The Nomad Read Online Free

gaining mastery over the one thing most women never do learn to control,” he said.
    “And that is?”
    “Herself,” Valsavis said.
    “You are an interesting man, Valsavis. There is more to you than meets the eye,” she said.
    “There is more to everyone than meets the eye,” he replied. “The trick is learning how to look. Now then, tell me what Nibenay wants of me.”
    “I do not know,” she said.
    “Yes, you do,” he said. “Tell me.”
    Veela relented. “There is an elfling…” she began.
    “An elfling?” Valsavis raised his eyebrows.
    “Part elf, part halfling,” she replied. “He goes by the name Sorak, and he is called the Nomad…”
    Valsavis listened intently as she spoke, telling him all that she had told the king, and what the king had said in response. When she was finished, Valsavis sat in silence for a moment, digesting what he had heard, then suddenly, he got up.
    “We shall leave at once,” he said.
    “What… now? But it will be dark soon!”
    “The kank drawing your carriage does not need the light of day to see,” he said. “And your driver will be thankful not to have to spend the night waiting on the trail.”
    “How did you know I came with a carriage and a driver?” she asked.
    “I think it most unlikely you would have come all this way on foot,” he said. “And a senior templar of the Shadow King would never drive her own carriage.”
    She grimaced. “Of course,” she said. “But you said the king could wait another day, and you gave no thought to the comfort of my driver earlier.”
    “Nor do I now. I merely said he would be thankful.”
    “Then why the sudden desire to leave now?” she asked.
    “Because the elfling interests me,” he said. “And it has been a long time since I have had a worthy challenge.”
    “Perhaps,” she said. “But it has also been a long time since you have had any challenge at all. And you are not as young as you once were.”
    Valsavis moved, and suddenly two daggers thunked into the bench to either side of her, so close they pinned her robe to the wood. He had thrown them with such speed, one with each hand, that she had not even had time to react. She stared down at the daggers flanking her and cleared her throat slightly. “On the other hand, there is something to be said for the experience of age.”

Chapter One
    The door to the dragon king’s chamber swung open with an ominous creaking sound, and as Valsavis stepped through, he said, “Your hinges need oiling.”
    The Shadow King turned toward him slowly, regarding him with a steady gaze. Valsavis returned it unflinchingly. He had aged, thought Nibenay, but he looked as fit as ever, and he still moved with the lithe tread of a cat. He also still possessed the same annoying insolence. Even the Shadow King’s own templars trembled before Nibenay and found it difficult to meet his gaze. Not so Valsavis. There was an irritating absence of deference in his manner, and a complete absence of fear.
    “I sent for you—” the dragon king said, then paused, breathing heavily, as he felt a rush of incandescent agony sweep through him. The pain was particularly bad this morning. “Come closer.”
    Valsavis approached him without hesitation, stepping into the shaft of sunlight coming through the tower window.
    “You have grown much older, Valsavis.”
    “And you have grown much uglier, my lord.”
    The Shadow King hissed with anger, and his tail twitched. “Do not try my patience, Valsavis! I know that you do not fear death. But there are worse fates that can befall a man.”
    “And I am confident you know them all, my lord,” Valsavis replied casually, leaving the Shadow King to wonder if he had intended any double meaning. “Veela said you needed me.”
    “I do not need,” the Shadow King replied with irritation. “But there is a matter I desire to have resolved. It concerns a wanderer from the Ringing Mountains.”
    “Sorak the elfling, yes—and his villichi