Page 112 of The Silent
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Leo crouched in the forest,his dark clothes blending with the deep shadows surrounding him. He listened for the telltale footsteps of the night guard who had already passed by four times now. He was waiting for Rith’ssignal.
Arindam’s compound in the hills was comprised of a dozen smaller buildings surrounding a temple with a familiar winged idol at the door. The Fallen lived inside the temple. His men lived and worked in the smaller buildings around it. During the day, much of the activity seemed to revolve around the angel. Women were brought to him. Food was prepared and offered. His sons came and went. Leo and the others had seen them stalking in the city below, but they had done nothing to confront them. They wanted the element of surprise. It was their best weapon against an angel and a superiorforce.
At night, a dozen guards patrolled the grounds, but none of them seemed particularly alarmed or watchful. Irin presence had not beendetected.
A low birdcall sounded in thestillair.
Leo nodded and Kyra tucked herself behind him, drawing her knives. The next time the guard passed by, Leo leapt on him, muffling any cry with his hand and stabbing a quick silver dagger into the spine of the Grigori. There would be no survivors here. There were no innocents among these men. They would spare the children and young men if they could, but the grown Grigori could not be allowedtolive.
“On the right,” Kyra whispered. “Coming downthepath.”
Leo ducked back. The first Grigori was alreadydissolving.
Kyra whispered, “Leo, there’sanother—”
“Iknow.”
Within moments, the second guard passed by the steps of his friend. Just as he was bending down to examine the dust, Leo leapt again. This time the guard let out one sharp cry before Leo tookhislife.
“Damn.” He dropped the body and let itdissolve.
“How did you know?” Kyrahissed.
“What?”
“About the second man.” She closed her eyes. “The guards are all gone. I don’t hear any minds but our people along theperimeter.”
“Good.” He wiped off his knife. “I heard you the first time. About thesecondman.”
She frowned. “I onlyspokeonce.”
“No, I’m sure I heard you twice.” He took her hand and jogged down the path. “Unless I’m reading yourmindnow.”
“I wasn’t trying to push my thoughts to you,” Kyra said. “I’ve never done that on purpose. Only when I’msearching.”
Something about the accidental intrusion pleased him. “Perhaps it’s because we’rereshon,” he said. Then he thought,Perhaps you’ll be able tohearthis.
Her eyes lit, and Leogrinned.
“This is going to be fun,” he said. “And today it will beuseful.”
Can youhearthis?
“Yes!” he whispered. “More later. For now we needtomove.”
They walked quickly down the path, aiming for the reinforced grey building where Sura reported that he’d seen Prija being held. In Kyra’s backpack was the weaving Intira had done. Their job, according to Rith, was to find Prija, kill her guards, then evacuate the women and children from the compound. Kyra had the most experience with Grigori children, and the others were hopeful the women and children would follow her with Leo translating. If nothing else, she knew the spells that would knock them unconscious. She’d used them before and was more than willing to use themagain.
Leo heard a few sounds of struggle in the distance and knew the others were makingprogress.
“They’ve taken out… maybe fifteen so far,” Kyra said. “No, sixteen.” She sucked in a breath and gripped his hand. After a long pause, she said, “They must have found the sleepingquarters.”
Leo held her hand carefully and tried to imagine what it would be like to hear lives being snuffed out. He’d seen them. He’d killed them. But to hear multiple lives ended, multiple souls released to heaven at once… That, he couldn’t imagine. They were evil lives—the Grigori here showed no signs of tempering their soul hunger—but they werelives.
“The children,” he said quietly. “Thewomen.”
Kyra nodded and begantojog.
