The City of Pillars Read Online Free PDF Page A

places that would cause the least amount of noise.
    The floor creaked loudly as he took the stairs.
    “I heard something,” said a voice below.
    “Upstairs!” said another.
    Rondel exited the staircase two floors down and sprinted toward a distant wall. Andrasta followed. Rounding several bookshelves, a box-like window draped by a thick red piece of cloth appeared.
    The pool in the garden. Of course!
    An arrow thudded into a bookcase just ahead.
    “They’re shooting at us!” Rondel acted as if he couldn’t believe they had the audacity to do so.
    “Don’t slow down. Jump!” she yelled, pushing him forward with her hand.
    “Are you crazy?”
    Another arrow thudded. Then another. “Do it!”
    Rondel increased his pace, screaming hysterically like a man on fire. Andrasta slowed a step to better time her jump.
    He leaped through the window, taking the curtain with him. Rondel’s scream turned into that of a raspy, frightened child once he hit the morning air.
    Andrasta dove out behind him, taking an arrow in the shoulder as she cleared the ledge. She grunted but had time for nothing more as tree tops rose to meet her.
    * * *
    Rondel clipped the fronds of two date palms on his way down to a small pool of water. The fronds slowed his decent, but not nearly enough nor in the way he would have preferred.
    All air blasted from his lungs when his body struck the pond’s surface. Foul tasting liquid rushed into his mouth as he sank in the surprisingly cool water.
    Frantically, he untangled himself from the red curtain. His feet touched bottom as the cloth came free, and he pushed off hard. Weighed down with weapons and light armor, he clawed upward, arms flailing and lungs burning.
    Ready to give in, his head finally emerged. He coughed, sputtered, and gasped while trying to keep his lips above the surface. The air smelled like algae.
    He began to sink again.
    A hand grabbed his arm. “You’re panicking. Calm down, and breathe.”
    Andrasta helped him to the pool’s edge.
    “How did you know the water was deep enough for us to jump?” he asked climbing out, realizing he had jumped out of a three story window with only a vague idea of what lay beneath. His original intention had been to climb down the side of the library through the window, not leap from it.
    “I didn’t. But it was our best option.”
    “I’m glad I didn’t know that then.” He paused. “Your shoulder.”
    Guards shouted from the library window. Footsteps pounded nearby. Andrasta broke off the arrow shaft. “No time now. C’mon.”
    She took off and Rondel followed.
    They got out of the gardens, crossed a narrow street, and ducked into one of the many intersecting alleys shrouded in shadow. People were just waking up, opening their homes to let in fresh air while cooking the morning’s meal. Most stopped to stare as he and Andrasta ran past.
    More stares will come as the sun continues to rise.
    “This isn’t going to work,” said Rondel. “The guards will be able to pick up our trail from the people watching us.”
    “I know. We need to get some dry clothes, especially boots. A disguise would also be nice.” Andrasta changed directions, leading them several blocks south into one of the lowlier parts of Zafar.
    “Don’t you think the watch will come this way first?”
    “Probably. But there are more foreigners in this part of Zafar which will make it easier to blend in.” Her eyes shifted. She pointed. “There.”
    Three men with wide smiles stepped out of a whore house on shaky legs. They wore yellow, sweat-stained trousers, cheap looking chain mail, and wide-brimmed helmets that resembled a pointed bowl.
    Mercenaries from Malam. Not the best of disguises, but it will do until we can find something better.
    He and Andrasta charged.
    Minutes later they left the three men unconscious beneath a heap of trash while moving through the city in dry clothes.
    And we didn’t even have to kill anyone.
     

CHAPTER 3
    Three days.
    Three