Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 06 - Ghost in the Forge (30 page)
Read Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 06 - Ghost in the Forge Online
Authors: Jonathan Moeller
Tags: #Fantasy - Female Assassin
“Please, please,” said the girl. “Do not hurt me. I…please, do not kill me the way you killed my sisters. Please, dark ones. Please!”
“What is she saying?” said Corvalis.
Caina blinked, and remembered Corvalis could not speak Istarish. “She thinks we’re going to kill her the way someone killed her sisters.”
She stepped forward, wiped her daggers clean on the dead assassin, and lifted her hands. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Please,” said the girl, shivering. “Please, just let me go.”
“What happened to you?” said Caina. “Why were these men trying to kill you?”
“I don’t know!” said the girl. “I don’t know why they wanted me, and I don’t know why they killed my sisters.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I…please, let me go.”
“Where will you go?” said Caina.
“I don’t…I don’t know,” said the girl, shaking her head. “Anywhere. Someplace where they can’t find me.”
“I can help you,” said Caina.
“No,” said the girl. “Please…don’t hurt me.”
Caina realized the Istarish girl only saw them as cloaked shadows, as armed wraiths who had cut down an Immortal and a Kindred assassin in the space of a few heartbeats.
Little wonder she feared them.
Caina decided to take a gamble, and drew back her hood and pulled off her mask.
The girl’s eyes widened. “You…you are a woman?”
“I am,” said Caina. “I can take you somewhere safe. You must be expecting the child soon.”
The girl gave a hesitant nod. “Any day.”
“Then come with us,” said Caina. “You do not want to be alone when your time comes.” She gestured at the corpses. “And these men had allies, I’m sure. You don’t want them to find you.”
The girl shook her head. “No.”
“What is your name?” said Caina.
“Mahdriva,” said the girl. She hesitated. “The assassin…the assassin said you were a Ghost. Is that true?”
“We are,” said Caina. “We can help you, if…”
“My father!” said Mahdriva. “Please, save my father. We were hiding at the Inn of the Broken Wheel when they came for me. My father fought them off and told me to run. I went through the back door and ran as fast as I could, but the men caught me here. Please, Ghost, help my father.”
Caina knew the Inn of the Broken Wheel. It was at the edge of the district, and catered to the moderately successful merchants that lived nearby. But if the Kindred and the Immortals had come for Mahdriva and her father in force, then the man was likely dead.
“He is still alive!” said Mahdriva, as if she had guessed Caina’s thoughts. “My father is the mightiest warrior in Istarinmul. It will take more than assassins to kill him. But, please, he must have aid.”
“She’s asking you for something,” murmured Corvalis in Caerish, “isn’t she?”
Caina nodded, thinking. Mahdriva’s father, whoever he was, had likely perished. Yet why send Kindred assassins and Immortals to kidnap one pregnant girl?
A pregnant girl, Caina suspected, who had escaped from slavery in Istarinmul.
Why go to that much trouble to recapture a pregnant slave girl?
An odd coincidence, with the Istarish Lord Ambassador arriving within a week.
And Caina did not like coincidences.
She looked at the girl, remembering the day her own father had died before her eyes.
“Yes,” said Caina. “We will save your father, if we can.”
“Thank you,” said Mahdriva, her voice shaking. “Thank you.”
“Ah,” said Corvalis. “We’re going to help her, aren’t we?”
“You told me you liked challenges,” said Caina. She pulled her mask and cowl back into place. “Well, get ready for a challenge.”
Corvalis laughed. “Best we move on before the militia finds the corpses.”
Caina left the courtyard and headed for the Inn of the Broken Wheel, Corvalis and Mahdriva following.
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Ghost in the Ashes
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About the Author
Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.
He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER’S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works.
Visit his website at:
http://www.jonathanmoeller.com
Visit his technology blog at:
http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed
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Other books by the author
The Third Soul Series
Computer Beginner’s Guides
The Windows Command Line Beginner’s Guide
The Linux Command Line Beginner’s Guide
The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner’s Guide
The Windows 8 Beginner’s Guide
The Linux Mint Beginner’s Guide
The Ghosts Series
Ghost Dagger (World of the Ghosts novella)
Ghost Aria (World of the Ghosts short story)
Ghost Claws (World of the Ghosts short story)
The Demonsouled Series
The Dragon’s Shadow (World of the Demonsouled novella)
The Wandering Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)
The Tournament Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)
The Tower of Endless Worlds Series
$1.99 Dark Fantasy
