Read Online The Healing Wars: Book III: Darkfall by Janice Hardy - Free Book Online Page A

the farmers’ sons. He glanced up, then looked again and jumped to his feet.
    “Afternoon, sir.”
    The soldier holding Danello’s arm frowned. “Prisoners.”
    “Yes, sir.” The guard hurried over to a rack by the door and pulled a key ring off a peg. A reward poster hung on the wall next to it. My reward poster, the same one Vyand had nailed up in Geveg to flush me out. It wasn’t the best drawing, but it was accurate enough. Heart pounding, I angled my face away and let my much shorter and blacker hair fall across my cheek.
    What if they recognized me? What if they’d been told to look for me?
    The soldier glanced around the room, his lip curling in distaste. “Where’s the other guard? Betaal told you to maintain two at all times.”
    “And I keep telling her we only have two.” He unlocked the cell and stood to one side. “She wants to send some of you soldiers over to help us out, I’ll be happy to take a day off.”
    The soldier grunted and pushed Danello forward. He stumbled into the cell, a typical ten-foot-square box with two cots. The soldier on my arm let me go, and I walked inside. If they saw that poster and looked at me closely…
    “What did they do?” the guard asked, his gaze on my bloodstained shirt.
    “Theft.”
    A puzzled frown. “What’d they steal?”
    “Healing.”
    “You arrested them for—”
    The soldier stepped close to the guard. “That’s the same as stealing pynvium.”
    The guard gulped. “Yes, it is.”
    “Stay with him,” the soldier told the other.
    “Yes, sir.”
    I sat on one of the cots, my back to the soldier and guard. Danello sat next to me. The guards had no reason to look at that reward poster. It was at least four months old. As long as I didn’t do anything foolish, we could bide our time and wait for a rescue.
    By now Lanelle had told Aylin and Quenji what had happened. The cell lock would be easy for Quenji to pick, but getting him inside and the guards outside wouldn’t be. All three were probably studying the jail right now, looking for weaknesses, ways to get inside, tricks to play on the guards. Well, maybe two. Lanelle was probably trying to get them both to run.
    I took Danello’s hand. This time it was up to Aylin to come up with the plan.
    Unless Lanelle didn’t tell her.
    I jerked, every muscle tense. What if Lanelle had run? What if she hadn’t even tried to find Aylin or Quenji? They might not even know we’d been arrested.
    My guts twisted. Were our lives really in Lanelle’s hands?
    Saea have mercy on us all.
    Rumbling of dozens of wheels broke the silence. The light had left the windows hours ago, and an orange sunset lit the trees I could see. The soldier rose and looked outside.
    “What’s going on?” asked the guard.
    “Horses. Go see what’s going on.”
    “Me?”
    “Or stay here and deal with whoever attacks if that happens to be a distraction.”
    The guard rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right back.” He slipped outside.
    The soldier stood by the door, hand on his sword. Mere feet from the reward poster.
    “Doesn’t sound like the Duke’s men,” whispered Danello. Didn’t to me, either.
    “Refugees?”
    “On horseback?”
    Voices rose and fell, not arguing, but more than simple conversation. Maybe the guard was telling them they had to leave.
    The door opened a few minutes later and the guard returned. He looked nervous.
    “Well?” the soldier asked. His hand still hadn’t left his sword.
    “Undying,” he said, voice quivering. My heart stopped for a beat.
    The soldier glared at him, his blue eyes narrowed. “You mean the Wardens ?”
    So the Undying had an official name. I was surprised I’d never heard it before.
    The guard nodded. “Wardens, yes, that’s what I meant. Six of them, plus a dozen soldiers.”
    Saints, no. If Lanelle hadn’t run, she sure as spit would now.
    “What did they want?”
    “They didn’t tell me, they just demanded to see my commander. I sent them to the traveler’s