Courage Of The Conquered (Book 3) by Robert Ryan

Author:Robert Ryan [Ryan, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Trotting Fox Press
Published: 2014-11-24T00:00:00+00:00

11. The Old Lady

Erlissa sprinted ahead.

She expected to hear the lurching tread of the charred-man at any moment. That it would pursue her, rather than Lanrik, she had no doubt. Otherwise, she would have stayed with him.

It was a creature of witchery, brought into existence for one reason: to kill them. And yet her possession of lòhrengai singled her out. Ebona hated lòhrens. More than that, after their confrontation in Caladhrist, she was herself a target of that same personal malice that the witch honed against Aranloth.

And yet the screams around her faded.

She swung her gaze wildly from side to side, nearly stumbling. The people nearby showed no sign of fear. They merely looked at her in annoyance, as though wondering what was wrong with her. Nor did she hear any sound of pursuit.

She risked a look over her shoulder and saw nothing. Nothing that mattered, anyway. She came to a sudden stop and stood there, bent over and panting in the street while people stepped past and gave her furtive looks. Their expressions said that she was an idiot.

Lanrik was gone. The creature was gone. She felt empty inside, and Aranloth’s advice came back to her. Stay together. If he ever learned what she had just done, he would surely think her an idiot, too.

Closing her eyes, she suppressed the sobbing that threatened to overtake her. It would not make anyone feel better but herself. She steeled her mind, opened her eyes and began to retrace her steps. It was no good running. Lanrik and the creature were gone, and she could not find them unless she heard screams from the crowd. But there was none of that.

She wandered the streets a while longer, desperate to find Lanrik, but to no avail. She saw one of the Royal Guards, and throwing caution to the wind in a fit of anger, ignored him. But soon there were more, and she knew the search for Lanrik, and the creature that must surely kill him, was over.

It was time to take thought for Esgallien. She was a lòhren. She would act like one. Time enough to cry later, when it did not matter.

Soon, there were even more guards, and against her will she turned her mind to thinking of a way to disguise herself better. She now carried the staff. It was not a common thing for a woman to use, though she was not the only one. From time to time old women as well as men used one to help them walk.

Her description would be circulating through the city. At any moment she could be stopped in the street. Every time a group of guards passed her, she walked slowly, as though she did not have a care in the world, and put the crowd between herself and them. But soon one of the guards that had seen her near the palace would recognize her, and then she would be dead.

The first thing she needed to do was to get off the street and give herself time to think and work through her feelings.

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