Read Online The Red Sea by Edward W. Robertson - Free Book Online Page A

mid-thigh.
    "It's funny," Blays said, staring after one of them. "I've always heard people from climates like this stroll around with everything out to the wind. But these people are as modest as people who have to wear clothes."
    "Try not to sound too disappointed about it."
    The road leveled out. Houses and shops surrounded a large square, the center of which held a large building of black and purple stone. Carved columns held up overhangs. At the structure's base, a row of weathered, somber statues gazed out to sea. As Dante watched, a man cocked a metal-headed mallet and slammed it into the side of a statue. With a painful crack, it split in half, tumbling to the clay.
    "He's supposed to be doing that, is he?" Blays said.
    "The stone," Winden said. "We will need it to rebuild."
    She climbed the steps. Arched, doorless entries led to a cool foyer. Four men and two women lay on mats on the stone floor. A woman and a man tended to them, dressing their wounds with redolent poultices, the scent unfamiliar to Dante's nose. Winden spoke to the couple, who eyed Dante, then showed him to a man with a deep gut wound. The foul smell it produced promised he wouldn't live out the week.
    The cut on Dante's arm had scabbed, but he'd suffered a few scrapes from the destruction of the house. He used the blood from these to feed the nether and sent the shadows to work. Within moments, the man's wound sealed, leaving nothing but a bright pink line.
    As Dante worked on the others, someone called Winden outside. By the time Dante finished treating the wounded, his hands were a little shaky, but after his work on the tunnel in Gallador, he knew his limits very well. He hadn't reached them yet.
    "Have you delayed seeing him for long enough?" Blays said. "Or would you like to stop for a beer on the way?"
    "I was helping the injured. Good enough? Or is your compassion all for show?"
    "I meant a celebratory beer. For your good deeds."
    Winden walked back inside and rejoined them. "Your captain. She says that they will go. That they will be back in two weeks. That you will meet them here at the bay then, or they will move on again."
    "They're leaving?" Blays glanced toward the building's entrance, which was elevated enough to have a view all the way down to the bay. "Was that part of the plan?"
    Dante shrugged. "We don't know how long we'll be here. We can't expect them to stay." He turned to Winden. "We're ready to see him."
    "Then we walk." She led them around the back of the building and into the jungle.
    There, people rested in a hot springs, easing their muscles after the exertion of the raid. Steam wafted from the waters. The bathers glanced at Winden, then rested their gazes on Dante and Blays.
    The path bent to the right. Within a few feet, vines and shrubs grew so densely that someone had had to hack them back, tunneling their way up the hill. Winden drew a long, square-headed knife, chopping at the stray twigs that had already begun to encroach on the trail.
    Since making landfall, Dante had been too busy killing strangers and stopping other strangers from dying to let Nak know they'd arrived. As they marched on, Dante touched his brooch to activate his loon.
    He felt nothing. Heard nothing. He tried a second time, then a third. He switched the device to allow him to speak to his friend Mourn instead, but this failed as well. As did every other connection he attempted. Keeping one eye on the clay trail, he sank into the bone that comprised the loon's main functionality. The nether that fueled it was gone.
    "My loon," he murmured to Blays. "It's gone dead."
    Blays cocked his head. "Gone dead? What, have you been using it too much?"
    "I haven't been using it at all."
    "Well, you have to use it sometimes . Otherwise it'll use itself while you're asleep."
    Dante stared, then scowled. "You're disgusting. And this is serious. Is yours working?"
    Blays gazed into the distance, muttering to himself as he tested the loon. He shook his head.