Blaze (The High-Born Epic) Read Online Free

“Oh, okay,” she said as she walked toward the house.
                  Harold began pumping the well and filling the pail in front of it.
                  “What did the trap line and hooks look like, Coop?”
                  “We got a squirrel and two fish,” he answered.
                  “It’s better than nothing,” Harold replied.
                  “Yep, sure is,” he said with his brown eyes looking up at Harold.  “You got most of the field done,” Cooper continued as he looked behind them at the backyard.
                  “Almost,” he said as he scrubbed his feet.  “I’ll be able to start on Jim’s field by lunch tomorrow.”
                  “Then we’ll go to the river?” Cooper asked.
                  “Maybe, we’ll have to wait and see.  Did you see anything interesting today?”
                  “Well, I saw some High-Born gunships flying around those skyscrapers.”
                  “Yeah, I saw them too, but I think those were just air taxis, not gunships.  Did you see anything in the woods?” Harold asked as he continued washing off.
                  “Yeah, I caught a frog and scared Ollie with it,” Cooper grinned.
                  “So that’s why she was soaking you when I came out,” Harold said.
                  “Yeah, I sorta’ deserved it,” Cooper shrugged.
                  “Alright, go on in.  I’ll be there in a minute.”
                  Cooper then ran toward the back door, and Harold scrubbed his arms while looking at Scape.  His strange ears were straight up on his head and his stark, green, cat-like eyes regarded Harold thoughtfully.  Scape always reminded Harold of Jim’s blue healer except his coat was completely black.  His cattish tail wagged back and forth rapidly as he looked at Harold.
                  “You’re such a good boy, Scape,” Harold said as he reached down and rubbed his head.  Scape made a half-growl, half-purr as he pushed his head into Harold’s hand.  Harold smiled when he thought about how Scape had gotten his unique name.  Most folks thought that he had been one of Colonel Foxx’s tree-climbing, hunting dog experiments that had not gone quite as expected.  Many of the older town’s people said that he was too gentle for Colonel Foxx’s taste and had probably gotten away from the colonel before he could kill him.  People said that he had escaped, and when Ollie had been younger, she could not say the word escape.  So, she had called him Scape back then, and he had responded to her.  The name stuck and though he did wander around Foxx Hole and its surrounding woods, he stayed at their house most of the time.
                  Scape’s strange ears rotated towards the High-Born city, and he stuck his head up, regarding something.  Harold looked at the city, it was not dark yet, but he could see the little squares of light that covered the buildings.  Soon, each and every building would be lit up and there would be less red and blue streaks zipping to and fro, but the ones that were left would be all the more brilliantly colored in the dark as they striped the night sky. 
                  Harold then looked towards Colonel Foxx’s mansion.  The workers had stopped for the day and he could see the dinner guests starting to arrive.  Colonel Foxx often had company and always put on a good show for his guests.  There were all kinds of vehicles.  In the limited education that the High-Born allowed, he had read about different types of engines.  Some of the wealthiest High-Born had an affinity for antique gas engines, and a few of them were revving up the engines for the other onlookers.  There were some vehicles that looked like gas-electric hybrids, but most of the sleek body designs hinted at being