Anais and the Broken War (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

them?”
    “Oh yeah. They’re in my saddlebag somewhere.”
    I didn’t like that he was willing to treat his weapons so recklessly.
    “Have you used your blades in combat?” I asked him.
    He shook his head. “No.”
    “Have you used them at all since leaving the skin’s training grounds?”
    He shrugged and shook his head again.
    I sighed. I hadn’t considered Fynn’s lack of experience. While I had been fighting, he had been spying for the fat man. Of course he wouldn’t have needed to practice the combat skills he had learned.
    “Do you think that will be a problem?” Fynn asked. “Gorman didn’t seem worried.”
    “Gorman either has an unrealistic idea of my abilities, or he doesn’t care that this little excursion is putting us both in danger.” I sighed. Complaining wasn’t going to get us anywhere. “Why don’t we practice a little?” I suggested.  
    We left the horses to graze in a meadow of grass beside the road while Fynn and I stepped into the wood. I made him throw his blades into a tree over and over again until it seemed he could make his target without too much effort. At least the skills the fat man had imbued us with were not a temporary phenomenon.
    He smiled. “You know, I’m pretty good at this.”
    I swatted him. “I think you’ll manage.”
    As Fynn pulled his blade from the tree, a blurred black shape jumped on his back. I pulled my blade from my thigh and drove it into the creature’s throat. It fell to the ground, and Fynn and I stared wordlessly at our fallen foe while noises broke out from all directions. We were surrounded.

C HAPTER 4

    I YANKED MY blade out of the fury’s back, grateful that I hadn’t lost it. My arm stung from the effort. The blade had gone deep into his flesh. Crouching down low, I took inventory of our situation. About two-dozen furies milled amongst the trees, neither moving toward us nor abandoning us. Swaying forward and back, they were like a gentle tide. I shivered. Why had only one struck? A second fury stepped away from the hoard and then leapt at Fynn. He threw his blade, and it hit the fury in the chest. It fell to the ground, black blood oozing from the wound. Unfortunately, the fury’s body was too far away for us to recover Fynn’s weapon. Fynn gripped his second blade, and I worried that he would try to hit one of the furies in the trees.
    “Don’t throw it,” I warned him.  
    “Why not? I think I could strike one. My aim is true.”
    “If you throw it, you’ll be defenseless.”
    “Good point,” Fynn conceded.
    Another fury ran at us, and I threw one of my blades, smoothly felling it. Now we were both down to our last blade. I turned, looking for an avenue of escape.
    “The tree. Can you climb it?” I asked.
    “Let’s find out,” Fynn said with a shrug.
    Using gnarls and knots for footholds, I scrambled up the thick trunk of the oak tree, hugging it as I moved upward. After I had settled on a high branch, I looked down and watched as Fynn hoisted himself up, hand and then leg, until he was sitting on a branch next to me. His blouse was torn and bloody, and his leggings covered in dirt. His perfect curls had come loose, giving him a haphazard look. He no longer appeared like a courtier. He looked ragged. I let out a long slow breath, grateful to be safe for the moment. When I opened my eyes, I could see Fynn staring into the distance, frowning. Near the clearing by the road, the horses were still eating, unaware of the impending doom. Most of the furies had now turned their attention away from us. This must be the reason they hadn’t rushed at us. They smelled the horses, and it likely confused them.
    Not wanting to watch, I closed my eyes.
    Fynn gasped, and I blinked my eyes open. In the distance, a swarm of slick blue-green bodies huddled where the horses had been.
    “Both of them?” I asked.
    “Your mare got away, but my stallion was not so lucky.”
    “That’s unfortunate.”
    “The horses are the least of our