Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, #5) - K.F. Breene Page 0,82
knife.
“I do not recognize you… I have met your brethren.” Excitement rang in the man’s voice. “They are to the southwest. They were trying to make their way north, but the Graygual watch for them. Even coloring their hair, their mind power is easy for the Inkna to detect. They stay where they are, waiting for word of the Chosen. Of…the… Are you…?”
A thrill rang through Shanti, blocking out everything else. Rohnan grabbed her arm with a claw-like fingers, his desperation to see more of their people showing in his grip.
“Why are you here if they are there?” Shanti asked with a wispy voice.
“I am sticking to a central location. I wait for the Wanderer. The violet-eyed girl. She’s…one of them. One of… Are you…?”
He wouldn’t finish the sentence. He wouldn’t come out and ask. The reason behind that had Shanti hesitating.
“What is on your mind that prevents my power from reaching you?” Shanti tried again.
His face closed down and his lips tightened.
“He is distrustful. We have not identified ourselves. This city is divided.” Rohnan rose and backtracked a couple steps, picking up the knife where he had dropped it to dive for the man.
“This city is crushed under Graygual, Rohnan. Of course it’s divided. But until I know what we’re dealing with, I don’t want to show our hand.” To the man she said, “I am looking for two boys—young men. One is large, with big shoulders and well-defined muscle. The other is shorter, though not by much, and thin. Lanky, almost. Have you seen these boys—young men?”
An intense flare of terror rose from her light mental touch on Maggie.
“Flak!” Shanti swore, rising.
“I know where they are!” the man said in excitement.
Fear for the girls and elation both coursed through Shanti. “Rohnan, go with him. I will go to Maggie.”
“We shouldn’t split up, Chulan.”
The man rose and motioned them on. He started jogging across the rooftops.
“Flak,” Shanti swore again, looking down off the roof. Kallon waited just below. Down the street, around the corner from the Shadow’s kill, a pair of feet disappeared into a doorway.
“Kallon,” Shanti whispered down. “Kallon!”
He turned and backed up, looking at her. “The girls are in trouble and a man up here knows where the boys are. We must go. He takes the roof.”
Kallon glanced down the street to where their people were jogging back. She felt his mental equivalent of a sigh. Rooftops meant they’d be out of the contest. A moment later Sayas appeared over the edge, then Mela. The rest followed, one by one, until they all gathered.
“You are the Shumas, aren’t you?” the man said, having stopped when he realized the others weren’t following.
“Yes. Lead on. Some of us will follow. Some will go look for two girls that came with us.” Shanti motioned him to go.
“Oh, the ones with Tauneya? They’ll probably be in the same place.”
A wash of cold went through Shanti as she recognized that name, followed by another blare of terror from Maggie and Ruisa. “Hurry!”
22
Shanti climbed down the ladder and stopped beside a worn door with peeling paint. Litter rattled as the breeze caught it, making little flapping movements down the alleyway. The nondescript building was situated in what Shanti assumed was a bad part of town. She’d had to watch her step along the roofs to keep from falling through in some places.
“This way.” The man opened the door and stepped through. Light spilled into the alleyway, pushing the Shumas back against the wall.
Shanti pulled her sword as a flare of expectation came from Ruisa. She peered inside. A large room opened up before her. Worn and tattered couches and chairs lined the sides. Rugs, splotched with stains, covered the floor in layers, dotted with sleeping furs and bodies. Maggie and Ruisa sat next to each other near the door, still wearing their revealing clothes. Toward the back, each occupying a chair, sat Leilius and Xavier.
“What the bloody hell?” Shanti marched in the door, ignoring everyone else as she made her way to the two boys. Leilius flashed a grin that quickly melted away.
“S’am?” he asked, fear working into his expression as she got closer. “Are you—”
Shanti attacked him with a fierce hug, squeezing his bony frame as tightly as she could. She accosted Xavier next, unable to fit her arms around his upper body. She took a step back and then punched him in the chest.
“Ow, S’am.” Xavier rubbed his pec. “Why?”
“I thought you’d died! What happened?” Shanti demanded.