Heirs of the Fallen: Book 03 - Shadow and Steel Read Online Free PDF Page B

horribly twisted. “Go,” he rasped.
    Ulmek rushed to the fallen Brother and, avoiding the man’s weak attempts to drive him off, gently lifted Ke’uld into the boat. “Prepare the oars,” Ulmek said, retaking his place at the bow.
    With the longboat held between them, the Brothers ran toward the waves. Face ashen, Ke’uld did what he could to obey Ulmek’s command.
    The Brothers speared the longboat into a breaking wave, and leaned into the salty rush, straining to gain a few more feet. The wave turned back, helping them put out to sea. More waves crashed over the bow, but the Brothers kept on until they were swimming.
    “Climb in,” Ulmek ordered, pulling himself up. He turned, caught Halan’s hand, and dragged him into the longboat. In moments, all had boarded the bobbing craft.
    While Leitos joined Halan at the stern, the others caught hold of the oars and struggled to turn the bow into the incoming waves. By inches, the craft came about, and the rowing Brothers made for open water.
    In the stern, Leitos knelt beside Halan, both ready with arrows nocked. Behind them, the Kelrens raced down the trail. Jaw set, Leitos took aim at the seething mass. His first arrow followed a blink after Halan’s. Leitos fired steadily. By his sixth shot, the longboat had begun to wallow past cresting waves, and the remaining Kelrens began to return fire.
    The first volley flew high when the longboat dropped into a trough. The Kelren archers raised their bows and waited, timing the waves. Leitos and Halan began firing as fast as they could, their haste and the pitching sea ruining their aim.
    “Stroke!” Ulmek cried.
    Another volley of Kelren arrows flashed out of the sky, flying wide by mere feet.
    “Stroke!”
    Leitos bent his bow and fired, bent and fired.
    “Stroke!”
    The Kelren archers drew back their bowstrings, again timing the waves. Around them, their fellows roared, waving their swords overhead.
    “Stroke!”
    The Kelrens fired, and hope fled Leitos’s heart … but only for a moment. The closest arrow fell into the sea, twenty feet back. Behind him, the Brothers continued to heave at the oars.
    “Come about,” Ulmek ordered, after the sea-wolves had become specks.
    Dripping sweat, the Brothers dropped their oars and leaned on their knees, looking back the way they had come. Witch’s Mole thrust out of the sea, a green-haired skull bowing under the weight of gathering storm clouds. Cackling gulls wheeled overhead, mistaking the Brothers for fishermen.
    After a time, Halan spoke up. “Do you mean to leave our Brothers to the slavers?”
    Ulmek glared back in silence.
    “You cannot have us abandon our Brothers to those filthy butchers,” Ke’uld gasped. His broken leg wept blood where splintered ends of bone had thrust through the skin. “What of Ba’Sel and the others? Do we leave them for dead, while we seek safety?”
    Ulmek looked into each man’s face, before coming back to Halan. “Ba’Sel’s way is to keep to the shadows. Would you turn from his decrees?”
    Halan’s craggy brow wrinkled. Ulmek’s questioning gaze roved. Brave and hard men all, none met his stare. Of anger—a tensing of the shoulders, a clenching of fists, and deep scowls—there was no shortage, but the Brothers of the Crimson Shield followed a strict hierarchy. In Ba’Sel’s absence, Ulmek was their leader, and it appeared that he meant to hold to Ba’Sel’s last command.
    “Point us toward Giant’s Head,” Ulmek said slowly. “And make sure the Kelrens see us.”
    Curious looks met this, and Leitos sat straighter. Ulmek went on.
    “It is my intention to cut down ten sea-wolves for each one of us they have stolen from our ranks.” He paused, waiting until each man faced him. “Unless, of course, you think I should lead us scurrying into the shadows?”
    “I have had my fill of hiding,” Ke’uld said. As the men murmured agreement, his eyes rolled up to show the whites, and his head clunked against the