Read A Thread of Time: Firesetter, Book 1 for Free Online

are here at our doorstep.  I’ve heard terrible
things about the army and what they do to people like us.”
    “Don’t speak such nonsense.  Those are
only rumors meant to cause us fear.”  My mother served Taul a portion of fish
from the pot of soup on top the stove. I liked this recipe very much.  It was
one from the motherland, handed down from her grandmother before.  “Everything
is fine, Jan.  Eat your fish and then take a portion next door to your cousin. 
Ailana says he fares poorly and this soup will give him strength.”
    “I want to hear about the Duke of
Korelesk,” I protested, reluctantly rising from my seat to prepare a bowl for
Amyr. 
    “I have nothing more to say,” Taul
replied, sharing a knowing look with Mother.  Obviously, there was more, but
they didn’t want me to hear.
     
    Amyr had been sleeping when I knocked upon
his door, so I returned to my own table a few moments later, having left the
soup with Aunt Ailana to eat herself.  Taul was speaking in hushed tones, while
my mother's face had gone even paler than before.
    “The other dukes have small armies, if
they have an army at all.  None can compete with Korelesk’s strength if he
tries to take the crown.”
    “We may have to return to the motherland,”
my mother murmured fretfully.  “We won’t be safe anywhere else.”
    “I'd rather go to outer space,” Taul
declared.  “I will join a merchant ship, and fly far away to a distant star. 
Then, I will send for you.”
    “Not I.  I have no desire to go.  Better
you should send the aliens to stop Korelesk before he kills us all.”
    “What about you, Jan?”  My brother turned
to me.
    In the meantime, my mother rose, her eyes
panning across my face.  Would I fly away to another world with Taul, or would
I return to the motherland, a distant continent across the sea?
    “I don't want to go to outer space
either,” I declared, imagining a world of endless nights.  It would be cold and
frightening out there, flying through the darkness to distant stars.  Perhaps,
it was even filled with strange alien beings who might enslave us and treat us worse
than the Duke of Korelesk.  “I would rather go to the motherland.  I’ve heard
it is green and fruitful, and the waters are always filled with fish.”
    “Where did you hear that?” Mother asked,
now setting Taul’s dessert before him.  It was a handful of berries diligently
gathered from the forest.
    “Amyr said so.”
    Watching Taul eat his berries, I wished I
could have a few.  There weren’t enough though, as it was still too early in
the spring.  Only Taul got such a prize because his visits were so few, but
next time, when he was far across the stars, all the berries would be for me.
    “Amyr.”  Taul sniffed and shook his head a
little, rolling his eyes, while sharing a knowing glance with Mother.  “What
else does our fanciful cousin say of this land he has never been to, nor
couldn’t see if he had?”
    “Nothing,” I murmured.  “Nothing else at
all.”
    In truth, Amyr had told me much of our
peoples’ former home, describing it as if he had lived there long ago.
    “You shall like it there, Jan,” he had
told me.  “There you shall find a man to love you, a man like you.”
    I believed him, for Amyr only spoke the
truth.
     
    Taul left the next day, and as usual when
he departed, my mother wept for an entire week. 
    “Where do you think he will go?” I asked
Amyr, arriving at his side with a fresh bowl of fish soup.  “Will he come back
or will he die in outer space?”
    Amyr frowned and supped the broth.  I
could tell he was feeling better this day, as he was sitting upright, and there
was a slight pinkness to his normally wan cheeks.  Like me, his skin was pale,
but unlike me, his hair was as black as night, making an interesting contrast
that seemed to give pause to all who met him.  Today, his hair glowed as if the
sun was shining singularly upon him, and his eyes were