A Crown for Assassins by Morgan Rice

Author:Morgan Rice [Rice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan Rice
Published: 2018-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Will ducked out of the way of stone shards as a cannon round struck a nearby wall. He felt something graze his cheek, and his hand came away wet with blood when he touched it. He didn’t have enough time to check how deep the gash was though, because Lord Cranston would be waiting for the latest information on the progress of the siege.

“Looks as though this could be a tough one, your highness,” a soldier from Lord Cranston’s regiment called out, gesturing with his musket. It took Will a moment to decide that the man wasn’t making fun of him, no matter how uncomfortable he might be now at being a prince by marriage.

“It will be even easier than taking money from you at cards, Johannes,” Will called back.

The man laughed, and looked as though he might be about to say something, but in that moment another cannonball struck. Will threw himself flat, feeling more than hearing the shrapnel flying overhead. Johannes wasn’t as quick.

“A physiker!” Will started to call out. “We need a physiker over here!”

He did it by instinct, but that instinct faded when he saw the mess of blood and meat that was left of the other man. Any physiker who could put that back together would be a magic worker more powerful than either Kate or Sophia.

Right then, Will both wished that they were there, and was grateful that they were not. Kate in particular, because there would be no way she would be able to keep herself from charging into the midst of the enemy, and the thought of her doing that terrified Will. It was almost enough to cut through the blank horror he felt at seeing a man reduced to this in front of him.

He snatched up Johannes’s musket, which was somehow still intact even when the man who had held it was not. On instinct, he popped up over the ramparts, firing at the mass of enemies below.

“Die!” he yelled out to them, as if that would make it happen. The truth was that he couldn’t even make out if his shot hit or not.

Will ran on toward Lord Cranston, who strolled amongst the men as if nothing more strenuous than a garden party was happening. It seemed an utterly mad image, but then, there was nothing sane about what was happening right then. Will stopped in front of him, snapped to attention, and offered a salute.

“I think we can dispense with that, Will,” he said. “What news from the artillery crews?”

“They’re taking a battering,” Will said, “but their emplacements are letting them weather it, at least. They think they’ve hit a couple of the enemy’s positions.”

“Good,” Lord Cranston said. “They need to keep it up. If we can deprive the enemy of his cannons, he’ll have to get into the city the slow way.”

“I don’t know if we can get them all,” Will said.

Lord Cranston shrugged. “If a man aims for perfection, he may at least attain excellence. I’d settle for half of them going silent.

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