Kethril Read Free

some reason people looked
at him differently, as though their souls communicated their
suffering to him alone. It haunted Tathan, although he didn’t speak
of it.
    The one person who had never shown him eyes
of suffering was Liselle. She was pure and untainted by any
darkness found in the world. Once, in the bowels of the world, a
twisted creature called Krraa kidnapped and tortured her. Even that
nightmare didn’t create suffering behind her eyes.
    Tathan walked around to the front of the inn
and entered the large stone doors carved with trees surrounded by a
pattern of vines. The common room of the ancient inn was enormous
and in excellent condition, though it was unfurnished. Everyone
else was standing at the bottom of the grand staircase that led up
to a gallery along the back and sides of the common room.
    “Tathan! There you are. We were worried
about you.” Princess Anilyia’s voice was rich and mellow. She came
over to grab his hand. She always held his hand whenever it was
free. “I was surprised when I woke up and didn’t find you in your
sleeping bag. Where’d you go?”
    He shrugged. “I took a walk into the forest
a little ways to enjoy the morning.”
    “But you told me the forest was dangerous
and I shouldn’t go in there even if it is friendly to us.”
Anilyia frowned at him and set her free hand on a hip.
    “That’s correct. You shouldn’t go into the
forest,” Tathan replied with an impudent grin. “It’s very dangerous
and you never know when an emo bunny is going to sneak up on
you.”
    “Oh, ha, ha. That’s so funny . . . what’s an
emo bunny?” she asked, platinum brows furrowing.
    “It’s a yummy snack!” Vevin exclaimed doing
a snack dance. He always had a dance for whatever was going on. The
most common was the happy dance and its infinite variations.
    Liselle smacked him in the chest, which
didn’t slow the dance down even a little bit. She was five foot ten
inches with long black hair and grey eyes that matched Tathan’s. A
purple flower in her hair paid attention to everything that went
on. Tathan was very careful not to upset the flower if possible. He
didn’t understand what the flower was or how it communicated with
his cousin, but it looked at him sometimes when no one else was
paying attention.
    She wore a black and grey swirled robe made
for her by a Rojuun girl. It was her favorite outfit when not
traveling. Her arms were crossed and she was half glaring, half
grinning at Tathan. “An emo bunny is a type of rabbit that creates
great sadness in other creatures to defend itself,” she explained
to the princess. “There were a few in the valley where we lived,
but the flowers kept me safe from them. They’re dangerous because
they can cause a creature to take harmful actions against
themselves.”
    “That’s . . . interesting,” Anilyia said. “I
haven’t learned about them in my studies. My tutors didn’t find it
necessary to teach me very much about animals other than creatures
that could be poisonous.” She looked up at Tathan. “Why were you in
the forest?”
    “I told you, I was taking a walk and
enjoying the morning. The mist is gone and it looks to be a nice
day.” Tathan stretched his muscles and yawned, causing everyone
else to yawn too. The lone exception was Sir Danth.
    The knight was a bit of an anomaly. He was
charged with guarding the Crown of Morhain sixteen hundred years
earlier and had magical armor bound to his soul. His body died
after the first couple hundred years and now the armor was hollow.
The companions were the first people he had seen since taking his
place to guard the crown and he begged them not to leave him alone.
It turned out that the vault where the crown was had been tunneled
into from behind and all the treasure was gone anyway.
    “When do you think we should leave, Master
Tathan?” the knight asked in a deep, clear voice that had a
metallic tone.
    “Honestly, I’m ready to leave whenever
Vevin’s had enough