Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,80
Shanti directed the girls out of the door ahead of her.
“Why are you here so early?” Maggie asked quietly as they stepped out into the stillness of the night.
A surge of pain bled through Shanti’s middle. Rohnan shifted to their right. “Xavier and Leilius lost consciousness. I need to find them.”
Maggie’s lips thinned. Ruisa’s eyes went wide. Sorrow radiated from both of them, but neither of them said a word. It was as if they were afraid to ask what that might mean.
“You won’t be able to understand our communication, so just keep on your toes,” Shanti said, once again feeling the pull of urgency. “We’ll tap, touch, push, or shove you to get you in position. We will rarely speak. Yes?”
“Yes, S’am,” they both whispered.
“Sonson is headed toward Alena. We will go to where I last felt Xavier and Leilius. Do you know anything about this city that might help us?”
Maggie hooked a thumb at the prostitute coming out of the guardhouse. “She would. Ruisa can somewhat speak to her.”
“She doesn’t know the traders’ language all that well,” Ruisa said.
Shanti glanced at Tanna. Unless she was completely mistaken, this was the same dialect as the city they’d just come from.
Tanna stepped forward and said a few words. The woman answered, proving Shanti’s theory correct.
“Chulan.” Rohnan’s tone said that he was still sullen that she’d punched him. Some things had not changed since their youth. “Maggie and Ruisa haven’t slept. They are both dead tired. We should give them at least a few hours.”
Shanti nodded, feeling her own fatigue pulling at her limbs. She’d forced herself to sleep for a few hours while they had waited, but it hadn’t been enough. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time for more.
“I can handle it,” Maggie said quickly.
“We’ll need you tomorrow,” Shanti said. “Can these women give you a place to rest?”
“We can go back with her, I guess. The Inkna didn’t bother us on the way here. We just got a few disapproving looks.”
Ruisa adjusted her top, trying to cover up a little more.
“Okay. Go. Let yourself be consumed with fear if something goes wrong. I’ll find you near dawn if not before.” Shanti touched Ruisa’s shoulder, and then Maggie’s. “I don’t want to lose you girls. Be smart. And good work.”
“Yes, S’am,” Ruisa said with a small smile. Maggie nodded in acknowledgment.
Tanna turned back to them. “Let’s get further into the city and I’ll fill you in. Their curfew is strict. We shouldn’t see anyone but the enemy, and if we do, they won’t notice us. They’ll have their own terrors to escape.”
Shanti didn’t bother voicing her acknowledgment. Instead, she reduced the spread of her Gift to the immediate area. An empty space greeted her, devoid of Graygual, Inkna, or anyone that might be out for the night. In a city this large, she should at least feel a stray cat prowling the night. But there was nothing.
She took off at a fast jog, not wanting to push her luck. When they reached the first building, she slunk into a small pocket and waited for everyone to make it across, then gave the signal for the rest to fan out. Some crossed the street quickly so they would line both sides. Picking up her pace again, she made a path to where she thought she had last felt the boys. From the different vantage point, she couldn’t be absolutely sure, but she hoped that somewhere within the area there would be some clue.
Two blocks up and she felt someone coming. A sole figure with the Gift, moving slowly down the middle of the street. Inkna.
She blasted a small warning. They slinked off to the sides and folded into the darkest shadows to wait. The scuff of a boot echoed down the still and quiet street. A soft light glowed, getting brighter as the Inkna came closer. His crisp black shirt front ate away some of the radiance in front of him. His pale skin seemed to glow. Thankfully, he was an idiot, made obvious by such a bright light on a dark night. He wouldn’t be able to see beyond that light with anything but his Gift. Soon he would be blind.
A surge rose from Sayas, informing her that he would take down the enemy.
Shanti felt a light poke to her brain. She left her shields down, inviting him to take a good look at the biggest monster prowling this night.
His foot stubbed against the ground. His light swung up near his