Free Storms (Sharani Series Book 2) by Kevin L. Nielsen Page B

anything she’d ever encountered. Why hadn’t she ever made the time to come down and see this place? It was pure, unadulterated majesty.
    Movement from the other side of the lake drew Khari’s attention away from the lake itself. Someone moved about and a low grumble of sound carried out over the water, like the distant hum of bees.
    Khari strode out onto the narrow path through the center of the lake, marveling at the majesty of the room. It was clearly not a natural phenomenon and the grandeur of it left her somewhat breathless.
    Khari’s sense of awe was replaced by confusion about halfway across the narrow walkway. She could see Beryl, busy working at a small metal table, scratching away on a scroll. Was he writing? Dozens of other scrolls lay scattered across the stone floor, bathed in the light of a half dozen lanterns which rested in a couple of the hundreds of cubby holes cut into the stone wall.
    What were those ?
    “Beryl?” Khari called. The sound echoed wetly through the cavern.
    Beryl jumped and Khari felt the ground shake beneath her feet. The metal lanterns shook and then flew into the air. Khari stumbled back, nearly falling into the lake. She reached out to the waters, feeling the flush of extra balance, strength, and poise that always came with her powers.
    She steadied herself as the ground calmed. Beryl stood inches from her, eyes seeming to literally blaze with a strange orange light. How had he gotten there so fast?
    “Leave,” Beryl growled. It was a deep, guttural sound unlike anything Khari had ever heard before. She took a step backward from that voice.
    “What are you doing down here, Beryl?” Khari asked. She planted her feet. Whatever was going on, she needed answers.
    Behind Beryl, the lanterns bobbed in the air, supported by nothing. Beryl took a step forward, limp hardly noticeable.
    “It’s not ready, yet,” Beryl growled, though more softly this time. The strange glow was fading slowly from his eyes.
    “What’s not ready?” Khari pressed.
    “The records,” Beryl whispered. The lanterns dropped back to their places on the floor.
    “Records?” What was Beryl talking about?
    “I—” Beryl began, but then cut off sharply. For a moment, Khari thought he may be in pain, but then recognized the expression on Beryl’s face as one of concentration.
    “What?”
    Beryl held up a hand and cocked his head to one side. The orange glow faded from his eyes entirely. Khari heard it. A brazen blast in the distance. The warning horn.
    “A sandstorm?”
    Beryl shook his head. “No, that’s the signal for an escape.”
    Color drained from Khari’s face. She turned and ran back the way she had come.

    Khari pushed through the throng clustered in the hallway, pushing toward where they’d kept Kaiden contained. They gave way before her grudgingly, and more than one angry, scornful voice grumbled at having to move. Still, the intense expression on her face gave her some measure of leverage against them.
    She broke through the crowd, nearly stumbling over a body laying sprawled in the sands. Meseck, one of the guards who had been watching Kaiden this shift. Blood stained the stone beneath him a deeper red.
    No, not again.
    She’d used her powers to try and locate Kaiden as she ran, but she hadn’t found him. Still, she hadn’t truly believed it until she saw it for herself.
    A few steps down, the door to Kaiden’s cell stood ajar, knocked off one leather hinge. The other guard, Orna, holding a cloth to a wound on his head, slumped there with Gavin.
    “What happened?” Khari demanded, carefully stepping around Meseck. There would be time for grief later. They would burn a shufari for him this evening. They’d burned so many of those in recent times.
    Someone in the crowd shouted, “It was the Heltorin and Londik. They did this.”
    There were murmurs of agreement. “We never should have let them come back with us.”
    “Traitors.”
    “Murderers.”
    “Enough!” Gavin shouted,