Roads of the Righteous and the Rotten (Order of Fire Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Asha’s neck and coaxed her to settle down. The camel had begun to groan and twist her neck awkwardly. “I know, Asha, I know.”
    He wanted to tell Shahla that he knew they weren’t alone, and that in the next few moments raiders might come charging out of the wood, but he didn’t want to frighten her. She might make things worse being scared. Worse still, if she picked up her bow and drew a shaft while looking every which way she would be a target. So Zar said nothing, but he wasn’t at all surprised when a swift figure rushed out of the woods and scampered over to Shahla’s mare, Dalya.
    The stranger grabbed for Dalya’s reins as another figure appeared on the road in front of them with a bow drawn. Zar didn’t wait for more men to arrive. As the bowman on the road called, “Halt! Don’t move and you don’t die,” Zar hopped off Asha’s back, drew his sword and rolled on the ground towards the wagon where Dalya reared up at the strange man that tugged on her reins.
    An arrow whizzed past Zar’s ear and dug deep into the wagon’s wheel as he came back to his feet and struck Dalya’s rump hard with the flat of his blade. Dalya charged forward, hooves stomping, and the man who tried to control her lost grip of the reins.
    Two other figures scurried onto the road. Zar ignored them as he ran behind the moving wagon toward the bowman scrambling out of its way. The man, who’d just avoided being trampled by Dalya, slipped and was regaining his footing when Zar appeared with his sword raised over his shoulders. The man fumbled to knock another arrow as Zar came down with his blade, opening his throat.
    Zar smiled at the three men approaching tentatively. The bowman was dead, and Shahla was somewhere down the road, away from the fight. She was safe—and so was he by the looks of things. A man charged brashly, his shaggy brown locks flying through the air behind him. Zar met his blade and pulled back, causing the man to fall forward, and moved himself away from the wild swing of the man beside him.
    Zar’s sword caught the second attacker clean at the wrist. The man was too poor for gauntlets or gloves, and the blade sliced through his shirt and skin, straight to the bone. He yelled and scrambled away as blood sprayed, his wrist dangling with the bone splintering out.
    The first attacker swung again—too wide. Zar shoved his sword into the man’s chest as the third circled around to Zar’s rear. Zar spun around to swat away his blade. If only they could have known who he was before they attacked him. They were only thieves. While they were good at taking what didn’t belong to them, he was good at taking the one thing that belonged solely to a man. After knowing that, if they still wished to fight him, at least he could’ve called them brave before he killed them. He could’ve called them brave, or he could’ve called them foolish.
    Zar finished the man he was engaged with, pushing his blade underneath the man’s arm and into his ribs. An arrow flew past him and silenced the man whose hand he had nearly cut off.
    Zar glanced around into the trees, but the forest was quiet. He half thought the thieves had another bowman hidden in the woods, albeit, one with poor aim, but as he turned to movement on the road, Shahla approached, bow in hand, eyes wide and mouth open.
    “Come,” Zar called for her. “Are you hurt?” The girl’s black hair was frayed; her eyes were clear and wide. Zar could see she was still quite shocked by it all, but she was unharmed. “You didn’t have to fight,” he told her, taking her in his arms.
    “I wanted to,” Shahla answered. Her eyes were fixed intently on the dead man that bore her arrow. “I was … I was just so scared. My hands trembled as I drew my bow.”
    The girl’s voice sounded hoarse. Zar hadn’t been with her for years, but as he watched her standing there so still, with her eyes fixed on the corpse, he knew it was the first time she had killed a