The Lord of the Sands of Time Read Free

toppling, sliced through. Cold spread along her spine. The beast turned and moved in closer. The grass murmured. The immense creature’s gliding, weightless silence was unnerving.
    Will it eat us, like a bear? No—it has no mouth. It seeks no food. It hunts only to kill.
    Without a sound, Kan leaped to his feet. His sword struck the monster’s flank like a hornet’s stinger. There was a cold, metallic clang and the weapon rebounded, shattering. Miyo took in Kan’s dazed look and the sword’s broken tip as it flew away, end over end. Was this monster made of stone? Of steel?
    Despite her astonishment, Miyo maneuvered to one side of the beast. As it raised the scythe, she struck with all her strength, but the branch merely shivered from the impact. Then a tremendous blow knocked her flat.
    “Kan!”
    Kan threw himself atop Miyo, shielding her with his body. The scythe opened his back. To Miyo, everything seemed to be taking place in some other world.
    “Kan…”
    “Quickly…” The boy tried to speak.
    “Kan?”
    “Go quickly…” A whispered groan. Bright blood welled up from the gash, pooling on his back in a crimson lake. The mononoké emitted a creaking sound. It might be tiring, but it showed no signs of breaking off the attack. Again, it raised its club. Before it could strike, Miyo hoisted Kan’s slender frame onto her back and fled, stumbling forward as she ran.
    “You think I’d leave you?” she yelled.
    She heard a series of sharp cracks, the mononoké raking the standing timber as it advanced. Its footfalls swept closer with horrifying speed. Miyo plunged forward, staggering, stumbling, slipping.
    Something hissed close by her ear. Miyo crouched lower, to crawl, scrabbling on all fours, climbing the slope, her pulse hammering. She gasped for air and pitched forward, eating a mouthful of dirt. She felt the rush of air as giant legs planted themselves on either side of her.
    Miyo could see the western ocean shining in the distance. She looked up at the belly of the beast as it stooped over her. Strange , she thought. To die like this. We could have gone the other way, over the far side of the ridge.
    Was this retribution for daring to leave her realm?
    A sudden sequence of huge booms split the sky over her head. The shockwave pressed her flat against the earth.
    “Bolt fire ineffective. Target appears to have withdrawn voluntarily. No counters, traps, or criticals. I’d say this is a rather low-grade RET, a newborn Reaper.”
    “Spare me the commentary. Any nests in the area? What about FETs?”
    Two voices—one female, one male—but Miyo understood nothing they said. Her terror was unabated. Whatever it was that had brought down that roar like thunder over her head, it could only be another mononoké.
    She struggled with bleary eyes to peer around her. The monster was gone. In its place stood a man, tall and powerfully built. He was arrayed like a soldier, encased in soot-blackened armor webbed with cracks. A helmet completely covered his head, its visor concealing his face. In his right hand he gripped an enormous sword. He was clearly the source of the male voice but was like no man Miyo had ever seen.
    “Both humans are viable. The female has minor injuries. The male has lost a considerable amount of blood. Loss of consciousness in six minutes.” Again the female voice, but no one was there. The soldier approached and spoke to Miyo.
    “Let me help the boy.”
    Miyo could not understand him, but she knew he was no threat by the way he held his sword, low and casually. All she could think of was Kan. She eased him onto the ground. The horrible wound on his back seemed far beyond help, but she tore a strip from her hem and tried to bandage him.
    “Subject may survive one hour if blood loss is halted. If he’s to be left here, antibiotics are required.”
    The female voice. Miyo glanced up. To her amazement, the voice seemed to be coming from the sword—and the man looked to the sword as he