Read Online Rend the Dark by Mark Gelineau, Joe King - Free Book Online Page A

in closer and whispered in his ear. “The
appointment for Justicar of the Second District is coming. I want to know who’s
going to get the nod for that post and what leverage the appointers have on
them.”
    Dax spun away. “You’re out of your damned mind.”
    “Oh, unclench. You know I will be discreet, Dax. I always
am.”
    “It hasn’t been fully decided yet,” Dax said through tight
lips.
    Alys waggled a finger in front of him. “Stop trying to
avoid it. This is no small endeavor you are asking me to join you on. And
knowing who’s getting tapped should just about cover it. The Second District
Justicar is the law in Lowside.” She paused and smiled at him. “Well, the
king’s law, anyway.”
    He did not smile back. If anything, his frown seemed to
intensify. “It’s not you that I don’t trust, Alys. It’s who you’ll sell the
information to.”
    “Believe me, Dax. They know the rules too,” she said. “This
is their world. One that they carved out for themselves and built with sweat
and blood. They’re not going to shit on all that.”
    Alys met his gaze with her own dark eyes. She saw him break
first, unable to keep from looking at the corpse. Inside, she smiled.
    “Fine. I will find out what you want, but I will want results
first.”
    “Of course,” she said.
    She pressed her hand against her heart and then held it out
to him. He did the same and they clasped forearms, sealing the deal.
    “The Ashdowns will want someone to answer for this,” Dax
said. “They will look to the top and think that Blacktide Harry himself is
involved,” he said.
    “No chance it’s Harry,” she said.
    “He’s still boss in Prionside District, right? The
Stevedore Rats still answer to him?”
    “Why Magistrate Inspector! It seems you have been keeping
an ear to the ground in regards to the goings on of the shade folk.”
    “It’s his domain,” he said. “And he’s got the reputation
for violence.”
    “Oh Harry’s as black-hearted a bastard as you’ll ever meet,
but he has no temper. Everything he does is cold. But even more, this,” she
said, pointing to the body of the young woman, “is bad for business. It’s
public. It shines a light on Prionside. The Blacktide would never do anything
to disrupt business on the docks. Never.”
    “Well, then if he is so innocent, he shouldn’t mind the
inconvenience of a few questions, should he?” He fixed her with a look that
slowly evolved into a smile. “You can arrange a meeting, can’t you?”
    “You’re wasting time,” Alys said, reaching back and
adjusting the large scythe in its harness, and checking the daggers at her
belt. “But I suppose, if you are set on it, it wouldn’t hurt to pay him a visit
anyway. If you really want to follow this, we’ll need the Blacktide’s blessing
if we’re going to be poking around Prionside.”
    With that, she offered him her arm. “Come along, Magistrate
Inspector. It’s late at night, and the streets can be so very dangerous,” she
said, batting her eyes at him. “An escort is ever so important.”
    Dax frowned again, but behind his eyes, Alys caught just
the barest hint of amusement. “Then I suppose it is good that I have one,” he
said.



Roan
    The smell of the fire still clung to the boy.
    It clung to all of his friends as well, filling the space
of the small wagon they slept in. In spite of the open top, in spite of the
cold breeze that blew throughout the day, even in spite of the two weeks that
had passed since the night the orphanage burned down, the children still
carried the smell with them. The scent of soot and ashes, of fear and death.
    The loss of the orphanage weighed on him more than he
thought it would. It had not been much, but in the two years he had been there,
it had been more of a home than he had ever known. It had been where he first
met the others, and where they welcomed him in as family.
    And now, they had all lost everything.
    Roan slammed his hand against the