Read Online All Spell Breaks Loose by Lisa Shearin - Free Book Online Page B

passed under the walls and into the city without incident of the ambush kind, we’d be splitting up. It was the best plan I’d heard all day.
    In my opinion, sneaking was an activity best done solo. If others had to tag along, there shouldn’t be more than a handful sharing the shadows with you. Any more than that and you’d be tempting fate, luck, and any anything else you’d care to name. That we’d made it this far undetected was a towering testament to goblin stealth and elven desperation. Once we were inside the city, we’d be moving even faster than we had been. That was something else I was all for. Movement kept sitting ducks from becoming dead ducks.
    Jash signaled us to stay put and walked forward on nearly silent footfalls. The flame of his torch illuminated a ragged opening only the height and width of an average man.
    The city wall of Regor. Home of Sarad Nukpana, the Khrynsani, and the Saghred—all of whom wanted me dead and gone, and the more painful they could make my death, the better. To make the experience even more enjoyable, it appeared that we’d have to go through the opening in that wall single file. Alone.
    Great.
    Hopefully no one’s magic would hiccup when they passed through. I felt more than a few nervous glances on me. I had news for them; my magic wasn’t what they needed to worry about. Sarad Nukpana had been close enough to me on numerous occasions to have set those sensors to
me
, not just to my magic. If that was the case, we were all screwed. It wasn’t like I could tamp down myself.
    “I’ll go through first,” Jash told us. “Nath, you follow. That’ll test the sensors against mage and mundane.”
    Imala spoke. “If you weren’t detected when you went through the first time—”
    “The first time, Sarad knew Raine Benares wasn’t with us,” Jash reminded her. “Thanks to the spy orb that Khrynsani captain was wearing, Sarad may now know differently. If he knows she’s here, he’s had ample time to have the sensors recalibrated.”
    To me. Or to anyone who had the bad luck to be with me.
    “Sorry about that,” I said.
    “We’re not,” Nath chimed in. “We live for flipping off Death.”
    “If those sensors could be set for me, then I should be the last one through.” I kept my voice down for the obvious reasons, but spoke loud enough that the goblins heard me. They’d probably volunteered for this duty, but it never hurt to make nice with the locals. Nothing said nice like giving your new allies a head start on running for their lives if I set off those sensors.
    A few of the Resistance fighters graciously inclined their heads in my general direction; a couple more gave me what might have passed for smiles under better circumstances.
    All of us had our magic locked down tight. Well, all of us except for me. My magic was probably on vacation on a sunny beach somewhere, toying with the idea of never coming home.
    “I’ll wait as well,” Mychael said.
    Piaras stepped forward. “Me, too.”
    I shot him a look that summed up what I thought of that idea.
    Piaras wasn’t backing down. “I’m a Guardian cadet and our sworn duty is to guard and protect the Saghred and prevent it from being wielded by those who would use that power to destroy.”
    It sounded like he was quoting out of the Guardian handbook or something. Heck, if there was one, he’d probably already memorized the thing.
    A mischievous grin flitted across his mouth. “Just doing my sworn duty.”
    “You’ve been talking to Vegard too much.”
    “My conversations with Sir Vegard have been highly educational.”
    “I’ll bet.”
    Talon slid up beside Mychael, speaking in a whisper out of only one side of his mouth. Impressive. “Is guarding Raine a required Guardian cadet activity?”
    Mychael fought a smile. “No, Cadet Nathrach. It’s not.”
    Talon’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh, good.” He glanced at me. “Don’t take it the wrong way, but you’re dangerous to be