Read Falling Hard (Veronica's Secret) for Free Online

passed out against the cold hard wall of stone.
     
     
    The next morning Aaron’s head ached. He stumbled out of the crack in the rock in search of the stream he’d seen on his way there.
    Once he found the stream, he ripped his clothes off and dove into the chilled water. It wasn’t deep. The smooth rock bottom of the streambed kept him from drowning himself in his misery. After scrubbing himself practically raw, he drug his aching body out of the stream and pulled his clothes back on.
    Aaron didn’t want to face another lonely day of walking, but he knew if he wanted to find Nayla, he had to keep moving. So, he grudgingly dragged himself back over to his pack, grabbed a snack for the road, and headed for Atarris.
    The sun and wind dried him quickly. The early mornings were cool in the Kingdom of Palinna. Once the sun rose above the mountains to the east, the temperature would warm considerably.
    The plains of Palinna were beautiful. The mountains appeared to be purple in the shadows before the sun crested over them. The grass was greener and lusher than any of the other plains regions. The soil was the most fertile too, but not much of it could be farmed in these times. The trees towered over the ground like fluffy green clouds.
    “It’s a shame no one can look at all of this anymore ,” Aaron said to no one. “We’ve got to do something about the groll attacks.”
    That night he saw signs that he was nearing the city. He knew that meant it would be sometime the next afternoon before he would reach it on foot, so he found a place to sleep before the sun went down.
    Considering himself lucky to not have run into any grolls, Aaron found a nook inside a bed of bushes to burrow into. He drifted immediately to sleep, dreaming of finding Nayla safe inside the city.

Chapter 11
    Thick clouds rolled in overnight, casting deep shadows across the plains. Aaron guessed the storm would hit him within an hour, so he ate quickly, and left.
    He ran as much as he could stand to run. After just a short time, the downpour began. The water made his pack feel as heavy as a boulder. Mostly, he tried to keep his eyes on the ground to keep from tripping in the mud.
    Once in a while he would look up to make sure he still headed in the right direction. One time he looked up and a splash of yellow caught his eye.
    Three people trudged through the mud ahead of him. Two were clearly men, one was a woman dressed in yellow. They moved slower than he did ; the girl looked too exhausted to move very fast.
    “Hey there,” Aaron yelled ahead.
    The three of them whipped around. The woman was Nayla. “Aaron?” she yelled over the pounding of the rain.
    Aaron charged ahead until he could reach out and embrace his sister.
    Her eyes were rimmed in red. “I thought you were dead! We couldn’t find your body.”
    “I’m sorry, Nayla. I’m so sorry. I ran off that night. I wasn’t even there.”
    The two guards looked nearly as relieved to see him as she did. The two people they were hired to keep safe were both still alive.
    “Let’s keep moving,” commanded Aaron. “We need to get back to the Atarris before more grolls find us.”
    Aaron and Nayla walked hand in hand while one of the guards walked in front and the other behind. Progress slowed as the rain continued to muddy the landscape.
    What Aaron thought was late afternoon came, and their pace slowed. The sky grew darker, and the storm raged harder. They could only see ahead of them by the light of the lightning flashing through the sky.
    So intent were they on putting one foot safely in front of the other that the snarls of the grolls nearby caught all four of them completely by surprise.
    Nayla screamed. The three men grouped themselves around her. Four hairy bear-like men surrounded them. They stood at least a head taller than all of them, and their fingers ended in massive claws.
    “What a surprise,” one of them growled. “Just the one we were looking for.”
    Aaron had never