Read Online The Spacetime Pool by Catherine Asaro - Free Book Online

here.”
     
    “Blessed Almighty!
Are you all right?”
     
    “Almost.” She inched
forward on her hands and knees. “I’m not to the other side yet.”
     
    “You can make it.” He
sounded as if he was trying to convince himself as much as her.
     
    From your lips to
God’s ear. She moved another inch and
her knuckles hit the jagged, broken edge of the path. Even as relief surged
over her, the remaining board creaked. In the same instant that she threw
herself forward, the board snapped and dropped out from under her. Her torso
landed flat on the path, but her legs hung into the fissure. She scrabbled at
the ground, frantic as rocks fragmented under her and clattered away.
     
    With a heave, Janelle
hauled herself onto the path and sprawled on her stomach. She groaned as the
girdle jabbed her skin.
     
    “Lady!” the guard
called.
     
    “I’m here.” The pound
of her heart felt like storm waves. “The boards fell. You’ll have to stay
there.”
     
    “Ah.” He sounded
subdued. “You must go on alone, then.”
     
    She stood up slowly and
swayed, dizzy. When her head cleared, she said, “Will you tell me your name?”
She didn’t want to leave without even knowing his identity.
     
    “I am Kadar.” He
paused. “If I do not see you again—I would like to say—” He stopped.
     
    “Yes?” Janelle asked.
     
    “We have heard how
you were pulled into our land,” he said. “Given all that has happened, you
could have hated us and denied our prince. Instead, you treat us with grace. I
am just a soldier. I have no great knowledge of other places. But it seems to
me that you are a gift to His Highness.”
     
    Good Lord. Janelle
had thought she mostly stepped on people’s toes. She could have done better if
she hadn’t been so bewildered. But she hadn’t thought in terms of hostility.
She valued the chance to learn other cultures. Her parents had left her with
the treasured memory of how they honored the depth and range of the world’s
peoples. It didn’t make her willing to tolerate mistreatment; she had a temper
and had always reacted strongly against cruelty or injustice. But according to
their ways, Dominick and his people had treated her well.
     
    She spoke quietly. “Thank
you, Kadar.”
     
    He became all
business then, describing the tunnels ahead. Then he said, “The prince has a
hunting lodge in the forest. The last passage will let you out near there. I’ll
meet you at the lodge.”
     
    She rubbed the goose
bumps on her arms. “Don’t you get killed.”
     
    His voice lightened. “I
shall endeavor not to. Farewell for now.”
     
    “Good-bye.” Janelle
set off, keeping her right palm on the wall for guidance. No light softened the
darkness; she couldn’t even see her other hand in front of her face. She went
with care, probing each step with her foot before she put down her weight, lest
she stumble into another chasm. But she didn’t dare take too long; she had no
idea who else knew about these tunnels or would discover them.
     
    Her palm hit stone. A
dead end. Alarm surged through her, but she pushed it down and searched the
surface. She did indeed find tiles, as Kadar had described, and she pushed them
in the sequence he had given her. When she leaned into the wall, it slid inward
with a creaking protest and swung aside. She ventured into the suffocating
darkness.
     
    It felt as if she
walked for hours. Then she noticed a change; the air had warmed. A scent of
pine wafted around her, a welcome change from the stench of musty stone. Even
more encouraging, she could see her hand. Up ahead, light sifted through a
crevice shaded by fir trees. She was free!
     
    Voices drifted to her
from outside.
     
    Janelle stopped and
swore silently. The speakers were in front of the opening. She could decipher
enough to determine they were sentries for the raiders. Demoralized, she
quietly retreated back along the tunnel.
     
    Boots clanked at the
exit.
     
    Damn! That had to be
the