Read Online City of Masks by Kevin Harkness - Free Book Online Page B

with Forlinect in a few minutes. Can’t this wait until evening?”
    Since they shared a room with Dorict, any secrets, or more likely plots if Marick was involved, could be shared then.
    By wiry strength and determination, Marick maneuvered him down the hall and into a cubbyhole under the stairs. He shooed out two youngsters hiding there and settled himself on a wooden box.
    “I see you’ve furnished the place since I was last dragged in here,” Garet said. He chose a box for himself, dusting it off to avoid dirtying his new uniform, the second in two days as the Stores Bane had reminded him.
    “I hold meetings here for Black Sashes who show promise,” Marick said.
    “Promise in what? Thievery? Pranks and rebellion?”
    The boy grinned. “Good friends know each other so well, don’t they? And I know that you’ll want to hear this. I talked with someone who talked with someone else, who heard something someone had passed on in the Palace Market this morning.”
    Garet rolled his eyes but signaled the Blue to continue.
    “It seems that Catcher Demon, and Heaven’s Shield what a great monster it was! I went out early to see it for myself after I heard this. But anyway, it seems the beast was not killed by Banes at all, but by a dozen strangers covered in black and wearing ferocious masks. According to my source . . .”
    “You mean your source’s source’s source’s source—if I count it right.”
    “Yes, yes! You’ll be as picky as Salick soon. According to my source, the masks shot out tongues of fire, and Heaven struck the beast with lightning and fierce winds before they killed it.”
    He spread his hands out. “Now, what do you think of that?”
    “I think I’ll be late, and Forlinect won’t be happy. Tell me the rest tonight, Marick, when I have a moment of my own time to listen!”
    He left his friend fuming in the dusty alcove and ran off to reach his duties in time. Once he would have happily helped Marick follow whatever wild rumour he was chasing, but that was before he had so many duties as a Green. Now he wondered when his immature friend intended to grow up. Garet sighed as he came into the empty training room. If only Marick could be more like Dorict, then he could worry about one less thing.
    He was sorting the last of the old and splintered staffs when the Black Sashes came dribbling in. It was a better session than the day before. The initiate Banes were working harder, swinging their staffs with a will and shouting things like, “Take that, Basher Demon,” and “There, got you Rat!” Even Allifur yelped as her weapon struck the bag. Corfin was the most enthusiastic, and Garet had to restrain that energy lest he reduce the number of his classmates and increase the number of patients in Banerict’s infirmary.
    “Less waving and more attention to your stance, Bane,” Garet told him, and the title softened the criticism enough for it to take hold. The Black Sashes nearest Corfin looked happier.
    Forlinect brought out the new short sticks and handed them out. Allifur took one and looked at it with obvious relief.
    “Now, a Bane may choose from any of a number of weapons when they become Blues,” Forlinect lectured and, for once, he had their full attention.
    “Some are long, like the spear—which is a very effective weapon against most demons—and some are short, like the axe, the hammer, the shield, and the short club.”
    He laid out each of the weapons he had mentioned and picked up the spear first to demonstrate its use. He was the best Garet had ever seen. When he thrust out at full strength, the point never wavered, but stopped precisely where he aimed it. He swung the butt end around like a staff to trip an imaginary demon, then leaped up and brought the head down in a swishing strike that would have stunned a Basher.
    The Blacks applauded, fingers of one hand on the back of another, except for Allifur, who tried to creep into the crowd. Corfin stopped her by reaching over