Page 122 of The King's Man
Minutes later we crept higher in the building until we found a door to the rooftop, and moments after that we dropped back to street level in the shadow of the building, with me working hard to obscure our passage—partly from pure weariness, partly because despite the deep shadow, the sunlight was high and bright.
Thankfully, the messenger Jann wanted to use was only blocks from the inn. A surprisingly young andthinNephilim who looked nothing like any of the others I’d seen. He was barely taller than the largest Shadekin, with a lithe build like the men of my people. At least, lithe by comparison to the Neph.
He ushered us into a tiny shop, then immediately into an even smaller room off the main shop floor—a chill room with no light source beyond the light seeping around the edges of a curtained door. There were boxes stacked to the ceiling, cages,furniture shrouded in sheets, and suspicious scurrying sounds. But both men ignored them, so I did as well.
“Should I use parchment?” the man murmured to Jann, who shook his head immediately.
“You should pack a bag,” Jann replied darkly.
The man went still, his brows popping up. “This is a personal assignment.”
Jann nodded quickly. “I can’t trust it to anyone else. Things are…not as we expected.”
The man’s lips thinned. “Twin Kings,” he said uneasily.
“You knew?”
“I suspected. Your presence and assignment would seem to confirm that.”
“I confirm nothing—I’m still looking for answers myself. But first I will ask you to send someone you trust back to the Spire City to speak with Melek when he arrives—speak, you understand? No written messages that could be stolen.”
“What should they say?”
“They should relay what has happened here—anything you know of Gall’s presence, who followed him, and what was communicated to our brothers and thecitizens.Information only. Along with an urging from me to take the claims seriously.”
The man’s face was serious, he nodded quickly. “And my assignment?”
“You never saw us,” Jann said firmly. The man nodded. “You don’t leave until after darktomorrow.No one associates your disappearance with my presence here. You meet with at least two other powerful parties before you leave the city. Let the gossips hear of the meetings, or see it. Are we clear?”
“Of course.”
Jann inhaled deeply. “This is the duty that we always discussed. I need you to use every ounce of speed and strengthavailable to you, to precede me and our friend, therealKing, to Ebonreach.”
The man’s face grew somber as Jann outlined that he was to speak to no one, offer nothing, but to get his ass to Valgorath as fast as his wings could carry him—which apparently, was a good deal faster than we could make it. The messenger would notify a contact of Jann’s there and send that man back to meet us with news of what was happening in Valgorath itself.
It wasn’t until after they’d made their terms and Jann dragged me out into the street again that I asked questions.
‘If he’s only going to beat us by days, why not send someone when we’re closer? Why does it have to be him? Wouldn’t a fresher man from a city closer to Ebonreach get there as fast or faster? And have less chance of being hurt or stopped in the journey?’
Jann grunted, flattening us against a wall behind some large crates at the side of an alleyway, his wings crossed before us to obscure us from a woman walking down the street in the bright daylight with a basket over her arm.
When she’d gone, Jann peered into the street, then drew me out again, hurrying down the street and straight towards the city walls.
‘There are very few people I trust implicitly, Dee. Very few men I can be certain are loyal to me above any other. He is one of them.’
I frowned, but followed in his wake, letting him swing me up to his chest when he decided to carry meovera building when the street dead-ended, rather than finding a way around. Neither of us spoke beyond instructions or warnings for the rest of the desperate run through the city. I wasn’t sure why Jann was so determined to avoid being seen when he’d been so open about arriving, but I knew when I was on an urgent mission, it wasn’t the time to explain myself. I was grateful when we finallytopped the walls around the city and Jann took me in his arms and launched, flying straight to the forest a mile away, where we’d first landed and prepared to enter Noctharrow.
Only when we were under the shadows of the tall trees, and he’d had a moment to make certain we were truly alone did Jann finally drop our bags to the dirt and exhale.
“You should change. We’ll rest until dark, but then we're on the move again,” he said grimly.
I frowned. “Jann, we need to rest.Youneed to rest. You’ve been flying. This was supposed to be where we stopped—”
“And instead I will be flying more. Events have overtaken us. There’s no longer room for anything less than an urgent pursuit of Gall—to see if we can intervene, and to inform Melek if we cannot.”
“But—”
“My friend in the city will find us before we have to cross the mountains. He’ll tell us in what direction the political winds are blowing before we enter. I must have that conversation as soon as possible.”
