A Soul for Tsing by Chris A. Jackson

Author:Chris A. Jackson [Jackson, Chris A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Jaxbooks
Published: 2011-09-21T04:00:00+00:00

Katie cursed fluently at the torrential rain that had caught her unaware. She had been on her way home late at night, tired, weary and a little sore, when the sky had simply opened up without warning. One moment the night had been just hot and muggy, the next she was nearly swimming. She had decided to run for it rather than hold up in a doorway. There was no telling how long it would last, and she wanted to get home to check on her mother. Julia seemed capable enough and had even cleaned up after herself, which was rare, but Katie worried just the same.

She rounded the corner onto Nightwatch Street, clutching her shoes in an effort to keep them at least partially dry, and hugging the buildings to keep out of the worst of it. The tavern there was closed, so she did not have to worry about the drunks. She bolted around the corner and scampered up the alley, her sodden dress dragging at her every step. She started up without delay, taking the stairs more carefully since the boards were slick and tended to wiggle underfoot. She was to the first landing when she heard the noise.

It sounded like a truncated yell, cut off before it started. Then came a zip like ripping silk, different than the hiss of rain on the cobbles, then a gurgle, like a man trying to yell with his face in a bucket of water. She crouched and whirled, her trained eye catching only a flicker of something dark moving around the corner of the other alley. She sat motionless for several breaths, the discomfort of the chill rain forgotten. She knew there had been something there, but now there was nothing.

Katie slipped a dagger out of its sheath and moved down the stair. Her eyes flicked from shadow to shadow, waiting for a target, watching for movement or something out of place. She reached the wall and flattened against it, searching the shadows again, then moving on. At the corner, she flipped the knife, readying it to throw, crouched and peeked quickly around the corner, then jerked back. She closed her eyes immediately, studying the image left on the retina. A chill totally unrelated to the rain slithered down her back. Katie laid down her shoes and drew another knife, her longer fighting dagger, keeping it in her left hand while the throwing knife stayed in her right. She then carefully looked around the corner, her face at thigh level.

The body lay jammed up against a refuse heap, the legs sticking out of the shadows. The shoes were tatters, and the trousers not much better. She could not see any other features. She scanned the shadows and saw nothing, so she edged around the corner, her back still against the wall. Three steps brought her to it, and a kick told her that the man was either dead or very unconscious. She could see his shape in the shadows, but no detail.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.