Read Online The Forbidden Library by David Alastair Hayden - Free Book Online

was probably better if they believed that she was.
    “In our society, disputes that involve a relative may be settled by a fight to the death.”
    “Fine,” Turesobei said. “Name your champion. I will fight him to the death, and if I win, you will let us all go.”
    “That is not how we do things.” She eyed his arm. He didn’t know how she could tell, but she clearly knew it was broken. “If you win, you and your companions may go, except for the machine man. If you lose, only one of the others may go free.”
    “All of us go free,” Turesobei countered, “if I win.”
    “The machine man must pay for killing seven of my people.”
    “If I win, I will not command him to surrender. You can try to take him if you dare, but he will fight to the death. Unless you have stronger weapons than what I see here, you will have to sacrifice most of your people to kill him.”
    Through clenched teeth she said, “Fine. We agree to this. He may go free as well … if you win. However, we do have a weapon that will kill him.”
    “Whatever it is, you’d rather not use it.”
    She tilted her head and smiled. “And you’d rather not become the Storm Dragon.”
    “I wish the goronku to bear witness that the fight is fair.”
    “That is acceptable,” she replied.
    Turesobei presented the plan to War Chief Sudorga.
    “Are you certain you want to do it this way?” Sudorga asked.
    “I feel confident in my success.”
    “Lad,” said Narbenu, “the reitsu are fast and deadly. Whatever your machine man did, I don’t think you can duplicate that. No single one of us could take on a reitsu and survive, much less face their champion.”
    “Their champion,” Turesobei whispered, “he will feed to kill me, won’t he? He won’t just stab me and leave me for dead? I’m no good to eat if I’m dead, right?”
    “Correct, and they would never turn down feeding. You would keep him warm for many years.”
    “Then I think I have a decent chance at winning.”
    War Chief Sudorga went to Lady Umora. “If you don’t treat the boy fairly, it will mean war between our peoples.”
    “I accept that,” she replied, confidently. She turned to Turesobei. “Are you ready to face our champion and die, boy?”

Chapter 9
     
     
    “I’m ready,” Turesobei said, “but I won’t fight until my friends are brought out and I can see that they are well.”
    Lady Umora dispatched several of her people, but they returned without Turesobei’s companions. 
    “The machine man won’t come out,” a reitsu reported.
    “I will have to go to them,” Turesobei said.
    On Lady Umora’s orders, a group of reitsu escorted Turesobei, Narbenu, and Kemsu through the village. The goronku went along to ensure the reitsu didn’t betray their word. The houses they passed were in terrible condition — cracked walls, loose roof tiles, crumbling window sills. Apparently the condition of their village was not a reitsu priority. They passed seven charred corpses. The reitsu had made no effort to move them. Turesobei stepped carefully around them and approached a tiny house on the edge of the village. The decaying wood door was splintered in many places. Another few minutes and the reitsu would’ve broken through by shattering the door into pieces.
    “Shoma?” Turesobei called out. “Iniru? Zaiporo? I’ve come to rescue you.”
    “Sobei!” Shoma called out weakly.
    “Shoma! Are you all right? Is everyone else with you?”
    “We’re all here. And alive. I think we —”
    “It might be a trap,” Iniru muttered.
    “It’s not a trap,” Turesobei said. “How could they know how to duplicate my voice?”
    Muffled discussions followed. They were taking too long. Turesobei invoked energy from his kavaru. “Motekeru, I command you to open the door.”
    The door crumbled as Motekeru opened it. Metal joints creaking, a battered Motekeru stepped forward. His bamboo cable tail thrashed back and forth with agitation, the spiked ball on the end