The Last Guardian Read Online Free Page A

Daggers would be hunting him.
    “Why you?” Pashad had demanded the previous night. “Why can your god not use someone else? Why must you throw away your life?”
    “I do not know, Pashad. What can I say?”
    “You can give up this foolishness. We will move to Balacris, put this nonsense behind us.”
    “It is not nonsense. Without God I am nothing. And the king’s evil must be opposed.”
    “If your Lord Chronos is so powerful, why does he not strike the king dead with a thunderbolt? Why does he need a shipbuilder?”
    Nu shrugged. “It is not for me to question Him. All I have is His. All the world is His. I have been a temple student all my life—never good enough to be a priest. And I have broken many of His laws. But I cannot refuse when He calls upon me. What kind of a man would I be? Answer me that.”
    “You would be a live man,” she said.
    “Away from God there is no life.” He saw the defeat in her dark eyes, saw it in the bright tears that welled and fell to her cheeks.
    “What of me and the children? A traitor’s wife suffers his fate—have you thought of that? Do you wish to see your own children burning in the fires?”
    “No!” The word was torn from him in a cry of anguish. “You must get away from here, beloved. You must! I spoke to Bali this afternoon, and he says you can go to him tomorrow night; he has something for you.”
    They had talked for more than two hours, making plans and then Nu had gone to his tiny prayer room, where he had knelt until the dawn. He begged his god to release him, but as the dawn streaked the sky, he knew what he had to do …
    Go to the temple and speak against the king.
    Now he had—and death awaited him.
    “Are you eating or drinking, Highness?” asked the housekeeper.
    “What? Oh. Wine. The best you have.”
    “Indeed, Highness.” The man bowed and moved away. Nu did not notice his return or the jug and goblet he placed on the table. The housekeeper cleared his throat,and Nu jerked, then delved into his purse and dropped a large silver coin into the man’s hand. The housekeeper counted out Nu’s change and placed it on the table. Nu ignored the money and absently poured the wine; it was from the southwest, rich and heady. He drained the goblet and refilled it.
    Two Daggers moved into sight beyond the window, and the crowd parted for them, people jostling and pushing to avoid contact with the reptiles.
    Nu averted his eyes and drank more of the wine.
    A figure moved into the seat opposite him. “To know the future is to be assured of fortune,” he said as he spread out a series of stones on the table.
    “I do not need my future read,” replied Nu. But the seer swept up two small silver pieces from the change on the table. Then he scattered the stones.
    “Pick three,” he said.
    Nu was about to order the man away when the two Daggers entered the room. He swallowed hard. “What did you say?” he asked, turning to face the newcomer.
    “Pick three stones,” the seer repeated, and Nu did so, leaning forward so that his hood fell farther over his face. “Now give me your hand,” ordered the seer.
    The man’s fingers were long and slender, as cold as knifeblades as he studied Nu’s palm for several seconds.
    “You are a strong man, but then, I need no special skill to see that,” he said, grinning. He was young and hawk-faced, with deep-set brown eyes. “And you are worried.”
    “Not at all,” whispered Nu.
    “Curious,” said the man suddenly. “I see a journey but not over water, nor yet over land. I see a man with lightning in his hands and death in his dark fingers. I see water … rising …”
    Nu wrenched his hand away. “Keep the money,” he hissed. He looked into the seer’s eyes and saw the fear there. “How does a man travel and yet not move overland or water?” he asked, forcing a smile. “What kind of seer are you?”
    “A good one,” said the man softly. “And you can relax, for they have