[The Saga of Willow North 01] • Pretender to the Crown by McShane Melissa

Author:McShane, Melissa [McShane, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, strong female protagonist, Magic, Thief, fantasy adventure, adventure thief, female rogue, Science Fiction, Quest Fantasy, Romance, Female Thief
Amazon: B074R5GRH8
Goodreads: 36058779
Publisher: Night Harbor Publishing
Published: 2017-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

She didn’t have a destination in mind other than “away,” didn’t think beyond putting one foot down in front of the other, letting fear drive her faster than she’d ever run before. She wasn’t a distance runner, couldn’t keep this pace up for long, but all that mattered was that she outrun them in the first fifteen seconds.

She darted into an alley, ran until she reached the next street, kept running until she couldn’t breathe and her side and back were long streaks of pain. Then she hid herself in shadows and crouched, trying not to breathe too noisily, just in case. She sensed nothing but those loose collections of brass and copper and iron centered on the houses nearby, no swords curved or straight. She had not only outrun her pursuers, she was totally lost.

Her first thought was Shelter for the night, and go to the inn in the morning. Her second thought was That’s completely stupid. The Ascendant would eventually think to go back to where he’d first seen her, and Kerish, not having any idea the man was there, would be defenseless. They all had to get out of Belenda now, before they were found.

Her back hurt in a diagonal line where the guard had hit her. It didn’t feel serious, and she didn’t feel lightheaded from anything more than lack of air, but it was slightly wet with blood and she’d need to be careful not to let the small pain distract her. She looked around. These Belendan houses were too smooth-faced for climbing, but she needed to get up high, as high as anywhere in Belenda was, to orient herself.

She trotted off down the alley, praying for a miracle, and found one in the shape of a barrel canted on its side behind a darkened building. She righted it and used it to grab hold of the roof’s edge and pull herself up, then had to sit for a moment to regain her strength. She was weary and this night wasn’t nearly over yet. She stood up and looked for the city wall, and the gates. Those were brightly lit, which could be a problem, but one worry at a time.

She kept to the roofs, even though it meant detouring around an area where the buildings were too far spaced for her to jump in this condition, then climbed down when she reached the main road and ran toward their inn. She slowed when she neared it, seeking out the enemy, but felt nothing except the assorted metal bits she’d expect an inn to have and the harnesses of the horses in the yard beside it.

The inn, not having a taproom, was closed and dark except for a few lights where wakeful patrons still sat up. Willow swiftly unlocked the back door and made her way down the hall, counting invisible doorknobs, until she reached Kerish’s room. It, too, was locked, and she opened it, more slowly this time because she was having trouble keeping her hands from shaking.

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.