Unlit_A Kingdoms of Earth & Air Novel by Keri Arthur

Author:Keri Arthur [Arthur, Keri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KA Publishing PTY LTD
Published: 2018-05-14T18:30:00+00:00

8

Everything became a blur as I dropped down the sheer edge of the inner wall. Far below me lay the hard stone rooftops of the bunkhouses, but hitting them rather than the ground wouldn’t make all that much difference. There was probably only a couple of hundred feet difference between the two and—from this height—the result would be the same: my flesh splattered ingloriously across the stone.

The wind didn’t seem inclined to check or hinder the speed of my drop, and it made me wonder—far too late—if perhaps the voice I’d heard advising me to jump belonged to Hedra, using my trust of wind’s voice against me.

But as I drew closer to the ground, the air surged, buffeting and bruising my body even as she gripped me. The speed of my fall began to ease, but the urgency I could hear within her was growing.

I hit the wet rooftop hard enough to send a shudder of pain through my entire body, and stumbled forward several feet as the wind abruptly released me, and I struggled to keep my balance.

A shout had me reaching for my knife and spinning around. The air was so thin that even though I hadn’t been here long, my lungs were beginning to burn and my head was pounding. There were unconscious soldiers everywhere on the ground below, their clothes and hair fluttering in the almost violent exodus of oxygen toward the gates. But some of the Nightwatch had managed to grab breathing apparatus, and many of them were now heading up the stairs to the walls. Walls that were shuddering under multiple impacts, something I could feel through the stones under my feet.

So where was Hedra?

There was no sign of her in the immediate area. I ran to the edge of the roof, leapt down to the walkway and pounded along, the sound of my steps lost in the cacophony of noise coming from both the sirens and the roar of the Adlin. On the second bunkhouse level, there were at least a dozen unconscious Daywatch soldiers lying across the walkway, and several had breathing masks they hadn’t been able to strap on in time. I scooped up one, hurriedly tying on the small tank before pulling on the mask. It didn’t immediately help either the burning in my lungs or the pounding in my head, but that was to be expected. I jumped over the railing and dropped down to the ground. No one paid me any attention—all those who remained awake and aware were focused on the wall and the Adlin, none of them realizing the real threat lay within the walls, not without.

I paused, and looked around. Logically, Hedra wouldn’t be out in the open. She’d either be hidden in the deeper shadows, out of the immediate sight of any Nightwatch officer, or perhaps even in one of the two emergency shelters used to protect noncombatants caught within the outer bailey during an attack.

Former, the wind whispered. Ahead.

Ahead was not a useful instruction given the sheer size of the outer bailey.

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