cliff might break off.”
    William was stupefied.
    â€œYou actually know how to make this black powder now?” Mikil asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHow?”
    He recited the information from his memory. “Black powder is composed of three basic ingredients in roughly the following proportions: 15 percent charcoal, 10 percent sulfur, and 75 percent saltpeter. That’s it. All we have to do is find these three ingredients, prepare them in tightly packed pouches, lower them—”
    â€œWhat is sulfur?” Suzan asked.
    â€œWhat is saltpeter?” Mikil asked.
    â€œThis is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard anyone without scales for flesh utter!” William said.
    Thomas began to lose his patience. “Did I say it would be easy? We’re being slaughtered down there! You can’t build such a devastating device without a bit of work. Charcoal we have, right? We burn it. A few fast riders can