Read Online Curse: The Dark God Book 2 by John D. Brown - Free Book Online

hurt.
    But the Mungonite saw it at the last moment, twisted, and snatched the arrow.
    The second solider loosed his shaft. It flashed up toward the man.
    The Mungonite batted it away.
    “Ho,” said Shim in appreciation.
    A big man with long blond moustaches and plaid pants pushed himself off the wall of the inn where he’d been lounging. “Zu,” the man said, using the honorific. “You’ll not catch him that way.”
    “Oh?” Shim asked.
    The man wore a sword, gloves, and tall brown riding boots. He walked toward Shim and Argoth.
    One of Shim’s bodyguards moved to block his way.
    Argoth looked at the man’s wrists. His hands were covered with tattoos. Those who wore their tattoos from the wrists up were said to wear their honors on their arms. This man wore his honors on his hands, as was the custom of many of the coastal clans in Mokad.
    “No,” the big blond said. “Blunts won’t do it. I know. I sailed with the blighter, and he was murder to fetch out of the rigging.”
    His accent marked him as a mainlander.
    “And who might you be?” asked Shim.
    “Flax from Lem,” he said.
    “Lem,” said Shim thinking. “That’s old country.”
    “Yes,” he said. “My cousin Silver wrote me about the wonders of this place. I’ve come to join him. Maybe see if one of the clans will let me open up new land.”
    Argoth perked up his ears. That statement was part of the code he’d written in his call to the Groves. In order to make more land arable, the clans would sometimes make an offer to any who would do the work. If they cleared the land, they could get the tenure on it as well as the first year’s rent. And so making such a claim wouldn’t seem unusual. The part that marked him as someone from a Grove or order was the cousin named Silver.
    Shim knew the code as well. He said, “There are a lot of Silvers here. Which one were you referring to?”
    “A hayward with the Vargon clan,” he said. His left hand hung nonchalantly down by his side, but it was held with the index and small finger pointing straight out, the other fingers and thumb in. It was the first sign and identified a man as a user of the forbidden lore. Of course, knowing the sign didn’t mean he was a fellow loreman. The Divines had their spies and infiltrators as well. This Flax could very easily be one of them. Only when he’d passed the other tests would they know.
    Then the blond made the sign that identified him as part of the Hand of Mayhan. The men of the Hand were killers. Sleth of the darkest stripe that hunted down dreadmen and priests. In their long years as an order, they had even killed a handful of lesser Divines.
    Argoth had sent no message to any in the Hand. All those in the Hand that he’d known personally had died or disappeared long ago. But that didn’t mean his message might not have been passed on.
    Argoth eyed him warily. “I don’t know you, Zu,” he said.
    “No, but there’s one of yours who can vouch for me, even though he might not like to do so.”
    Argoth was going to ask who, but one of the soldiers shouted out, “Got him!”
    Up on the roof the naked Mungonite glared, then turned back to the bird. The second soldier loosed his shaft. It too struck the man in the back and glanced off.
    The man flinched, but crabbed a bit closer to the bird.
    “That’s going to make a smart bruise,” Shim said.
    The soldiers nocked more arrows. The Mungonite crabbed a bit closer to the bird, which eyed the fish. Then the Mungonite sprang forward and caught the bird in a great flapping of wings and loud squawks.
    The solders raised their bows.
    The Mungonite looked down at them, gritted his teeth, then ran down the far side of the roof.
    The bowmen moved to get a clear shot, but the Mungonite jumped to the next roof, scrambled up to the top, ran to the back, and leapt to the roof of a barn.
    The hammerman yelled to his soldiers to give chase.
    The Mungonite ran to the end of the barn roof, jumped, flying out over a