Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers Read Online Free Page A

warming him. 'You must take it slowly,' Keera told him. 'You have only had milk and water for the last few days.' But she raised the spoon again and he swallowed the contents gratefully. Then a terrible thought occurred to him.
     
'What's in this?' he asked. 'It's not . . . buffalope, is it?'
     
She shook her head. 'Don't worry, it's rusa. The little warrior has warned everyone in the village that the buffalope is special and anybody who harms him will answer to his sword. We saw the Golmiran fight – nobody here is in a hurry to cross swords with him.'
     
Sebastian smiled. 'He's only little but he fights like ten men,' he said. 'Mind you, you're no mean fighter yourself. I saw you take on those two creatures . . . what is it you call them? Golgath?'
     
'Gograth. Our mortal enemies.' She stared thoughtfully into the bowl of soup. 'They grow in numbers all the time,' she said. 'And day by day they venture closer and closer to the village.' She seemed to make an effort to put her thoughts aside and gave him another spoonful of soup.
     
In his haste to swallow the contents, Sebastian made a loud slurping noise. 'Sorry,' he said, licking his lips.
     
'That's all right. Amongst the Jilith, it's considered good manners to slurp your food.'
     
'Really?' He managed a smile. 'Then my buffalope, Max, must be considered the best-mannered creature of all.'
     
Keera laughed, displaying even, white teeth. 'I have never heard a beast that can talk like him! The children of the village are afraid to go near him because he is so magical.'
     
'There are many words I'd use to describe Max,' said Sebastian. 'Magical isn't one of them.' He opened his mouth and accepted another spoonful of soup. 'How do your people come to be living in the middle of the jungle?' he asked.
     
She shrugged. 'It is where we have always lived. Not in this same village – we move around from time to time.'
     
'What makes you move?'
     
'There can be many reasons. Perhaps the hunting becomes bad and we have to move in search of fresh game . . . perhaps the water supply dries up . . . or perhaps the Gograth grow too strong and threaten to wipe us out. The elders of the tribe are saying that we should move soon, before they mass together and finish us for good.'
     
'Why would they do that? I mean . . . what harm are you to them?'
     
Keera gave him a last spoonful of soup and then set the bowl aside. 'It's not about harm. It's about a grudge that goes back to the beginning of time. There's a story about how in the ancient days there were two tribes in the jungle and the gods decided to grant one tribe the gift of intelligence and beauty and to curse the other to be beasts for all eternity.'
     
Sebastian smiled. 'It's easy to see which tribe was blessed with good looks,' he said; and Keera lowered her eyes, made suddenly self-conscious by the remark.
     
'I do not know if this is a true story,' she told him, 'but that is supposed to account for the Gograth's hatred of us. They are jealous of the gift we were given. And ever since, it has been their intention to destroy us.'
     
'And could they do that?'
     
Keera sighed. 'A few moons ago, I would have said no. The Gograth were spread out in little groups all over the jungle.
     
They were bad enough but they had no real strength. Then General Darvon came along.'
     
Sebastian frowned. 'Who's he?'
     
'A Gograth with high ambitions and just a little more brains than the rest of them. He's been going around uniting all the little bands into one big army. He's made it clear that he believes there's room for only one tribe in the jungle. He claims that he can talk to the ancient gods and they have commanded him to destroy the Jilith.'
     
'And people believe that?'
     
'You've seen the Gograth,' Keera said. 'Did they strike you as creatures with a lot of intelligence? They believe what they're told. I suppose we could move on, but they'd no doubt follow us. You know, I was pondering the matter when we chanced