Ghost in the Winds (Ghost Exile #9) - Jonathan Moeller Page 0,117

face, marked the blood and sweat and grime upon his features and his arms, though most of the blood didn’t look as if it had come from him.

A little cry escaped Caina’s lips before she could stop herself, and she started towards him, her fear and her rage and even Samnirdamnus temporarily forgotten. Gods, gods, but he was alive and unhurt. He wasn’t safe, for no one in Istarinmul was safe, but he was still alive and uninjured and that made everything that had happened over the last few weeks endurable.

He began to smile, and Caina broke into a run.

Then his eyes widened in alarm, the valikon coming up, and he sprinted towards her.

###

Kalgri laughed in silence, watching the scene below.

It was perfect. It was just too perfect.

Kalgri had waited atop the corner of the merchant’s hall, watching the battle between the Prince’s men and the new humanity, and Kylon of House Kardamnos had come into sight, wielding his valikon with his usual skill. Of course, with the new strength Kalgri could draw from the Voice, she need no longer fear Kylon’s prowess.

Still, that was no reason to put herself at risk, so she watched the battle. The Kaltari warriors and the Imperial Guards drove forward, aided by the vexing Nasser Glasshand and the spells of Claudia Aberon Dorius. Kylon was the most effective of them, the valikon and his sorcery letting him cut down creature after creature.

But that moved him away from the others, and soon he was isolated in the heart of the Bazaar. Kalgri considered surprising him and cutting him down. If she struck fast enough, she could kill him before anyone else interfered, and when it came time to kill Caina, it would be easier without Kylon protecting her.

It would also be far more enjoyable, especially if Kalgri could throw Kylon’s death into Caina’s face.

Then Caina ran into the Old Bazaar. It seemed the addition of a djinni’s power had made her a far more effective fighter, and she hurled knives wrought of smokeless fire, cutting down the hybrid creatures right and left.

The Balarigar saw the stormdancer, and for a moment the two of them froze, staring at each other. Caina started towards Kylon, slowly at first, and then breaking into a run.

Her path would take her right beneath Kalgri’s hiding place.

Sometimes, despite all her planning and caution, sometimes a wonderful opportunity fell into her lap, and this was it. Kalgri could leap from the rooftop and stab Caina from behind before the Balarigar or her pet stormdancer realized what was happening.

It looked like Kylon would get to see another woman he loved die right in front of him.

Kalgri’s legs tensed, the shadow-cloak stirring around her, and she prepared to spring.

###

For an instant, Kylon forgot the battle, forgot the creatures overhead, forgot the Grand Master and the Apotheosis, forgot everything.

Caina was alive.

She was alive, and she was unharmed, and she was running towards him, and that was the only thing that mattered…

Then other observations started to penetrate his brain.

Her eyes were burning. No, that wasn’t quite right. Rather, smokeless fire filled her eyes, and veins of the same fire glowed beneath the skin of her face and neck and hands. Kylon had seen that smokeless fire in his dreams, burning in the eyes of the Knight of Wind and Air. Had the ancient djinni possessed Caina? No, that was absurd. She could be possessed, but not controlled. The Knight would lodge himself inside of her flesh, but he would be bound to her, his abilities lost to her control…

In a flash, Kylon understood why the Knight had gone to such lengths to save Caina’s life. All that effort to bring her here, at the moment when she would be most effective, and could use the Knight’s power against Callatas when the djinni himself could not.

As the realization crossed his mind, a shadow on a rooftop caught his eye.

A nightmare from his past started to replay itself.

On that awful night in New Kyre, the Red Huntress had erupted from the shadows behind his wife Thalastre, stabbing her first through the belly so that she would know her unborn child had perished and then killing her in front of Kylon. She had moved fast, so fast he had not been able to save Thalastre.

And now Kylon saw the Red Huntress leap from the rooftop, a ghostsilver short sword in her hands, and plummet towards Caina with the speed of a crossbow bolt. Caina’s eyes were fixed on Kylon,