Queen of Storms: Book Two of the Firemane Saga by Raymond E. Feist

Author:Raymond E. Feist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published: 2020-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

Hava had remained hidden in the shadow of the wall for nearly an hour, and the men who had ridden in had finished their examination of the stalls, concluding that no one was nearby.

The fire was burning its way north as the entire city was being put to the torch. She knew in short order these stalls would be aflame as the rubbish below her was lit. She had only a little time to escape, and her quickest route would be back the way she came.

She began slowly crawling along the tops of the stalls, keeping close to the wall, in deep shadow, and pausing for a moment at each support joint, then snaking over it on her stomach, checking to make certain the next stall roof was as sturdy as the last.

It took painful minutes, but at last she reached the final stall. She jumped down, staying in a crouch as she looked around for any sign that she had been observed. To the south the level of noise had diminished: there were some shouted orders, men and horses moving, punctuated by the popping and crackling sounds of timbers burning and pockets of flammable goods igniting. It took a moment for her to realize there was no more screaming. That realization chilled her.

The smoke was now rolling continuously inland: she hoped it would mask her departure.

She wiggled through the crack between the wall and the ridge and again experienced the terrifying moment of being unable to peer ahead. Moreover, the now-burning city gave her no cover as she exited. She decided her best course was to start running as soon as she left the gap to reach the closest shelter, a stand of brush on the low hillside a quarter of a mile or so away. At her best speed she knew she’d be visible for more than a minute, so she calmed herself, focused, and, with one last deep breath, left the gap and began sprinting away from the burning city.

Halfway to her destination, Hava heard a shout from behind her. Rather than risk losing any momentum by looking over her shoulder, she tried to dredge up every bit of speed she could to reach the scrub brush, where she knew she could move uphill into cover.

Then she heard horses and knew she would come up short. She refused to turn, knowing if she had any chance of surviving the coming confrontation, she needed to find the most defensible terrain within the next fifty feet. A small outcropping dead ahead, one she would normally have to navigate around to continue toward the rocky ridge where she and Molly had looked out at the city, would afford her the best place to face multiple attackers.

She leapt for the outcrop as two riders were nearly on top of her, and as she had expected, they were forced to rein in. As she turned, she felt a tiny breeze in her left ear an instant before she saw an arrow take one of the two riders out of his seat.

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