The Undead King: The Saga of Jai Lin: Book One Read Free Page B

women as his whores if nobody came willingly...” The wind changed direction and carried the voices of Raspy and the old man away. Brook looked at her brother and the deep furrows of worry that were in his brow.
    “Those are slavers,” she whispered to him.
    “I know. The Wandering Bastards, a particularly bad lot. I can’t believe they’re this far south.”
    “What do we do?”
    “I’m going to scout closer to their camp and see if we can get by them. If not, we’re going to have to keep going west until we’re past them. They’ll move from the ruins tomorrow and then we’ll be able to get across the bridge with no worries.”
    “That would mean we have to set camp in the Borderlands?”
    “Hopefully we can get past them, but if we can’t, I’ll set us up the most well-concealed camp ever made by human hand. No killim will eat you up, dear sister.” Brook rolled her eyes at the smirk that appeared on Crow’s face. While her brother was certainly capable and a good ally to have in a dire situation, his impressive abilities always came coupled with a cocksure air and a puffing of his chest feathers. The worse the situation, the bigger his grin became, so that now it looked like the edges of his lips were about to push his eyes up into his hairline. He lived for challenges, thrived off proving himself. Many of the Black Wing girls fell for his act, but Brook knew her older brother too well: while he had the makings of a natural leader, he was still riddled with a youthful insecurity that made it hard for him to show any vulnerability. It was a weakness Old Wren was very aware of, and was the reason the elder Black Wing hadn’t yet named Crow his heir, or so she believed.
    Though a cautious fighter, Crow had a knack for taking unnecessary risks, for overvaluing his prowess and underestimating whatever obstacle was before him. Brook wondered if her brother was about to make too rash a decision. Before she could voice her concern, Crow spoke.
    “Look, before you say anything, let me just say that I’ll be fine. I’m just going to the top of the hill to have a little peek, then I’ll be right back.”
    “Okay.” Crow had seen twenty winters, Brook three less. Though they bickered constantly, they were close, having lived by a silent oath of protection, the one for the other, their entire lives. “Just be careful, Crow. Don’t go too close. They might have men patrolling the area as a watch.”
    “Right. I’ll be back soon.” Crow turned and dashed soundlessly up the hill, his black cape rippling behind him. Brook and Leo sat in the leaves of the darkening wood. Soon it was just them and the smell of wet mulch and the trees around them. Or so Brook thought.
    Leo started to growl. “What is it, boy?” Brook whispered. The woods were as quiet as a tomb, and all that moved was the occasional orange or yellow leaf floating to the forest floor. The trees were a mixture of beeches, marpels and bum yum; most of their branches were bare. If something were approaching, she should be able to see it, unless…
    “Is someone hiding?” She asked Leo. The pit bull growled again. He was looking into the forest, his eyes focused on something only he could see. An uneasy feeling was blossoming within Brook’s stomach.
    She took her bow from around her chest and notched an arrow on its string. She was a good shot, so good that her friend Rainfall had taken to calling her Falco on the archery range. Even so, if some of the slavers were waiting to ambush her she’d have no chance. Slavers were notorious in the Green Lands for their ferocity and effectiveness, the Wandering Bastards particularly so. Comprised of cutthroats, mercenaries and capable young men sold by their families or villages, Brook would rather slit her throat and venture into the Dusk than be captured by the Bastards and sold into slavery. She’d heard stories of what the slavers did to the women they captured, before they auctioned them off in the