Read Online Journey Of Thieves (Book 5) by C.Greenwood - Free Book Online
Authors: C.Greenwood
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I glimpsed no flurry of movement and nothing out of place. The nervous feeling that I wasn’t alone was growing stronger.
Intentionally dropping my waterskin and turning back to fetch it, I used the opportunity to look surreptitiously behind me. But here too there was nothing to be seen. Only the miles of rocky ground I had already traversed, with the constant rock walls and boulders lining the way.
I thought of the black-cloaked attacker who had nearly killed me only days before. I had not seen him coming until it was nearly too late. If he were following me again, he had an even better opportunity now to destroy me. I was utterly alone, having slipped away from the relative protection of my friends. And these surroundings were an ideal place for a bowman to hunt his prey. There was no place for me to run and few spots that would make suitable cover. Even now, he could be looking down from an outcropping or peering around a boulder, waiting for his perfect shot.
Hopelessly exposed in the open, it was all I could do not to make a mad dash for the closest shelter. But if my enemy had me in range at this very moment, the last thing I wanted was to alarm him into immediate action. Instead I forced myself to move slowly and casually to the towering rock wall along my path. I had spotted a big, shady cleft cut out of the wall, and as I climbed a pile of rubble to reach it, I unshouldered my traveling pack as if I planned to rest when I reached the top.
In the shadow of the cleft, I was sheltered from attack from most directions. No enemy could reach me here unless he dropped all subtlety and came at me directly. I had bought myself a few minutes to think, to form a plan. What I needed was to turn the tables on him, to know his exact position while leaving him guessing at mine. But how to accomplish that?
An unexpected tingling sensation brushed the edges of my consciousness. This wasn’t the natural instinct that had first alerted me to danger. It was something different, that little tickle along my senses that said my magic had picked up the presence of another person. Startled, I reached into the loose neck of my tunic and drew out the glossy dragon scale from Myria. The augmenter dangled at the end of its chain. I was still learning to use the thing, still unused to drawing magic through this new source to bring my powers back to life. Did I dare trust it now?
I had no choice. It was telling me something, warning that my enemy was approaching from the same direction I had come. At least I now knew he wasn’t ahead of me or stationed in the heights above.
I saw my opportunity. There was a tall pile of rocks against the crevice where I lurked. I scrambled to the back of the heap and began carefully scaling the rocks. Despite my caution, I sent streams of pebbles raining in all directions. I could only hope my pursuer did not see or hear the disturbances. From the top of the heap, I could look down on the cleft in the rock, where I’d hid only minutes ago. There was nothing to see yet, but I felt the approach of that other presence. His slowness signaled caution, hinting he was unsure what he would find ahead. Good.
I waited, pressed flat against the hot rocks, tension making the sweat stream from my pores. My mouth was as rough and dry as the desert sand, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears. Then I saw him. The black-cloaked figure approached my former hiding place, creeping toward the rocky crevice with the wariness of a hunter stalking his prey. If he knew I was no longer resting within the shadows, he gave no sign of it. I could make out little of him from this higher vantage point, could discern only that he was tall and young. His hood was thrown back against the heat, affording me a view of the top of his head and his close-cropped, brown hair.
But what commanded my attention above all else wasn’t the young man but the weapon he carried. A longbow. I stared, transfixed. It couldn’t be. Surely my eyes were
Intentionally dropping my waterskin and turning back to fetch it, I used the opportunity to look surreptitiously behind me. But here too there was nothing to be seen. Only the miles of rocky ground I had already traversed, with the constant rock walls and boulders lining the way.
I thought of the black-cloaked attacker who had nearly killed me only days before. I had not seen him coming until it was nearly too late. If he were following me again, he had an even better opportunity now to destroy me. I was utterly alone, having slipped away from the relative protection of my friends. And these surroundings were an ideal place for a bowman to hunt his prey. There was no place for me to run and few spots that would make suitable cover. Even now, he could be looking down from an outcropping or peering around a boulder, waiting for his perfect shot.
Hopelessly exposed in the open, it was all I could do not to make a mad dash for the closest shelter. But if my enemy had me in range at this very moment, the last thing I wanted was to alarm him into immediate action. Instead I forced myself to move slowly and casually to the towering rock wall along my path. I had spotted a big, shady cleft cut out of the wall, and as I climbed a pile of rubble to reach it, I unshouldered my traveling pack as if I planned to rest when I reached the top.
In the shadow of the cleft, I was sheltered from attack from most directions. No enemy could reach me here unless he dropped all subtlety and came at me directly. I had bought myself a few minutes to think, to form a plan. What I needed was to turn the tables on him, to know his exact position while leaving him guessing at mine. But how to accomplish that?
An unexpected tingling sensation brushed the edges of my consciousness. This wasn’t the natural instinct that had first alerted me to danger. It was something different, that little tickle along my senses that said my magic had picked up the presence of another person. Startled, I reached into the loose neck of my tunic and drew out the glossy dragon scale from Myria. The augmenter dangled at the end of its chain. I was still learning to use the thing, still unused to drawing magic through this new source to bring my powers back to life. Did I dare trust it now?
I had no choice. It was telling me something, warning that my enemy was approaching from the same direction I had come. At least I now knew he wasn’t ahead of me or stationed in the heights above.
I saw my opportunity. There was a tall pile of rocks against the crevice where I lurked. I scrambled to the back of the heap and began carefully scaling the rocks. Despite my caution, I sent streams of pebbles raining in all directions. I could only hope my pursuer did not see or hear the disturbances. From the top of the heap, I could look down on the cleft in the rock, where I’d hid only minutes ago. There was nothing to see yet, but I felt the approach of that other presence. His slowness signaled caution, hinting he was unsure what he would find ahead. Good.
I waited, pressed flat against the hot rocks, tension making the sweat stream from my pores. My mouth was as rough and dry as the desert sand, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears. Then I saw him. The black-cloaked figure approached my former hiding place, creeping toward the rocky crevice with the wariness of a hunter stalking his prey. If he knew I was no longer resting within the shadows, he gave no sign of it. I could make out little of him from this higher vantage point, could discern only that he was tall and young. His hood was thrown back against the heat, affording me a view of the top of his head and his close-cropped, brown hair.
But what commanded my attention above all else wasn’t the young man but the weapon he carried. A longbow. I stared, transfixed. It couldn’t be. Surely my eyes were
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