Read Online The Twins by Gary Alan Wassner - Free Book Online Page A

to penetrate the forest during the evening hours. His plan was to proceed eastward until he reached the border town of Pardeau, about four days jog, and then to go northward through the Forest of the Winds, and then on to the feet of the Thorndars. He would have to cross Lake Tamaran first, though, as soon as he emerged from the woods, and the thought of that did not amuse him.
    The lake was a treacherous body of water, perhaps the deepest in the known world, and it could only be crossed during the evening hours when the Selgays were asleep. Sometimes referred to as the guardians of the lake, the Selgays were the giant bird-like beasts who made their homes in the large crevices of the sheer walls of the Thorndars surrounding the lake to the north. They attacked mercilessly, and they craved flesh. Their beaks were sharp as razors, and their claws were long, hard and honed on the rocks to lance-like tips. The talons were barbed, and when a Selgay grabbed its prey, like a fish on a hook, the more it struggled, the deeper the wound became and the more damage it did.
    No one ever escaped a Selgay attack. They seldom traveled with companions, though, so that if you ever encountered one, you could be almost certain that there were no others anywhere near. The Selgays fought bitterly and savagely amongst themselves over territory and they preferred to hunt alone. That was of little comfort to Cairn as he anticipated the long and arduous trip across the length of the lake during the pitch of night. He had four days to march in peace before he would need to really begin to worry.
    After four relatively eventless days of keeping up a steady jogging pace, sleeping on his mat amidst the fragrant meadow grasses at night and thinking about the days to come, Cairn broke his stride and began to walk along a well-worn path that started about one hundred yards before the tall grasses of the fields of county Pardeau began.
    There was very little evidence that anyone was living anywhere near here. The grasses were uncut, the fields unplowed, and as far as the eye could see, there were no buildings of any kind. Cairn hummed a comforting tune to himself as he ambled down the path, thinking intently about the opportunity he would soon have to impart whatever knowledge he could to the boy. He was gratified that he could be involved in this prodigious undertaking. To be able to be of assistance, of whatever kind, was an honor.
    As he continued to walk, the path narrowed and the grasses increased in height. He was now totally unable to see above them and he had to follow the trail, however indirectly it proceeded. Calyx had been absent from his side for some time presently, as was quite normal, and he paid it little mind. Cairn never questioned how his friend arrived at the same destination as he did without taking the apparent route. Yet, arrive he always did, and Cairn took it for granted that he did so with more knowledge of the terrain than Cairn himself obtained by traveling the direct route.
    The grasses, perhaps seven feet in height at this point, were dense and emerald green, shimmering and clicking in the wind as they bumped into one another. The path widened and straightened out as he came around a sharp bend, playing tricks with his sense of direction. His hearing was sharp from years of living apart from the harsh sounds of the cities, and he was sure he could distinguish human voices in the distance.
    With caution Cairn continued down the path, not wanting to stumble into a group unannounced, looking as foreign as he must with his tied up robes and shaven head. Aware of his appearance and how it could be disconcerting to the country folk in this area, he silently approached the sounds in the distance. As he came close enough to the group, and a group it certainly was for he could clearly hear at least six or seven different voices seemingly arguing with one another, he kept close to the grasses bordering the sides of the path.
    “I do not