Free Hunt for Justice by James R. Vernon Page A

of town. She could handle a walk down memory lane. A very fast walk. A sprint, if Nolan could keep up.
    Before she knew it, Ezzy was crossing over Main Street. The houses on Melcoi's Curve were grand displays of the owner's wealth, most of them belonging to the lower members of the Hawkpurse clans or merchants with connections to them. Cut stone and brick took the place of painted logs and planks. Slate and clay tiles covered the homes instead of thatch and wood. Grand windows adorned each floor, framed by ornate shutters and small flower boxes. Each home had extra space out front for a yard, although many were filled with flowers or vegetable gardens.
    Nolan walked beside her, his attention straight ahead. Of all of the people in the world, Nolan best understood what her family had been through. He walked beside her in silence, offering neither his hand nor words of wisdom, but Ezzy didn't mind. His stoic presence alone had always given her a sense of comfort.
    Melcoi's Curve got its name from the fact that it arced from east to north as it ran alongside the Melcoi River as it flowed south. The homes on the right side of the street backed up to the river, most having small beaches or decorated shores. As the two came to where the street curved, Ezzy stopped.
    There, sitting on one of the largest plots of land in the city, were the burnt ruins of her family home.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
    A Moonlight Stroll
    The charred remains of the home she had grown up in looked like a skeleton left to rot. Wooden beams stuck out of the ground like the fingers of a half-buried hand. The flower beds of what had been the most magnificent garden in the city - better even than the famed garden around Ni'Aren's temple - were now piles of ash. The metal fence, with its ornate designs, had been knocked over and reduced to twisted mounds of iron. Even the cobblestone path leading up to the house had been ripped apart. It had been close to a year since the loss of her father and destruction of her family's businesses. One of the Hawkpurse families owned the property now, but she didn't know which one. But the way they had left the home destroyed, it was obvious they were trying to send a message--the Ciantar family was dead and gone.
    But Ezzy would show them that it took more than that to eliminate the oldest Hawkpurse family in the realm. As long as she had breath in her lungs, she'd make the enemies of her family pay.
    Starting with Ean Sangrave.
    "We should go," Nolan said, causing Ezzy to jump.
    "Yes, yes," she said, brushing away an unwanted teardrop. "We should keep moving."
    As they followed the road, she kept her eyes on the river to the right. She needed to focus. This wasn't some casual stroll at night. They had bounty hunters after them. After glancing at her destroyed home one more time, Ezzy was starting to feel that a fight wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe running into one or two bounty hunters would be a good thing.
    "Beating up a bunch of thugs will not help our situation," Nolan said.
    Could the blasted man read minds? He certainly had touched hers enough in creating the bond to Paz.
    "I don't want to fight anyone," she lied.
    "That's not what your expression is saying. You have the same look that you get when you're about to teach one of your brothers a lesson."
    Good, he couldn't read minds. She was just really transparent. She needed to work on that.
    "Beating the stuffing out of a few dirty bounty hunters would make me feel a lot better."
    Nolan let out a loud sigh. "We don't need the bounty increasing just to make you feel better."
    "The bounty on me."
    "Don't even try to play the victim. It's only a matter of time before I'm added on to that bounty or have one of my own."
    "Yeah, yeah, alright. I'll calm down. Now stop making so much noise. Do you want the whole city to know where we are?"
    Nolan shook with frustration, but kept silent.
    They continued up the road, remaining