Free The Destiny of the Dead (The Song of the Tears Book 3) by Ian Irvine Page A

enjoying his triumph. Maelys tried
to stand up but the nooses would not allow it.
    Nish was staring at her, and when she caught his eye he gave
a stiff little nod. Did he have a plan? She didn’t see how he could; there was
no way he could get free. The sabre was just a few ells from her hand but she
could not move to take it.
    As Klarm came for her with a length of rope, Nish kicked the
dwarf’s legs from under him. He fell hard, lost contact with the tears and
Maelys’s nooses vanished. She snatched at the sabre as Klarm struggled to his
feet, the tears swinging on their chain. He was going for Reaper when Maelys
lashed out.
    The sabre struck the chain near the point where it was
attached to Gatherer. The tears shrilled, sparks flew in all directions and she saw something rouse briefly inside
her weapon, then fire ran along the blade and it sheared through the chain.
Gatherer went flying over the side; Reaper hit the deck, trailing the chain,
and rolled across until it was stopped by the metal rim.
    Klarm collapsed, his little legs drawn up to his belly and
his arms wrapped around his middle. Maelys went after Reaper and was about to
flip it over the side with the sabre when Nish cried, ‘No!’
    Fool, she told herself; the slightest contact with Reaper
could burn her hand off. She darted across to Nish and cut his bonds.
    ‘Come on,’ he said, rubbing his hands to get the circulation
back.
    They jumped down and she gave him his sabre as they hurried
away. It was raining as hard as ever.
    ‘I’ll never forget this, Maelys,’ he said, clearly moved
that she had gone through so much for him. ‘I couldn’t take that again.’
    ‘Take what?’
    ‘Imprisonment in Mazurhize; and being in the thrall of my
father when he comes back. As I know he will.’
    Maelys did not reply. Her heart-rate was slowly returning to
normal. She’d done it, and now she could hand over the unwanted responsibility.
    ‘You remind me, over and again, who my real friends are,’ he
said. He looked back over his shoulder and walked faster. ‘Where’s the
militia?’
    ‘In the lower clearing. I sent them up the top, to the best
defensive position I could see, but that was at least half an hour ago. And the
enemy were close behind. I – I’m really worried.’
    ‘Were Flydd and Yggur there?’
    ‘Yes, and Tulitine, but they weren’t much better.’
    ‘They’ll think of something,’ he said. ‘Flydd is the best
man in the world in a difficult situation, and Yggur is almost as good.’
    He was putting on a show of confidence for her sake, but she
was not convinced. She looked back. Klarm was on his feet, walking awkwardly
and holding his belly. He clambered off the air-sled and began to paw through
the mud.
    ‘Lucky it was Gatherer that fell over the side,’ she said.
‘Had it been Reaper he could have used Gatherer to find it.’
    ‘Mmm,’ he said, breaking into a run. ‘Come on.’
    Maelys stayed beside him for a while, but she was exhausted
from labouring through the mud all this time and could not keep up.
    ‘Go ahead,’ she said, knowing she was holding him back.
‘You’ve got to reach them before Klarm does. I’ll be close behind.’
    He slowed until she caught up. ‘I’m not leaving you,’ Nish
said, his jaw knotted.
    ‘I’ll be fine, the taphloid will protect me. Two scriers
looked directly at me on the way here and didn’t see a thing.’ Though they had sensed something amiss. ‘Go!’
    ‘All right. But be careful.’ He kissed her on her muddy
brow, the first intimate gesture she’d ever had from him, then ran down to the
forest without looking back.
    She plodded after him, checking over her shoulder. Klarm had
found Gatherer; she could see it shining from here. He carried it carefully to
the metal box, wound the chain attached to Reaper around his wrist and looked
about. Maelys froze, then slowly crouched, knowing he would see her if she ran.
    The song of Reaper swelled to a jarring cacophony.