Sunbolt (The Sunbolt Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

 
    While I get the carriage, Rafiki will arrange a safe place for the family to spend the night. Between the two of them, the Ghost and Kenta will keep a watch on both entrances to the Degaths’ residence. If either sees the approach of soldiers, they’ll evacuate the Degaths as quickly as possible. Hopefully, though, the family will merely leave for an after-dinner outing as planned. Once their carriage departs their house, the Ghost will join Rafiki and me at the waterfront. Kenta will trail the Degath’s carriage in his tanuki form, assuring no one and nothing else follows.  
    Once they take their walk and transfer to our carriage, we’ll transport them to a place for the night. Come morning, the Degaths will depart on one of the fishing dhows—the last thing Blackflame will expect. The sultan’s soldiers are sure to freeze all activity at the docks serving the shipping merchants and passenger boats once they realize their prey has escaped. But the dhows are only used by local fishermen. Many are merely pulled up on the beaches once they return from their night fishing. Not only is a noble family unlikely to arrange passage on a dhow, but monitoring the dhows is near impossible.  
    “The best plans are the simplest,” the Ghost says.  
    I try not to consider all that might go wrong. We’ve accounted for various contingencies, but the most ominous possibility is that Blackflame won’t wait for full night to arrest the Degaths. Part of me wishes that the Ghost had simply collected the family when he saw them earlier, planning for their future be damned. But the Ghost seems certain that we’ll have enough time to implement our strategy.  
    My task, at least, should be easy. The Ghost has provided me with a small change purse filled with enough coin to rent a carriage for the night, as well as the name of a merchant who I can claim sent me. There are two establishments that rent carriages, both attached to inns. I feel a twinge of unease when I learn that both carriages have already been rented from the first. But what’s the likelihood that all the available carriages will have been taken?
    It turns out the second inn does indeed have one available.
    “How do I know you’ll bring it back?” the proprietor demands, eyeing me with suspicion and disdain.
    “This is an island,” I say, trying to reason with him. “Where could I possibly take your carriage that the sultan’s soldiers couldn’t find it?”
    “Forget the carriage. You could book passage and take the horses with you, make yourself a pretty penny. You want a carriage for your master, tell him to send me a man who looks like he serves a merchant. Not a boy in rags.”
    “But—”
    “Now get out, or I’ll call the sultan’s soldiers on you myself.”
    I stalk outside, furious with myself, wishing I’d argued with the Ghost. Rafiki should have come for the carriage—although I have to admit that the Ghost was right: he does stand a higher chance of being recognized. Still, better that than not managing to get a carriage at all. Or we could have hired an errand boy to pick it up for us. I know a few young men who would do an odd job like this, no questions asked. I let out my breath with a sigh, knowing that wasn’t a valid option either. If they ended up being questioned, they’d have no concern turning us over. No, I was the best choice for this job. And now I’ve failed.  
    I stand for a long moment, surveying the street. It’s roughly cobbled, once a major thoroughfare but now falling into disrepair. The street lies quiet, only a few people passing by on their way home to dinner. I watch them absently: a tall, elderly gentleman with a kind face and a slight limp; two children skipping along, hand in hand; a young man hurrying by, his gaze distant.  
    I shake myself. I’m only prolonging the inevitable. I’d better get moving. The more time we have to change our plans, the better. If only I’d been better suited to the job the