Read Online Through the Whirlpool by K. Eastkott - Free Book Online Page A

reptile following his every move suspiciously. Yet it did not attack—nor retreat. It just looked exhausted.
    Kreh-ursh dropped his belongings to the ground to lighten his load then, r aising a cautious foot, stepped up onto the sleeping ledge. From there he reached toward the lip of the hollow, never taking his eyes from the dragon. The beast kept glaring. Once his hands had found their grip, he eased himself up the wall, out of the hollow. The lesser dragon, once it saw him retreat, lowered its head onto a muddy claw. It continued to track his movements with its baleful yellow eyes.
    Free, the boy studied the tapestry of vegetation looming out over the shore. Above his camp, he saw a path leading up into the rainforest. For a moment, he felt odd, a feeling of being watched that made him hesitate. Unsheathing his knife once again, he clambered up the rocks, following that tenuous path into the jungle’s gloom.
    Under the trees another world flourished. Similar to his first vision of the night before, creepers hung wide from bough to branch , and thick-trunked ferns reached high above his head. Yet the light here was green-gray, an early morning haze of mist tendrils entwining trunks, a clear contrast to the gold-green sunlight-streaked forest of his vision. The trees were smaller: mainly palms, the only species capable of rooting into the thin topsoil and leaf mold covering the volcanic rock and coral so close to shore. The path twisted and turned up the back of a gradual rise, heading in the direction of the cone above, but Kreh-ursh stayed close to the shore, examining the nearby trees.
    When he spied what he needed, he walked straight to the trunk... But flying in a dream was one thing; shimmying up that tree... He untied his belt from around his waist and retied it to form a loop, which he slipped halfway over both feet, positioning them on either side of the tree bole. Then he placed his hands around the trunk... and began to climb. His breath began to come in short gasps. He felt dizzy, his chest constricted. He worked his way slowly up: first his feet in their loop gripping the trunk on either side, then his hands reaching up and pulling his body higher, hugging the trunk so he could reposition his feet farther up. Looking up, he saw a bunch of bright purple berries close above. That meant he was now high... higher than he could imagine... Visions of his body thudding to earth threatened to paralyze him. Blood pounded through his veins as he tried to control his fear... If anyone else had been there... one of his mates... Kaar-oh loved climbing trees, but for Kreh-ursh it was always the same, this fear, the sweating, his blood pumping... Just get it over with. Carefully he reached out and plucked. The berries were growing on a plant that was itself wrapped around a vine. He put half a dozen in his pouch. Done. Now he could... What was that? He froze—something had definitely moved.

The Life Code
 
    W as there somebody down there? Kreh-ursh waited, listening, not daring to look down. It was silent. But he waited longer. Slowly the bush lost its hush. The birds resumed their racket. Whatever it was must have continued on its way. He began to ease his way down. It took forever. Then finally came that relief as his feet hit solid ground. His heart rate slowly returned to normal.
    After retying his belt, he crept soft-footed on through the undergrowth. This time he kept his eyes lowered, studying the roots on the bush floor. Before long he found what he was looking for and gathered two large handfuls of a spongy red fungus growing around the base of a rotting stump. He moved stealthily on his way back to the shore. No sense alerting predators, or frightening the dragon. Yet that sense of being watched continued... He kept scanning the undergrowth. Nothing.
    At the hollow he slid cautiously back down the wall. The bhaanj was still lying where he left it, one eye closed, the other lid raised barely enough to register