Free 06 - Rule of Thieves by C. Greenwood Page A

uncomfortable feeling shivering its way down my spine. The sense of being watched by unseen eyes. Surreptitiously, I glanced around the dimly lit corridor. Orange light from the intermittent wall sconces cast eerie shadows dancing up the walls, making the tapestries appear almost to move as if a living thing writhed beneath them. Anyone could be hiding behind those long tapestries, watching me. I had an unknown enemy in the keep, after all, one who had not hesitated to send an assassin after me once before. Who was to say they would not make an attempt on my life right here? I surely presented a tempting opportunity walking the lonely halls at night.
    Flexing my fingers, I resisted the temptation to reach for the pair of sharp knives concealed up my sleeves. If someone was spying on me, waiting for their chance, I didn’t want to chase them away too soon. I must draw them out.
    Shoulders tense with the thought of a sudden blade being planted between them, ears straining for the approach of stealthy footsteps, I kept walking.
    Then I heard it. A soft footfall.
    My twin knives were in my hands before I even had the conscious thought to draw them, and I whirled on my attacker.
    But there was no attacker. It was only the raven-haired young woman I had seen at the Praetor’s dinner table earlier. She had come upon me unexpectedly, but she held no weapon, only a glowing candlestick in her hand. There was nothing threatening about her. Very much the opposite.
    At my sudden action, she started and gave a little cry of dismay, nearly dropping her candle.
    I said awkwardly, “My apologies, lady. You caught me by surprise. I had thought myself alone.”
    With wide blue eyes, she watched me resheath my knives.
    “I… I saw you wandering as if you were lost and thought you might welcome direction,” she offered.
    “That’s good of you.” I tried to remember her name. “You’re Lady Morwena, aren’t you? Cousin and ward to the Praetor?”
    Mention of her status seemed to drive away her uncertainty, and her voice grew confident. “The Praetor and I are distant cousins only. The relation is not a close one.”
    I tried to introduce myself but she cut me off.
    “I know who you are. You’re the outlaw of Dimmingwood.”
    “There are a number of those,” I said.
    “Yes, but you are the only famous one. Except for that horrid Red Hand, who is now dead. You are Ilan, who defeated the Skeltai with her magical bow.”
    Her eyes darted over my shoulder. “You do not have it with you?”
    I was uneasy to think word of the bow’s unusual qualities had become so widely known.
    “I’m sorry to disappoint,” I said. “But it hardly seemed necessary to carry all my weapons here within the safety of these walls.”
    She grimaced. “You think these walls are safe? Others have thought so to their misfortune. I could tell stories…”
    The sentence hung temptingly, but I did not take up her offer.
    With a little pout of annoyance, she volunteered more. “Every castle has its secrets, and this one conceals more than most.”
    I said, “I am sure.”
    “There are people within these ‘safe walls’ who are not what they present themselves to be. People who would kill to keep the things I know hidden.” A look of dark fascination crossed her face.
    “Then it must be frightening to be you,” I said dryly.
    If Lady Morwena had appeared tentative at first, she did not seem so now. I was reminded of the remark Lorea the laundress had made at dinner. She had been right about the girl’s changing moods.
    “You’re making fun of me,” Lady Morwena said now. “But I can show you the dangers of which I speak.”
    “I’ll have to decline that offer,” I said “I’ve had my fill of danger for a while.”
    “On your journey through the provinces?” she asked knowingly. “Rumor says you went off with a priest of the blade and the Fist captain to carry out secret business for my cousin. Is that true?”
    I smiled, despite myself.