Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

have dozens of them, maybe even hundreds.”
    It was clear that the invaders had come seeking no treaty, no peace accord. They had already killed King Ryshan and his family. This was an act of pure aggression. They had come to destroy us. It was maddening. I couldn’t see their motivation yet. I didn’t understand why they had come, or what they wanted.
    “They’re very good at what they do,” I mused. “They strike quickly, without warning. They overwhelm a city before anyone can even react. That’s what they did at Avenston, and that looks like what they did here as well.”
    Even as I spoke, it occurred to me that I had family in Silverspire. The queen of the Tal’mar was my grandmother. My mother was the princess, the first in line to inherit the throne. My heart sank as I realized what must have happened to them.
    Robie seemed to sense my thoughts. “They hit the palace first in Avenston. They went straight for the royal family.” He put his hand comfortingly on my shoulder. I knew what he was thinking. In all probability, my mother was dead.
    I pulled away. “Let’s go,” I said.
    Robie stood watching me, contemplating as I walked down the hill under the canopy of trees. He probably wanted to tell me that it was insane to go into the city, that my family couldn’t possibly be alive. I knew this, of course, but I had to see it for myself. We’d arrived too late to warn them, but maybe there was still time to save them. I wasn’t ready to give up hope yet.
     
    Over the rough and untamed landscape, it took nearly an hour to reach the walls of the city. Our injuries, though minor, did nothing to aid the speed of our travel. It must have been close to midnight when we slipped through the woods outside the city wall and located a tree tall enough to get us inside.
    As I leapt into the branches and made for the top of the wall, I nearly forgot Robie was standing on the ground below. I glanced down and saw him gazing up at me expectantly. The impatience on his face was clear. Despite his size and strength, it was beyond Robie’s ability to leap into the branches the way that I had. The trees bend for me, they reach to gather me up like a mother cradling a babe in her arms. Moving through the trees is second nature to Tal’mar. Not so for humans. For Robie, the branches were too far out of reach and the tree trunk too smooth to climb.
    I leaned down, dangling by one arm with my legs wrapped around a thick limb, and offered him my hand. He looked skeptical, but he accepted my reach. He jumped and I pulled him forward, bringing him within reach of the lower branches. His boots found a niche and his arms went around the tree limb. He grunted noisily, hoisting himself up over the top. I put my finger to my lips and glared at him. The noises he’d made were small, subdued, but may as well have been a gunfire among the Tal’mar. Any elf within a mile would have known we were there. I could only hope the invaders didn’t possess Tal’mar senses.
    I made my way back to the wall, carefully choosing the stoutest branches to walk across, so that they could support Robie’s weight. He followed me as quietly as he could manage, but I found myself wishing I’d left him back at the crash site. At last, we settled on top of the broad stone wall and huddled among the branches, staring out across the city. The heavy fog obscured our vision, but the sky was bright with the color of bonfires and burning buildings.
    We caught glimpses here and there of the tall foreigners leading groups of Tal’mar citizens around in shackles, but they were distant and obscured by fog. We couldn’t tell much about them, other than their size. Thankfully, we didn’t see any of the executions that Becca had described in Avenston.
    I put my finger to my lips, reminding Robie that silence was imperative. I led the way along the wall to a tight corner, where I knew he would easily be able to climb to the ground. As he started making his way