War of the Fathers Read Free Page B

desire to turn around, Jorad was drawn
to the tower and continued to move towards it. He'd never been here at sunset
before and maybe the changing light would give him a fresh perspective on it. Perhaps
there would be something with the setting sun that would allow him to unlock
its secrets. If it was a weapon as Adar thought, had it been used to fight
humans or Hunwei?
    Jorad stopped moving forward and looked around.
Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t explain why he thought that. As he
scanned the area his eyes settled on a clump of vegetation. He wasn’t certain at
first what it was that drew his eye to it but there was something about it that
was out of place. It looked too thick, as if it had another bush within. He put
his hand behind him, hoping that Soret would stop. He could have sworn that
he’d just seen eyes.
    When the bush began to tremble despite the lack of
wind, he unsheathed his sword. It hadn’t been his imagination.
    “Watch out!” Jorad said, taking a step back and
bumping into Soret. It was as if a bush had decided to get up and move. Human
eyes were now peering out from the branches and a figure was emerging as it
pushed through the knee-high grass and stepped out onto the path.
    Melyah! The man looked like a walking tree. Attached
to his dark clothes were bunches of grass and small twigs. Despite his alarm,
Jorad studied the figure, it was a marvelous job of camouflage and he wished
that Adar was here to see it as well. Perhaps between the two of them they
would have been able to figure out the method associated with constructing the
disguise. Barely any flesh showed and his face had been rubbed in something
black.
    The man’s black hair might have been shoulder length,
but it was impossible to tell as it had been worked into his disguise. Grass
and brush were interwoven with the hair to form a covering that ran down to his
shoulders. He almost reminded Jorad of a young girl who had twisted flowers
into a crown and was pretending to be a princess.
    As crazy as the disguise looked, Jorad had to admit
that it had worked. Sure, he had noticed that something was wrong about the
bush, but he spent many hours in the forest because Adar was always dragging
him on patrols looking for Hunwei. The average passerby wouldn’t have noted anything
to be concerned about and would have walked by none the wiser. Jorad examined
the rest of the surrounding area looking for any other irregularities. Even
though nothing else moved, he didn't find that very comforting. There were
several significant patches of trees and bushes where almost anything could
hide. The one this guy had come from was big enough to hide several more just
like him. The man kept his arms by his side in a nonthreatening fashion but
Jorad didn't lower his sword.
    “Ou Qui!” Soret hissed.
    Jorad was glad she couldn’t see his face. He’d been so
busy looking for others and admiring how the man had hid in plain sight that he
hadn't given any thought to who the man was but now he realized that Soret’s
observation made sense. He’d never met an Ou Qui, but he’d heard stories about
their seeming ability to appear out of nowhere. Now that he’d seen it
firsthand, he was impressed. If the Ou Qui could track as well as they hid, he
never wanted to be their quarry.
    The Ou Qui tensed. In a single motion, the man
withdrew two short swords from his side and threw them into the ground. The
movement had been fast enough that Jorad didn't have much time to react before
the Ou Qui’s short swords stood hilts up, several feet in front of him. His
first instinct and been to attack, but when he realized what the man was doing
he stepped back and tried to read the man’s mud covered face. The move had been
faster than Jorad had expected, considering the man had moved so carefully when
coming out of the trees.
    If the Ou Qui attacked, Jorad wasn't sure how the
fight would go. He didn’t like that feeling of uncertainty. Most of the armed
people