Slight and Shadow (Fate's Forsaken: Book Two) Read Free Page B

insufferably hot. A drop of sweat raced from the top of Kael’s head and down his nose. He tried to brush it away before it fell, but he didn’t move fast enough.
    When it splattered onto the pages of his open book, he swore aloud.
    “You’re right about that, lad,” Morris said. The heat had settled in his throat, making his voice much croakier than usual. He fumbled with his canteen for a moment before he managed to get it wedged between his arms. Then he brought it carefully to his lips. “Sit up straight when you read, and you won’t have to worry about the words getting all smeared,” he advised, as he watched Kael dab gingerly at the wet spot with the hem of his shirt.
    “I’ve tried that,” Kael grumbled back.
    By that point, he’d tried everything. He’d leaned against the wall for a while — until the cart rocked so violently that he smacked the back of his head. Then he’d sat with his knees pulled up to his chest until his legs cramped, and hunched over until his back hurt. He would’ve tried spreading out on the floor, had it not been packed full of tarp, tent poles, and supplies.
    No, the only safe place to sit was along the cart benches — and there was hardly any room on those, either.
    The benches were packed to both ends with pirates, and Kael saw his own misery reflected back on their salty, sea-hardened faces. It was hard to believe that they’d actually volunteered for this — fought for it, even. In fact, on the morning they’d left Gravy Bay, there had been so many volunteers that Captain Lysander had to draw the men’s names by lot.
    The pirates had whooped when their names were called. They’d kissed their families goodbye and marched proudly aboard Anchorgloam , rucksacks tossed over their shoulders.
    “And what do you expect the rest of us to do, eh?” Uncle Martin had called as Lysander gave the order to set sail. He leaned on his cane and had seemed small from the dock, but his voice carried magnificently through the cool morning air. “I’m quite peeved about being left behind, I’ll have you know.”
    “Just carry on pillaging,” Lysander said distractedly, combing his wavy hair from his face as he ordered the sails into position.
    “Just carry on —? How do you expect me to just carry on ?” Uncle Martin bellowed, shaking his cane at them. “These are my countrymen — I have a duty to see them set free!”
    “You aren’t fooling anyone, father,” Thelred bellowed back. “We all know what you’re hoping to find in the plains, and it has nothing to do with your countrymen.”
    “Don’t patronize me, boy! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to see a giantess before I go blind.” And his wide, swindler’s grin had broken out from under his mustache as he added: “I hear they’re every bit as enchanting as the average woman — only bigger! You wouldn’t let your dear old papa perish without getting to see that, now would you?”
    Despite Uncle Martin’s numerous melodramatic complaints, Lysander forbade the pirates to follow them — warning that if he saw one of their sails on the horizon, he’d put a hole through it. And although they’d responded with a grumbled chorus of ayes , Kael had a strange feeling as they sailed out of the Bay … like that most certainly wasn’t going to be the end of it.
    He wouldn’t have been surprised if every one of those seadogs had his fingers crossed behind his back.
    Now Gravy Bay was far behind them. They’d left Anchorgloam and the vast majority of the men in the docks of a small village, disguised as merchants. Then after two days of hard travel on foot, they’d crossed the border of the High Seas and wound up in the plains. From that point on, they’d had no choice but to pack themselves into the cart and try to stay quiet.
    Gilderick’s army patrolled the full breadth of the plains — and a crowd of travelers would certainly attract their attention.
    Kael sat up and blinked, trying to give