Read Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 5 - The Cerulean Storm for Free Online Page A

hurt him?” chuckled a fourth giant. “What did Tay do-slip on the blood when he stomped it?”
    A storm of laughter erupted behind the outcrop, and Rikus knew he had seriously
     underestimated the number of giants attacking the plantation. Apparently, while Yab and
     Tay chased down the escaping paupers, most of the war party had remained behind to destroy
     the farm itself.
    Rikus looked back to Tay. “How many warriors in your group?”
    “Eight,” Tay said. He smirked at the mul.
    “We'd better run for it,” Rikus said. He stepped away from Tay, pulling the windsinger
     along with him.
    “No!” boomed Tay. “Stop!”
    Rikus looked up and saw the giant's hand descending toward their heads, balled up in a
     tight fist as large as a shield. The mul shoved Magnus in one direction and dove in the
     other lay's fist landed between them, cracking stones and raising a plume of orange dust.
     In the next instant, they were both on their feet and scrambling over the rocky ground at
     their best sprint.
    It took a dozen steps and two more close calls before they were safely out of the crippled
     titan's reach, and even then they continued toward the far end of the valley at their best
     pace.
    Magnus came over to Rikus's side. “Should I send for Sadira now?”
    Before answering, the mul glanced over his shoulder. Yab was stepping out from behind
     Rasda's Wall, no longer carrying his shoulder satchel. Behind him came another giant, much
     larger than either him or Tay. This one wore a black shawl draped over one eye.
    “Call her,” Rikus said. “But tell her not to do anything until she sees eight giants. If
     we let any of them escape, it could take days to track them down.”
    The windsinger nodded, then a soft, lilting strain rose from deep within his throat. So
     perfect was his breath control that his voice betrayed no hint of strain, even though he
     was still running. As Magnus repeated the message, air whirled around the windsinger's
     head with a hushed, melodic hissing that sounded to the mul like whispering ghosts.
    Magnus completed the message, finishing with, “To my brother the parching wind I commit
     these words. Carry them to the ears of Sadira and no one else.”
    An eerie silence replaced the hissing of the wind. Then Rikus saw a series of dust-whirls
     skipping across the desert as Magnus's spell streaked toward Tyr.
    The mul and the windsinger ran another dozen steps before boulders began to crash down to
     all sides of them, filling the air with flying chips of stone and the mordant smell of
     powdered rock. A billowing cloud of sand and dust engulfed them, and Rikus heard Magnus
     cry out. The windsinger slammed to the ground amid a mad clatter of rocks.
    “Magnus!” Rikus called, whirling around.
    “Here,” came the reply. Through the clearing dust, Rikus saw Magnus pushing himself to his
     knees. “It just glanced off me.”
    Rikus went to the windsinger's side and took his arm. “Can you still run?” He helped his
     big friend to his feet.
    “Perhaps a little slower than before,” Magnus replied, looking back toward the farm. “But
     we'd be wiser to duck.”
    Following his friend's gaze, Rikus saw Patch, Yab, and five more giants charging past Tay.
     The titans were all struggling to retain their balance, having launched another flight of
     boulders while on the run. The jagged shapes were already descending toward the mul and
     his companion.
    Rikus dropped to the ground and covered his head. A tremendous crack sounded ahead as a
     boulder smashed into a huge, half-buried stone and shattered it. A jagged shard of basalt
     scuffed Rikus's back, then he heard the boulder clattering across the rocky ground and
     felt warm blood flowing down his ribs.
    “Can you stand?” asked Magnus, clasping his huge hands around the mul's waist.
    “It's just a scrape,” Rikus said, struggling to get his feet underneath him. He looked
     toward the giants and saw