Read Online Sunset of Lantonne by Jim Galford - Free Book Online Page B

any idea where he was. She only knew they had reached the buildings because Raeln walked up onto a wooden porch and then helped Ilarra find her footing. She had given little thought to the new moon rising faintly, but its lack of illumination made the journey all the more difficult.
    “Can you see anything?” Ilarra asked and immediately felt stupid, realizing in the dark she could not see Raeln’s head move. She had no clue what his answer would be and guessed that he was giving her a look like she was stupid.
    Leading her by the hand, Raeln brought her to a stop in front of what Ilarra thought to be a wooden door. The lack of lights from within made her wonder if they had arrived too late and might be turned away yet again.
    Raising her hand overhead, Ilarra closed her eyes for a brief moment, letting her mind tug together strands of magic that flowed through the world around her. As the magic took shape, she felt her hand warm, and when she opened her eyes, the area was brightly lit, as though her hand had become a torch.
    Raeln glowered at her, cocking an eyebrow as he nodded toward her hand.
    “I have to concentrate the whole time,” she explained sheepishly. “It wouldn’t have lasted the whole walk. The moment I got tired or tripped, it would have vanished.”
    Giving a soft “hrumph,” Raeln turned and banged on the old wooden door. The sound echoed, but there was no answer.
    They stood on the porch for several minutes, Ilarra looking out into the darkness for any sign of a nearby building having lights or movement, while Raeln’s ears swiveled around, searching for sounds.
    Finally, Raeln seemed to give up on politeness and gave the door a firm tug. With a creak, the entire thing came off the frame, hanging oddly from his hand on the handle. Raeln winced a little and carefully set aside the door and leaned into the building.
    A second later, Raeln pulled his head back outside and shrugged at Ilarra. Waving her inside, he picked back up the door.
    “We can’t just go in someone else’s house…” she objected, but stopped when Raeln gave her an annoyed glare.
    Obediently slipping into the dark house, Ilarra realized why Raeln was so willing to intrude. The place was abandoned. In the dim light of her hand’s magic, she could see a few broken tables slid up against the far wall of the large common area, as though the place had once been a small tavern or inn. Steps at one side led to upstairs rooms and the ones she could see were missing their doors and remained dark and quiet as she walked into the main room.
    Coming in behind her, Raeln took a moment to rest the door back on its frame and then picked up the few items he had managed to spare from Lantonne’s thieves. After looking around the room briefly, he went up the stairs, apparently picking a random room to disappear into.
    Ilarra hurriedly followed Raeln, not really wanting to be left alone in the old building. She sincerely doubted there was much to fear so close to Lantonne, but had no desire to risk herself in the dark. It was probably foolish, but an instinctual fear of what might be hiding sped her steps and got her to the room Raeln had gone into that much quicker.
    If the main room had been sparsely furnished, the bedrooms put it to shame. Two broken beds lay at odd angles where their legs had either splintered or actually fallen through rotted spots in the floorboards.
    When Ilarra entered, Raeln was prodding at the floor with his bare paws, making sure it was solid. Soon satisfied, he motioned for her to enter as he slid their bags into one corner of the room near a grouping of collapsed cabinets. He followed her, wincing and treading carefully when his paws caused the floorboards to creak loudly.
    Ilarra unrolled her only blanket and sat down on it in the middle of the room. Looking around again, she wondered just how long the place had been abandoned.
    “Raeln?” she asked as her guardian was sitting down in front of the open door.