Read Fortress Draconis for Free Online

smiled, discovering that even those muscles ached. “Someone planted these plants. There are people about. Maybe even a village or something.”
    Resolute’s chin came up. “And?”
    “And?” Will shrugged, his shoulders sagging forward. “And, and…”
    “Think, boy,think”
    “We can take shelter with them?”
    “No, no, no!”
    “We can’t?”
    Resolute turned in his saddle and waved away Will’s question with the flick of a hand. “This is hopeless, Crow. I accepted that we might have to train him, but he’s incapable of learning.”
    Crow chuckled as his horse trotted forward and drew abreast of the two of them, trapping Will between them. “You learned these lessons, my friend, of necessity, at a younger age. You’d not been raised in the Dimandowns. He’s not a stupid lad, just a tired one.”
    “I’m too tired to be tired.”
    Crow patted him on the left shoulder. “The fields have you thinking ahead, Will. That’s good, but you also need to think back. What do the fields tell you?”
    “I’m going to have a harder time finding firewood?” Will shook his head. Something else niggled at the back of his mind.
    “You see, Crow. He focuses on himself.”
    “Easy, Resolute. Why is that, Will? Why will finding firewood be harder?”
    “No trees.” He sighed heavily, then it hit him. His head came up. “No trees because someone cut them down for firewood. No trees means no forest. No forest means no frostclaws because they like the forest.” Will glanced over at Resolute. “You tried to trick me by telling me frostclaws would be about.”
    “How do you know they won’t?”
    The youth frowned, started to point at the fields, then snarled. “I don’tknow, but it makes sense. Is that wrong? Are they going to be around?”
    Resolute shrugged. “Some, yes. There will be sheep about, some goats, cows, chickens, and horses. That’s what they will be going for.”
    “So I wasn’t wrong?”
    “Not completely, but it took you far too long to figure it out.” The Vorquelf tapped his own skull with a finger. “You have to always be thinking, always be aware. The world would just as soon see you dead as not, and legions would like to be doing the killing.”
    The Vorquelf touched his heels to his horse’s flanks and trotted ahead along the road. Before them, it curved between two low hills, then started a descent into the valley. A little breeze came up from that direction, bringing with it the hint of woodsmoke, confirming the presence of a village nearby.
    The youth looked over at Crow. “Why is he so hard on me? I didn’t do anything to him. I got him the leaf, remember? He should be thanking me.”
    The man’s eyes glittered with the last of the day’s dying light. “Remember how he said life was a mosaic?”
    “Hard to forget when he says it all the time. ‘Here’s another piece to your mosaic,boy’”
    “You almost sound like him.” Crow scratched at his bearded chin. “For Resolute, you’re a piece in his mosaic, but his mosaic is a map, a map to a goal. He wants to make sure you fit. He hopes you do—becauseif you do, he’s that much closer.”
    “Okay, I understand that, but shouldn’t he be careful with me, not being all…” Will wanted to say “cruel,” but he flashed back on thrashings Marcus had given him for little harmless things. “I mean, he’s being hard, you know?”
    Crow nodded slowly. “Always has been. When I first met him he wasn’t any easier on me. For Resolute, that piece of the mosaic has taken on a shape in his mind. He wants you to fit that shape. You weren’t quite what he expected, so he’s doing what needs to be done.”
    “But what about what I want?”
    The man laughed aloud. “Have you ever gotten what you want, Will? Do you even know what you want, beyond a bed and a full belly, maybe somemetholanth or a cup of watered wine?”
    “Yes, well, no, but…” Crow’s question shot through him and echoed around inside, emphasizing how hollow he felt. Then the warmth of the leaf slowly trickled in to fill him. “I want the