A Rule of Queens (Book #13 in the Sorcerer's Ring) Read Free Page B

was
real and what was her food-starved consciousness. Gwen saw canoes, dozens of
them, emerging from the dense jungle canopy and heading out, on the rolling
sea, toward their ship. She caught a glimpse of them as they approached, and
she was surprised to see not the Empire race, not massive warriors with horns
and red skin, but rather a different race. She saw proud muscular men and
women, with chocolate skin and glowing yellow eyes, with compassionate,
intelligent faces, all rowing to greet her. Gwen saw Sandara looking at them in
recognition, and she realized that these were Sandara’s people.
    Gwen heard a hollow thumping noise on the ship,
and she saw grappling hooks on deck, ropes being cast, locking to the ship. She
felt her ship change direction, and she looked down and saw the fleet of kayaks
towing their boat, guiding it on the currents in the opposite direction of the
Empire city. Gwen slowly realized that Sandara’s people were coming to help
them. To guide their ship toward another harbor, away from that of the Empire.
    Gwen felt their ship veering sharply north,
toward the dense canopy, toward a small, hidden harbor. She closed her eyes,
filled with relief.
    Soon Gwen opened her eyes to find herself
standing, leaning over the rail, watching her ship getting towed. Overcome with
exhaustion, Gwendolyn felt herself leaning too far forward, losing her grip and
slipping; her eyes widened in panic as she realized that she was about to fall
overboard. Gwen grasped at the rail, but it was too late, her momentum already carrying
her over the edge.
    Gwen’s heart pounded in a panic; she could not
believe that after all she’d been through, she would die this way, plunging
silently into the sea when they were so close to land.
    As she felt herself falling, Gwen heard a sudden
snarling, and suddenly, she felt strong teeth biting into the back of her shirt,
and she heard a whining noise as she felt herself being yanked backwards by her
shirt, pulled back, away from the abyss, and finally back onto the deck. She landed
on the wooden deck with a thump, on her back, safe and sound.
    She looked up to see Krohn standing over her,
and her heart lifted with joy. Krohn was alive, she was overjoyed to see. He
looked so much thinner than the last time she’d seen him, emaciated, and she
realized she had lost track of him in all the chaos. The last time she’d seen
him was when he had descended below deck in a particularly bad storm. She
realized now that he must have hidden somewhere below deck, starved himself so
that others could eat. That was Krohn. Always so selfless. And now that they
were nearing land again, he was resurfacing.
    Krohn whined and licked her face, and Gwen
hugged him with her last bit of strength. She lay back down, Krohn lying by her
side, whining, laying his head on her chest, snuggling with her as if he had no
other place left in the world.
    *
    Gwendolyn felt a liquid, sweet and cold,
trickling on her lips, on her tongue, down her cheeks and neck. She opened her
mouth and drank, swallowing eagerly, and as she did, the sensation woke her from
her dreams.
    Gwen opened her eyes, drinking greedily,
unfamiliar faces hovering over her, and she drank and drank until she coughed.
    Someone pulled her up, and she sat up, coughing
uncontrollably, someone patting her on her back.
    “Shhhh,” came a voice. “Drink slowly.”
    It was a gentle voice, the voice of a healer.
Gwen looked over to see an old man with a lined face, his entire face bunching
up into wrinkles as he smiled.
    Gwen looked out to see dozens of unfamiliar
faces, Sandara’s people, staring back at her quietly, examining her as if she
were an oddity. Gwendolyn, overcome with thirst and hunger, reached out, and
like a crazy woman, grabbed the sack of whatever it was and poured the sweet
liquid into her mouth, drinking and drinking, biting down on the tip of it as
if she would never drink again.
    “Slowly now,” came the man’s voice. “Or