Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,81
face, showing her his frightened look, but doing nothing to help him see.
Sayas ran out behind the Inkna. His arm wrapped around the man’s chest and his knife ripped across his throat. Mela arrived a moment later, grabbing the falling body and helping to drag it, still convulsing, into the deeper shadows.
Shanti was jogging before the feet disappeared from view.
Around a corner, another mind entered her awareness. This wasn’t Gifted.
Shanti slowed and flattened, sliding up to the edge. A quick look told her it was a patrolling Graygual. He had the lantern, but no Gift.
A blast came from Mela this time. She was going to take knife duty.
Kallon and Sayas ran across the street, taking cover on the other side. A shout came from down the way, the Graygual having noticed the moving shadows. He didn’t know what he’d gotten himself into until he’d turned the corner. His chest smacked into Kallon.
Faster than thought, Kallon had his hands on the sides of the man’s face and twisted. The loud crack signaled the end of that Graygual.
Mela punched Kallon in the arm and flashed him a “what gives?” hand movement. Kallon shrugged in a “what was I supposed to do?” kind of way. She shook her head and helped hide the body.
Sayas held up two fingers to Shanti. They were taking Sonson’s bet seriously.
Shanti rolled her eyes but kept on, disposing of two more Inkna before they reached their destination. Once there, she moved around the base of the building and continued down the street, calling up a mental map in her head and trying to pinpoint where they were.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. Rohnan pointed down the street where another guard was moving, still outside her tight circle of Gift. He stopped where he was, staring off to the right.
Hope flooded through her. She started moving that direction. Before she could take two steps, however, something jetted out. The altercation was over in a moment. The enemy’s feet slid into the shadow.
Sayas put his hands on his hips. “They’re good, I’ll give them that.”
“We’re better,” Mela said, glancing up.
Shanti felt it. A presence above them, hardly detectable. Someone was on the rooftops.
Confusion taking over her, she jogged to a decorative stone outcropping on the building and quickly scaled the side. A figure walked along the roof, holding its stomach. Almost as though it was a whiff of scent, Shanti could detect the maleness of the person.
“What Gift is this?” Rohnan asked quietly, standing up next to her.
The figure stopped suddenly and turned their way. For a moment, each party stared at each other. Then the man fled.
“Hurry!” Shanti yelled, running after him. She tried to clutch his mind, but it was like grasping a fish in freezing waters. She couldn’t quite lock it down. Instead, she tried a light stab, hoping to knock him down so she could catch up.
Her power hit him and deflected, nothing more than a glancing blow. She tried again, but with more power. This deflect had the man staggering. Whatever was protecting him wasn’t good enough.
She threw another shot at him, making him fall to his knees. She was on him a moment later, tackling him. They rolled, body over body, stopping on a steeper grade before sliding toward the edge. Shanti let go of him and pushed him away, not wanting to go over with him. The roof tore at her fingers as she clutched at it, sliding to a painful stop. The man flailed and pitched over the edge.
Rohnan was there just in time, lying down on the corner and grabbing downward. He grunted, pulled.
“Help, Chulan!”
She was with him a moment later, ready to cut the man’s hand off to save her brother. It wasn’t necessary. The man was as still as a stone, looking up at them with an imploring look on his face.
Shanti reached down with an open hand. The man put his knife between his teeth and swung his hand up, clutching Shanti’s. Together, they pulled him up over the ledge and then dropped him, gasping, on the roof.
“What language?” Shanti asked in the traders’ dialect.
“This will work. Who are you?”
“What is over your mind that I can’t use my Gift on you?” Shanti asked.
“He is afraid and curious,” Rohnan said in a low tone. “I can barely feel it.”
Shanti couldn’t feel it at all.
“I recognize…are you a Shumas?” the man asked, this time with wonder in his voice.