Read Online The Way of the Power by Stuart Jaffe - Free Book Online

Whichever one was the leader had yet to signal the attack because it couldn’t tell for sure if they had found the right target. Which meant that in a few seconds, they would know they had been duped.
    Stray must have come to the same conclusion because Malja saw him rise from behind a gravestone on the opposite side of the circle and shout. As all the assassins faced him, Malja launched her surprise assault. Coming up from behind, she swung Viper and decapitated two creatures as her first move.
    A third snapped its head towards her, startled by the sudden shift in the situation, but had no time to do more. Malja moved with her momentum — spinning in a tight circle and flipping Viper as she dropped the blade low. When she came around, she thrust Viper upward. Its point caught the confused creature between the legs. She continued cutting upwards until Viper broke free and the creature crumbled in a pile of gore.
    One creature had a white streak painted down is flat forehead. Malja guessed it was the leader. White Streak confirmed this by shouting three sharp notes. The other creatures broke off into two clear squads. Four went after Stray, and three took on Malja.
    The first creature tried to bully its way towards her. She had no trouble dodging its clumsy attack. As it tumbled by her, she brought Viper straight down, skewering the creature into the ground.
    The second acted with caution. It crouched in an attack stance and circled to its left. Rather than follow the circling motion, Malja countered to her right. This forced them to sidestep instead of circle which was awkward for many fighters. More importantly, it prevented Malja from circling herself into a terrible position, stuck between her opponent and White Streak.
    From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Stray in a frenzy of motion. His two blades rang out as they made contact with the creature’s hard carapace. Two shadowed figures dropped.
    She had made a mistake — one she had done before in her life — she had lost focus. When she turned her attention back to the creature, it had already leaped into the air. It twisted its body so that its blade-like tail pointed at her as it dropped from above.
    Malja dodged to the left, but she had reacted too slowly. The creature’s tail cut across her arm as she fell aside. It landed next to her and before she could get to her feet, it kicked her in the ribs, knocking her onto her back.
    She reached out for Viper, but her weapon had fallen short of her hands. Looking up, she saw that her opponent knew what it was doing. It didn’t waste time gloating. Rather, it pulled back its arm and spread its fingers, revealing long, nasty claws. And it struck.
    It tried to.
    As its arm thrust forward, two screaming objects slammed into its side — Hirasa and Fawbry. They tackled the creature and pummeled it with rocks in their hands.
    “Thanks,” Malja said, snatching up Viper and popping to her feet.
    “Still one more,” Fawbry said.
    Malja saw that Stray stood tall, breathing hard, while four corpses surrounded him. His scimitars dripped blood on the ground. With one blade, he pointed deeper into the cemetery. “The leader.”
    White Streak. Always the leaders are the ones running off at the end.
    Malja bolted into the darkness. The torches around the monument bled enough flickering light that she caught White Streak’s movements. He was close enough. She could catch him.
    Responding to her body’s needs, her do-kha warmed her legs — keeping them loose and strong as she ran. The gravestones had been laid out in a haphazard manner — so it seemed — and this slowed both the creature and Malja. They constantly shifted direction. Darting around one grave only to be forced the opposite way for another.
    The assassin hurdled over a low gravestone, and Malja grinned. It couldn’t possibly see what awaited on the other side. As sure as she thought this, White Streak stumbled on the ground and rolled forward. It got