Arrow of Lightning (Killer of Enemies #3) by Joseph Bruchac

Author:Joseph Bruchac
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Published: 2017-04-04T19:32:43+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

One Way or Another

There’s no two ways around it. There’s only one thing we can do now. It’s what I decided after my battle with Luther Four Deaths. We’ve have all been so busy getting resettled here in this valley that I’ve been putting it off.

But I can do that no longer. I have to take the fight to them.

That is easy to say. But it’s the doing of it that’s the hard part. My first idea, to head out with Hussein to try to lure in Luther Little Wound and trust that my Power will warn us in time, now seems a little naive after that aerial assault.

Whatever we do now, plan Numero Uno will not be enough. The four of us — Hussein and me, Striped Horse and Star — might be enough to take Four Deaths. But from what Mohindas told us a few hours later after he’d rested, we are about to be under constant attack. The blimp was just Lady Time’s first foray.

Hussein and Guy and I are back in the dispensary listening to Mohindas. We’ve now learned that, just as my Power told me, Luther Little Wound was, indeed, sent out to terminate me. Sent by the Jester.

“So,” I say to Mohindas, “what else are the Jester and Lady Time putting their heads together to do?”

Mohindas strikes his forehead with his palm. “Ah, that’s right. I didn’t tell you.”

“Tell us what, laddie?” Guy asks.

“They’re not putting their heads together at all. They’re fighting each other,” Mohindas says.

Then he proceeds to fill us in. The two remaining overlords in Haven — the Jester and Lady Time — are engaged in a contest with each other to be the first to cause my demise.

That contest, Mohindas explains, involves winning the right to cut off one of each other’s fingers or toes every time one of their attempts misfires. He is not sure which of them has won or lost thus far. The gossip that always flows throughout Haven about the Ones is still a mix of real information and partly informed speculation. The thought of Lady Time walking with a limp after word gets back that her airship failed brings me a little pleasure. But only momentarily.

Four Deaths and the blimp are merely the first two prongs of an assault that is going to continue until one of those two insane megalomaniacs either succeeds or runs out of digits to wager.

Mohindas’s dad is one of several teams of engineers and scientists at Haven who are working on weapons of destruction — with their families being held over their heads.

“I don’t know all the details of the projects others were charged with,” Mohindas says, “but I know the next one due for completion for that frightening woman involves a steam engine mounted in a heavy vehicle. One with armor plating.” He pauses. “Actually, several such vehicles, I believe.”

Great, I think, tanks a lot.

(Forgive me for that one. I’ve been spending too much time listening to Tom Yazzie’s puns.

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.