House of Blades (The Traveler's Gate Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

stumbled over Leah. She had suddenly halted, and was crouched behind the smoldering half of a ruined horse-cart.
    Simon’s mother had finally—thankfully—gone limp in his arms, and he dumped her on the ground beside Leah as he crouched to join her. Silently, Leah pointed over the cart to Myria’s north gate. A huge soldier in dark, gleaming armor trotted his horse in a circle. He kept his own helmeted head constantly twisting, as if he were searching for someone through the smoke.
    Leah’s whisper was so quiet that Simon barely heard it over the crackling of the burning cart. “We should wait and see if he withdraws.”
    Simon nodded his agreement, but at that moment, the ground thundered under the pounding of hooves. Simon and Leah spun around together, Simon’s breath coming even faster. Three raiders on horseback trotted out of the houses behind them, escorting another walking soldier. The one on foot was pulling one end of a long rope, which was attached to a series of collars. Each of which was wrapped around a child’s neck.
    Four girls and two boys, the oldest not quite Simon’s age, and the youngest almost ten. Simon had grown up with all of them. Their clothes were torn, and most of them were visibly injured or covered in blood. What would a group of Damascan soldiers want with children?
    While Simon’s thoughts were still paralyzed, Leah grabbed his arm and pulled him under the cart. His mother began to thrash and to try and crawl away, but he pulled her along. Only the top half of the cart burned, so embers dropped through the cracks, stinging his face, but they weren’t in any immediate danger. Simon turned to face Leah and had to flinch back to avoid cutting his face on her sword. He looked past it, looking into her bright blue eyes. They still blazed with that strange anger.
    She glanced down at the sword on his hip, which dug painfully into his side. “Do you know how to use that?” she asked quietly.
    “I’ve done what training I could,” he said. In truth, his training consisted almost entirely of swinging the sword around alone, in the dark, behind the town woodshed. But she didn’t need to know that.
    “In other words, no,” Leah said. Her voice sounded businesslike, not cruel, but he still flinched at the brutal truth. He spoke out of wounded pride.
    “That’s more than you’ve ever had,” he said.
    Leah arched one eyebrow, and for a moment she looked just like her aunt Nurita faced with a child spouting nonsense. Then she sighed. “I meant no offense, Simon. Forgive me. But you can’t do enough to protect us from a squad of professional soldiers.”
    “So what do we do?” he asked. Leah had a way of taking charge that sometimes irritated him, but now he was grateful.
    Leah focused on a point behind his head, flicking her eyes from side to side as though she read from a page. “Give me a moment,” she whispered. Behind her, beyond the cart, the soldiers had grouped up and were gesturing wildly at the bound prisoners. One of the girls dropped to her knees and wept; a raider hit her on the back of the head with the flat of his sword, and she fell onto her face.
    “All right Simon, listen. If they stay there, none of us are going to be able to leave,” Leah said. “Do you understand? If nothing draws them off, we’re going to die under here.”
    “You don’t know that” Simon said. Why had she even said anything? The situation looked hopeless enough without her stating the obvious.
    Leah’s face softened a bit, though she still sounded like she was passing sentence. “Stay with your mother,” she said. “When you get a chance, run for the gate. Tell my aunt...” Her voice trailed off, and one side of her mouth quirked up into a smile. “Never mind.”  
    Leah shifted enough to reach over her sword and patted Simon on the cheek. “Be good, Simon,” she said, and rolled out from under the wagon.
    Stunned, Simon just watched as she jumped to her feet and ran straight