Read A Whisper After Midnight for Free Online Page B

matter how dark the night becomes.”
    She reached out and squeezed his offered hand before riding to the front of the column.
    “I don’t believe I just heard that come from your mouth.”
    Dorl narrowed his eyes on his oldest and best friend, Nothol Coll. “Just had to open your mouth and spoil the moment, didn’t you?”
    “I had to open my mouth to vomit,” he replied with laughter. “If I didn’t know better I’d say she had your balls in a little pouch around her neck.”
    Dorl, angered, pointed an accusing finger. “Just you listen up, I can take a fair amount of abuse from you, friend , but I draw the line when it comes to her.”
    “So she can’t abuse your ears?” Nothol asked.
    “You know damned well what I mean!”
    Laughing harder, Nothol held up his hands. “Relax, Doral. I’m only playing and you know it. What are friends for, right?”
    “They’re not for this. I can tell you that much.”
    “Nonsense.” Nothol stopped laughing. “We’re heading deep into it here, my friend, and I need to know you’ve got my back just like before. We can’t trust too many of the others, in case you haven’t figured it out. That means we need to stick together no matter what. I don’t mind helping out on an important cause and all but I’m not ready to give up my life for it just yet.”
    “When have you ever been willing to die for something not your choice?” Dorl asked, still upset with how easily Nothol had crossed the boundary.
    “I never have and I doubt I ever will, but if what the wizard says is even half true then we might have a real shot at immortality.”
    “Now you want to live forever? I don’t get you. You’re starting to talk like that crack pot old man,” Dorl said, shaking his head.
    Nothol reached out and smacked him on the back of his head. “No, stupid. Ain’t nobody can live forever. I’m talking about my name. How many future generations will look back on our deeds and say, ‘There was a true hero! A selfless man.’ Think about it, Dorl. We have the chance to become heroes.”
    Dorl couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Nothol Coll was normally a reserved and prudent man, now he talked like Skuld at the beginning of the quest. Dreams of treasure and greatness had filled the young boy’s head, at least until they ran into trouble and he saw how wrong he’d been. Now Skuld only hoped to make it home alive. And Nothol suffered from delusions of grandeur.
    “Heroes die young,” he finally said. “I’d like to live awhile longer if it’s all the same.”
    Nothol shrugged. “Now, later. What difference does it make? In the end we all go back to the dirt and fade away.”
    “Have you been drinking?”
    “Not yet. I didn’t know we had anything left,” Nothol replied.
    Frustrated, Dorl spurred his horse forward to confront Anienam on filling his best friend’s head with nonsense. Nothol watched him go, pausing only to glance up at the wagon. He found Skuld looking back at him. The blank look on his face told Nothol everything. Suddenly disturbed, he looked skyward. Not sure what he’d find, he searched the grey clouds for answers, truths, for any sign that he was making the right decisions going forward. His eyes focused. Is that? Perhaps I’m too tired. Long nights in the saddle have robbed me of my senses. But I know what I saw. Three dark specks drifting into the clouds . We’re being watched!
     
     
    “Are you certain?” Boen pressed.
    The gentle cackle of their fire filled the background of the small vale they’d camped for the night in. Everyone gathered after a brief meal of old bread, dried meat, and what was left of a wheel of white cheese. Now they listened to Nothol explain what he believed he’d witnessed a few hours earlier.
    He nodded. “Absolutely. They were much too large to be birds, even the great condors of the higher peaks.”
    Bahr poked at the fire with a blackened stick. “What do you make of this, wizard?”
    “It could be