Read Online The Hunter Victorious by Rose Estes - Free Book Online Page B

steadfastly refused to allow them to work their magic. It was almost as though he welcomed
     the taut, shiny skin that was stretched so tightly over his bones, embraced the pain as a personal stigmata bestowed upon
     him as a sign of his god’s love.
    It did not matter that their gods, Mother Moon and all the others, had proved to be but a creation of the Scandis; Carn’s
     religious beliefs were intensely personal and unarguable. He had quite literally been baptized by fire and it would take more
     than words to sway him from his beliefs.
    Keri sighed again and settled next to Uba Mintch in front of the fire. Beast stirred and stretched, his wounds nearly healed.
     Keri stroked him gently, urging him back to sleep.
    “Where are they? What are they doing and what is tobecome of us?’” she asked. “I cannot stop thinking of home. It is so hard to think that we will never see it again, to think
     of everyone being… being… gone.”
    Uba Mintch covered her small hand with his own immense paw. “There was no time for them to suffer. There was no pain, no fright.
     It was all over in a heartbeat and they are not gone so long as we remember them; they still live in our hearts.”
    Keri wanted to cry out that it was not enough to remember. She yearned to hold and be held. But Uba Mintch’s pain could be
     heard in his voice and to indulge her own sorrow would only make his worse.
    “What do you think will happen to us?” she asked, in an attempt to take his mind away from his grandchild, that active little
     minx who had captured her heart as well. But also she asked the question because the worry was never far from her mind. She
     had never felt safe on this world, despite the fact that she had been welcomed by the king himself and treated exceedingly
     well. There was an underlying sense of danger that never left her, a need for watchfulness, although she could not have said
     who or what she was watching for. All she knew was that they were in danger.
    “Brandtson enjoys a certain degree of power,” Uba Mintch said thoughtfully, his deep, bass rumbling tones filling the small
     room. “And he has a strong circle of friends among the Council of Thanes. I would like to think that while we are under his
     protection, we are safe, but I have this terrible suspicion that we have all been marked for death. The king smiles but with
     only one side of his face.”
    “I feel it too, this danger,” Keri said softly. “What are we to do? How can we protect ourselves?”
    “I was at the observatory just now,” Uba Mintch said, changing the subject with abrupt suddenness. “The night skies are clear,
     perfect weather for viewing the heavens.”
    Keri was startled. “What did you see?” she asked, her heart beating crazily, wondering if they had been somehow mistaken,
     if their world—
    “I have been up there many times, you know,” Uba Mintch replied as though he had not heard her question. “At first they did
     not know what to make of me. They were suspicious, even hostile, but I convinced them of my desire to know, to learn, and
     now they seem to accept me. I am even welcome.” He was silent for a long moment.
    “These men are not accorded the proper amount of respect, I think. They understand more miraculous things than any shaman
     or healer or king, and yet it seems that they are regarded with suspicion and dislike by most of the Scandis.”
    “I believe that they hold these scientists somehow responsible for the death of their sun,” Keri said. “Or at least blame
     them for not being able to find a solution to the problem.”
    “I do not think any man has the power to stop death,” said Uba Mintch, “whether it be the death of a man or the death of a
     world.”
    “But our world was not ready to die!” Keri protested fiercely. “They killed our world! Men did this thing and it should not
     have happened!”
    “Maybe it did not happen,” Uba Mintch said slowly.
    Wild, unreasonable hope