Rivers of Fire (Atherton, Book 2) Read Free

than you must."
    They had come to where the drain cut through the wall around the House of Power. Samuel reached out with his arms and gently shimmied back and forth, making slow progress until his fingers touched the hard edge of stone on the other side. He pulled as hard as he could, feeling bits of falling rock stinging his eyes, until he made it to the other side of the wall, where the drain widened to a space big enough for both of them.
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    Isabel's smaller build allowed her to move quickly, and soon she was standing next to Samuel in the dark, where they faced each other in the small space. They were uncomfortably close.
    "This is the end," Samuel said in a quiet voice Isabel could barely hear. "Follow me and don't make a sound." The two stood silent for another moment as Samuel listened for the echo of footsteps overhead.
    Then Isabel heard a grating sound as crumbs of dirt filled the air. Samuel held a square stepping stone from within the House of Power. He pushed it aside carefully, put his hands over the ledge, and pulled himself up with great effort.
    The top of Samuel's head poked out into the courtyard of the House of Power and he scanned the area. There were dots of light here and there where torches had been left glowing.
    "Are you sure this is a good idea?" whispered Isabel. The moment of entering the House of Power, where Lord Phineus ruled, had come. Isabel had always enjoyed a sense of bravado in the shelter of the grove, but this was different. She wasn't sure she wanted to get so close to something that felt of darkness and evil.
    "Take my feet and push me up," said Samuel. He was holding steady above her, but in past adventures of his own he'd only gone down the drain, not up it, then he'd snuck back into the House of Power through the gate.
    Isabel hesitated. She was farther away from home than she'd ever been, doing something that could get her into real trouble. What was she doing with this boy from the Highlands?
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    "We've got to go now, Isabel--I mean right now."
    Isabel took Samuel's feet in her hands without thought or emotion, almost as if someone else was doing it and she was only watching it happen, and pushed until Samuel was halfway out and only his legs and rear end dangled wildly at the top of the hole. A moment later he had scurried out entirely.
    Just then something happened that made Isabel think she'd done the wrong thing. Samuel looked down at her for a split second with panic in his eyes, and then he placed the square stone back over the hole. Isabel was all alone in the darkness of the drain.
    ***
    Sir Emerik was sure he'd heard something. There had been a lot on his mind and he hadn't slept but a few hours before waking in the middle of the night, and yet he felt certain he wasn't imagining the noise. It had sounded like a piece of stone falling into a slot from a corner of the courtyard. What could it be at such a late hour but the sound of someone sneaking around?
    He stood calm and unmoving, listening for the sound to repeat. Though it didn't come again, Sir Emerik was a highly suspicious sort of man, and once his senses were alerted it was hard for him to turn them off. Something's not right. I must go and see for myself.
    As he moved ever so quietly along the winding path of the courtyard, Sir Emerik pondered his own grim circumstances.
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    His home, the Highlands, had come crashing down and now sat even with Tabletop. Control over the House of Power, which sat alone at the center of the Highlands, seemed precarious. It was at once a time of great danger and a moment of opportunity. But first he would have to deal with Lord Phineus. And there was also the boy Samuel, who had escaped unexpectedly from his grasp. Samuel might cause me trouble. He knows far too much.
    He would need a torch in order to search the courtyard properly, and this was a bit of a problem for Sir Emerik. He touched the scabs on his head and his eye began to twitch. Lately it happened involuntarily