Of Darkness and Dawn by Wight Will

Author:Wight, Will
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Gnome Publishing
Published: 2015-08-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Eight years ago

Shera walked back through the darkness, after yet another secret meeting with Yala, the High Councilor. She hadn't been kidnapped this time, though she had been woken in the earliest hours of the morning, so she'd almost killed the Shepherds sent for her out of sheer grumpiness.

In the eight months since Silverreach, the Emperor had spent less and less time training them personally. He'd given them over to other Gardeners, to members of the Guilds, even to Jarelys Teach a handful of times. Those lessons were less than helpful—they were essentially guides in how to avoid panicking when confronted with a vastly more powerful force. Now, he'd even sent them back to the Gray Island to do work for the Consultants, with the idea that practical applications of their skills would help them in their ultimate confrontation with him.

The High Council of Architects had taken the opportunity to grab Shera and pump her for as much information as they could. She wasn't sure why, but Yala seemed impatient. If the Emperor wasn't dead in the next five years, Shera was convinced that Yala would try to get it done herself.

In the few times she'd seen Kerian over the past year, Shera had tried to gauge how the older Gardener felt about the Emperor's secret assignment, but Kerian practically refused to address it. Kerian was on the Council of Architects, having retired from Gardening years ago, and it was said she was on the path to High Councilor. But she hadn’t made it yet.

Maybe Kerian wasn’t privy to the same intelligence as the three High Councilors, or maybe she had simply been ordered not to talk about. But she wouldn't explain anything. She only changed the subject when Shera brought it up.

So Shera walked away from meetings like this one frustrated, tired, and with her thoughts following themselves in circles.

Besides, there was someone tracking her from the tree branches above, which was irritating. On an island full of Consultants, it wasn't too unusual to have someone stalking you from cover, but Shepherds normally had more grace than to try it on Gardeners. A mistake could get them killed.

Shera thought about calling out, but there was always the chance the person following her actually meant her harm, or that they'd been spying on the meeting with Yala. If that were the case, she would have to kill them, and she shouldn't give them too much warning.

But then, if she murdered them, she ran the risk of killing an ally or a friend. So the solution was simple: she had to hurt them.

Shera didn't raise her gaze to the branches overhead, as that would only tip her hand. She waited until she heard a leaf shaking out of sync with the wind, then she pulled a spade from the pouch at her thigh and whipped it upward.

The triangle of steel flashed from her hand as she dove to one side, drawing her bronze-bladed shears and looking to confirm her target.

Meia

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.