Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

Karamanganji i , who held the tightest bond.
    If he comes back , he thought.  If.
    “There,” Jade said. 
    The Rakzeri vessel tilted back and forth as freezing ocean wind batter ed the underbelly of the ship.  Everyone held onto support bars or the backs of the seats.  Weapons and armor lined both walls of the vessel, and various gauges, valves and scopes littered the ceiling like plumbing pipes.  The unstable floor made Kane’s stomach turn, but he held on with muscular arms lined with tattoos – eyes, blades, suns, pyramids, crescent moons – and tried to balance the weight of the blades and the HK45s on his shoulder harness. 
    “Fly much, Maur?” he laughed.  “I’m about to lose my lunch if you keep up your Red Baron shtick …”
    “Maur will ignore that comment,” the Gol replied.   “ That is lucky for you, because if he hadn’t you would get out and walk.”
    “That m ight be safer,” Ronan laughed. 
    “You girls are funny,” Sol smiled.  “Now shut up and keep your minds on business.”
    “Maur should warn,” he shouted back, “that he can easily open the bay doors and dump all of you out.”
    Kane walked up next to the cockpit , a small metal recess surrounded by tubes filled with hydraulic fluids and heating pumps that kept the vessel’s interior atmosphere bearable even in adverse weather conditions.  The pilot’s seat was pressed tight against the forward plating, and there were so many panels, monitors and dials it was actually difficult to look through the forward window and see what was in front of them .  Jade stood directly behind Maur, and as Kane came close she pointed again.
    “Look,” she said, and her voice was frightened. 
    The terrain ahead looked like any beach along that stretch of the coast .  Metallic white fog rolled along the bleach white sands and half-buried rock formations. 
    But about a klick ahead of them was a wide expanse of dark ground surrounded by a crumbling circle of black pillars. A n unmistakable air of power gripped the area, a faint and shimmering black ice glow.
    “There’s something in there,” Jade said.  “Something that’s hidden from plain sight.”
    “Can you…you know…scout it?” Kane asked.  “With your spirit?”
    “I’m sort of hesitant to do that ,” she said quietly.  “Something isn’t right here . ”  She took a breath and nodded.  “But you’re right…that’s what needs to be done.” 
    T he air twist ed and stiffen ed as her spirit shifted away from her body and exited the craft .  Jade’s feet lift ed off the ship’s floor .  White light shone from her eyes.  Kane heard cold whispers, a winter’s breath.
    Up ahead, t he space within the pillars shifted .  Pale sands burned to black and twisted in to the sky in a tangle of ink-dark coils . Pulsating pockets of light appeared in the darkness, a shine of frozen stars. 
    “Whoa, ” he said.
    The darkness rose .  T endrils of shadow joined together in a wide arc .  A shifting archway of dust rose up , and in just a matter of seconds it stood a hundred feet high .  T he space within the arch was like a cold dark mirror filled with choking vapors. 
    Kane looked through the massive lens and saw more of the desert and the sky, but everyt h ing was saturated in an air turned charcoal: the sand was black, the sky was an onyx slate , and the birds were twisted , like scars .  Soiled wind howled from within the arch and blast ed shards of razored darkness onto the pale sand.
    Kane’s eyes were lost in th at vision.  He knew he stared into another world.
    Moments after the gateway appeared it exploded , and fell back to the desert floor .  Only a wide circle of charred ash remained .
    “Jesus…” Kane breathed.  “PLEASE tell me I wasn’t the only one who saw that!”
    “What the hell?” Ronan breathed.  Sol looked like he’d seen a ghost, and Maur was visibly shaken.
    “Jade?” he asked.
    Jade shook all over.  She held herself as