Read Online ROAD TO CORDIA by Jess Allison - Free Book Online Page A

terrified of the unforgiving waves that break over the rails and bury him under their breath stealing weight. She lifts him into the dingy and ties his harness to an imbedded ring. Between sobs he tries to talk to her, but the storm snatches his words out of his mouth and whirls them away. She shakes her head at him. “I can’t hear you,” she screams. He screams back at her, but this time there is a sudden lull in the roar of the storm and his words are as clear as the village chimes calling people to prayer.
         “Daddy, I want Daddy!” His little face is pinched with cold, his eyes almost rolling with hysteria.
         “Stay here,” Ja’Nil says and turns to make her way back to their father. Before she reaches him, another wave crashes into the boat, throws her against what‘s left of the bridge and smashes her head unto the deck, cracking a rib. Her left arm snaps like a twig. The world spins away.
         Moments pass. She opens her eyes. She lies on the deck: dazed, soaked, cold and disoriented. Her left arm is bent at an impossible angle; blood seeps from a cut on her head. She turns her head slowly and looks over at Yonny. He has slipped out of his harness and is crawling towards her. “No,” she screams. “Stay there, stay in the dingy.” 
    * * *
         “You’re dreaming,” said a voice. A real voice.
         She sat up quickly. A man sat cross-legged about five feet away from her. He had built a small campfire and he was busy munching on a roasted gundi bird leg. Before Ja'Nil even had time to be afraid, the smell of roasted bird reached her. Her stomach cramped with hunger.
         “Can I have some of that?” she asked.
         He motioned to a tin plate lying near the fire. Half of a gundi bird lay there with rivulets of rich fat pooling at the bottom of the plate.
         “Thank you,” she said, reaching for the food before he could change his mind.
         “You’re welcome.”
         She ripped off the gundi bird’s third drumstick and tore into it. It was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.
         “Would you like something to drink?” He offered her a pear-shaped stone flagon.
         “No thank you,” she said, remembering the drink the cook had given her.
         “It’s just water,” he assured her as he took a swallow from the bottle himself. “I got it from the brook over there.”
         By this time, Ja’Nil had stripped the gundi leg down to the bone and was looking wistfully at the remainder of the bird. “Go on,” said the man, “Help yourself.”
         “If you’re sure,” said Ja'Nil, trying to be polite. “I wouldn’t want to deprive you.”
         “I never let myself be deprived,” he assured her. “Take the rest, I’ve had enough.”
         She ate all three of the thighs and the half breast that was left, and only stopped eating when she was down to the bones. Sated, she sighed and leaned back against the tree. “That was so good.”
         The man smiled at her. He was wearing green leggings and a short tightly fitted tunic that showed off the lines of his body. On his head was a silly looking, elaborately embroidered, plumed hat. His hair was dark red, very thick and perfectly straight. His black skin was so smooth and shiny it seemed to have red highlights. He almost glowed. His ears were round. They stuck out slightly, the only imperfection of his person that Ja'Nil could see. Blue eyes, typical of Sky People gleamed with sly intelligence. He was slightly taller than Ja’Nil. His shoulders were broad, his body thick and solid; a man, full grown, but not old. His clothes were that of a Player but she could see no clan emblem. A backpack rested against a near-by tree. There was no emblem on the pack either.
         As Ja'Nil watched, he took off his hat and began combing his long hair. “My name’s O’Keeven,” he said. “What’s yours?”
         “Ja'Nil.”