The Black Tower Read Online Free

stone walls and fallen statues, moved through shadows and thick clouds of red-black mist as the night continued to cool and the sky darkened.  The moon was huge and green, but even the pale glare seemed incapable of piercing the gloom. 
    They eventually came to a low building missing one of its short walls; the black roof was partially caved in, and all of the windows and doors looked to have been blasted away.  Kruje’s body was layered in sweat, and he was more fatigued than he’d thought.  It had been hours since he’d stopped moving and running and doing everything he could to keep out of sight, and the amount of effort required to stay hidden had proved exhausting.  His limbs were stiff and his back was sore, and though he’d managed to find a large spear he still felt largely defenseless. 
    The sounds of combat slowly bled back into the air.  Kruje, Thaenn and Methander spied more of Chairos’ red-cloaked Phage soldiers in the central city square, doing battle with the mercenaries who until recently had controlled the city. 
    They hid in a shattered building.  The furniture inside had been blasted away and the mortared walls were falling apart.  Thick drifts of red dust piled high like bloody snow.  Skeletal remains jutted from the sand, and discarded weapons and fresh bodies were everywhere.
    Thaenn led Kruje as deep into the building as he could get and then asked him to sit and rest.  He tried not to make it too obvious just how relieved he was to do so.  Every inch of his body hurt, and despite the adrenaline Kruje wanted to collapse and sleep for a month, but he knew he’d get no sleep just yet.  He coughed, and tried to keep his eyes open.  He still didn’t entirely trust his Red Hand companions, or any humans for that matter, all save one.
    The one I’d planned to betray.  If only he weren’t the Dawnslayer.  I must have truly angered the J’ann in some prior incarnation for them to keep heaping these piles of shit on me like this. 
    Methander stood watch near the opening, a shadow against the blood-black sky.  He seemed young even for a human, with his unshaven face and wild eyes, and he carried himself like a soldier.  One hand remained on the hilt of his shoulder-slung longsword while the other remained free so he could to draw on his Veil energies, and he watched Kruje with a wary eye.
    Such is your right, Kruje thought.  My kind were responsible for all of this devastation.  All of these bones were left here by us, and we barely had to lift a finger.  There were times when Kruje truly hated being a Voss.
    Thaenn pulled her hood back and sat down opposite Kruje in the wide and vacant room, her features largely shaded from sight.
    “So ,” she said, still speaking Voss, “ what did you mean earlier about forming an alliance with us?  Do you need help finding your friend?”
    Methander barked something under his breath without looking at Thaenn.  Kruje’s command of the human tongue was horrible, but he’d picked up a few words, as it happened he understood the phrase “Don’t talk to that thing” perfectly well. 
    Though his instincts told him he was being foolish, Kruje needed all the help he could get, so he told Thaenn his tale, starting with being sold to Maddox and ending with his and Dane’s capture at the hands of Mazrek Chairos.  He explained everything he knew of the Skullborn, those children of the Blood Queen destined to bring her back to life in an effort to destroy the Unmaker...that part came as something of a shock to the young woman, but she nodded for him to continue even though she was obviously skeptical. 
    He left out his suspicions about who Dane was, and what Kruje would have to do if he was right.  That darkness he kept to himself.
    In the end Kruje got the sense that she believed him, which was a relief.  She seemed to explain bits and pieces to Methander, and he gave Kruje a doubting look. 
    “ Vlagoth’s power was too great to be