Blood and Iron: The Book of the Black Earth (Part One) by Jon Sprunk Read Free Book Online

closer, peering into his eyes. “I can see you are nothing more than a beast, unfit for the company of men. I would have you executed, but that pleasure belongs to His Lordship. Believe me, before the end you will beg for d—”
    The rage exploded inside Jirom. With a violent shudder, he threw off the men holding his arms. A red haze blurred his vision, but through the fog he could see Mituban on the ground, grasping at the large hands clutched around his neck. Jirom wrenched, and the lord's struggles ceased. His wine glass lay broken in the dirt.
    A sharp crack echoed in Jirom's ears, followed by a red-hot pain at the back of his head. As he slumped forward, the last thing he saw was the chief proctor's expression of complete surprise.
     

Horace was dreaming the familiar dream again.
    “Hold on!” he shouted over his shoulder as he pushed through the crowd.
    Everywhere people were jostling, shoving, and yelling as they pressed toward the gates. Men, women, and children—the entire population of the Trade Quarter—were all trying to get out at once. He squeezed Sari's hand as he looked back.
    “We're going to make it out,” he told her.
    The terror was plain in her wide blue eyes. That same fear was reflected in every face around them as word of the plague's arrival spread throughout the port town of Tines. The crowd was edging toward a riot, and his family was stuck in the center of it.
    Josef squealed in his mother's other arm. “Fes-ti-val, daddy! Go to fes-ti-val!”
    Horace tried to smile, but it was difficult with the anxiety governing his thoughts. “It's not a festival, Josef. We're going on a trip.”
    “Trip, trip!” the boy shouted as he started to squirm. “Want to get down! I can walk!”
    Sari hugged the boy tighter. “Not yet, darling. We have to get out of the city.”
    She looked into Horace's eyes, and he redoubled his efforts to get them through the throng. Yet after ten minutes he was forced to concede that they weren't getting anywhere. He couldn't even see the walls yet, and he was beginning to fear that the nearest gates had been closed.
    They wouldn't do that. It would sentence thousands of people to die.
    Horace stood up on his toes. The air was humid from the press of bodies. Some people were shoving each other. Curses and threats rose above the din of the crowd. He had to get his family out. Then his gaze strayed to the cliffs overlooking the town—the pale cliffs of Tines—and he knew where they had to go.
    “Come on!” he shouted as he ducked past a bearded man struggling under a heavy sack.
    “Horace!” Sari yelled, but he didn't stop to explain.
    He pulled her and Josef out of the street, into the shelter of a dim alleyway. The buildings on either side crowded out the sky. Horace knew the general direction they needed to go, but they'd have to hurry. They passed an old couple helping each other down the refuse-cluttered alley. When the old man coughed into his hand, Horace held his breath and hauled Sari along faster.
    He almost fell to his knees and kissed the ground when they reached the waterfront, and at the same time he wanted to slap himself. As a shipwright, escaping Tines on an outgoing vessel should have been his first thought. He scanned the many berths, and a sinking sensation pooled in his gut at the sight of so many ships that had already put out to sea, their billowing sails waving good-bye. Flames danced at several spots on the piers where other vessels had been put to the torch. He could guess why. Signs of plague onboard. While soldiers in city livery set another ship alight, clusters of sailors crowded the boardwalk, shouting and waving their fists, no doubt as terrified as he was at the idea of being stranded here.
    “Horace, do you think we'll find anyone to take us on?” Sari asked.
    “I think I know someone who will.”
    “Boats!” Josef screamed with joy. “Boats, daddy!”
    “That's right, my boy. We're going to ride on a ship.”
    Squeezing