Free Rise of the Fire Tamer (The Wordwick Games #1) by Kailin Gow Page A

they did it. Something snapped in Kat then. She threw herself forward, drawing her sword as the third man turned and aimed a startled swing at her. She ducked it more through luck than anything else, then stabbed out with her own blade. The soldier fell dead, and Kat turned back to the rest of the fight.
    She didn’t need to do anything. Of the two men who had been attacking Rio, one was running away, while the other was on the ground with an arrow sticking from his chest. Kat tried to be nonchalant about it, but casual wasn’t an option the way she was currently feeling. She grabbed Rio, kissing him before he had a chance to protest.
    “I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said when she pulled back. “And I’m so, so sorry.”
     
    Rio led the way back towards the inn in silence. He couldn’t help his eyes darting to Kat from time to time, because he didn’t know what to say. He could still taste her lipstick from where she had kissed him, but couldn’t help thinking of the note to him written in the same shade. He also couldn’t help thinking about what Gem would taste like if she kissed him, and whether it would be as sweet…
     
    Kat trudged along behind him, mostly keeping her eyes on the path. She’d blown it. She knew that. But Rio… he was hardly glancing back at her. Kat wasn’t going to let herself cry, but it wasn’t exactly easy…
     
    Sparks was sharpening his sword, watching Gem try to convince Goolrick that they should go after the others. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea. Actually, what he really didn’t like was the thought of Gem wanting to run after Rio, but Sparks knew he shouldn’t say that. And there was Jack to consider…
     
    Jack’s eye still ached, but he kept up easily enough. It was Kat who seemed to be having problems. She had hardly looked at him since escaping. Silently, without making a fuss about it, he slid his hand into hers…
     
    It took Gem nearly an hour to persuade Goolrick to send out scouts to search for the others. He only backed down when she threatened to go and search by herself, and then only when she promised to stay where she was. Gem just hoped that they would find the others before anything happened.

 
    Chapter 8
     
     
    G em heard the shouts from Goolrick’s men before she saw the others return. She and Sparks were sitting outside the Ephemeral Inn, waiting for news as Gem had promised Goolrick she would. He had made his help conditional on her staying there, so she didn’t dare get up to check what was going on in case it gave the wizard an excuse to withdraw it.
    Sparks had sat with her, on a bench in front of the inn, and Gem found that she was glad of it. He hadn’t said much, but just having him there had helped. The weight had been fraught with worry, filled with it, and knowing that she couldn’t help was worse. Still, judging by the sound coming out of the woods, the men of Perfidious had found something. Gem just hoped it was the others.
    It was. They arrived in a cluster of Goolrick’s men, and Gem’s heart leapt to see them. It fell again when she saw that all three of them were being held tightly by the arms, like prisoners, and were being almost dragged along. When Goolrick stepped from the inn, Gem put herself in front of him.
    “Tell your men to let them go, Goolrick. They don’t deserve to be treated like that.”
    “Don’t they?” the young wizard gave her a cold look. “You might want to vindicate them, to free them from all blame, without thinking, but I cannot afford to be so foolish.”
    Gem looked from him to Sparks, hoping that the boy would back her up. Instead, he was staring at the others with what appeared to be anger.
    “Not you as well?”
    “What do you expect, Gem?” he replied. “I saw the note. They ran off on the promise of a short cut, and Kat, she’s the worst of them. She betrayed us.”
    Goolrick nodded his agreement.
    “The boy is right. They ran off to join Spurious without a thought. Now