Free The Gully Snipe (The Dual World Book 1) by JF Smith

and added, “Not ten minutes ago I was on the top of the oratory tower, praying to my ancestors for their forgiveness and any favor they perhaps would show me. And now I enjoy a meal built on larceny! You will be my miserable downfall, Gully Snipe!”
    Gully held up his mug to Roald in a toast and said, “Here’s to our ruin!”
    Roald clacked his mug against the one held out to him and then drank the mead back. “And this! The plums make all the difference! Plain mead will hold nothing for me any longer!” he said.
    Roald waved his mug up towards the sky and added, “My only hope is that Pelaysha interferes with our parents seeing and watching us in horror!”
    He set his mug down and cut another slice of cheese and placed it on a piece of bread. He said, “I’m glad to be done with my post tonight. Until the trickster sinks behind the western horizon and the Sanctun begins, people will cause too much trouble. The rest of the Guard will stay busy tonight until Vasahle appears over Kitemount for her nighttime traversal.”
    They both ate and drank in silence and Gully started to feel the effects of the alcohol, relaxing deeply. He broke the quiet between them and said, “Roald, I’m going to leave again in the morning, back to the woods.”
    Roald sighed and tilted back his mug, finishing his mead in one long swallow. He poured more into his empty cup as he said, “You prom... you said you’d remain in the city for a week this time.”
    “I remember,” said Gully, “but I feel the need to check the cabin and begin looking more seriously again.”
    “Did... I say something to push you—”
    “No, no, Roald, not at all,” insisted Gully. “Nothing of the sort. I... My father has been heavy in my thoughts today and I wish to look for him.”
    Roald said nothing in reply, but quickly drank the mead he had just poured and filled his mug again with barely a pause.
    “Is this the time when you will go away and then I never see you again?” asked Roald softly. “It is a day I fear will come, and dread it every time you leave.”
    Gully replied, “Not if I have a say in it. I will be back, I promise you.”
    “And I was hoping you would attend with me an interpretation by one of the elocutors at the oratory tower,” said Roald, disappointed. “Will I at least get to see you on your birthday in a few weeks? Will you come back to the city for that?” he asked.
    Honestly, Gully had forgotten all about his own birthday. The day had never held much meaning for him. It was important to Roald, but Gully didn’t want to disappoint his brother with the indifference he felt towards it. It was easy to promise if Gully felt bound in no way by it. “Rest easy, I will be back in Lohrdanwuld for it. And this time, you can supply the Glenoval cheese and plum mead!”
    Roald chuckled and said, “I’ll have to settle for getting you drunk on weak ale and then convincing you later that we feasted on Glenoval cheese and mead! But with the coronation of Prince Thaybrill that same week, there will be much festivity in the city. Perhaps I’ll be able to get a little time away so we can go to the Bonedown to watch some of the jugglers or troubadours.”
    “You make it sound like we’re courting!” said Gully, his grin hidden in the dark.
    “I...” stammered Roald, “that’s not... you know I don’t intend... now you’re making sport of me, Gully.”
    Roald’s sensitivity over the way he was often would put Gully’s mood off, and tonight was no exception. He had to remind himself not to fault Roald for it, though, since he had no one other than Gully he had confided in about his nature. Still, Gully was a thief and would either waste to dust in a dank cell or hang by the neck if caught, and yet he cried no tears over it. Roald, on the other hand, broke no laws — scorn and ostracism were the most he would suffer for his “faults.” But that was partly a difference between the two of them; Gully cared little for