Read The Dawn of a Desperate War (The Godlanders War) for Free Online

burrowed into his belly. He took a slow breath to fight away the feeling and asked quietly, “What do you mean?”
    “It’s the puzzle that dragged me here. I’m supposed to be dead, you know.”
    “Aemilia had hinted at it, but she never said as much outright.”
    “She never liked to lie. Not where you could catch her at it, anyway. She was a good woman. Is it true you two were an item?”
    Corin sighed. “Would they have let me come here otherwise?”
    Jeff shrugged. “I haven’t understood them for more than a century. But I suppose I see your point. They wouldn’t let you do what needs doing, but they would break a dozen strictures for the sake of a forbidden love. That sounds like their style.”
    Corin blinked at the bitterness in Jeff’s tone. He looked the druid up and down, considering his options. A man with such animosity toward the Council might prove useful.
    While Corin was still thinking, Jeff picked up the trail of his earlier comments. “I’ve . . . I guess I’ve been in hiding for a while. But I keep an eye on things. When I saw the news about Aemilia, I had to check it out. And one question kept nagging at me: How’d he find her? After all this time, what brought Ephitel to one of ours now ?”
    Jeff might as well have punched him in the gut. Corin grunted and dropped his head. “I did. I killed a Vestossi—”
    “That’s not enough. He didn’t need a motive , man. He needed a means . Ephitel’s been gunning for our people ever since he murdered Oberon. We have the resources to evade him.”
    “And?” Corin asked. “You seemed to think you’d found an answer.”
    “It never really occurred to me that the time travel stories could be true. But if you’ve been out of time, then Jessamine could probably track you. You’d be an anomaly of sizable proportions.”
    “Gods’ blood,” Corin spat. “What’s a Jessamine?”
    “A woman,” Jeff said, showing the ghost of a smile. It vanished before he continued. “One of ours, actually, until she went over to the other side.”
    “One of yours? A druid cast her lot with Ephitel?”
    “Yep. The only one across more than a thousand years.”
    “And she can track me?” Corin swallowed hard. Before he had befriended her, Aemilia had certainly shown up a time or two in inconvenient places. She’d had no trouble tracking him across Hurope, thanks to the disturbances created by his use of Oberon’s power. It had been bad enough when the druids’ Council were the ones keeping track of him. Now he learned Ephitel could do it too? He clenched his fists and asked through gritted teeth, “Why has no one mentioned this before?”
    “They don’t like to think about her,” Jeff said. “Same as me. They like to pretend the world still works according to their strictures. Like Oberon is still running the show.” He shook his head in disgust. “Probably never crossed their minds. She’s been out of sight for decades now, so they’ve forgotten all about her.”
    Corin whipped his head left and right. “Aren’t we in danger here, then? If she can track me, I could lead her straight to th e circle.”
    “Not a chance. The megaliths themselves warp reality far beyond anything you can do. You’re a needle in a haystack here, but step outside the circle, and you’ll be more like a pin on a map. You’ll have to watch your back.”
    The hairs on the back of Corin’s neck stood up, but he didn’t answer right away. He considered it. He’d been a hunted man all his life, after all. Nimble Fingers learned to keep their wits about them on the run, and pirates thrived on it. He took a deep breath, thinking, then shook his head.
    “It’s not so bad as that,” he said. “I was here three months before she found me. If I keep moving—”
    “Do it careful,” Jeff said. “Hide in crowds. Mix with other outlanders if you can.”
    Corin barked a sarcastic little laugh. “You mean like elves?”
    “That would be perfect. Know