From Light to Dark Read Online Free Page B

head.
    Dark World disgusted him. From what he had seen in the past two and a half days, it was a jumbled mass of dumpy little homes in the darkest places possible, all surrounding one large tree in the center of the world. That tree had great roots that, in some places, rose high enough out of the ground to create an enormous pavilion beneath them.
    Dark People clambered to the awkward pavilion throughout the day, not marching in an orderly line as Light People did, but scrambling over one another like fire dogs for a treat.
    Something fuzzy scurried past Balor’s leg, and he jerked away. Through the bushes, a long, thin creature slipped away, its green fur blending in with the swampy growth of the land.
    “This way,” a man’s voice spoke, just a few yards from where Balor stood. “We need more men at the Pyre.”
    “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
    Balor ducked under a large, red flower that spiked out of a thorny, green branch. He peered at the men who walked by.
    One was a tall man in a black uniform with silver buttons on his breast. The other was smaller, much younger, in a gray uniform with no buttons. Both men were shorter than Balor by a foot and covered in thin hair. Their complexion was an unhealthy chalk white.
    “Did an invader really come through?” the younger man called out, tripping over vines and roots. He kept falling behind the taller man.
    “Two.”
    “But how can that be?”
    “No idea. We’re setting up guards at the Shade and at the Pyre.”
    “Man. Why can’t we be stationed at the Shade? It’s so much nicer th—”
    “They have plenty of people already. Come on.” The older man pressed through branches without looking back at his young companion.
    “But what if one of the invaders finds us?”
    The taller man stopped. He didn’t turn around but faced the vines as he spoke. “We kill him.”
    “But what if—”
    “Before he kills us.”
    The smaller man gulped and shuddered but didn’t say anything else. They moved on through the brush.
    Balor followed at a safe distance. If they were on the guard to capture Balor and Eref, then Balor was at an advantage if he could listen to their plans unobserved.
    He didn’t have far to go. Within five minutes, the men stopped. They had brought him back to the place where he landed in Dark World: a large tree that stank of burned wood and bodies.
    So this was what they called the Pyre.
    Balor found it interesting that Dark People used fire in their world. He had always thought the cowards were afraid of it.
    “Lieutenant Matboc and Ensign Higrads reporting.”
    The two men saluted a female who wore several silver buttons on her black uniform.
    “At ease.” The woman’s body hair was just as pasty white as theirs, and she was even shorter. More white hair grew from the top of her head, and it hung in a tight group at the back of her head, like a tail.
    The taller man listened while the smaller man shifted from one foot to the other, glancing around him, apparently in a minor panic.
    “We still haven’t located the invaders, Matboc,” said the woman, her voice quiet and icy. “They’ve asked me to set everyone up for a long-term watch in case one of the interlopers comes back here, intending to return home. Take these flamethrowers.”
    She handed the men two weapons that looked like small cannons.
    “Why here?”
    “Put these on,” the woman said. She handed Matboc round glasses like Balor’s. But why would Matboc need special vision? From what Balor had observed, Dark People could see even in complete blackness.
    Still, Matboc placed the glasses over his eyes and walked with the woman. They went closer to the burnt tree, and she pointed up at the sky. Balor leaned forward to see what they were looking at.
    There, what seemed like miles above, in a tiny glimmer, the bright blaze of Light World peeked through. That must be the hole through which both Eref and Balor had fallen.
    So Matboc’s glasses didn’t help him see in the