Read Tyler's Dream for Free Online

“Hargill! Do you now regret the blow you dealt me with your sword? I feel I will enjoy watching the Dhimori’s army find you. I will laugh as they rip out all your bones—”
    “Shut your babbling and listen, ghatu.” Varkon’s grin faded, and he straightened in his box. “You know as well as I that shortly we will both be killed.” Varkon’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits. Hargill took a step closer towards the bars. “What will happen when your friends find you? When they see you trapped like this?” Hargill tapped the solid bars with the blade of his sword. “Is it not true that ghatu starve to death once they are too old or sick to forage for themselves? That the underweight and weak are abandoned? That those born deformed are simply cast away?” Hargill paced around the cage as he spoke, forcing Varkon to rotate to keep his adversary within sight. “I know why it is so rare to capture a ghatu, Varkon, as do you.” Hargill smiled. “You should have died rather than allow yourself this humiliation. You have no honour left.”
    Varkon growled dangerously but did not interrupt.
    “Behind your defiant attitude and sneers, I can sense your fear. They will torture you most horribly before they let you die.”
    Varkon turned away. “Well, Hargill,” he said roughly, obviously affected by Hargill’s words, “I am as good as dead. Now tell me, what is the real reason for this conversation?”
    “I want to give you another path.”
    Varkon remained with his face to the darkness.
    “Take this boy to Ithrim. Do this, and I shall free you from this cage. You will live. Varkon, I know what sign you carry – you have failed on that path now. This is another way.”
    Varkon spun back around with a laugh. “You might as well sentence me to death.” He then looked at Tyler as if for the first time, and he grimaced with disgust.
    Tyler returned his look with equal levels of repulsion. Hargill is out of his mind, he thought.
    “You are more stupid than I realised,” snapped Hargill irritably. “Accept my request and retain a chance at life, or commit suicide now by refusing it. Decide .” Varkon snarled, his proud face contorting with uncertainty for the first time. “So be it,” Hargill turned to walk away.
    The creature said, “Wait.” Hargill paused. “I will do it. I will take the boy. Although I am simply exchanging one death sentence for another.”
    Tyler could barely believe what he was hearing. “Hargill! This thing is an animal. I saw the murder in his eyes.”
    “I will trust him,” said Hargill. “First, because I have no other choice in the matter. Second, because I know more about his kind’s ways than you might think.” He offered Tyler a reassuring smile and then strode back to the cage. “Swear you will protect this boy until he has safely reached Ithrim. Swear by your name, your honour – your R uilk .”
    Varkon stirred. His fathomless eyes lit dangerously.
    “How do you know about that ? The Ruilk is sacred knowledge Hargill Rohorn. Not even She or the Dhimori have the knowledge.”
    “Ignorant ghatu! You have no idea.”
    “What is a Ruilk ?” interrupted Tyler. He was going to put an end to the questions. There had been far too many for his liking, and he had just about had enough.
    “Yes, I’d better explain,” said Hargill hurriedly, as though he could not speak the words fast enough for his liking. “It’s important you know, Tyler, because you must trust one another. Although the ghatu are savage brutes—”
    Varkon snorted. “We regard you mukwa similarly.”
    “– They may be trusted if they swear by their Ruilk . It is engrained in a culture that stretches back through the eons to the tsu, Razik Hakru, who ruled a great many years ago. Perhaps Varkon will tell you more about him later. For now, understand it is an irrevocable oath which must be fulfilled no matter the cost. It is the ghatuan’s idea of a soul.”
    Varkon gave three, slow claps. “I will