Rojuun Read Free Page B

for a time before
going to bed. The covers were soft and smelled of spring air.
Tathan drew his sword and lay it down next to him as usual, but
couldn’t sleep. Getting up, he sheathed his sword and leaned it
against the nightstand. A moment later, he was resting
peacefully.
     
    Chapter
2
     
    “Tathan . . . Tathan . . .” He heard the
voice and wondered who was calling him. “Tathan, wake up. Breakfast
is ready.”
    He mumbled something before pulling the
covers back up over his head. The bed was too warm to leave.
    “Tathan, please wake up.” The covers were
pulled down. He sat up abruptly, wondering where he was. A young
woman stood beside the bed, watching him while caressing a violet
flower in her hair. Soft morning light shone through the open
shutters.
    In a panic, he realized that his sword
wasn’t next to him. He searched frantically for it in the sheets
before seeing it against the nightstand. Tathan grabbed it and held
it in his lap, running his fingers along the hilt and crossbar.
    “Are you alright, Cousin?” There was worry
in her eyes as she stared at him.
    He remembered where he was. The young woman
was Liselle and he was home in the valley. Tathan had slept on the
road for so long that he had forgotten how marvelous a soft, warm
bed could be. “Yeah. I’m alright.” He rubbed the sleep out of his
eyes. “Did you say breakfast?”
    “Yes. We tried to get you for dinner last
night, but you wouldn’t wake up. Aunt Ellin said to let you sleep.”
Liselle looked nervously at the sword. “She said that if you didn’t
wake up for breakfast, she was going to dump a bucket of water over
your head. She’ll do it too.”
    “She will. She did it more than once when I
was growing up,” he admitted with a grin.
    Liselle chuckled and relaxed a bit. “Yeah.
She’s done that to me a couple of times too. I make it a point to
wake up before her now.”
    “That’s probably a good idea. I never
succeeded. I liked sleep too much when I was younger,” Tathan said.
He stood up and looked at his sword. For a moment, he considered
leaving it against the nightstand, but attached it to his belt
instead. He shouldn’t need it here, but it had become a part of
him.
    “Do you need to carry that?” Liselle asked,
pointing at it with obvious distaste. “You’re safe here.”
    Tathan ran his fingers along the steel
wrapped hilt once more. The sword was black as night from tip to
pommel. The sheath was also made of the same dark metal. What
couldn’t be seen with a normal eye were the runes that traveled the
length the blade.
    “Yes. I must carry it always,” Tathan
replied cryptically. His voice was deeper than normal as he spoke.
“I . . . found it . . . in a dark place. It has magic and they want
it . . .” he trailed off, still caressing the hilt.
    There was something chilling about his
voice, which caused Liselle to shiver and hug herself. She took a
few steps back toward the door. Tathan saw the movement and looked
up. When he saw the look on his cousin’s face, he shook his head to
clear the dark thoughts. “I’m so sorry, Cousin. Something’s been
chasing me for this sword . . .” He stopped. That was a lot more
information than he had intended to share.
    Tathan took a deep breath and stepped toward
Liselle, who took another step back, bumping into the door jamb
behind her. It was obvious that she was scared of him and he didn’t
blame her. “I’m sorry I scared you.” That was all he could think to
say.
    Liselle took a deep breath of her own before
moving forward. She gave him a quick hug. “Hurry before breakfast
gets cold.” With that, she was headed out of the room and down the
stairs.
    It must have taken a lot of courage for
her to do that . He didn’t follow her right away, instead going
to the window. The sun had risen above the eastern mountains and
begun warming the cool air. Birds sang their early morning songs.
That had always irritated him as a child. What right did they