Game of Secrets by Kim Foster

Author:Kim Foster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“‘We must not look at goblin men,

We must not buy their fruits:

Who knows upon what soil they fed

Their hungry thirsty roots?’”

—Christina Rossetti, “The Goblin Market”

I turn to flee the way I came, but another figure materializes out of the mist, blocking my way. Another Huntsman.

They must have followed me from the opera house or the university. I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. I must get away.

The men flash crocodile grins as they close in. Their eyes gleam with certain success. They expect this to be easy.

I reach out for Aristos, desperate for the one thing that might help me. But—as always—I find nothing. Warwick carries a dangling length of rope; the other men hold knives. No pistols. I’m not surprised. Nothing would bring the local authorities quicker than the crack of gunshots.

Still, I’m not going to make it easy for my assailants.

Warwick comes at me first with a nasty smile, holding the rope, ready to bind me. I kick at his legs—I haven’t spent my time in training sessions learning nothing. He grunts and falls back, eyes widening with surprise.

A sound behind me gives me a second’s warning, and I duck. The man flies past, overshooting his target, and lands sprawled on the pathway with a grunt. Hope bubbles up, briefly—maybe I can fight my way out of this….

And that hope then quickly disappears as I feel my arms jerked violently behind my back and my feet lift off the ground. Warwick’s voice murmurs in my ear, “This time you’re coming with us.” He laughs—a low, chilling sound. “You’re not going to like it.” Terror claws at my throat.

I am dragged backward. The men close in around me.

Just then shouts cleave the air. The bridge is suddenly filled as people clamber up and over the bridge railings. There must be five or six of them, moving so fast, limbs and weapons flashing. I catch a glimpse of one—Julian.

How did the Morgana team find me?

I scream to be released, and Charlie is there, knocking down my captor with one swift blow. Immediately, I drop and tear the ropes from my wrists. Once more, I try to call for Aristos but there is nothing. I will be no help to the other Candidates, the real Morgana.

I spot a lamppost with a broad base on the other side of the bridge and dart behind it, crouching down, hiding.

As I watch the mayhem, something small flies from one of the Huntsmen’s cloaks and falls at my foot. It glimmers with a dull metallic sheen. I quickly grab at it, but it’s only a cloak pin.

But on closer examination, it carries a distinctive pattern. Familiarity whispers in my ear, although I can’t think why. I tuck the pin away in the folds of my cloak.

As the skirmish continues, I try to discern the identities of the Candidates who’ve come to my rescue: there’s Julian, and Charlie, of course. I also make out Hugh and Rose and two others I don’t know well, but who were with us on our mission.

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