Thieves of Islar: Book One of The Heirs of Bormeer Read Online Free PDF Page B

here he could no longer see the flames, but he could still smell the smoke. The calls of the fire brigade echoed behind them.
    “We have a problem. We need to get away from here. Hide… He…” Jaeron could not get the words out. He clenched his fists, his jaw. “Father said that we’re in danger.”
    Chazd started to ask, “Father? Was he still in - ?”
    Jaeron lost it. His patience, his focus, his ability to hold it in. “Yes, Chazd, he was! Enough! He’s been killed. Now stop asking stupid questions and listen to me!”
    For a moment, there was no sound. Jaeron closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath.
    “It was another guild. He didn’t say why… who… Father just said that we are in danger and… I… I don’t know what to do…”
    ~
    Avrilla watched her brother’s concrete grip on his feelings crumble. Jaeron slumped back and let himself slide down against the wooden wall. Head down. Defeated. In the middle of the alley, Chazd stood looking back and forth between her and their brother. She still saw the struggle in him, not believing their brother’s words. The twitch in his legs betrayed his intention to run back to see if what Jaeron had said was true.
    Father was still inside. How could her brother have left him there? How… Tears welled in her eyes and her heart beat mercilessly against her swollen throat.
    Shaking, Avrilla moved across the alley and knelt to wrap her arms around her older brother. She hugged him to her chest and stroked his back. She found the strength to fight her own shock and be there to comfort him. To get through this night, they needed Jaeron.
    “Jaeron, you were right. We needed to get away from there.” Avrilla needed him to focus. She continued rubbing his back, feeling the wetness of his tears through the material on her shoulder.
    “Do you think that we are being watched?” she asked him.
    Jaeron’s head jerked up. The question broke him out of his sadness. “Yes, I think we could be.”
    “So let’s be smart in getting out of the Ninth,” Avrilla said. “We can break up. Tail each other a bit and see if anyone is following us. Then we’ll split up and meet in one bell. At the Window, maybe?”
    “No,” Chazd answered. He had stopped looking back toward the fire and was peering into every shadow. “Too expected. I’m there all the time. We need someplace we would have no reason to go.”
    Jaeron agreed. “Good idea… Outside of Old City – the Talica Bridge?”
    Avrilla nodded. It was a good idea, and she could see that once they had a plan in place, her confident, older brother was back. She heard the strength return to Jaeron’s voice as he outlined a plan to pick up a few things on their way to the bridge. Jaeron would get their tools and the jewelry box they had taken from the Dockpads that evening. Chazd was tasked to retrieve other equipment, spare clothing, and bedrolls from a similar cache on the other side of the ward, leaving her to take on the assignment of procuring food and cooking supplies. They would meet in an hour, more or less, at the Solemnity tolling of the bells of Teichmar Cathedral.
    Silence settled once they reached an agreement. Avrilla stood in the alley watching her brothers. Bruised, dirty, and smelling of sweat and smoke, Avrilla wondered if it was cutting them the same way as it did her. What have we lost tonight? Are we once again the orphans we had been nearly fifteen years ago?
    Chazd broke away first, wiping his face with his sleeve, nodding curtly at her and Jaeron and running off toward the wharfs.
    Jaeron turned to take a last look in the direction of the fire.
    “Good luck,” he said softly, and then turned to follow Chazd, who had already blended into the night’s shadows.

Seven
    W hen Holger deLocke and his four recruits arrived at the scene of the fire, the locals had already put together a water line and the crowd had nearly extinguished the blaze. In surprisingly intelligent fashion, the brigade had