Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows Read Online Free Page B

mineral taste that colored anything touched by the sand. I
licked my fingers as thoroughly as the Luminous when I was done,
and relished the warmth the liquid made in my belly when I drank it
down. I smiled, then caught Axon watching me and turned away.
    The night passed uneventfully and as quiet
as a desert night could be. Bats flew by the moon casting larger
than life shadows across the sleeping group. Insects hummed and
somewhere a hissing tam voiced a warning after being rudely woken
from sleep. An animal barked in the distance, the sound lonely and
haunting as it resonated off the cooling red sands. I took comfort
in the desert sounds, reasoning that the animals wouldn’t be so
loud if the Sathen were near.
    I thought of my parents, something I did
when I found myself alone and lonely even though I was surrounded
by people. I had never known who my mother or father were, which
one was the Luminos and which the Nathos, or what they thought when
they realized my mother was pregnant. All I knew was that they must
have loved each other very much to risk being cast out if their
relationship was ever discovered.
    Per the law of the Caves, any child born of
a coupling between a Luminos and a Nathos was taken away and forced
to be a slave as their Duskie heritage required. I wondered if my
mother had fought for me, or if my father had told her it was for
the best. I wondered if they still saw each other, or if giving up
their child had been too painful.
    I could only hope that they loved each
other, and that somehow they could find happiness together despite
the prejudices of our world. The hope calmed me as I searched the
dark desert for danger, the sword an unfamiliar weight against my
side and the cushion a small comfort from the still-warm sands on
which I waited.
    The next day passed in much the same way,
Dathien carrying me as I slept, hard rolls, cactus fruit, and dried
meat for dinner, washed down by flat water from the skins. The
Luminos talked quietly among themselves as they settled down for
night. I ignored them like they ignored me, a quiet understanding
forming between us that as long as we were both left alone,
everything would be fine.
    I settled in the lower branches of the
twisted desert tree where Dathien had fastened the end of my chain
and stared out at the gathering night. “Take care,” a voice spoke
near my shoulder.
    I turned to find Axon watching me, his face
weary and covered in the dust of the desert. He gestured toward the
sands beyond the side of the tent. “My men saw dust a while back
and are worried about Sathen. They shouldn’t find us, but keep a
sharp eye all the same.”
    I glanced to where he pointed. “I don’t know
if the thought of me defending anyone is going to save us if Sathen
really attack.”
    Axon shrugged, his lips touched into a smile
at the corners. “Then think the Sathen away,” he said. He settled
with his back against the trunk and closed his eyes.
    I stared at him, then turned back to the
desert. The soft rise and fall of seven breaths lulled me into a
peaceful calm while I studied the dunes. I fingered the blade at my
belt and wondered if I would be of any use with the strange weapon
if I ever had to use it. I breathed in the cool night air, a
pleasant counterbalance from the barren heat of day. A faint breeze
blew tiny wisps of sand from the tops of the dunes.
    The moon rose in the distance, a pale orb
that cast soft light upon the land and washed it from red to gray.
My Duskie eyesight, as keen as the Nathos at night, took in the
slight scurry of beetles and faint, winding tracks left by hissing
tams during the heat of the day. I enjoyed the simplicity of
sitting in a twisted tree, free with my thoughts, surrounded by
people who at least didn’t seem out to hurt me, and to finally be
away from the Caves.
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    The silence of the night just before dawn
caught my attention. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear any of
the sounds I had learned to