Adventurers Wanted, Book 4: Sands of Nezza Read Online Free Page B

happening in Nezza from him.
    Alex mounted his borrowed horse and spoke a few soft words of encouragement to the animal before turning south and trotting into the darkness. Once he determined that he was far enough away from the arch that he would not meet any more soldiers, he turned east and urged the horse into a gallop.
    As the eastern sky began to lighten, Alex could see the dark shapes of hills in front of him. He had paused to scan the land ahead of him, making sure that there were no soldiers he needed to avoid, when he felt something out of place. It felt like someone or something was watching him. He looked back along the path he had followed but saw nothing. He moved forward, his senses alert and his magic ready, just in case.
    The sun was just up when Alex stopped his borrowed horse at the edge of a clearing. A fine-looking house stood on the south side of the clearing with a barn and a chicken coop close by. Alex hoped this was the house of the retired adventurer, Joe Savage, and not just some lonely farm. Dismounting, he removed his saddle from the horse and rubbed its forehead gently.
    “Return to your master,” Alex said softly, patting the horse’s neck. “My thanks to you for making a long journey short.”
    The horse whinnied, then turned and walked back to the east.
    Alex yawned. He’d been awake for a long time, and a few hours of sleep would be helpful. He looked at the house for a long time. Once again he felt like he was being watched, and once again he was unable to find a reason for the feeling. He grew more and more uneasy. There were no lights to be seen and no smoke from the chimney. There were no animals in the barn or the coop. The front door of the house hung at a strange angle, as if it had been knocked in with a great deal of force.
    Something bad had happened here, Alex was sure of it. A chill ran through him that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Chapter Three
    The Hermit
     

     
    Alex stood in the shadow of a large tree, watching the farm for several minutes. Nothing moved. He guessed that whoever had lived here had either been taken away or had run away when the trouble came. Whatever had happened, it looked like Alex’s one hope for learning more about Nezza was gone.
    After several more minutes of watching and seeing nothing, he decided to take a closer look. He might find something that could help him, but Alex’s hopes weren’t high.
    Carefully Alex moved forward, looking at the ground and watching for tracks that had been left behind. He’d learned something about tracking on his previous adventures, and what he saw now troubled him. It looked like a dozen horses, possibly more, had visited the house. The tracks were at least a week old, but the story they told was clear. Soldiers had come, stayed for a short time, and then left.
    “It looks like they took everything they could carry with them,” Alex mumbled as he moved toward the house.
    A dirty boot print on the broken door meant that the soldiers had not come peacefully. They were looking for someone or something and hadn’t waited for the door to be opened. That was bad. Alex knew that no adventurer would go quietly if soldiers turned up and kicked in the door. There would be a fight, even if it was a short one.
    Pausing outside the door, Alex sniffed the air, but all he could smell was dust and old wood. Carefully he pushed the door out of his way and stepped into the house. There wasn’t much to see. Chairs had been knocked over and left on the floor, and a fine layer of dust covered everything.
    Moving farther into the house Alex froze in his tracks and raised his staff. He’d thought for a moment he’d seen someone else in the house, but when his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he realized it was just his reflection. A huge mirror, the bottom of which had been shattered, covered the wall to his left. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward.
    There were no signs of a fight. It looked, at least to Alex,