The Healing Wars: Book III: Darkfall Read Online Free PDF Page A

ours.
    “Thief!” someone cried, and the camp guards appeared, chasing down the bandits.
    Ellis swore and hopped off the wagon. She went after the thieves and Danello followed right behind her. The thieves ran like chickens, darting this way and that, knocking things over, throwing them at whoever was close. Folks ran everywhere, just as wild, just as scared, no one paying any attention to where they were going.
    Elbows jabbed me, jostling me farther out into the crowd. A man slammed into my shoulder and spun me around. The second wagon guard, Copli, was on the driver’s bench protecting the food but looking like he wanted to chase after Ellis and Danello. Quenji had his arms around Aylin, keeping her tight against the wagon and blocking her from the panicked mob. The children ran into the crowd, between legs and stomping feet, caught in the chaos.
    I struggled through the bodies and grabbed a boy by the hand, yanking him back before a panicked woman ran him down. He clung to me, trembling. I looked for another. Saw one of the thieves instead.
    He pulled out a knife, then dodged back and thrust it at the guards. Several people screamed, but only one body stumbled, then fell to the ground.
    “Stop right there,” a tall Baseeri said, waving something at the thieves. I almost missed the glint of blue metal.
    Pynvium. He had a pynvium rod. A good one, too, the metal pure enough to shine a rich blue.
    The aristocrat pointed the rod into the crowd full of scared people—and children.
    “Wait, no!” I yelled.
    Whoomp.
    Pain flashed from the rod, the familiar prickle of blown sand stinging my skin. People all around me screamed and collapsed—guards, thieves, children. Even the horse shrieked and bolted, sending bags of food flying off the wagon and Copli toppling off the bench. Those at the edge of the flash stumbled and fell, tripping over those on the ground. The boy I’d grabbed dropped and lay by my feet.
    I stood in a circle cleared by the pain, exposed and alone.

THREE
    D id she just—?”
    “Quirker!”
    “The Shifter’s here!”
    Cries raced through the crowd, then fingers pointed and hands waved, all in my direction. Saints! I should have fallen, faked being affected, but it all happened so fast. I dropped to one knee and took the hand of the unconscious boy at my feet. My hand tingled as I drew in the pain overloading his senses. He woke and looked around, whimpering.
    “Go find your mother,” I said, scanning the rest of the people on the ground. Danello, where’s Danello? There! Lying near Ellis and one of thieves. People gasped when I ran toward him, backing away like I was going to hurt them.
    “Get her, stop her!” the Baseeri with the pynvium weapon called.
    I knelt and wrapped a hand around Danello’s wrist, the other around Ellis’s. Drew in their pain and held it in the empty space between my heart and guts. It simmered there like I’d eaten something that had disagreed with me.
    Danello jerked awake, hands out. Ellis woke right after. I let go of them and looked for the guard who’d been stabbed. He’d have real pain—pain I could use if one of these aristocrats tried to—
    Someone slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.
    “I got her!” a man yelled, practically in my ear.
    “Get off of her,” Danello said. The weight vanished, and he dragged me back to my feet.
    Unconscious people were still on the ground and probably would be for a while. The others surrounded us, fear and anger on their faces. Except for a woman with the boy I’d helped. They looked at me with gratitude.
    Be nice if you told your friends to leave me alone.
    “Everyone settle down,” Ellis said, sword out. Copli was on his feet again, a gash across his forehead. Danello stayed near me, but still close enough to the others to back them up.
    “But that’s the Shifter,” a woman said.
    Ellis shrugged. “So?”
    “She tried to kill the Duke!”
    “No, she didn’t. He almost killed her and she defended