Free Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) by Laura R Cole Page B

answer any more
questions about Layna’s parents’ deaths. She had already had to
tell her more than she wanted to share about the incident and a
fair amount of her past before she had been able to actually break
away and leave their little group. Part of her longed for the
companionship that she felt with the two of them, but another part
screamed at her that she was better off on her own, with only
herself to look after. It was safer for her, and perhaps to
everyone close to her, if she relied only on herself. Marak
squeezed her arm and she smiled, amending, and on her truest
friend.
    They had agreed that the most likely route
was straight across the Ferryn Plains. Though no one had gone
across them to offer them a map of the region, Gelendan and
Treymayne were each surrounded by water on two sides - though both
had areas of uninhabited regions around them. The other two borders
were: The one which was shared with each other and that with the
Ferryn Plains, either past the North Woods as was the case in
Gelendan, or over the mountains in Treymayne. So, Katya set off
across the Ferryn Plains. The very place that many had tried to
cross with no success.
    Her first stop, before making her way across
the desert of the unknown, was to a town that Gryffon had
recommended that she stop in on her way. When she arrived in town,
it was abuzz with news and there was no chance that the gossip
would be likely to turn from the latest information from Gelendan.
Katya didn’t really care what was happening there, being much more
interested in what the townspeople this close to the plains might
know about the region, but none seemed able to talk about their
northern border with such an interesting topic at hand regarding
their western neighbor. So, Katya obliged them, hoping that she
could then turn the conversation the way that she wanted it once
they had gotten it out of their systems.
    However, the gossip that the Treymaynian
people were spreading was anything but mundane. Word had just
reached the city that the King had transformed into a dragon, and
the tale had become even more exaggerated in the length of time it
had taken to reach here.
    According to their reports, the dragon was
ten times bigger than Katya had witnessed and, as if that size
wasn’t bad enough, had three heads, and was apparently thought to
be currently leading an army towards Treymayne.
    Katya was unimpressed with the wild tales
about the physical properties of the dragon, but the information
about its origin left her dumbfounded, a state which took her quite
by surprise. No wonder the dragon had seemed so familiar, it was
the King who she had freed from his bonds in the forest. Could that
be the reason that they had been spared? Because he had recognized
her? Her life was getting stranger and stranger since escaping from
Karl’s vile grasp.
    The revelation complicated her thoughts. If
the King had turned himself into a dragon, there was a fair chance
that it was because he was in contact with the Bloodstone, and if
that was the case…she was on a mission against him. Bad enough that
she had warned Treymayne of his army. She shook her head, of course
she had warned them, the army of slaves was unjust and evil, and
would undoubtedly cause mass amounts of bloodshed. And as much as
Katya liked to separate herself from the world, knowing she had
knowledge that could prevent many innocent deaths obligated her to
use it. She shouldn’t be feeling guilty for stopping a man who
would use such means for his own personal gain. He was as bad as
Karl.
    Forcibly putting the issue out of her mind,
she concentrated on the task at hand. Once she bartered for the
supplies she guessed she would need to begin her long journey since
the townspeople were no help in that regard, she set out for the
border to the north. She followed the stars and Gryffon’s loose
directions how to avoid the harshest passages to come to an area
that should lead her over the mountains and into the