The Office of Shadow by Matthew Sturges

Author:Matthew Sturges
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Traitors, Fantasy fiction, Prisoners, General, Fiction, Fantasy, Epic
ISBN: 9781616142025
Publisher: Pyr
Published: 2010-06-22T06:00:00+00:00

Before dawn the next morning, Silverdun and Ironfoot were roused in their cell by a different pair of guards. They were brought out of the jail in a different direction, out to an enclosed courtyard, where Wenathn stood with a pair of Unseelie Army officers in front of a covered wagon. Wenathn ordered Silverdun and Ironfoot to be shackled hand and foot.

"I'm glad we agreed to do this quietly," Wenathn said to the officers. "There are some elements here in Blood of Arawn that still take offense at your gracious assistance in our local affairs."

"Yes, well. Some people will never accept the way of things," said one of the officers. "The proconsul is grateful to you for your assistance in this matter. It will not be forgotten."

"I hope not," said Wenathn. "It's not every day that one gets the opportunity to foil a foreign plot, is it?"

Wenathn's clerk handed the officers a sheaf of papers, and the officers placed Ironfoot and Silverdun into the back of the wagon, chaining their shackles to a bolt in the carriage's floor.

There were no windows in the back of the wagon, and very little light. Silverdun's right hand hung free, since there was no way to shackle it, and he held it gingerly aloft. Ironfoot was a dark shape in front of him.

"This is never going to work," said Ironfoot.

"We'll see," said Silverdun.

The wagon started and turned out of the courtyard. It proceeded through the winding streets of Blood of Arawn, jouncing on the cobbles and potholes as it went. The Unseelie officers were talking in the front of the wagon, but Silverdun couldn't hear what they were saying.

The wagon pulled up short and stopped, nearly throwing Silverdun against the back of its cab.

"Out of the way!" he heard one of the officers shout.

There was another shout, this one wordless, and then steps on either side of the wagon. Two blades clashed, and then there was silence.

The back of the wagon opened, and a man dressed entirely in black, with a black hood covering his face, stepped in and unlocked Silverdun's and Ironfoot's shackles. "Out," he said.

Silverdun and Ironfoot climbed out of the wagon. They were in a narrow alley. An oxcart was blocking the path in front of the wagon, and standing on the cart were two more men in black, also hooded, holding crossbows. Another held a sword at the throat of the driver of the wagon. The other Unseelie lay either unconscious or dead next to him; in the predawn light of the alley it was difficult to tell.

"Come with me," said one of the men in black. He led Silverdun and Ironfoot around the corner, where two horses were saddled and waiting. Once they were out of sight of the Unseelie, he pushed back his hood. It was the older of the two guards who had brought them to Wenathn.

"Annwn used to be a good place," he said. "Are you truly here to help rid us of the Unseelie?" He peered deeply into Silverdun's eyes.

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