Forest of Ruin Read Online Free Page B

stripped from them. I am not particularly opposed to life under the emperor. We feel he often forgets us, likely because we have little to offer but snow and ice, but he does send warriors to protect against the tribes, and wagon trains of rice to sustain us during the long winters, so I offer him my fealty and learn his language. Others do not.”
    Ashyn went to examine the bandages around Ronan’s neck. The assistant jumped then, as if to stop her, but halted at a word from Edwyn.
    â€œIs the wound closed?” Ashyn asked.
    â€œYes, it has been sewn. The problem is the loss of blood.”
    â€œThen he needs fluids. Water may not replace blood, but it does aid in its replenishment.”
    â€œYou know healing, child?”
    â€œMostly from books. Battle healing is one of a Seeker’s responsibilities.”
    â€œAh, I will admit that I know little of your position. There has never been a Seeker in the North. It is an imperial custom.”
    She turned, frowning. “But it’s not a custom . Moria and I hear the second world, at least when the spirits choose to communicate. I can soothe spirits and Moria can banish them. That is not merely training.”
    â€œPerhaps, but it is not the gift of every twin girl either, is it? Only those the empire allows to survive.”
    Ashyn nodded and turned back to Ronan. The empire was a place of both kindness and cruelty. Right now, she needed to focus less on that and more on her immediate corner of it.
    â€œHas he woken to receive liquids?” she asked.
    â€œNo, he has yet to regain consciousness. Which is the problem with replacing his fluids.”
    She leaned over and laid her hand on his forehead, clammy and cold beneath her fingers.
    â€œRonan?” she said. “It’s Ashyn. Can you hear me?”
    No response.
    â€œIf you are conscious but too weak to open your eyes, can you let me see you move?”
    Still nothing.
    â€œHe is deeply unconscious,” Edwyn said. “We have not witnessed so much as a flutter of movement since he first passed out.” He said a few words in another language to the woman, and she nodded, confirming that.
    â€œHe is as well as he can be, child,” Edwyn said. “Now, if you’ll return with me to the other cave, I will answer your questions and tell you what we have planned. Then you may come back here and sit with him.”
    â€œIt’s real then,” Ashyn said, running her fingers over the eye socket of the dragon skull. It protruded from the wall, as if mounted there, but upon closer inspection, it was indeed embedded in the stone itself.
    â€œIt would be difficult to manufacture such a thing,”Edwyn said with a dry laugh. “Although, to be honest, people have tried. We’ve been summoned to verify remains of dragons, only to discover they’re bones from an ancient cave bear or even parts carved from soapstone. But something of that scale, I assure you, is impossible to fake.”
    He was right. The eye socket alone was as big as her head, and she had to reach up to touch it. The teeth were each larger than her handspan. Some were missing, and she could feel wear on the intact ones, less sharp after a lifetime of ripping apart prey. She shuddered at the thought. Moria had told her about their horrific fight with the thunder hawk, and this creature would be larger still. One chomp of its great jaws . . . Ashyn might not have her sister’s imagination, but she could still picture a man sliding down that massive gullet in a single swallow.
    â€œHow old is it?” she asked.
    â€œAges.”
    Ashyn smiled. “Moria will be disappointed. They were selling dragon eggs in the city, and I could tell she was tempted. She might know they’re simply pretty rocks, but still . . . the possibility . . .”
    â€œYes,” he said, returning her smile. “That possibility keeps many a shady merchant in business. They are very pretty rocks,