Page 9 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

Suddenly, another man appeared behind the rest. His face was hidden by his hood, but a dark beard jutted out of the shadows. The strangers turned to face him, and after a quiet conversation I couldn’t hear, the five dropped what they had in their hands and slinked away, into the gully, with their shoulders hunched and their tails between their legs.

Demius offered the bearded one his hand, then gestured for the man to move around the fire to stand beside him. And together, they watched the flashwaters come.

Confident that Demiuswas safe for the moment, I hurried back to the antechamber to throw on my own clothing. I grabbed my glow stone and hurried to the door to add the wadded purple gown to the satchel before stepping outside.

The shush and roar of the flashwaters filled the canyon, interrupted briefly by men’s screams in the distance. I might have felt worse for them had I not known their days were already numbered.

I paused to allow my eyes to adjust to the starlight and looked down at the fire. Now, Demius and the man who had come to his aid stood across the fire from each other. The flames were still bright, and with his hood lowered, I could now see the stranger’s nose and smile, a portion of his brow, and a flash of his eyes.

There was nothing friendly about that face.

Demius lifted one arm and patted the top of his head as if he were looking for his hat. It was an old signal he hadn’t used since I was a child—a signal intended for me. It was an order to stay put. There was danger. And if I was watching, I was to hide. When his arm dropped back to his side, his shoulders fell, but he held his head high.

And as I stood there, sick with dread, I shook off that earlier training. I wasn’t a child anymore. And Demius needed my help!

Suddenly, a long sword rose high in the air, paused behind the stranger’s shoulder, then swung out over the fire. It reached for Demius and moved on, completing a circle. And I exhaled with relief. My master’s head remained on his shoulders.

He made some grasping gesture and bowed. Even when his head toppled off his neck, fell beside the fire, and rolled out of sight, I kept expecting him to straighten and demand that the stranger put it back.

That stranger retreated in surprise when Demius took a step to the side…before tilting and falling, avoiding the flames before it gave up the fight.

Demius was dead.

Demius was dead?

Demius was dead!

In the span between one breath and the next, my shock turned to rage. The bastard that killed my master had to die…now…by my hand, not at the mercy of some blue dragon!

My thoughts bounced around my brain like a flock of panicked birds while my feet flew down the path, sure, steady and quiet. Screaming would only warn him. The week before, when we’d fled from the party, we’d hurried straight down the slope. But picking through the rocks took time. I could reach the house much faster if I ran flat out. The starlight was all the illumination I needed.

I made the first turn and summoned the energy to run faster to the second. At that turn, I stomped on something large and bruised the pad of my foot badly. But it didn’t slow me. Only made me limp a little.

There were no weapons in the satchel strapped to my back, and I couldn’t tear a man apart with my bare hands, no matter how capable I felt at the moment. So I searched for a large sharp rock, found one at the bottom of the slope, and snatched it up without slowing.

Demius!

The stone gully beneath my feet was hard and smooth and announced my every step. The bastard wasn’t alone, and creatures of various sizes turned to face me, though none of them sought to stop me.

My attention was on the beloved form now laying prone beside the fire and the large man kneeling beside him. With my free hand, I removed the strap of the bag and swung it off and around, to bash the murderer sideways. It didn’t knock him to the ground, but at least I had his attention as I leapt for him and lifted the rock high. I only screamed when I was unable to bring it down on his head.

Someone held my wrist where it was. They squeezed until the rock fell from my failing grasp. Then they released my hand only to knock me off kilter and grab my ankle. Two heartbeats later, I hung upside down, staring above my head at the man I’d intended to kill.

Completely the wrong man. Dark shaggy hair that was loosely tethered. Severe blue-green eyes lit at the edges with the reflection of the yellow fire.

“Go on. Slit his throat,” said my captor from somewhere near the foot he held. “He’ll bleed out quickly and we can be on our way.”

“Can’t do that,” said the other man as he climbed to his feet. Then all I saw were his boots.

“Why not?”

“Becauseheis ashe, and it’s still illegal to kill female younglings.”

I was lifted further from the ground, my robes fell away from my legs and over my face, and as I fought to cover myself, my captor grunted and tossed me aside. Landing on stone knocked the breath from me, and I gasped for air.

The first man went back to squatting beside Demius’ body.

“Don’t touch him,” I hissed.

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