Read Sasharia En Garde for Free Online

in
opera.”
    “You’ve been a good friend,” she said gently.
    “So what’s the bottom line here?” Roger asked. “What happens
if you go to L.A. and get swept off to some mystery place? Though I can’t
really believe it. Even the king is easier to swallow.”
    Sun rubbed her hands up her arms, which she’d kept in
fighting shape, though she’d ceased to let herself believe she’d see Math
again. Nor had she—quite—believed he was dead. Her one steady conviction over
all these years was that she couldn’t bear to go back, to search, to discover
there was no hope. She’d hoped he would find them. Like he’d sworn, on his
honor, on his heart, before he pushed them through the Gate back to Earth.
    And left them there.
    She wiped her eyes. “I can’t answer that. Maybe I’ve been
weak. Chickenhearted. Trying to outrun the past.” She drew in a long, steadying
breath. “But one thing I can promise you. I’m going to find whoever it was who
grabbed Sasha, and I’m going to kick them from here to Pluto. Because even if I
don’t rate many points as an ex-princess, nobody, nobody messes with Mom.”

Chapter Five
    “Tell me more about these flyspecks?” Zathdar asked
presently. “In your world, the flyspecks on a written record signify someone
chosen for a great quest? Or signify someone who chooses to thwart a seeker?”
    “‘Chosen’ by the writer.” I laughed.
    He just looked puzzled.
    The two of us were alone. The siblings had dashed off, Devli
pausing only to grab the mug from my fingers. Until he asked his question, we’d
just sat quietly, me with my eyes shut as I did my yoga breathing in an effort
to get rid of the last of the headache.
    I sighed, not wanting to explain that I had actually missed
Sartorias-deles terribly, so much that I had read every fantasy I could get
from the library, and later, the bookstore. Most of those books were
delightful, making me wonder if the writers secretly saw another world and just
hid it behind the guise of fiction, for whatever reason. I’d read for escape,
and also for answers, hoping someone would have a story set here, though I had
never encountered one.
    To tell the truth, I’d badly wanted to come back, all my
life. But I wanted to come back to Dad, and a happy existence, like my early
childhood. I did not want to be taken back without my consent, especially to be
thrown into what was beginning to sound like the same mess we’d escaped—only
worse. Because Dad was still missing.
    Zathdar regarded me with that puzzled look. I did not want
to talk about my dad to a pirate. So what was the previous subject? Oh yeah,
apostrophes. “Even when you love the stories, when you read a lot, sometimes
certain, oh, what we call in English ‘tropes’ tend to show up over and over. I
guess some writers read them when young, and think they have to use the same
ones. Like the flyspecks in names.”
    Zathdar nodded, to my surprise. “The same can be said for
ballads, and certain types of music. Yet we listen even so, past the familiar,
for whatever it is that draws us.” He tilted his head. “Sounds like Devli and
Elva are almost ready.” He got to his feet, and as I followed him into the
bigger chamber, he smiled back at me. “The search perimeter won’t have reached
this far yet but that assurance will become less trustworthy as time passes.”
    “Ready.” Devlaen pounded in, lugging a knapsack full of
jutting corners. Magic books, obviously.
    “Ready.” Elva appeared from the other direction, a bag over
her shoulder. She held an armload of clothing, which she thrust at me.
    Since they were all standing there, I slipped the voluminous
shirt over my T-shirt, and pulled on a wide-waisted coarse-woven riding skirt,
hiding my jeans. The skirt promptly tried to fall off.
    Zathdar’s mouth quirked as he undid the Day-Glo green sash
and handed it to me. The silk was warm from his touch. “And this makes me less noticeable?”
    All three nodded, Zathdar’s