Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks Read Online Free PDF Page B

underneath his arm. She watched as the boy ducked a sideways slash, spun on his heels, and then lunged to the side of a thrust. The sword pierced the air inches from his face, but Haern seemed not to care how close he came to death. His dagger punched underneath the breastplate, slicing open the flesh and spilling intestines to the cold dirt of the alley.
    He never hesitated, not even after such a cruel killing. The other soldier’s strike would have severed his spine, but instead it clacked against the ground. Haern slashed his wrist, danced about, stabbed his side, and then as the guard turned he continued dancing, continued twirling. His dagger buried itself in flesh, finding two more exposed slits in the armor. Blood ran freely, and when the boy kicked out his knees, the guard fell without the strength to stand.
    Kayla shook her head in amazement. Learn one day to kill as well as she? Nonsense, she thought. He already did.
    Haern sheathed the dagger and joined her side.
    “Your limp,” she said, realizing he had shown no hint of the injury during battle.
    “I hurt it worse,” he said, wrapping his arm around hers. “But I’ve been taught how to ignore such things. Better to live torn and in pain than die in perfect health.”
    He spoke as if the saying were memorized, and the gasps of pain he made with each step seemed to mock him.
    “We’ll never escape,” she said as they turned down a small alley between rows of houses that stank more like a sewer. “Not with us leaving a trail of bodies behind us.”
    “We just need to keep going,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where.”
    “Why not?” she asked.
    “Because my father’s eyes are in all places. Once we’re seen, he’ll come for us.”
    Kayla smirked.
    “I don’t care who your father is, Haern, he’s not the Reaper. The night is deep, the soldiers are about, and if we’re to see the dawn we’ll need to hide.”
    Haern looked upset at her dismissal of his father, but he refused to argue the point.
    Kayla scanned the houses she passed, hoping to recognize one. Considering how she prided herself on having information, she realized just how little she knew her surroundings. She was friends with the scum of the streets, but the eastern district was home to the rich and influential. She might know her way around, and be able to list many names useful for blackmail, but not one person she could count as a friend. In all of Veldaren, this was most definitely farthest from home.
    “Wait,” Haern said as they passed by a wide mansion surrounded by a thick fence. Its bars were made of dark iron, their spiked tops over ten feet above the ground. Behind them, oak trees with interlocking branches surrounded the building, giving privacy to the mansion with their beauty.
    Haern pointed. “We can hide here.”
    It took a moment for Kayla to realize where they were, but when she did her eyes widened.
    “Are you daft, boy? This is Keenan’s estate.”
    “Exactly,” Haern said, a bit of a smile curling his lips. “The one place no one would dare look for us.”
    The reasoning was sound, but looking at those enchanted bars, she was baffled as to how they would cross them.
    “Follow me,” Haern said. Instead of climbing the bars, though, he turned and shimmied up the wall of a much more modest dwelling on the opposite side of the road. He clearly favored his right leg, bracing his weight on the left as often as he could. It seemed there was no way up, but his feet and hands found crevices, windowsills, and indents in the plaster. He made it seem so easy, as if a pathway were there, waiting hidden just for him.
    Kayla knew she was good at climbing, but she doubted her ability to follow. Not that she had a choice, given the constant shouts of guards hunting after them. Trying not to think about it, and therefore worry, she began climbing in a reckless rush. She made it halfway up before her foot slipped. The windowsill cracked and broke. Her hands flailing