Oracle by Kyra Dune Page B

a trick.”
         “You’re
not an elf.” She drew her katana and strode toward the bird.
         Brandon
followed, as eager to see what she might do next as he was to get a closer look
at the bird.
         “What is
it, Reaper?” Selene asked as she and the others gathered in not too close
behind them.
         “Many
strange beasts reside in this land,” Reaper said. “I do not know all their
names.”
         One of
the bird’s eyes popped open, prompting a scream from Anastasia, who was
clinging to Simon like a drowning person to a lifeline. “It’s not dead.”
         “Hello,
there.” Brandon crouched down to look the bird in the eye. Its beak was razor
sharp and could no doubt slice clean through a person. Fascinating. “You’re an
awfully big bird.”
         “Don’t
talk to it,” Selene snapped. “Kill it and be done. We don’t have time for
standing around.”
         “Oh, no,
we can’t kill it.” Brandon said, maintaining eye contact with the bird. The
beast gazed back at him with more intelligence than was generally credited to
winged things.
         “What do
you mean, we can’t kill it?” Selene was giving him one of those looks he
received when he did something other people didn’t understand. Which was rather
often.
         “We
startled her,” he said, rising. “She’s only protecting her territory like
anybody would do. We can’t kill her for that. Besides, she’s defenseless at the
moment. Killing her would be murder. I’m many things, but a murderer is not
among them.”
         “Are you
serious?” Selene asked. “You’re an assassin. Killing defenseless people is your
job. Are you telling me you have more consideration for the life of this... creature,
than you do that of a person?”
         Brandon
grinned. “Yes.”
         Selene
threw up her hands in disgust. “I give up. Reaper, he’s one of yours. See if
you can talk some sense into him.”
         Reaper
turned away. “Leave the bird. It hardly matters.”
         “It
hardly matters?” Selene asked. “What if it comes after us when it recovers?
Reaper!” But he was already moving off down the path.
         “We
shouldn’t let him get too far ahead,” Simon said. “He’s the only one who knows
his way around this place.”
         Selene
scowled. “ Nephima , you kill the bird.”
         Nephima slid her katana back into place. “I think we best
leave the bird be.”
         Brandon
could not have been more pleased. Generally people only sided with him out of
fear, but not Nephima . If she was afraid of anything it certainly wouldn’t be him. For a moment he wondered if Selene was going
to press the issue. Either because she truly was afraid the bird might attack
again, or because she was a higher power and felt as if she had some authority
over them. But she didn’t. She simply turned and walked away, quickly followed
by Simon, Anastasia, and the taciturn Lorn .
         Once the
others were out of earshot, Nephima glanced down at
the bird. “Are you sure about this?”
         “No,” Brandon
said. “But then, I’m rarely sure about the things I do.” He grinned. “Makes
life so much more exciting.”

 
 
 
 
 

 
    CHAPTER
TEN

 
 
         Never in
his life had Ethan ever imagined he would find himself sitting in a tub full of
goat milk. He couldn’t imagine how one could truly clean themselves this way,
but then the wildlings were a rough lot with their hides and tattoos, so he
supposed he should count himself lucky to be able to bathe at all.
         Not that Nika was unpleasant to look at, even with a snake tattooed
on her face. But he dare not pursue her, as he normally would, because of
Jesse. If it came to blows he would, of course, have to kill the man. Which
would make both Kat and Manny extremely upset and no doubt he’d end up having
to kill them too, leaving him to make his way to the temple on his own.