Eternity Road Read Online Free Page B

devil-may-care aspect, softened by luminous blue eyes and a warm smile.
    “I hardly knew Karik Endine,” she said. “My brother made the trip north with him nine years ago. After Master Endine came home, I asked him about my brother.” Her listeners stirred uneasily. “I came away with the sense that he was in as much pain as I. I always loved him for that. He was, I think, the most unfortunate man I’ve known. But he did what he could to ease the suffering of a child he barely knew.” The wind was loud in the elms. She stepped down.
    Flojian thanked her and asked whether there was anyone else. There was not. “When the ceremony is concluded,” he said, “Karik welcomes you to stay.” The priest came forward, drew down the Tasselay banner, folded it reverently, handed it to an aide, and took the torch. She held it over the cookfire until it caught, and gave it to Flojian with a whispered admonition to be careful. Flojian now delivered the ritual appreciation to his father, thanking him for the sun and the river and all the hours of his life. When he had finished, the priest intoned a prayer to Ekra the Traveler, who would convey the departing spirit to its next life. They bowed their heads. When the priest had finished, Flojian touched the torch to the pyre.
    Within seconds, it was engulfed in flames. Chaka looked away. Goodbye, Arin , she said, as if the final link to her brother were being cut.
    Afterward, they retreated into the house, exchanged toasts through the afternoon, and talked a lot about how they would miss the deceased. Chaka had a light tolerance for wine, and she was getting ready to call it a day when a short, stout man with a neatly clipped gray beard put a drink in her hand. “You said exactly the right things, young lady,” he said.
    “Thank you.”
    She understood immediately from his formal bearing and precise speech that he was an academic. He was about sixty, probably one of Endine’s colleagues. “The rest of us babbled like damned fools,” he continued.
    She smiled at him, pleased.
    “We’re going to miss him.” He tasted his wine. “My name’s Silas Glote. I teach at the Imperium.”
    The name sounded familiar. “Pleased to meet you, Master Glote.” She smiled. “I’m Chaka Milana.”
    “I knew Arin,” said Silas.
    She recalled where she had heard the name. “He was in one of your seminars.”
    “A long time ago. He was a fine young man.”
    “Thank you.”
    Flojian came up behind them, nodded to Silas, and thanked them both for their comments. “I’m sure,” he told Chaka, “he was delighted.” This was, of course, a reference to Karik’s spirit.
    “It was true,” she said.
    Flojian managed a smile. “Silas was invited to go on the expedition.”
    “Really?”
    “I have no taste for the wilderness,” said Silas. “I like my comforts.” He turned to Flojian. “How far did they actually get? Did he ever tell you?”
    Flojian saw three empty chairs around a table and steered his guests toward them. Toko, his ancient servant, brought more drinks. “No,” he said, passing a cushion to Chaka. “He didn’t talk about it. Not a word.”
    “How about the map?”
    “I never saw a map. I don’t know that there was one.” He took a deep breath. “The tradition has always been that it was to the north. On the sea. But what sea?” He rolled his eyes. “Well, it hardly matters.” He looked toward Chaka. “Silas blames himself for not going.”
    “I never said that.”
    “I know. But I can hear it in your voice. And you do yourself an injustice. Nothing would have been different. Except one more would have died. I suspect you refused him for the same reason I did.”
    “He asked you to go?” Silas blurted the question, and then realized the implied insult and tried to regroup by suggesting that Karik would not have expected Flojian to be interested.
    “It’s all right, Silas. He was relieved when I passed on the idea.” Flojian’s voice dropped to a