Thief: A Fantasy Hardboiled (Ratcatchers Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

man’s eyes and, baring his teeth in a feral smile, pushed the dagger in, twisting it.
    The assassin cried out and grabbed at the mouseman, only to receive a vicious bite in the wrist that caused blood to spurt wide from the wound, and the two went down, soon joined by another, then another mouse, the last the recovered mouse warrior, hacking at the downed man with a large-for-a-mouseman two hander. The room began to stink of iron, the smell of blood. The floor was awash in it. It glittered black in the lantern light.
    Vanora gasped, putting her hands to her mouth as the assassin was murdered in front of her. She noticed movement at her feet and saw Balli was standing there, observing it all, her fur standing on end, but otherwise unmoving, protecting her.
    The lead assassin held his own. He was cut in many places, there were crossbow bolts sticking out of flesh and armor, but he spun and whirled, his sword and dagger a blur. He leapt from chair to table, using each first as a height advantage, then as a weapon as he kicked each at his mouse assailants, retreating around the common room. He thought he’d taken down two of the mousemen, but could not be sure, they grabbed their wounded and disappeared into the fray.
    Suddenly there were more mousemen fighting him, and he realized two of his men were down, probably dead, freeing up more of the vicious little fighters to focus on him. He sneered at his assailants, and pulled a small glass orb from under his leather chest piece.
    Vanora forgotten, the lead assassin said “fuck this!” and threw the black glass orb at the floor in front of him. The orb was filled with black powder and when it hit the ground, it shattered and the dust swirled out, forming a thick mist that snaked along the ground, searching, striving, yearning. Flowing past the mousemen who were momentarily distracted, watching the black mist to see what it would do.
    It found one of the dead assassins’ bodies; the one Vanora had watched the mousemen hack apart. It settled onto him, seeped into his wounds, flowed into his nostrils and open mouth.
    The corpse began to twitch. Its broken limbs snapped back together, knotting and twisting. Its skin looked like it was boiling. A scream went up from the body, though of man or something possessing the man, none could say.
    The dead man jerked itself up, its skin now grey-green, its eyes burning coals. It snarled, then howled, its breath a putrid stink. Its fingernails long black claws. Just a moment before, it had been a man, then a moment later, a corpse. Now it looked like a nightmare.
    The ratmen stood, stunned. Vanora was stunned, terrified. Two of the remaining assassins looked at their leader in shock and fear. He returned their expression, as amazed, as afraid as they were.
    The ghoul was taller than the man had been, more massive, and faster. It lashed out with inhuman speed and long, spindly arms, and grabbed the nearest mouseman, who barely had time to struggle before the ghoul had pulled it close, ripped its head off with its black teeth and threw the body to the ground, spitting the head away.
    Vanora screamed, and kept screaming. She was rooted to the spot. She felt something tugging at her dress and spun around, snatching it away, only to see Ballisantirax, who looked at her with big yellow eyes, howled once, and ran into the cellar through the open door and into the darkness.
    Only for a moment, the mousemen looked on with horror at the corpse of their brother, then in an instant they formed a protective wall between the ghoul and Vanora.
    But the ghoul did not discriminate, and leaped across the room, wrapping its body around one of the assassins. Though screaming, and being borne down to the ground, he still attacked, stabbing the thing with twin daggers, over and over, to no avail. The ghoul crouched on his chest and tore him apart.
    One of the ratmen, dark brown, a little shorter than his brothers and unarmed, pushed to the fore of the knot of