Page 5 of Veiled Fate
“Who says I’m joking?”
“Kiel, they’re almost here,” I warned, peeking past him and then behind me. “Whatever you’re thinking, do it now, or tell me what to do.”
“Not quite,” he said.
“They’re fewer than twenty feet away from skewering us with those blades. Ifthat’syour plan, I hate it, just so you know.”
“It’s not,” he said.
“What is—”
With a sharp cry of attack, Kiel reached out and grabbed the hem of the clothing merchant’s tent. Fingers wrapping around the thick seam that transitioned the canvas from roof to wall, he gave it a singular mighty yank.
Fabric tore. Support posts snapped, and the entire tent shifted, coming down into the alleyway. Then, Kiel grabbed me and pulled me to the ground. The moment the canvas dropped over the guards, he yanked up the lower hem of the stall on our other side and pushed me through.
He followed, and we took off through a meat vendor’s back room, where salted animal carcasses waited to be sliced and sold. Various butcher’s implements hung from the ceiling. Both Kiel and I snatched up some weapons, his a wickedly hooked thing, mine a simple blunt chopping instrument.
The blades were stained a rust color from the blood they had spilled over the years, but they would do the job nonetheless. The owner of the stall, a portly, middle-aged man, shouted at us almost immediately. Cries of “Thief! Thief!” followed us into the streets, alerting the remaining guards to our presence.
“Run faster,” I said as we pelted across the market, dodging civilians left and right. “Must run faster.”
“I’m trying,” Kiel growled, spinning aside as an oblivious old woman toddled into his path.
“They’re going to catch us,” I said.
“Not if we make it there first,” he said, pointing at an alley at the market.
It was a true alley, running between buildings, leading to the rest of the city. Kiel was right. If we could get there first, we might be able to lose the soldiers long enough to enact the second half of his crazy plan. We didn’t need long. Just enough to loop around our pursuers.
Up ahead, a fresh squad of guards rushed at us from the outskirts of the market, having entered via one of the major thoroughfares. Civilians saw them coming and were getting out of their way as fast as they could.
Meanwhile, we had to duck, dip, dive, and dodge around everyone in our path, slowing our journey.
“We’re not going to make it.”
“Yes, we are,” Kiel said, snatching my hand and dragging me forward with a bellow as he lowered his shoulder.
It didn’t take long for the crowd to catch on. Only a few bodies had to be bowled out of the way for a path to clear for us, and we ducked into the alley a few dozen feet ahead of our pursuers.
Only to discover it was a dead end. Several doors were on either side, but a solid brick wall blocked our passage about fifty feet in.
“Pick a door, any door,” I said, rearing back and delivering a swift kick to the nearest entrance.
Wood splintered but didn’t give. I hauled back to give it another go, but the guards poured into the alleyway at that moment, forcing Kiel and me to give ground. Our makeshift weapons slapped probing thrusts and slashes aside, but they were rushed, haphazard attacks. Once the guards gathered their composure, they would slice us into ribbons.
Slowly, we backed away until our shoulders pressed against the rear wall, the stone hard and cool against my shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” Kiel said softly as the soldiers gathered themselves to attack. “I should have gotten you out of this, Jada.”
“Oh, shut up,” I said as lightly as I could, given the gravity of our situation. “I chose this. We won’t do the blame game at this juncture, got it?”
“Got it,” he said wryly as we faced a wall of steel. “Shall we see which of us can take down more of them? Loser buys the winner drinks?”
“Deal.” I leveled my cleaver at the array of swords. “Come on, then! Let’s get this over with already!”
The soldiers seemed to inhale as one, but before they could advance and cut us down, an unseen shiver ran through their rear ranks, stilling them. From outside the alley mouth, a figure appeared. Soldiers parted like water before him as he approached. They stepped back and away, spines ramrod straight, weapons held stiffly to the sides.
“What in the hell?” I looked the newcomer up and down, evaluating him, trying to determine why someone dressed so plainly was being shown such deference.
