Free Heirs of the Fallen: Book 04 - Wrath of the Fallen by James A. West Page B

cannot!”
    “Go,” Leitos said.
    Of them all, Ulmek alone fully understood the necessity. “Take my dagger, little brother.” An iron grin stretched his lips. “Don’t bring it back unless it’s bloody.”
    Leitos did as bidden. With his hands filled with short and long steel, he nodded toward the heart of the city. “I’ll draw their attention. The rest of you get to the palace. When I’m finished here, I’ll rejoin you.”
    They stared at him as if trying to etch his features into their memories. He spun away before anyone could protest further, and darted into the street.

Chapter 13
     
     
     
    Instead of running for the closest cover, Leitos sprinted over the cobbled roadway in full sight of the enemy. Only when the shriek of arrows filled the air, did he take shelter.
    Before he put a building between himself and the watchtower, another broadhead found him, tearing through his snug robes above one hipbone. He slammed against a shadowed wall, and looked over his shoulder to search for his companions. They had vanished. Good .
    He fingered the bloody slice in his robe. Between the wind and pounding rain, he had misjudged the nearness of the falling arrows. A painful lesson, but not his first.
    Once more, he ran into the open, drawing the eyes of the archers from his friends. More arrows flashed out of the storm, and again he found himself hunkered behind a wall. Twice more he broke cover, each time running full out to the next building.
    At the last wall, he peeked around a corner. The watchtower clawed at the sky like a black spike, but he saw no Fauthians in the arrow loops dotting its walls. Doubtless they were situated well back from the openings in an effort to keep their bows dry.
    Overhead, the worst of the storm was already blowing itself out. He had hoped it would last longer, but his short time on the island had taught him that most afternoon storms died as fast as they were born.
    Delaying no longer, he skipped into a dark alley and trotted down its length, boots splashing through puddles. Keeping the last image of the tower in his mind, he judged distances and angles, and made his way from one narrow path to another, until he felt confident that he was far from where the Fauthians expected him to be.
    At the mouth of an alley that let out onto a broad boulevard, he lay down on his belly and inched forward. He had moved far from where he had started, putting the tower behind him, and dappled bands of sunlight burst through the breaking clouds to shine on the tower’s walls. If he waited too long, the archers would creep out of their stronghold and give chase.
    Keeping to the shadows were he could, Leitos rapidly made his way to the tower. When he reached the closed door, he pressed his ear against it. Nothing stirred within. He tried the latch, found it unlocked. Fauthians had ruled uncontended for so long, that they had developed many bad habits.
    He quickly eased the door open, eyes stabbing round the interior for any movement. The way was clear. He slipped in, eased the door closed, and made for the closest pool of darkness to get his bearings.
    A profusion of footprints showed in the dust layering the floor, and also on the wooden stairs leading up through the tower’s hollow center. Bars of golden sunlight slanted through arrow loops on the west side of the tower. Everywhere else, shadows lay thick. If his enemies could use them, so could he.
    It was in this tower that he had heard the screams of a Yatoan woman, and saw for the first time the strange blue light of the Throat of Balaam. Past knowledge told him the ancient wooden treads were sound, if creaky. Leitos began to climb, each footfall more cautious than the previous.
    He froze as a Fauthian’s lean, golden-skinned back came into view. A few aberrant smears of dirt marred his ankle-length white kilt. The man stood looking out of an arrow loop, feathered shaft nocked to bowstring.
    Leitos craned his neck, searching higher up, but saw