Oathbreaker by Cara Witter

Author:Cara Witter [Witter, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epic fantasy
Publisher: Garden Ninja Books
Published: 2020-07-26T22:00:00+00:00

Thirty-one

Despite the odor that accompanied a crowd of this magnitude, Kenton was glad for the masses of people who had gathered in the city of Grisham. A crowd provided a kind of anonymity. No one would think twice about the group of strangers come to see the tournament. They were only a few among thousands.

It would have been the perfect cover for them to look for Kotali, if Jaeme would concern himself with the task. Castle Grisham, while keeping them well-fed and rested in luxury, was beginning to feel like a stone cage, and Kenton the cat prowling anxiously back and forth. He knew it was beneficial for the group to get a chance to rest, and, as everyone was fond of reminding him, it had only been two days, but the fact that he had made a similar mistake back in Ithale was by no means lost on him.

Diamis might not have troops he could command in Mortiche, but that didn’t mean Grisham was impenetrable. Especially amongst this crowd, there were almost certainly spies—blood puppet or otherwise—watching for a group of their description. Even without them, as before, Diamis likely knew exactly where they were and was waiting for the moment when they set foot over the border into Andronim to find Sayvil’s stone.

Kenton had half a mind to leave Jaeme here and do just that, but Jaeme couldn’t be trusted to accomplish anything in their absence, and Kenton couldn’t take the chance that Mortiche’s borders, however impenetrable they seemed, might fall in that time.

So Kenton was forced to spend his pent-up energy accompanying the others to the tournament, keeping up the appearance of a supposed bodyguard. He and Perchaya met up with Daniella, Nikaenor, and Sayvil just outside the castle gates, near a cluster of booths. Kenton was chagrined to find Hugh among them. The duke’s face lit up in a way that made Kenton want to douse him like a fire pit, but instead he shouldered past Hugh and began to lead the way through the crowd toward the competition yards. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could return to business.

The streets were packed and loud with the buzz of excitement and the shouts of vendors attracting customers to their wares. Nikaenor was particularly prone to being lured by every one of them and soon walked alongside Kenton while alternately taking bites from a fat turkey leg and a dripping plum-cake. Sayvil and Daniella each bought cheap beaded bracelets from a little peasant girl who, though young, was a master of the wide brown eyes and the quivering lip.

Of course, Hugh, master of gallantry himself, bought the girl’s most expensive piece, a long necklace made of the same painted clay beads. He gave the girl a full shield coin, which by the dropping of her jaw was worth much more than she had demanded, and presented the gift to a beaming Perchaya.

Yes, they needed to get out of Mortiche.

Perchaya put on the necklace and held the book Kenton had given her to her chest.

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