Blood Witch Read Online Free PDF Page B

he sounded
rather stoic.
    A scream of agony
met Alaysha's ears and she immediately reached for a sword upon her
back that was not there. She satisfied herself instead with a large
rock someone had lain on the well's lip.
    Gael pressed her
against the well and she pushed back against him, furious that he
would hinder her.
    "Don't crowd
me."
    "I'll crowd you
all I want."
    "If I'm in danger,
I don't need your protection."
    He made to hold
her by the shoulders. "The danger is not yours to meet, Witch."
    She might be
damaged and sore, but she could manoeuvre enough if she wanted. She
feinted left, swallowing down a streak of burning pain, and then
leaned right. By the time Gael recovered, she'd already seen what
he was doing his best to hide from her.
    Two swarthy men,
very reminiscent of Drahl, were holding down a teenage girl inside
the iron forger's cottage. In the brief seconds, it looked all the
world like they were pouring water over her throat.
    Alaysha sent her
power sniffing for water. The dankness of well came, sweat too. She
tried to focus it, sent it to the smith's but all she got was a
wash of wet heat so strong she felt as though her chin was on
fire.
    It was then she
knew.
    "They're scalding
her."
    She knew the
smith; he was a hardworking man, captured during one of Yuri's
first campaigns, so long ago she imagined the smith had forgotten
he'd had a life before Sarum. Still, it made no sense he'd want to
brand a chattel in such a way. It was too odd; most had their
cheeks branded by iron, not this painful scalding.
    She took the first
painful steps towards the hovel. She didn't care how many men she
had to face, or if she only carried a rock for defence, she would
not see a young girl treated so inhumanely.
    She felt a meaty
hand on her shoulder.
    "Stay," Gael told
her.
    "I will not." She
pulled away and the weight of the stone made her balance, such as
it was, awkward. She nearly fell. If he hadn't gripped her by the
elbow, she would have.
    "It's too late.
It's done."
    Alaysha listened
and heard only the regular sounds of chickens and the snuffling of
hounds. A roar of chatter met her ears from the good people of
Sarum going about their chores, but no more shrieks. The girl had
obviously fainted.
    "She needs to be
taken to the shaman."
    He nodded. "Have
no fear; she will be."
    She looked at him,
suspicious, but his expression kept the same stolid blankness. "How
do you know this?"
    She brought the
image back to her mind. Teenage girl, black hair from what she
could see. Most of Yuri's true tribe was fair; more evidence the
girl was an outsider and probably a slave. Alaysha tried once more
to get by Gael. He was as moveable as a castle wall.
    "It's time you
were back at Saxa's," he said and began steering her in the
direction they'd come.
    "I'm not weary."
She rooted as best she could to her spot. "I want to walk more. I
feel much stronger."
    He didn't look as
though her believed her. "mmph," was all he said but he reached for
her waist and Alaysha was certain he'd hoist her over her shoulder,
except he paused as he pulled her close enough to do so. He paused,
cocked his head, and pushed her instead to the ground.
    An arrow landed
just next to her ear as she fell with a thud. Even as she was
wondering how he could possibly have heard it winging its way
toward her, several more thunked into the earth around her. A girl
screamed. A hound yelped and fell a few strides away, an arrow
protruding from its belly. The chatter of Sarum's people doing
daily chores turned instantly into chaos.
    Rather than cover
her head with her arms as he instinct told her to do, Alaysha
rolled toward the well and curved against it as best she could,
opposite where the arrows seemed to be coming from. She'd wait till
they'd spent and had to reload. She doubted the assailants had
thought to rally the shots – there were just too many at once. By
then, all unwounded citizens had found some shelter. A few lay on
the ground moaning. Some wept.