The Black Tower Read Online Free Page B

now.  If Ijanna was in Chul Gaerog they were all in danger, especially if she found a way to convince Dane to help her. 
    “ Where are you going?” Thaenn asked.  She and Methander both readied themselves as he rose.
    “ The gate – you said it was near the center of the city...was it in that great open square?”
    “You’re not seriously going there?” Thaenn asked.
    “I am,” Kruje said.  “ I’m going in after him.”
    Thaenn stepped in front of him.
    “ Why?” she demanded.  “ To save the life of a Dawn Knight?  Do you have any idea what they did to me and mine?  How many Bloodspeakers they slaughtered, how many they tortured and burned?”  Kruje stood watching her.  He was surprised she spoke to him like that, especially considering what he was, and what humans thought of his kind.  Surely she knew the Voss had been just as cruel to humans as the Knights had to the Bloodspeakers, if not worse.  Was she trying to sway him? 
    “ Are you finished?” he asked.  “ I admire your passion, but I didn’t ask your permission.” 
    “Go, then,” she said, and she spoke to Methander.  He gave her a comically exasperated look, but after a moment he gathered himself and stepped aside, leaving the way clear for Kruje to re-enter the night-shrouded city.  “Get yourself killed.  Because Methander and I wouldn’t help that son of a bitch if our lives depended on it.”
    Kruje started past her.  He kept his eyes on the fires.  Smoke rose into the heavens, thick and dark and smelling of blood.
    “Are you sure about that?” he asked her.  “ Because it might.  Not just your life, but all life.”  She watched him warily.  Kruje took a breath.  He felt a great weight pressing down on him.  Too much, this was too much.  His life had become one trial after another, and he was sick of it.  “ I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore,” he said.  “ I don’t want to die, and I don’t want my people to die, even if they’ve turned their backs on me.  If Ijanna or any of the Skullborn are allowed to carry out their so-called destinies, it will mean the end of them, of everyone.  The Veil will be no more, and while the world will be freed from the yoke of Nazarathos’ control everything we know will come to an end.”  Kruje felt himself shaking, and he balled his fists so tight it was a wonder his fingers didn’t crack.  “ If that’s the only way, then so be it...but if there’s even a chance that Ijanna is wrong, if there’s some alternative to wiping everyone out in order to save them, then I think I owe it to those I once loved to try and find it.” 
    Kruje breathed deep.  It was a relief to be speaking these truths to someone who understood his words.  He laughed bitterly to himself – Kruje couldn’t believe that after so many years of conflict he , the failed Prince, the outcast and exile, would be the one who’d be forced to stop the Skullborn from resurrecting the Janus Tree. 
    Maybe this is my purpose , he realized with mournful resignation.  The reason I was cast out, the reason I was sold into slavery and forced to fight for my life until I met Dane.  He’s my salvation once my task is done, assuming I have strength enough to take it. 
    “ I don’t understand,” Thaenn asked him.  “ How...?”
    “There’s no time to explain,” Kruje said, not with anger but exhaustion.  “ I could use your help, but if you’re not going to provide it then I need to move on.  I’ve wasted enough time here.”
    Kruje started walking.  He was just leaving the shell of the building when Methander’s arm caught on his massive wrist.  The Bloodspeaker looked at Thaenn and asked her a question.  She said a few words to him, and Kruje even recognized some of them.  “Insane,” was one.  “Help,” was another.
    “ You won’t get far on your own,” Thaenn said after a moment.  Methander watched him, no longer with anger but curiosity.  “