Free The Chronicles of Gan: The Thorn by Daron Fraley

Hasor. The pain he felt needed to be
expressed, but Pekah didn’t know if Nate would accept an apology on
behalf of his people. His thoughts rallied around this idea,
however, and he decided to offer a plea for forgiveness at
morning’s first light.
    Feeling the need to rid himself of Captain
Sachar’s dagger, Pekah pinched the pommel between a single finger
and his thumb, and then stood. He tiptoed over toward Nate,
stooped, then dropped the sheathed dagger into the dirt within
Nate’s reach. Nate stirred. Pekah stepped toward his own patch of
ground and makeshift pillow and watched, as with a dazed expression
upon his face, Nate sat up briefly to look around, but then lay
down again and rolled onto his side.
    Pekah settled back onto his hard bed and
surveyed the stars. “In the morning, I will tell Nate what
happened,” he encouraged himself in an audible whisper. For a long
time, he rehearsed in his mind how he would tell the story of the
fall of Hasor. Sleep still did not come. He sat up again by the
fire, and broke up small twigs. One by one he tossed the pieces
into the coals. Each one caught fire, glowed, and turned to
ash.
    In this manner, Pekah passed the entire
night, anguishing over the horrible things he had witnessed in
Hasor. As the night advanced, the sister moons traced their way
across the heavens. Sienna would soon catch her companions. Several
times he noted their progress across the stars. Although tired,
Pekah still felt restless.
    When relief from the darkness finally came
as the sky brightened in the west, Pekah stoked the fire again
before retiring to the stream to refresh himself. He washed his
face, then dunked his head in the water. The frigid stream made him
sputter. Dusty from the previous day’s march, he removed his belt,
stripped off his dark green tunic, and proceeded to rinse it in the
water. After some scrubbing and wringing, he retrieved his belt,
then headed back to the fire to hang his wet clothing over a bent
branch near the heat.
    As Pekah rubbed his hands near the flames,
he watched as Eli rose from his bed. Eli smiled and waved a
friendly hello, leaving in the direction of the stream. Nate stood
up and stretched.
    “I hope you slept as well as I did,” Nate
greeted.
    “Thank you, but not really. I didn’t sleep
much.”
    “I’m sorry to hear it.”
    Nate looked at the dagger in the dirt beside
him. He regarded it with curiosity, then glanced back at Pekah, who
was watching for a reaction. Nate didn’t comment about the dagger.
He merely stepped around it, aiming toward the stream.
    “I’ll be back,” he said as he left.
    Dawn approached. It would not be long before
the twin suns made their appearance. Pekah tested his shirt, and
found it still damp. He turned it around to dry the other side, but
after a few more minutes he became impatient with the process, so
he shook the wool tunic in the air, pulled it over his head, and
cinched his belt. Faint wisps of steam rose around him into the
cold morning air.
    Eli and Nate returned from the stream
together, both with wet hair and clean faces, just as the first
beams of direct light fell from the rising suns. As the orbs rose
from the western horizon, Pekah could see that Azure had eclipsed
Aqua. They appeared to be one body except for the color difference
and size of their spheres. Aqua’s almost colorless hue—a light blue
with a greenish tint—formed a near-perfect ring around the smaller,
almost purple Azure. Now superimposed, they seemed somewhat less
bright than they had the day before, yet their intensity still
required caution on the part of onlookers.
    With the aid of the morning light, Pekah
took the opportunity to get a better look at his companions, and
found them to be quite a contrast standing together. Nate was tall,
with brown hair and a well-trimmed short beard, large blue eyes, of
medium build. Eli was taller yet, of a strong build, and his red
hair highlighted friendly green eyes.
    Pekah glanced over at