Page 25 of The Mountain King
Chapter Nine
It wasclear Amnan intended they return to the castle. Kailigh approved. A lazy man might have simply located a guard or constable and handed the work off.
“I’ll try to find Sere and we can catch up,” Persia said, then darted off before Kai could comment. Kai wouldn’t have bothered, as she was learning to pick her battles with her ‘‘adult’’ children.
“Hope she’s fast,” Amnan murmured. “Run?”
Kai grinned. “Why not?”
Unexpectedly, he returned the grin. “Let’s see your paces, mistress.”
And he burst into a flat-out run.
Kai lagged for a split second before dashing after him, heart pumping and a fierce smile pulling at her lips. Maybe it was the lowering sun and the energy of the people who exclaimed and flung themselves out of the way. Or the freedom of fully stretching her legs in a way she couldn’t do in a forest with plenty of tree roots to trip over—but she felt exhilarated.
By the time they ran the long walkway up to the castle and burst into the courtyard, her blood was pumping, breath harsh but even. Amnan glanced at her, a glint of respect in his eyes.
“You run like a full-blooded Dwyrkin.”
She snorted. “I run like I’ve spent every day since I was a toddler in physical labor—and too poor to afford a horse.”
“That would do it, I suppose.”
But Amnan looked around, a frown on his face. “Where’s the door guard?”
Kai stared at the front door, a double-sided monstrosity made of carved wood and iron, uneasy. She recalled having seen two posted when they left, men in loose-tailored trousers and jackets, the kind she imagined it easy to fight—or shift—in, their hands clasped in front of them.
“Side entrance,” Amnan said sharply.
Kailigh followed, inner tension sealing her mouth and sharpening her ears. There should be men in the narrow strips of garden surrounding the castle. It wasn’t traditionally large, but with three stories and a half a city block in length, it was big enough. Over the days, she’d picked out Dwyrkin with shiny eyes apparently lounging under her window, strolling through the stone paths, a little too alert to simply be taking in the fresh air.
“Two at the door, two on each side,” she murmured. “An entrance leading to the guest wing by the roses.”
Amnan glanced at her and nodded, increasing his pace. “You’re observant. That’s a good quality for a—”
He cut himself off and she wondered briefly what he would say—then she heard the high-pitched scream.
Kailigh’s heart stopped, then she burst into a sprint, Amnan at her side. She knew Cin’s screams. The girl was angry-scared, cornered in a battle cry. The last time Kai had heard that was right before…
“Faster!”
Kailighhitsomething, and her eardrums popped. Amnan swore viciously.
“Sound shield. A fucking sound shield!”
No wonder everything had been quiet. But now the audial debris of a nasty foot battle flooded the air. The hiss of a deadly steam-powered rifle and the pops of gunshot sounded above them. Men shouting and the snarls of at least one shifted dragon. A window shattered above her head. Kailigh covered her head with her hands, jerking backwards as a body flew from the second floor. A human landed with a sickening thud.
She crashed into the side-door entrance and ran up the stairs two at a time, Amnan hard on her heels. The staircase was enclosed, an oddity for a residential home. Kai had the brief, harried thought that this way, the staff could traipse up and down all day and not disturb the members of the household. She nearly laughed from her own mundane musing, recognizing them as a defense mechanism because fear chilled her spine. She didn’t know what she would find. Amnan urged her to go faster and they burst into the hallway and ran to Cin’s bedroom.
The missing door guards and several other staff battled three humans, Cin struggling as a scruffy mercenary dragged her to the balcony, an arm around her waist. She was unarmed and dressed in her nightgown, long hair streaming over her shoulders. Amnan roared, his fury echoing through the room.
“Use your teeth, girl!” Kailigh screamed, incensed when Cin flinched and grimaced. “Fight!”
They would be having atalkabout Cinvarra’s prissy attitude. But the girl shifted, lithe and suddenly no longer doing an impression of a flopping damsel fish in distress, and butted her head backwards right into her attacker’s nose. He yowled, his hand coming up automatically to protect his face, and Cin took advantage to grab the appendage and sink her teeth, drawing blood.
Enemies noted Kai’s shout and she threw herself out of the way of sudden fire. Bits of cloth hit her in the face and she glanced over, mouth gaping, as Amnan charged the shooter, his arms and shoulders massive scaled appendages belonging to a dragon, and not a man.
Pushing to her feet, Kai stayed low and ran straight to Cin, cursing her skirts and vowing not to wear them ever again. A roar split the air, like the distant sound of an airbus, coming closer. Fire grazed her thigh and she stumbled, dragging a heavy chair in front of her as a temporary shield. Steam and Stone, all she had was her blade, and a blade in a gunfight was useless.
