Free The Fading Dream by Keith Baker Page A

they say,” Drix said sadly. “My mother took me back to Making once, to meet my grandparents. To go to school there, I think. They didn’t want me. The Jurans are tinkers, and that’s all we’ll ever be. That’s what they say. Dirt in our blood.”
    “Did you talk to your family about this?” She pointed at his heart.
    “My family is dead,” he said, looking away. “Killed in the Mourning. The barons in Breland didn’t want me before. I’m not going to them now.”
    Thorn nodded thoughtfully. He seemed sincere enough. There were times when he seemed a little unhinged, but at the moment it seemed it was just pain, emotional or otherwise. “Why are you doing this?” she said. “With that stone, you’re all but immortal. Why would you want to give that up?”
    He looked at her, and she could see the sorrow in his eyes. “It’s not mine. Not me. It’s the Mourning. I can feel it. The sorrow, the anger … I can feel it.”
    He seemed serious. She squeezed Steel’s hilt. “Really?”
    “It weaves my flesh and blood together, but the pain … the pain never truly goes away. It doesn’t belong in me. I know that.”
    It’s possible the stone holds psychic impressions of the dead
, Steel said.
Considering he’s just said that he’s in constant physical pain, delusions seem more likely
.
    Even as she listened, Thorn felt a pulse of pain from the shard embedded in her neck. Her stones were just shrapnel, not magical gems, but she’d lived with them for almost a year, dealing with the pain and sheer sense of
wrongness
that came with them. In the darkest times, she’d turned to drink and dreamlily to chase that pain away. She was slowly growing used to them. The pain was still there, but it wasn’t as crippling as it had once been. Still, there was a time when she’d have done almost anything to escape from it. If Drix felt anything like she had, she could understand why he’d want it out.
    “I know you think the pain is driving me mad,” Drix said. “It’s not. It’s
not
. It’s the voices. The faces. I need to make it stop, to let their spirits rest.”
    “I understand,” Thorn said. She felt a flicker of sorrow and a touch of guilt for having let her distrust of Cannith get the better of her before. Magic stone or not, his life was tough enough as it was.
    Drix sighed, looking out the porthole. “Why are we traveling underwater, anyway?”
    Thorn shrugged. “It’s just a safety precaution. These vessels were built during the Last War, used to sneak behind enemy lines. The Mournland may be neutral territory, but the last thing we need is a chance encounter with Darguul slavers. This way we get to Seaside quickly and safely.”
    “So we’re safe here?”
    “We should be,” Thorn said. “Between the speed of the vessel and our reinforced hull, no natural creature can pose a threat to us. And we’re too far down for a ship to even notice us.”
    The impact surprised them both.
    There was a groan of strained wood. Thorn braced herself against the table as the floor shook. Drix’s unfinished crossbow slid across the floor, and Drix stumbled and fell to his hands and knees.
    “Of course, I’ve been wrong before,” Thorn said.

C HAPTER F IVE

The Thunder Sea
B
arrakas 22, 999
YK
    T horn drew Steel as she headed for the helm. “Report,” she said.
    There was a momentary fluctuation in the bonds connecting the elemental to the ship
.
    “That’s not a good thing.” The floor rolled beneath her as Thorn made her way down the narrow hall, and she braced herself against the wall to keep from falling.
    Essyn Cadrel was already on the bridge with Captain Shaeli. The captain’s dragonmark was glowing slightly in the dim light, and the Khoravar woman cursed under her breath. She clung tightly to the gleaming wheel.
    Thorn saw Cadrel’s eyes widen, and she realized Steel was still in her hand. She lowered the dagger. “What’s going on?”
    “It seems we’ve found a souvenir of the