Read Halfstone: A Tale of the Narathlands for Free Online Page A

me out there. The woman I ride
with is trustworthy. She wants the best for us all.”
    Phelvara cried more and they hugged for some time longer. When she
finally let him go, Aldrick turned to Kaal. He stood nearby, resting his weight
on his bow and watching Aldrick with an inscrutable expression.
    “I’ll see you, Brother,” Aldrick said.
    Kaal sighed, then came and thumped him on the shoulder. “Don’t go
getting yourself into any trouble. If a ka-zchen eats you I’ll use that
girlfriend of yours for target practice.”
    Aldrick laughed. “I’ll be fine.” He mounted Tame then looked back.
“Goodbye! Tell Bree I say bye to her too, and that she should look after her
mother!” He raised a hand and was on his way.
    While Aldrick rode down the hill, fear and apprehension no longer
hounded him. He was only anxious with excitement. He was going on a journey
with a beautiful woman, a journey that would connect the life he knew to a
world only spoken of in tales and wandered in dreams, one in which magic and
mighty beasts still dwelled. Whatever else was there to discover in lands he
had yet to lay eyes upon?
    Télia awaited him at the gate, sitting gracefully upon her mare.
She had removed her hood and her flurries of hair danced gently in the morning
breeze.
    “Are you ready?” she asked.
    He glanced back at his home on the mountainside. “Yes, I am. We
ride for Farguard?”
    She nodded. “We need to make as much ground as possible under the
sun. If there are more ka-zchen about they will stalk at night, in the
shadows.”
    Aldrick took a breath. “Well then, I guess we should be on our way.”
    “Yes.”
    They began to ride. Télia led, galloping swiftly. He hoped Tame
would be able to maintain her Mare’s pace. The farm horses seldom journeyed at
a speed beyond a trot and the road would be long. Presently, Tame appeared to
be enjoying the freedom and held his own with ease.
    The immediate road north Aldrick knew well for he and Kaal had
roamed the surrounding fields and gullies as children, seeking out anything
that captured their imaginations and playing games that entertained them while
they avoided whatever chores Braem and Phelvara had set for them that day. It
wasn’t long before they had left these familiar places behind them, though, and
made their way down a rocky crag into a vast, low-lying woodland valley that
stretched far inland. The road to Farguard kept to the left, following closely
to the white sand coastline. The trees shied away from its borders, but their
branches reached far and clumps of slender leaves hung at head height around
them. Grass covered the ground where it could; a deep green in the shade while
bright and vibrant where the sun’s light touched it. It was strange travelling
through such a serene landscape when he knew such grave dangers lay ahead.
Perhaps this was all a prolonged dream.
     
     
    Very late in the afternoon, after only two brief stops to eat and
rest the horses, they came upon a great opening in the woods through which a
shallow river ran to the nearby shore. At the far side of this, across an
arched stone bridge, Aldrick could see an inn. It was a welcome sight.
    Télia drew her mare to a halt and turned to face him. “We will
rest there tonight. For us a manmade shelter will prove safer than the trees.”
    He came to her side.
    “What about the owners?” he asked. “If we are being hunted isn’t it
best we stay away from people—keep them safe?”
    “We will warn them. We will say only that there may be danger
about, not that you are hunted. If there is any trouble, they will have a
cellar to take refuge in, and I will be ready.”
    “Do we even have weapons strong enough to defeat a ka-zchen if one
does attack?”
    “I have an aera’s crossbow,” Télia said with a thoughtful frown. “With an accurate
shot it should be powerful enough to kill one. I cannot say for certain,
though.” She looked across at him. “You are the only one here who has