The Darkness of Glengowyn Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough to avoid the sword at his side, but the position meant he wouldn’t be able to reach his weapon.
    In his ear, she said, “Now what?”
    He didn’t answer. He just climbed into the window frame, crouched so neither of them would bump their heads. Before she could guess at his intention, he leapt, his powerful thighs pushing them off the window ledge and out into the empty air.

Chapter Five
    Nuala’s stomach dropped and it took all her will not to squeal in alarm. She clenched Einar tighter, reflexively, her face pressed into his shoulder as terror slammed through her. The jolt of landing nearly forced her hold to relax. His arm came up and braced her lower back, keeping her from falling.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    She looked around. They’d landed on the roof of a neighboring building, one story below the window they’d jumped from, but far enough away she wouldn’t have thought the leap possible. “How?”
    “Killing isn’t my only skill. You know that.”
    She unfolded her legs and slid to the ground, stepping away from him before she noticed the contact too much. “Now where?”
    He took her hand again and pulled her to the opposite side of the flat rooftop, ducking behind a tall brick chimney just before she heard voices from the window they’d leapt from.
    “Anything?”
    “No elves. Could they make that jump?”
    Silence. Then, “Doubt it. Too far even for an elf.”
    “The others should go into that building anyway.”
    “I’ll tell them.”
    “I’ll finish here.”
    Nuala waited in silence for at least ten heartbeats after the voices disappeared, then she raised her brows. Einar nodded. They faced the next neighboring building.
    “Me first,” he said. “You can make this?”
    “Yes.” She’d cliff-jumped as a youth, just like the other elves. This distance was at the farthest reach of her abilities but she’d done it before. She held her breath as he made the leap, landing easily and gracefully on the next roof. Then she backed up two steps and threw herself into the jump. When she landed beside him, she laughed, muffling the sound with her hand, but completely unable to contain her reaction to the thrill of making that distance.
    He frowned at her. She grinned and shrugged.
    “I haven’t done that in a while. I forgot how much fun it is.”
    His frown remained in place but his expression seemed to ease a little. Or at least she thought it did. With the only illumination coming from the two-thirds first moon, it was hard to tell.
    Without a word, he led her across the roof to yet another building. After studying the street below, he nodded and they jumped again. She stumbled a little on this landing, her muscles shivering from the adrenaline of their escape. The next building down the street was three stories higher than the one they were on, so they turned to the back of the roof and crossed a foot-wide gap to yet another building.
    “We’ll have to go back to the street,” Einar said, searching the surrounding buildings. Two were too high, the other was on the opposite side of the street and still too high for them to jump.
    Her stomach danced with fear now that the excitement of building jumping was over.
    This roof had an obvious door leading back inside, but Einar paused to study the streets below first. After several tense moments, he joined her at the door, leading her down the stairwell to the ground floor. Nuala barely noticed the building around them. She had a vague impression of square galleries and a multitude of doors, but her full focus was on trailing Einar down the dark stairs, afraid she’d miss her footing if she didn’t pay attention.
    At the front entrance, Einar paused again, studying the street through the windows beside the door. She had to force air in and out of her lungs. Finally, he eased open the door, which moved on surprisingly silent hinges, and they slipped into the street, sticking close to the building walls.
    Sounds from in front of them,