The Bones of Prophecy by J. Rokusson

Author:J. Rokusson [Rokusson, J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-11T19:43:55+00:00

BEYOND THE SHORES

Azran weaved his way through the Stronghold and didn’t keep to a single walkway for long. He often looked behind him, but nothing other than hearth- or candlelight interrupted the dark of night. Fire raced up his limbs, and a muscle contracted. He clenched his jaw and pinched his eyelids to force the sweat out of his eyes.

He pressed himself against a building just as a deeper shade flashed across the starlit night, there and gone the next moment. They were here. Azran waited a few counts and took off. There had to be at least two of them. He could either take his pursuers out, or lose them. If they were any good, they’d stay away from each other. Killing even one Burner was unlikely, let alone two. Then why did he contemplate just that?

Fool. He was already thinking like a Burner, and that could get him killed. He took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill his lungs and clear his head. The few short walkways and alleys could help him stay ahead and allow him to disappear from view long enough to confuse them.

Another shadow streaked along the walkway behind him. He turned into the first alley, trotted to the closest intersection, and slipped into the next narrow lane. It would take them at least a while to figure out they had been spotted, and until then they would proceed with caution. They also didn’t know his destination.

He moved as fast as he could without too much noise. He crossed a walkway, took the second alley and sped along another walkway. A brief view of the Reeve’s Court ahead, doing their rounds, and he dived into another alley. He had moved past his destination.

Azran doubled back, intersected with his chosen route, and waited. Not long after, the shadows moved again, from a nearby alley. He’d got behind them. They now hurried down the walkway, diving in and out of alleys, foregoing all caution. He pressed himself in a crevice between two buildings. Their footsteps eventually moved away from him, and away from where he needed to be.

The former house of Yarrim Nilk wasn’t much to look at. It stood amongst similar dreary buildings, in a section of Sai Domnu that was neither rich nor poor. His dealings with the guild had yielded enough coin to buy several houses, but they could all be traced back to him. He had picked this one from Yarrim Nilk’s administration because Yarrim had been the owner. All paperwork had disappeared into one of Azran’s pouches, and no one would be the wiser that there’d ever been a house.

Although the Akindara Black appeared to be gone, Azran still waited, but the walkways remained quiet. He ducked inside the alley that ran behind the house and entered through the backdoor. Ellishara sat in front of the stone fireplace, a scrawny cat cradled in her lap. She seemed entirely settled into her new life.

“You don’t pissing knock, do you,” she said.

“You enjoying your freedom, crone?” He checked the windows and made sure to close the curtains.

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