Read Online Two Moons of Sera by Pavarti K. Tyler - Free Book Online

escaped from Erdlanders in the dark before.”
    “I thought you were an Erdlander.”
    “Huh.”
    We walked in silence. Tor’s fire revealed the cavern
splitting into more tunnels and passageways. I tried to remember which way we
went, but without Tor’s light I would never find my way back. The farther we
walked, the colder it became.
    At the sound of water dripping in the distance, I asked, “Are
we under the mountain?”
    “A little farther and we’ll be on the far side. The hunting
is better, and there’s a large lake we can fish.”
    “Is it safe?”
    “No one visits this forest. I’ve been going this way a long
time. We’re far from the city, and none of the villagers use this area to hunt.
I guess they’re afraid of what animals might live up here.”
    “You’ve met them?” The words tumbled from my mouth as
curiosity got the best of me.
    “I lived with them. For a while.”
    The darkness around us swelled, and my breath caught. “You
lived with Erdlanders? When? Why are you out here?” I stopped walking, shocked
by his revelation. “What are you? What happened?”
    Blackness crept closer as Tor stood with his back to me,
blocking the warm fire he held so casually in his hands.
    His voice was low when he spoke. “They said I was little
when they found me. Barely walking. They lived out in a village past the city,
farther north. They already had two children, so taking in another was easy. I
don’t remember anything before them.” He paused. The light in his hand had
dimmed, his attention focused on thoughts of the past. “I called them Mother
and Father, and when the census came, they claimed me as their own. I lived
with them until—I’d always been different. I was taller than my brother by the
time I was four, even though he was three years older than me. I learned
Erdlander when I was little, but I knew other words, too—words I don’t remember
anymore.”
    “Sualwet?”
    “No. Your words make no sense to me. It was something else.
But they didn’t like it, so I stopped, and now I’ve forgotten.”
    His shoulders slumped and he gazed down into the fire in his
hands.
    “Why don’t you live with them now?” I urged.
    “I couldn’t always control it.”
    He didn’t need to say what it was. The glow in his
hands surged, and I jumped back, startled by the flare. “Tor.”
    “It’s all right. I can control it now.”
    “What happened?” I implored, frightened.
    “They all died, Sera. They died and I ran.”

9
     
    We walked in silence through the darkness until the air
dried out and a dim light infiltrated the distance. Scabs covered my feet from
where the thongs rubbed against them. They were still bruised and blistered
from the night before, but the sandals Tor gave me made it bearable. Tired,
confused, and emotionally drained, I only wanted to stop walking. I would have
been happy with whatever food he had at the cave. Going back now would take
more time than continuing on, so I kept my mouth shut and followed.
    Tor remained quiet since our conversation, and he refused to
answer my questions. His family was dead because of the same fire that lit our
path. I should have been afraid—maybe I would have, had I been born an
Erdlander. Maybe he would’ve terrified me if I didn’t have webbed feet or
silver eyes or skin that could absorb oxygen through osmosis. Maybe if anything
about me made sense, I’d be afraid of the impossible. As it was, I was just
glad for the company.
    So he was an orphan. No family, no history, no people. Where
could he have come from? His origin confused and mystified me more than mine. I
didn’t belong anywhere, but at least I knew what I was.
    Tor snuffed out the fire in his hand when the opening of the
cave came into view. “Let me look outside.”
    I pulled back against the cave wall and watched him creep
outside. Leaning forward, I saw him scan the trees and listen to the wind.
Silence radiated from within the cave, blocking out any sound of