Free The Forever Knight: A Novel of the Bronze Knight (Books of the Bronze Knight) by John Marco Page B

That thing was death itself coming at us. Coming, I supposed, for Cricket. That was the truth Malator wouldn’t tell me. Suddenly, a detour from our mission seemed like a fine precaution.
    “How far is it to Fallon’s palace?” I asked.
    “Just a couple of days, on the southern coast,” said Marilius. “I’m telling you, you’ve never seen anything like it.”

10
    “S o Lukien, tell me what it’s like to be immortal.”
    The question came at me like an arrow, too fast to duck. I glared at Marilius. “Why would you ask a question like that?”
    “Look at you—you’re already riding like nothing happened.” Marilius studied me as if I was faking. “Does it hurt?”
    “No,” I told him, a fact that surprised me. I turned my head from side to side. After just four days, I felt completely healed.
    “Lukien doesn’t like talking about his powers,” said Cricket. She rode up closer, wedging her pony between our horses.
    “They’re not powers,” I said. “But she’s right—I don’t talk about it.”
    “Oh, come on. I’ve heard you talking to Cricket, mumbling behind my back. And I saw the way you went after Wrestler. You’re not afraid of anything, huh?”
    “Some things,” I said. “But they’re none of your business.”
    Marilius shrugged. “We still have a full day ahead of us. Nothing to do but talk. Fallon’s going to ask you about your powers anyway.”
    “Because you can’t keep a secret, right?”
    “He needs a man like you, Lukien. But he’ll be curious. Can’t blame him for that. Hell,
I’m
curious. You’ve got the one thing money can’t buy, and I’m not talking about love.”
    “A deal then,” I proposed. “You tell us why Fallon needs me so badly, and I’ll tell you what it’s like to be immortal.”
    “Ooh, tempting,” smacked Marilius. “But no.”
    “Why not?” asked Cricket. “We’re gonna find out once we get there. Just tell us now and save us the bother.”
    “Nah, he won’t do that, Cricket,” I said. “He’s gotta keep his secret, otherwise we might not go with him. Must be something pretty bad, though, since he’s not willing to tell us.”
    “Is it bad, Marilius?” asked Cricket.
    Marilius shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s interesting.”
    “Yeah, but you want to tell us,” pressed Cricket. “I can tell you do.”
    “But I won’t,” Marilius snorted. “Now can we be quiet?”
    “What’s the problem? Seriously, what’s Fallon need us for?”
    “He needs Lukien,” Marilius corrected her. “You’re just along for the ride.”
    “So are you, apparently,” I said. “Whatever it is, it’s something you can’t handle . . .
Captain
.”
    This time Marilius didn’t answer. He pretended to scan the scrubby horizon. We were in the flat lands now, in the very heart of the Bitter Kingdoms. An occasional, dilapidated farm appeared as we rode, crops struggling in the hardscrabble earth. To the east loomed Zura, Sariyah’s dreamed-of spice lands. Near the mountains up north waited Akyre. Isowon was a day’s ride south and east, an isthmus of land Fallon’s fortune had turned into a garden, or so Marilius claimed. I dreamed of its promised water, so clear and turquoise you could see a rainbow of coral at its bottom.
    “Okay,” Cricket said finally. “Just tell us about Fallon, then. What’s he like?”
    “Rich,” said Marilius.
    “We know that already. What else? Why’s he got so many men?”
    “Why shouldn’t he? He can afford them.”
    “Seems to me they’re not doing him much good,” I said. “I’ve got a feeling your employer isn’t so innocent around here, Marilius. If you’re bringing us to help him make war, you’re wasting your time.”
    “Oh right, I forgot,” said Marilius. “You’re not a mercenary anymore.”
    “That’s right.”
    “Look around, Lukien. You’re in the Bitter Kingdoms now. War’s a way of life here. Tell him, Cricket.”
    Cricket grimaced. “I can’t.”
    Marilius looked at