Quest for the Moon Orb: Orbs of Rathira Read Online Free Page A

asked.
    “Because animals cannot talk to humans ,” Nikura said in his snootiest tone yet.
    Karma wasn’t so sure about that.  Princess Lariah was able to communicate with animals, but she didn’t think now was the time to bring that up.  Instead, she told King Rhobar what Nikura had said, leaving out the Sphin’s tone.
    “We have a legend that speaks of a woman who can speak with the Sphin,” King Rhobar said.  “It is said that she had other gifts, special gifts, that were unique to her alone.” 
    “What gifts?” Karma asked, sensing that King Rhobar was waiting for the question.
    “They varied,” King Rhobar replied vaguely.  “Do you have other unusual abilities?”
    Karma nearly laughed.  He refused to be forthcoming with her, but expected her to tell him her own secrets?  Not hardly.
    “Good decision,” Nikura said.
    Karma frowned down at the Sphin but decided not to engage in further conversation with him at the moment.  She’d had enough of the spotlight.  She glanced back up at King Rhobar, the expression on his face reminding her that he had asked her a question. 
    “That may depend on what one considers unusual,” she hedged.  “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
    “No, I do not mind,” King Rhobar replied, smiling reluctantly.  There was something about this young woman that he liked, in spite of the glimpse of prickles and spines he’d just gotten.  Or because of it.
    “What exactly is a Techu ?”
    “Where did you hear that word?” King Rhobar asked.
    “Nikura,” Karma replied.  “I asked him why I could hear him when no one else could, and he told me that if I were a Techu and had a...something...it would make sense, but as I didn’t, he didn’t know.”
    King Rhobar studied her for so long that she began to get uneasy.  “A Techu is one who speaks for the dead,” he said finally.  “We have not been graced with such for many generations.  Too long, in truth.  A Ti-Ank is the mark of a Techu.  Literally, it means staff of life .”
    Karma’s heart skipped one beat, then another as her breath froze.  She had almost expected that he would say something like that, but hearing the words was far more frightening than thinking them.  Karma knew that King Rhobar was going to get suspicious if she didn’t say something soon, but she couldn’t force herself to breathe, let alone speak.
    Suddenly the door burst open, startling Karma into breathing at last.  She stared as a tall, dark haired man with pale blue eyes marched into the room.  He wore a red pleated kilt low on his hips, leather sandals and an open leather vest.  The pleats of the kilt were split from the middle of his thighs to his knees, the bottom edges of each pleat trimmed in gold so that they swung with each step he took.  His sandals were dark leather with thick soles, and long ties that wrapped around his calves.  The vest was dark like the sandals, and decorated with myriad symbols.  The man also wore wide bands of gold around his wrists, and a golden torc around his neck.
    Karma had seen naked men before.  Not many, but enough that she knew what they looked like.  Aside from a normal curiosity about the opposite sex when she’d been a teenager, she’d never felt much one way or the other about men’s bodies.  Some were nicer to look at than others, but she’d never had a physical reaction to seeing a man before. 
    Until now.  As she watched the man enter the room, the long, hard muscles of his legs flowing beneath the smooth, golden brown skin, she felt something in her belly tighten.  Her mouth went dry as she gazed at the broad shoulders, the arms bulging with muscle, the flash of flat brown nipples displayed when the vest shifted as he walked.  She raised her eyes to his face and very nearly gasped aloud.  Never in her life had she thought of a male as beautiful before.  Until now.  There was simply no other word to describe this man.  In her eyes, beautiful was the