Circle of Skulls by James P. Davis

Author:James P. Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub

Jinn prowled the edge of an iron-and-stone wall cautiously, studying the darkened windows and quiet gardens of the Loethe family home. He knew nothing of them save for his brief encounter with the Lady Lhaerra at the Storm's Front tavern, yet the size of their estate suggested room enough for a large family. He paced quietly, trying to decide if he should enter immediately or wait for something to happen, not wishing to call attention to himself unless he had to. Mara had barely glanced at Tallus's notes; he could not deny the possibility that she had been wrong. Despite that, something about the high, stone walls and the garden's eerie silence felt right, tugging at him like the insistent pain of an aching tooth.

He stopped cold, a squeaking sound sending a chill down the back of his neck. It squelched for a breath then stopped, like the sound of a damp hand being dragged across a pane of glass. He searched the windows along the upper floor, squinting through the snow for the source of the noise. There were eight gabled windows, all in a row and all of them identical save for the last one on the western end. A streak of crimson blurred the otherwise spotless glass, the shape of little fingers easily made out above the red smear. The curtains waved, revealing a sliver of darkness and the unmistakable glow of burning green eyes.

He leaped the fence and sprinted through the garden, spying no guards to slow him as he approached the front door. In a brief moment of hope, he tried the handle, but the door was solidly locked. Abandoning convention, he dashed to the rounded eastern corner where tall windows outlined a large side room. He tried to peer inside but whirled around as footsteps crunched on frost behind him. A haggard, bent woman in torn robes stepped out from the shadow of a large tree, her dull, soulless eyes regarding him blankly. She raised the curved dagger in her left hand high as she shambled toward him, a stumbling half run that gave him little time for caution.

He drew his sword and smashed the window with its pommel, grateful as the glass shattered, unwarded by magic as Tallus's had been. He deflected the ahimazzi's clumsy slash and kicked her back before jumping through the window, briefly engulfed by thick curtains as his boots crunched on broken glass. The soulless woman recovered, and others of her kind appeared in the garden but would not approach the house, wandering back to their cold shadows.

Holding still behind the curtains for several breaths, Jinn waited for the inevitable rush of guards or the screams of frightened servants. Greeted by only the strangely quiet house and a meticulously clean ballroom, he crossed the tall room to a sweeping staircase on the southern wall. At the top of the stairs, still he found no signs of life—no lit lanterns or sounds of snoring from the long hallway on his right, no source of heat to keep away the night's chill as the family slept.

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