The Darkness Comes (The Second Book of the Small Gods Series) Read Online Free PDF

ahead.
    Empty.
    Not much traffic at this time, but they’d pass The Dented Cup on their way to the bridge. Day or night, people frequented the tavern, and there’d be a good chance Teth and his thugs might stop in on their way by.
    “Come on,” she said, snagging Stirk by the ripped sleeve of his shirt.
    “Can’t we leave him? I think he’s dead. He’s getting cold.”
    Bieta touched the back of her hand to the lad’s forehead and found it warm and moist. A faint breath caressed her fingers when she held them in front of his mouth.
    “He’s alive.” She started out again, expecting her son to follow. “Just his blood on your shirt cooling off.”
    “Great.”
    Around the next corner, they walked into the busy tavern’s noise spilling along the street. Bieta hesitated and Stirk lurched to a stop beside her.
    “If we’re gonna do this,” he said, feigning panted breath. “Let’s just do it.”
    She knew his strength would last and he just liked to play at getting tired to illustrate his contribution, but she worried about being discovered toting a blood-covered fellow through the streets, especially if one of the rarely-seen city guards picked tonight for an evening stroll. No See-Gee would believe for a second they weren’t the ones who poked him with a sword.
    They hurried up the street, Stirk’s feet dragging in the dirt and broken cobbles, sending rocks skittering across the ground. Had it been quieter, Bieta might have hushed him, but the tavern’s clamor was louder than usual. Loud enough it made her nervous.
    Stirk was busy concentrating on hauling his load, but it didn’t take Elishbieta long to realize it wasn’t normal tavern sounds seeping out through the door. The harsh clash of swords cut through the crowd’s chatter, followed by a man’s pained cry. As they drew even with the building, the place went deathly silent. A hush fell like a fog bank appearing out of nowhere to swallow the shacks along the river and Bieta stopped in her tracks, grabbed Stirk’s arm.
    “Something’s wrong,” she whispered.
    Stirk grunted. Bieta tugged his sleeve, pulling him toward the alley opposite the tavern’s entrance.
    They melted into the shadows as best a big man with another fellow in his arms can hide. Bieta held her breath, both to keep from being heard and to prevent the stink of garbage and offal invading her nose. Her tongue rubbed back and forth against her gum, her one eye hard on the door as she wondered what might cause the drinking house’s normally giddy crowd to go quiet. Were Teth and his cohorts menacing them? He wasn’t the biggest thug in the outer city, but maybe the fancy sword he’d stolen from the young man was enough to make the others take note.
    A few seconds later, the door swung open. Bieta pushed Stirk and his load deeper into the alley, their feet squelching in damp refuse.
    The one-armed man who exited the tavern and the young with him were strangers to her, but she recognized the sword in his hand. Even her untrained eye couldn’t mistake the value of that sort of weapon. The pattern etched along its blade caught the light, twinkling and flashing, a beacon signaling this sword was different from all others.
    The two strangers backed out of the public house, acting tense and wary. Through the open door, she glimpsed the faces of some of the tavern-goers watching them with eyes opened wide with shock. A path split between them led back into the room, and she spied bodies lying on the floor, recognized Teth amongst them. Her gut jumped at the sight, part of her pleased he’d paid for what he’d done to the lad, another part distressed she’d have to find a new man to pleasure for money. She decided to be pleased—men loved the feel of her gap on their cocks, so it shouldn’t be difficult to replace the meager coin Teth provided.
    The door swung closed and the man and girl turned away from the tavern. He glanced up the street, but her gaze fell on the alley in which