Read Aster Wood and the Blackburn Son for Free Online

Killed so many.
    Not Rhainn. Not Rhainn.
    Each moment I was away from him my worry grew more unbearable. I jumped again and again, desperate to make my destination and find those who could help. I was certain that the boy was suffering. And it was my fault.  
    When I finally landed in the outskirts of Stonemore, in the center of the small valley, I fell to my knees with relief and exhaustion. I had run from Cadoc in these hills, just outside the city wall.  
    But after only minutes of rest, I was back on my feet. Rhainn might not have much time left, might be already dead, and I couldn’t let myself stop now. Now was not a time for rest.
    Still, I approached Stonemore with caution. I had no idea what awaited me behind those gates. Had Kiron and Owyn survived after Cadoc? What about Chapman, the little round Almarian who had helped us break into the dungeons? If they were gone, or dead, who would I turn to?
    The threat of that great army besieging the town would be enough, I told myself, no matter who remained. They would arm themselves, prepare for the battle. And in the process the children would be saved. Somehow.
    I stood up straight as I looked over the city from the surrounding hills. I would be brave. The very least I could do was to force myself to be as brave as Rhainn had been.  
    For a time I watched the front gates, which were swung wide. People came and went, and though I searched and searched, I didn’t see a single guard watching the entrance to the city or patrolling the wall. While it would certainly be good news if The Shield was no longer pacing the gray streets, it seemed to me that some sort of caution would still be in order. Was nobody watching over the city?
    But after a half hour of observing, and still seeing no hint of authority, I decided to take my chances. I moved out from behind the trees and began walking towards the gate, trying to look casual and confident with each step I took, the whole time willing my heart to stop beating so fast. As I approached, a handful of people passed me. Each smiled widely, nodding their heads to me in greeting. I tried to mirror their smiles, to look like them, happy and friendly. It must have worked because by the time I stood at the threshold to the city, nobody had seemed to take much notice of me at all.  
    I stepped into the street through the unguarded gate, and what I saw took my breath away.
    Color. Everywhere. Where once the dull, gray buildings had all looked indistinguishable from one another, now they each burst with color, the personalities of their inhabitants painted in broad strokes on the outer walls for all the world to see. I walked down the lane in a daze, feeling that I had reached my destination but had remained lost at the same time.  
    My urgency seemed to slip away as I watched children run through the street, laughing and chasing each other. Thoughts of Rhainn evaporated as I studied the merchants, lined up along the outer wall of the city. Smiling widely at the people passing by, they occasionally shouted out advertisements for fish or vegetables to those who carried shopping baskets. Not a single guard crossed my path. I let the wave of people lead me all around until finally, as it had before, the stream of traffic turned down a main boulevard towards the center of town.  
    I was in awe. Too in awe to question what I was seeing, or the sudden lightness I felt after so many weeks of darkness. Flower boxes lined nearly every one of the windows above, and the vibrant colors of spring shouted from each tiny bed. On the street, two pretty brown-haired girls caught my attention. They stood on the edge of the lane, their frilly dresses fluttering carelessly in the breeze, and one of them pointed towards me and giggled. I smiled, my cheeks flushing. I smiled back at the one in pink, thrusting my hands into my pockets awkwardly, as I ambled by.
    Something was tickling at the back of my brain, like I had forgotten something important that