Read Gemworld for Free Online Page B

protest—either by voice or by vomit—Jaren said, “You can eat it, or I can pour it down your gullet. I’m not going to eat it anyway, so you may as well save your strength.” The look in his gemstone eyes brooked no argument. Left no choice, Sal grudgingly accepted the bowl, trying his best to ignore the quivering in his stomach.
    “If you gentlemen would excuse me?” Jaren said a little too cheerfully, and walked over to the cell bars.
    “Where’s he going?”
    “To feed,” Reit said, pausing over his bowl to scowl after Jaren in envy .
    “Lucky minta ’ hk ,” Retzu grumbled around a mouthful of slop.
    Sal stared bewilderedly. “Then why did he give me his bowl?”
    “He’s an emerald,” the twins said in unison.
    Whatever in the heck that means , he grumbled silently. Glancing once more at Jaren, now standing with his eyes upturned to the sun, Sal glumly returned his attention to the bowl.
    As was swiftly becoming the routine, the remaining three sat down after breakfast to let their food-and their complaining bowels-settle. Neither brother seemed much in the mood for talking just yet, so Sal turned his attention to Jaren, still standing by the bars and staring straight at the sun. “Must’ve been here a long time,” he said to himself. “Gonna burn his eyes right out of his head.”
    “Beg your pardon?” Reit said, finally stirring, though more out of discomfort than out of interest.
    “Jaren,” Sal indicated his friend. “I said he looks like he’s been here a while.”
    “Three weeks, maybe four. He came just a few days after I did. Treason, officially.”
    “Treason?” Sal looked sharply at Reit.
    “Oh yes. Treason Against The Highest, same as me, though my circumstances differ slightly. Not terribly uncommon. Around here, any form of original thought could be considered treasonous, and may the Prophets help you if you speak out openly against the Highest. You’re lucky if they don’t run you through on the spot.”
    “I take it that this ‘Highest’ is your ruler?” Sal meant it as an innocent question, but what he got was far from an innocent answer.
    “No man rules me,” Reit snapped. “I was born free, raised free, and I’ll die free. The one thing in this life that a man can truly call his own is freedom, his ability to determine his own place in the world.” He suddenly grew quiet, trying to contain his emotions. His voice adopted a keen, deadly edge. “The Highest may bear the Crown of the Mainland, but I’ll be damned if I’ll ever bow the knee to him.” He leapt to his feet and stalked off, mindless of the prisoners ducking out of his way.
    “Don’t mind him, mate,” Retzu said, still reclining on the dirt floor. “He’ll cool down and be back to his...’cheery’...self in no time. He’s just a bit sensitive about certain issues. Being in here certainly don’t help matters much.”
    “Issues, huh?” Sal left it at that, and decided that a change in direction was in order. “What about you?”
    “Me? I have no issues,” Retzu laughed. “Every day can be filled with sun, if viewed properly.”
    Sal was doubtful, but wasn’t going to take that tangent. “What I meant was, why are you in here? Does it have anything to do with his charge?”
    “Murder, mate,” Retzu said, winking mischievously.
    Sal kept his face carefully neutral. “Did you do it?”
    “No, which is precisely why I’m in here. ‘Insubordination’ is my charge, though the definition may fit it a little bit loosely. My guild, the Fellowship of the Silent Blade, dispatched me to eliminate a certain target. When I refused, I was summarily stripped of rank and immunity, and left at the mercy of the Mainland Courts.”
    Silent Blade? “You’re an assassin,” he said with an odd mixture of awe and revulsion.
    “One of the best.”
    “But you refused a mission. Why?”
    Retzu lazily looked over at Reit, leaning on the side wall that was not stacked high with bodies. “You might