Branches of Time, The Read Online Free Page A

strength of the musculature, the young and strong arms, the firm legs, the clear vision and acute sense of hearing.
    He ran to the mirror and rejoiced in the image it reflected. Excellent, Aldin. You make quite the handsome little soldier...
    He knelt over the cadaver. After undressing it, he dragged it to the furnace in the adjoining room. He hoisted it up to the hatch and pushed it inside. The flames devoured it. Very well . He got undressed and threw his own clothes into the fire. Returning to the other room, he put on the uniform. He wrinkled his nose at the odor. It wouldn't kill these soldiers to use a little soap every once in a while. Well, now's not the time to be too picky.
     
    As dawn broke, Aldin and the other soldiers filed onto the ancient warship. Lying on his cot, he rubbed his hands. He couldn't wait to be one of the first to leave this land.
    Freedom!
    He was finally a free wizard who could roam the lands of this world, no longer yoked to serve that homicidal maniac of a king. Just a few days' journey and then...
    The ship left the dock. Soldiers and sailors hollered at their loved ones standing on the pier. They were to be the first men to leave this land in ages. The freezing wind failed to impede the women’s determination; they waved at their men crowding the side of the ship, intent upon seeing them off until they were far in the distance.
    Aldin noticed one girl in particular staring right at him. He looked around, but the soldiers next to him were all looking somewhere else. He looked at her, somewhat uncertain, and she seemed to get angry. Then the commotion came over him: “I'll wait for you!” she yelled, trying to overpower the rest of the voices and conversations. “Come back soon! And bring me something from the Southern lands!”
    Repressing a sneer, Aldin lifted his hand to wave at her as he forced his lips into a smile.
     
    After two hours of sailing with the wind at the stern, the sailors bustled about as the soldiers chatted and drank.
    “We're there!” the look-out cried. Tridis was just a mile away. It was little more than an exposed reef but, for over two thousand years, no ship had ever been able to cross this impassible limit.
    The captain paced up and down the deck with his hands folded behind his back.
    “We're there!” he repeated to himself. All of the sailors and soldiers were now on deck, their eyes trained on the reef as it grew closer and closer.
    “What if that royal wizard was wrong? What if the barrier hasn't really been broken?” a sailor asked softly.
    “What are you saying, asshole? There's no way he could have made that kind of mistake,” another replied.
    “Yes, but...the other wizard, the one before, he said he had succeeded in doing the same thing. And nothing but a few pieces of wood ever came back from those other two ships,” the first continued.
    “You son of a bitch, are you trying to curse us?” the other accused him, coming forward with his fists raised.
    Aldin jumped in between the two men. “Relax. Don't worry. The first wizard was just an old drunk, and the king made sure to punish him good.”
    The two soldiers stared at him, suspicious, but Aldin had diffused the tension and they all went back to join the other men watching the reef as it grew closer.
    Now close to Tridis, the captain ordered them to haul in the sails and throw down the anchor. Three rowboats with six sailors and a helmsman each descended. The boats headed south over the choppy sea, effortlessly managing the waves.
    The only sound heard on the ship was the lapping of the tide against the reef and the seagulls flying above, occasionally diving into the water in search of food.
    The rowboats grew smaller as they moved further away. One mile , Aldin counted. Two miles! he counted later. An irrepressible wave of exultation chased away every dark doubt in his mind. The barrier's gone. I put an end to two thousand years of isolation. And soon, I'll be free! He wanted to jump