Read Online The Doorway and the Deep by K.E. Ormsbee - Free Book Online Page A

Fife said, smiling. “You’re family.”
    Silvia stopped drumming her fingers. She was looking hard at Fife, her eyes watering. “Cynbel has informed us that you were the one to find the body,” she said.
    â€œWe all did,” said Fife. “And believe me, I wish we hadn’t. It was a nasty sight. You’re going to have to find me a therapist, Mother.”
    â€œThe Guard think it was the work of whitecaps,” Silvia went on. “Cynbel, however, reports that the guard’s body was pierced by a spear. Is that true?”
    â€œYeah,” said Fife. “I told you, it was nasty.”
    â€œSee?” Silvia said to her brother. “That is not in keeping with whitecap behavior.”
    â€œThat’s what I was saying,” Oliver whispered excitedly to Eliot.
    â€œWhat does that mean?” asked Lottie.
    â€œIt may mean nothing,” said Silvia. “Whitecaps are not known for their consistency or cleanliness. But if the guard yet lives, we may find out more about his attacker.”
    â€œShouldn’t Mr. Wilfer be helping him?” asked Fife.
    Lyre’s face darkened. “Are you suggesting,
child
, that we wisps cannot tend to our own wounded?”
    â€œI’m just saying, Mr. Wilfer is pretty qualified for the job.”
    â€œAs is the healer of our Guard,” said Lyre. “And Mr. Wilfer’s presence is required here. He does not have the freedom to choose his patients. We decide whom he attends to.”
    Fife looked ready to start shouting, but he said nothing, only hovered a little higher off the ground.
    â€œThe point of this audience,” Silvia said, “has nothing to do with this morning’s unfortunate event. It concerns news that my brother has brought back from the Northerly Court. News concerning the Southerly King.”
    Something plummeted deep within Lottie, turning her bones gelatinous. The mention of Starkling brought with it the remembrance of her vivid nightmare: the king’s fair skin bubbling like tar, eyes wide with rage, teeth red with blood.
    â€œWhat kind of news?” Fife asked.
    â€œThe Northerlies,” said Lyre, “have discovered a way to destroy Starkling.”
    â€œWhoa,” said Eliot. “
Destroy
him?”
    Lyre’s gaze jolted to Eliot. His upper lip pulled up in distaste.
    â€œWhat is
this
?” he asked Silvia.
    â€œA human,” she said.
    Lyre said nothing more on the matter, but for the next several minutes, he continued to look as though he were suffering from indigestion.
    â€œI have spent these past months in the company of Rebel Gem, leader of the Northerly Court,” said Lyre. “Two of the court’s spies have attempted to assassinate the king before, using common poisons that had no effect on him. However, Northerly healers hypothesize thatStarkling can be brought down by a plant that grows only in the Wilders. It is called addersfork. It is rare and blooms only at the end of autumn. It is the deadliest poison on our Isle, and it is, I believe, our best chance of destroying the Southerly King once and for all.”
    â€œLet me get this straight,” said Fife. “You went off to the North to find a cure, and you came back with
poison
? How’s killing off Starkling going to help the wisps who are dying?”
    â€œStill your tongue, Fife,” said Silvia. “Do not be impudent.”
    â€œThere is no cure to be found in the northern territories. There hasn’t been for years.”
    Lottie was taken off guard by the sound of Mr. Wilfer’s soft voice. She lowered her gaze to where he stood.
    â€œNortherly healers manufactured a cure,” he continued, “but used up the vital ingredients years ago. The Plague was eradicated in the North, but now there are no remaining ingredients in the Isle for the cure they invented. There has been little research into another cure that can make use of ingredients still