Farilane by Michael J. Sullivan EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Michael J. Sullivan
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
The Twelfth Night
Another series of bright-white explosions erupted where sea met shore as
Farilane stood on the rocky coast and scanned the darkening sky for the star
that would guide them to the treasure. That was the hope. Being that this was
the twelfth night she’d stood at the same spot, Farilane had her doubts.
On the first three evenings, it had rained. The next two, while dry, were
frustratingly overcast. The sixth day dawned blue, but by late afternoon, the
clouds had returned as if they’d forgotten something. Poor weather
continued throughout the seventh and eighth days. The three after that were
literal washouts, forcing a retreat to her field camp or risk being rinsed into
the sea. Trapped in her leaky tent, Farilane had reread her notebooks,
verifying the calculations for the hundredth time. She’d missed nothing. That
shelf of stone partway down a rocky cliff was the correct place. Everything
except the weather was perfect, but time was running out. She couldn’t bear
to wait for another year.
Then on the twelfth night, she caught a break. A star appeared.
“Is that it?” Kolby asked, pointing at the singular pinprick of light on the
darkening horizon. There was hope in his voice.
“Tell you in a minute.” Farilane took out her astrolabe and positioned it
directly over the staff she’d placed days before. She struggled to align the
device’s rule with one hand while dangling the delicate instrument with the
other. “Be a dear and hold this for me, will you?” She offered the ring at the
top of the disk to him.
Kolby took the brass apparatus of movable plates with his left hand. Farilane
had known he’d use his left before she had offered the instrument. His
choice wasn’t arbitrary; nothing about Kolby ever was. He always reserved
his right hand for his sword.
“What is this thing?” he asked, his eyes studying the device, his nose turned
up as if the metal reeked.
“You’re holding the entire universe in your hands.” She smiled. “So don’t
drop it.”
Kolby narrowed his eyes, first at her and then at the device, his concern
turning to skepticism. He held the large ring at the full extent of his arm so
that the bottom barely touched the top of the measurement staff, leaving the
disk to hang like a lantern.
A lantern. Farilane smiled at the idea. Yes, that’s exactly what it is, a tool to
illuminate the world.
“Now hold still,” she commanded.
“How still?” he asked.
Typical Kolby: precise, exacting, and literal. A byproduct of the training, no
doubt. All Teshlors were that way to a degree—more than a bit inhuman,
until you saw them drunk or angry. That didn’t happen often. She suspected
that controlling one’s rage was also part of the training. If it wasn’t, it ought
to be. An enraged Kolby topped Farilane’s list of the scariest things she’d
ever seen
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB