Ghost in the Maze Read Online Free PDF

isn’t a good time,” said Caina, voice low. She heard the shouts from the corridor. 
    “It might be the only time,” said the shadow, “if your enemies catch you. I thought you might have been the one I sought, my dear child of the shadows, but it seems you are going to die here. Pity. You might indeed have been the one I sought.”
    Caina turned toward the window. “Unless you have help to offer, go away and be silent.”
    “Go right.”
    “What?” said Caina, looking back at the mirror.
    “I cannot aid you, of course,” said the shadow, the eyes of smokeless flame glinting. “Such interference on my part would be dreadfully gauche. But when you go out the window, my dear child, do go to the right. If you go to the left, you will surely die.”
    “And if I go right?” said Caina, recalling the layout of the gardens. Left was safer. It was closer to the wall and bordered a major street where she could disappear. The right led deeper into the Emirs’ Quarter, past palaces with Immortal guards of their own, guards that would surely join the pursuit if they noticed the chase. 
    “Even I cannot say,” said the shadow. “Your fate will be in your own hands. As you are about to find out.”
    The shadow vanished from the mirror, and the tingling of the strange bronze ring faded.
    Despite her mortal peril, Caina felt a wave of sheer annoyance. Just for once she would like someone to give her a straight answer. No riddling talk, no games, no ominous hints of doom. Just a straight answer to a simple question. 
    She pushed open the shutters in silence and rolled over the sill, landing in the gardens, and closed the window behind her. Here and there she saw torchlight in the gardens as mercenaries patrolled the grounds. Yet most of the gardens lay in darkness, and if Caina hurried, she could make it to the wall before the Immortals caught her.
    She hesitated, and then went to the right, making for the wall. 
    If the shadow wanted her dead, it could simply have let the daevagoths kill her in the Widow’s Tower.
    Caina moved as fast as she dared and as silently as she could, her shadow-cloak flowing around her as she moved from bush to bush. The ring kept tingling against her finger. She hoped the thing had not been imbued with a tracking spell.
    The tramp of boots and shouting voices caught her attention. 
    Caina froze and shot a glance over her shoulder as a score of Immortals burst from the back of the mansion, swords and chain whips in hand. Anburj must have sent them to check the kitchens. Had she followed her initial plan and gone to the left, she would have gone around the corner just as the Immortals emerged. They would have seen her, and she would have been killed before she could escape.
    Clearly, the strange spirit in the mirror had not meant her ill. 
    One of the Immortals turned his head, and Caina realized that he had spotted her.
    “There, brothers!” he roared. “There is the thief!” 
    “Take him!” said Anburj, and Caina glimpsed the Kindred assassin among the Immortals. “Whoever kills him shall receive the reward and the gratitude of the Grand Master. Kill him now!” 
    The Immortals surged forward in a tide of black steel, their skull masks flickering with the eerie blue light of their eyes. 
    Caina sprinted for the garden wall, wondering if she could reach it before the Immortals.  

Chapter 3 - Immortals
    A low wall of white stone, about ten feet tall, encircled the grounds of the late Vaysaal’s palace. Elaborate iron spikes topped the wall, and despite their ornamental function they were nonetheless quite sharp to deter intruders. The wall had only one gate, another method of keeping unwanted guests away. 
    Fortunately, the wall was only ten feet high. 
    Caina sprinted at the wall and jumped. Her hands caught the lip, and she pulled herself up, catching her balance as the shouts of the Immortals filled her ears. Then she jumped into the street below, her cloak billowing, and