Read Online The Return of Nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reichert - Free Book Online Page B

teeth. Even from a distance, he recognized several of Edward’s bodyguards among the corpses: strong men, fierce fighters. A frantic, icy agony stole over him, and he channeled his terror into anger. He could not afford to act like a desperate mother seeking a missing toddler, and he did not dare entertain the possibility that Edward was dead.
    “We . . . don’t know,” the guard admitted.
    Nightfall wanted to throttle the man. At the least, it might startle someone into telling him something useful. Instead, he disguised building rage behind a tone of flat composure. “What do you know?”
    The guard released Nightfall’s arm, rubbing his hands together self-consciously while his willowy partner addressed the question. “It all happened fast. Over before we got here.” He gestured toward the people behind the bar. “These folks were hiding under tables, behind the counter, tangled in chairs.”
    Nightfall flicked his attention to the witnesses, all of whom avoided his gaze. He recognized them, including the proprietor, his staff, a musician, and a handful of locals. “What do they say happened?”
    The taller guard shrugged. “You’re welcome to ask them. See if you can get better answers than we did.” Frustration tinged his voice, and he visually swept the room through narrowed eyes.
    Another pair of guards appeared from one of the two large back rooms that served as sleeping quarters. One spoke in a gruff voice as he entered the common room. “Nothing seems disturbed back there. There’s a large chest still locked and undamaged in the secondary room. It—” He broke off at the sight of Nightfall, head bobbing as he studied the livery. “Who’s this?”
    The shorter guard answered for Nightfall. “King’s adviser. He was out when all this happened.”
    “Was he, now?” The speaker examined Nightfall more closely, taking in the torn and bloody britches, and a hint of suspicion was evident in his tone. A large, well muscled man, he had a neck like a bull, topped by a jowly, red face. His partner looked as wiry as any thief, his movements quick, jumpy, and nearly constant. “What a lucky coincidence.”
    Not liking the turn of the conversation, Nightfall ignored the guards to concentrate on the witnesses. The Schizians might just as well hurl themselves against the red stone walls as investigate him; it would do nothing to help King Edward. He held out his hands in a friendly gesture, trying to look like one of the masses. “So, what did happen?”
    The patrons and staff turned their gazes to the grimy floor, to the ceiling, to the supply room, anywhere except toward Nightfall. Some muttered their ignorance. Others shrugged or simply stood in miserable silence.
    A fire seemed to light in Nightfall’s chest. As the demon, a vicious snarl into any of their faces would open the floodgates of memory. As Sudian, the dutiful adviser, he could only coax and hope. He turned his attention to Gil, the proprietor, using an appealing tone intended to imply a bond had developed in the short time they had known one another. “What happened, donner ?” He used a jovial term just shy of “friend.”
    Gil shook his head, sparse hair sweat-plastered to his freckled scalp. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t see anything.”
    Nightfall fell silent, not allowing himself to surrender to desperate concern. He considered his options. He knew of few men capable of terrifying so many people into silence, and nearly all of those lived in the city of Trillium on Hartrinian, Shisenian, and Ivralian joint land. The huge crossroad city lay outside the jurisdiction of any of the four kingdoms, thus fostering lax laws and harboring the worst criminals. He found several solutions, many ways to open the mouths of men who chose silence; but none of them worked in his current identity. Frustration buzzed through his head, a bigger nuisance than the fatigue that came from missing a night’s sleep. He had to remind himself that King