Frostborn: The Gorgon Spirit Read Online Free Page B

few moments for that to sink in.
    “The Traveler,” said Ridmark. “He’s coming to Vhaluusk.”
    Mara nodded, her face tight. “He might be here already.”
    “How do you know?” said Calliande. 
    “I can hear him,” said Mara. “No, that’s not quite right.” She searched for the words. “Since my…change started, I’ve been able to sense the auras of powerful dark elven lords and wizards.” Ridmark and Gavin nodded. “My mind interprets it as a song. A beautiful, compelling song. That’s why the urvaalgs and the ursaars and the other creatures of dark magic have to obey the dark elven lords. They hear the song…and it makes them want to obey. They do it willingly. Joyfully, even. I have my own song now, which is why they cannot compel me.” She shook her head, frowning, and Jager stepped to her side and took her hand. “But I wander from the point. The Traveler’s song, my father’s song, has been changing.”
    “Changing how?” said Calliande. 
    “I wasn’t sure at first,” said Mara. “I’ve only been able to hear the songs since I escaped from the Iron Tower. And in that time, the songs I could hear – the Matriarch, the Warden, the Artificer, and my father – they stayed in the same place. Then my father’s song started to change. I thought he was casting a spell, or working some great sorcery. When you came back to the camp just now, Gray Knight, you were talking…”
    “And my voice changed as I drew nearer,” said Ridmark.
    “Then I understood,” said Mara. “The Traveler’s song changed because it wasn’t really a song. It was an aura, and he was moving. He’s coming closer, and I think he’s coming here.”
    “For you?” said Ridmark.
    “Perhaps he simply wishes to meet his new son-in-law,” said Jager.
    “The Warden failed to recognize what you were,” said Arandar, “and that undid all his work. Perhaps the Traveler has not made the same mistake.” 
    Mara shook her head. “I doubt he even knows that I am still alive, and he would not care if he did. Something else has brought him forth.”
    “It must be something of grave import,” said Arandar. “In all the history of the High King’s realm, the Traveler has never ventured forth from his stronghold of the Nightmane Forest.”
    Jager snorted. “Yes, such a long history the High King’s realm has.”
    Arandar scowled, but Caius spoke first. “If you will forgive Master Jager’s flippancy, sir knight, he does have a point. Malahan Pendragon came to this world from Old Earth a thousand years past. My own kindred have dwelled here for thirty times that. And the high elves and the dark elves…who can say how long they have warred? You heard what the Warden shouted at Ardrhythain during their duel. A hundred thousand years, or perhaps longer. Who can say what the Traveler has done in the past?”
    “True,” said Mara. “But Sir Arandar has a point. My father is a coward.” She said it without rancor. “He will never put himself at risk if he can help it. That is why he has ringed Nightmane Forest with warding spells and surrounded himself with an army of orcs and urvaalgs. He has not left Nightmane Forest in the last millennia because he fears the outside world. Something dire must have driven him forth at last.”
    “If not you, then what?” said Ridmark, but Mara only shrugged.
    “Dragonfall,” said Calliande, her voice tight. “My staff. The power of the Keeper. That has to be it. Why else would the Traveler come to Vhaluusk? He must have realized that Dragonfall and the staff of the Keeper are within Khald Azalar.” 
    “Not even Shadowbearer knew where you had concealed your staff,” said Ridmark. 
    “The Warden knew,” said Mara. “Maybe the Traveler figured it out as well.”
    “He must not claim it,” said Calliande. “That power cannot fall into his hands.”
    “He won’t,” said Ridmark. “Not if we get there first. Then the Traveler can beware.”
    “Of what?” said