Read Online The Land's Whisper by Monica Lee Kennedy - Free Book Online Page A

layers of burgundy soil. He felt like crying, but his
pride already stung from the memory of his betrayal.
    “I’ll go back,” Brenol said softly. He
swallowed the lump in his throat and straightened. “I’ll go back
now.” He had turned to make his way back to the cave when Darse
grabbed his forearm. Brenol raised his subdued gaze to see Darse’s
tense face.
    “I don’t think they work both ways,” Darse
said grimly.
    “What do you mean?”
    Darse released Brenol. “I met someone. I
don’t think he was human, at least not exactly. He said there was
no return.”
    Brenol stared. “What do you mean not exactly
human?”
    Darse shook his head, ignoring the question.
“Did you not hear me?”
    Brenol’s face lightened. “Why are we arguing
then? If we can’t go back, why are you telling me I have to?”
    Darse felt like grinding his teeth. “Bren,
your mother is in serious danger. She can’t even manage to pay your
pass when you are present. How could she do so when you aren’t
there?”
    Brenol’s face clouded. “But won’t the
inquiry show I’m not around? And that she has a hole in her
glass?”
    “Bren, when are you going to see it isn’t
this simple? People on Alatrice are ugly about the kingdoms. How
often has my door been lettered? How often have I been called a
traitor? And all because my father got sucked into another world
and couldn’t whisper a word about it to anyone?” Darse spoke with
force. “Bren, she will be dead or wishing she were by the time next
orbit’s conscription man arrives. She doesn’t know how to shut her
lips, and they don’t know how to use their wits.”
    Brenol gulped, chastened. “Is it really that
bad back home?”
    Darse nodded brusquely, uninterested in
continuing the topic.
    “So what do we do?”
    Darse tilted his head toward the cave. “We
go make sure, to start. I don’t trust that man I met, and we need
to know with certitude it’s closed.”
    Brenol nodded and tarried for a step so he
could follow Darse. The cave was nothing like it had been the
previous night. It sat in ominous darkness, its mouth open and
stifling all light. The boy prickled with goosebumps.
    Darse held out a hand in gesture to pause
and stepped forward into the darkness. Brenol barely had to suck in
two fitful breaths before Darse emerged again.
    “We are trapped,” he attested gravely,
glancing around the wood as if it were a cage. “I think we’re both
in serious danger, so let’s try and be cautious?”
    Darse’s intensity elicited a nod, but the
youth felt a rising exuberance in him. He was free to remain, at
least for the time being, and explore a new world.
    “Have you seen anything we could manage for
breakfast? I’m famished from all that swimming last night.” Brenol
held his stomach with eager expression before shrugging both
shoulders. “But I’m sure we will find something… Where are we
going?” He surveyed the land and pointed to a walkway slicing
through the dense foliage. “There’s something.”
    Brenol’s nonchalance chafed Darse’s ill
mood, but he agreed to pursue the forest path. It was smooth and
well-worn, with bushes broken back to allow travelers to pass side
by side.
    Brenol could not stop his wagging tongue as
they meandered. Guilt no longer clawed, and his heart kindled with
gaiety and life. He pointed to every sight and scene they passed.
Darse chewed his lip, absorbed in silent worry.
    Bracken and dead logs littered the forest
floor, but growth also sprouted up from the soil like fountains
splashing out green: moss, lichen, bush, leaf, flower, tree.
Sunlight trickled down in patches through the dense life and
patterned the ground with moving light. The air was uncomfortably
warm, though a gentle breeze occasionally sought an avenue through,
bringing a moment of delicious relief from the swelter. Brenol
found himself breathing with unusual exertion; his home in Alatrice
was at a much lower elevation.
    It was not long before their