Read Online The Gates of Winter by Mark Anthony - Free Book Online Page A

clear—said, “Base here. Is that you, Hudson? Over.”
    Grace flung the device down as if it had stung her. It lay on the table, silent now. She looked up and met Travis's startled eyes.
    “It's some kind of radio, Grace.”
    The torches had burned low, making a shadowed cave of the great hall, by the time Grace and Travis finished explaining what a radio was, what it could do, and how such things were common on Earth. As they spoke, Grace cast frequent glances at Boreas and his son. All of the others knew about Earth, but she had never told the king she had spent most of her life on a world other than Eldh, or that Travis was not from Eldh at all. However, Boreas listened with interest rather than surprise. Prince Teravian, in contrast, was obviously shocked—but only for a minute, and after that he watched in narrow-eyed fascination.
    “This makes little sense to me,” Durge said in his somber voice. “Surely the intruder could have caused more damage if he had placed the incendiaries in the castle's main keep.”
    Beltan shook his head. “There are more guards in the main keep. Someone would have seen him.”
    “No, that's not the reason,” Aryn said. The young woman's blue eyes were strangely hard. “His goal wasn't to destroy the castle.”
    Beltan gave her a puzzled look. “Then what is his goal, cousin?”
    “Fear.”
    A cold needle pierced Grace's heart. Yes, she understood, but Travis voiced it before she could.
    “If we're frightened, we won't fight,” he said, his words soft, so that they all had to lean in to catch them. “That's what they want. They're trying to distract us, to make us afraid so we won't fight.”
    The king gave him a sharp look. “Whom do you speak of, Goodman Wilder? Who is trying to do these things?”
    Travis stared at the communication device on the table, then picked it up. He clenched his fingers around it and whispered a word.
“Reth.”
    Travis opened his hand; like the shell of a walnut, the black plastic had been shattered. He picked through the black shards and pulled out a green circuit board covered with transistors. A sharp laugh escaped him. Printed on the circuit board, white on green, was the shape of a crescent moon merging with a capital D.
    “Duratek,” Beltan said as if he were chewing stones. He seemed not to notice as he pressed a hand to the inside of his left elbow.
    That's where they would have attached the IVs, Grace, the ones that infused him with the blood of the fairy.
    Boreas gave Beltan a keen look. “You have encountered this enemy before, Nephew? Then you know how we can fight them.”
    “No,” Travis said, letting the shards of plastic slip through his fingers. “You don't understand, you can't fight them. They have everything—weapons, technology—things you can't even imagine, things that would seem like magic to you. They could take this Dominion apart stone by stone. And they will. They want to take everything they can from Eldh and sell it on Earth at a profit.”
    Boreas fingered the knife tucked into his belt. “Whatever weapons they might have, these men of the kingdom of Duratek sound like bandits. I do not know how things are on your world, Goodman Wilder, but here we know what to do with bandits.”
    Travis shook his head, and Grace gave him what she hoped was a look of understanding. She could talk to Boreas tomorrow, but not right now. She felt so terribly heavy.
    A small form crawled into her lap. Tira. The girl looked up and yawned, and Grace yawned back.
    “We can speak more of this in the morning,” Melia said, rising. “It has been a dark day.”
    Lirith met the lady's eyes. “I can concoct a tea for anyone who wishes for sleep . . . without dreams.”
    “I believe we could all do with a cup, dear.”
    As they rose from the table, Aldeth cast a look at Vani. “I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking, so we might as well go together.”
    She rested her hands on lean hips. “The intruder you saw will not have