Read Online Skybuilders (Sorcery and Science Book 4) by Ella Summers - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ella Summers
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finger on the desk. “We’ll start at the beginning. The assassins rushed into the lab from the hall, catching Marin and the Selpe brothers by surprise. While Marin mixed up a smoke bomb inside a bowl, Hayden and Ian threw objects at the six assassins to buy her some time to finish. Marin set the bowl on the table, ignited it, and they used the smoke cover to retreat into the next room back.”
“How did you figure that out?” she asked.
His grin widened. “Ah, simple deduction. The room has been for the most part sanitized and repaired, but there are nearly always some signs left behind.”
He tapped the table again, this time nodding toward it. Ariella saw a noticeable chip in the otherwise smooth corner.
“Something hit this desk. Something heavy. I’m guessing a chair, as that was likely the heaviest liftable object the boys would have had at their disposal to throw at their incoming attackers. Which means we can also deduce that Marin and the boys were taken by surprise. Had they been prepared for an attack, they’d have foregone throwing of accessible objects in favor of just setting off the smoke before the assassins even entered the lab. That would have masked their retreat far better. As it was, Marin is thankfully a quick thinker, and they managed to make it into the next room while the assassins fumbled around in the smoke.”
“What makes you believe there was smoke? Or do you simply think that’s the only way to get out of a room? There are others,” Silas said.
Glass clinked against the table as Leonidas dropped a shard onto it. It was a large shard that did in fact resemble a piece from a bowl, and the glass was tinted purple.
“That is hardly proof,” commented Silas. “But your explanation is the most reasonable given what little evidence we do have. Continue.”
Ariella bit back a smile. Considering Silas’s distaste for Leonidas, that was high praise.
Leonidas led them through the doorway into the second room. He swung the door partially closed, just enough to see its back side.
“Once here, Marin and the boys locked the door,” he said. “And piled desks and chairs against it.”
His finger traced shallow nicks in the door, then he squatted down to do the same to the floor. Tracks of superficial scratches in the wood indicated that heavy objects had been dragged across the floor. He led them back through the door.
“Considering that the door opens the wrong way for barring it — opening in the direction of the first room, not the second — it appears they had a different idea in mind.”
Leonidas shut the door, then pointed to the hinges. Ariella craned her neck to follow his gaze onto the bottom pin of the upper hinge. A tiny indent and several scratches marred the otherwise shiny part.
“The Crescent Order assassins, clever fiends that they are, removed the door from its hinges. This is a fairly simplistic door, meaning they had only to push the pins of the lower and upper hinges out.They might have used a key or other sturdy object to do it. An Elition maybe could have done it by hand.”
At that, he looked at Silas, who nodded smugly. Ariella had a hard time imagining such subtlety from a man who ran around with fifty knives strapped to his body. On the other hand, she could very clearly picture him tearing the door off its hinges and throwing it overhead through the window, all the while bellowing out a blood-curdling war cry. She swallowed a giggle, which erupted as a snort. Silas shot her a hard, knowing look. Ariella responded by batting her eyelashes innocently at him, wondering just how much of that amusing image he’d caught from her head.
“Once they had the pins out, I think they were in for a real surprise,” Leonidas said.
He tapped the toe of his boot against a long slender depression in the floor panel. Its shape matched that of the door handle’s edge perfectly. The door had hit the floor like a pancake. Ariella smirked. Marin knew they would
“How did you figure that out?” she asked.
His grin widened. “Ah, simple deduction. The room has been for the most part sanitized and repaired, but there are nearly always some signs left behind.”
He tapped the table again, this time nodding toward it. Ariella saw a noticeable chip in the otherwise smooth corner.
“Something hit this desk. Something heavy. I’m guessing a chair, as that was likely the heaviest liftable object the boys would have had at their disposal to throw at their incoming attackers. Which means we can also deduce that Marin and the boys were taken by surprise. Had they been prepared for an attack, they’d have foregone throwing of accessible objects in favor of just setting off the smoke before the assassins even entered the lab. That would have masked their retreat far better. As it was, Marin is thankfully a quick thinker, and they managed to make it into the next room while the assassins fumbled around in the smoke.”
“What makes you believe there was smoke? Or do you simply think that’s the only way to get out of a room? There are others,” Silas said.
Glass clinked against the table as Leonidas dropped a shard onto it. It was a large shard that did in fact resemble a piece from a bowl, and the glass was tinted purple.
“That is hardly proof,” commented Silas. “But your explanation is the most reasonable given what little evidence we do have. Continue.”
Ariella bit back a smile. Considering Silas’s distaste for Leonidas, that was high praise.
Leonidas led them through the doorway into the second room. He swung the door partially closed, just enough to see its back side.
“Once here, Marin and the boys locked the door,” he said. “And piled desks and chairs against it.”
His finger traced shallow nicks in the door, then he squatted down to do the same to the floor. Tracks of superficial scratches in the wood indicated that heavy objects had been dragged across the floor. He led them back through the door.
“Considering that the door opens the wrong way for barring it — opening in the direction of the first room, not the second — it appears they had a different idea in mind.”
Leonidas shut the door, then pointed to the hinges. Ariella craned her neck to follow his gaze onto the bottom pin of the upper hinge. A tiny indent and several scratches marred the otherwise shiny part.
“The Crescent Order assassins, clever fiends that they are, removed the door from its hinges. This is a fairly simplistic door, meaning they had only to push the pins of the lower and upper hinges out.They might have used a key or other sturdy object to do it. An Elition maybe could have done it by hand.”
At that, he looked at Silas, who nodded smugly. Ariella had a hard time imagining such subtlety from a man who ran around with fifty knives strapped to his body. On the other hand, she could very clearly picture him tearing the door off its hinges and throwing it overhead through the window, all the while bellowing out a blood-curdling war cry. She swallowed a giggle, which erupted as a snort. Silas shot her a hard, knowing look. Ariella responded by batting her eyelashes innocently at him, wondering just how much of that amusing image he’d caught from her head.
“Once they had the pins out, I think they were in for a real surprise,” Leonidas said.
He tapped the toe of his boot against a long slender depression in the floor panel. Its shape matched that of the door handle’s edge perfectly. The door had hit the floor like a pancake. Ariella smirked. Marin knew they would
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