Read Online Compass of the Nymphs by Sam Bennett - Free Book Online Page A

distraction. When the time is right, get to that shack.
I’ll be right behind you.”
    Taisiya nodded and then Zara jogged down the
road, disappearing behind one of the many houses. Taisiya sat and
waited for his distraction and began to wonder if it would ever
come – or how she would know when the time was right.
    A few minutes later, Zara’s distraction made
itself apparent. All the guards went running from their posts in
the same direction. Taisiya looked back but saw nothing out of the
ordinary. Nonetheless, once the coast was clear she made her way to
Ammon’s door and quickly let herself in without knocking.
    Now that she was familiar with his home, she
found the trick door to his real home and knocked on it. She could
hear him shouting “Coming!” from deep within his library. While
Ammon was coming up, Taisiya poked her head out of the shack door
and scanned the area for Zara. He was nowhere to be found.
    Her eyes then darted to the sky, which looked
all too familiar – smoke was flowing up from what looked like one
of the houses down the road. Gazing closer, she could see the
flames as they ate up the roof and started to spread. Total panic
had hit everyone in the area, and they had all gathered in the
streets while the guards tried to put out the blaze.
    Engrossed in the pandemonium, Taisiya jumped
and screamed when Ammon snuck up and whispered in her ear, “What’s
going on?”
    After Taisiya calmed back down, Ammon asked,
“Did I scare you?”
    “A little,” she laughed. “Someone’s house has
been set on fire. It was one of the queen’s spies that did it –
Zara.”
    Ammon was listening intently as she
continued, “He did it for me, though. Zara’s not a big fan of the
queen…and she tried to kill him today, as I’m sure you saw.”
    “No,” Ammon shook his head, “I like to live
my life in my library. I didn’t go to the meeting today, even
though the queen’s evil men did come around and tell me attendance
was mandatory. I doubted they would count everyone; I was right. Go
on.”
    “Oh, I see,” Taisiya nodded. “Well, the queen
was trying to kill me and my parents after she caught me sneaking
into the castle after them. We escaped, and when she realized we
had, she revealed in front of the whole town that she knew Zara was
helping us, and tried to kill him.”
    Ammon gasped, “That’s awful.”
    “She would’ve killed him too,” Taisiya went
on, “but I sent an arrow at her and it gave Zara enough time to get
away. We’ve been looking for a safe place, and I figured there was
no place safer than your underground sanctuary. He set the fire to
distract the guards that were patrolling the streets here looking
for us.”
    “Well?” Ammon asked.
    “What?” Taisiya replied.
    “Well, where is he?!” Ammon said, getting up
on his tiptoes to look out through the cracked door over Taisiya’s
head.
    The two waited silently in vain for a few
minutes for Zara to make a grand entrance. The fire was being put
out, and the smoke was starting to dissipate; the guards soon went
back to their normal posts. Ammon shut the door before someone
spotted Taisiya.
    “Don’t worry,” he said soothingly, “I’m sure
he’ll make his way here soon enough.”
    Taisiya nodded and followed Ammon down the
steps to his library, but she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of
her stomach. Not long ago, she viewed Zara as nothing more than
another one of the queen’s terrible servants, but now that she had
gotten the chance to see his true colors, she began to worry about
his safety.
    Ammon could sense Taisiya’s restlessness and
decided to not push her any further about what had happened.
Instead, he showed her an extremely comfortable plush couch for her
to rest on while he went and prepared something for them to eat. As
concerned as she was, Taisiya was also extremely famished, so she
sat down with ease and eagerly waited for whatever Ammon was
fixing. She was delighted and astounded when he came