Conspiracy by Lindsay Buroker Read Free Book Online

next.
Another thump followed the first. Maybe two someones were up there
walking.
    A whisper of cold air wafted down from the
trapdoor. Maldynado had shut it most of the way, but a half an inch
remained open.
    A surge of anxiety swept through Akstyr.
What if the men saw the open door and shut it and locked it from
the outside? The rolling side door was already locked. They’d be
trapped down here, in this dark hole, with no way out.
    Relax, Akstyr told himself. He had the
mental sciences. He might be a long way from reaching mastery at
anything, but he could surely thwart a lock.
    The footsteps stopped. The trapdoor scraped
open a few inches. Light glowed above the crack, then descended,
and a brass lantern eased into view, flame dancing behind its dirty
glass panes. Stubby fingers with dirt wedged beneath the nails held
the handle. The tip of a rifle edged through the opening as
well.
    The low roof forced Akstyr to crouch so
deeply that his knees were bumping his chin and his head was
brushing the ceiling, but he pressed himself against the wall,
sucking his belly in and hugging the shadows the best he could.
After hours in darkness, the light half-blinded him, but he didn’t
see Maldynado or Basilard or anybody’s gear or blanket within the
lantern’s sphere of influence. Though—Akstyr cringed—someone’s
underwear lay draped across a bundle of poles near the wall.
    “ See anything, Rov?” a man
asked outside. “It’s a might suspicious that this here door ain’t
secured.”
    Akstyr closed his eyes and
concentrated on the flame. He didn’t know how to manipulate air or
gases yet, so he couldn’t simply blow it out or suck all the oxygen
from inside the lantern casing. He did know how to tie and cut things,
thanks to that book Amaranthe had found him on healing. One had to
do those things in the body sometimes.
    “ Not sure.” The lantern
dropped a few inches lower, bringing a hairy wrist inside with it.
“There’s something over...”
    Akstyr formed a razor blade in his mind. It
sliced through the lantern’s wick, extinguishing the flame.
    “ Emperor’s bunions,” the
voice growled. “You got a match?”
    “ Yeah, you see
anything?”
    “ Some underwear, I
think.”
    Akstyr sighed.
    “ Underwear! What’ve we got,
some hobos down there sodomizing each other?” The man laughed at
his own joke.
    Akstyr’s thighs were starting to burn. If
the men came down here, he was done hiding. He, Basilard, and
Maldynado could take these idiots. Though, if a rifle went off, the
rest of that gang might hear. And if Akstyr and the others were
supposed to follow these people to their drop-off point without
being seen... An out-and-out brawl with the entire force wasn’t
exactly not being seen.
    Akstyr shook his head. He didn’t care. It
wasn’t as if there was money riding on this job.
    The trapdoor scraped the rest of the way
open. Light appeared again, then two figures dropped into the car,
landing in crouches, their rifles raised.
    Akstyr focused on the closest man. More
precisely, he focused on the lantern the man held, letting his
eyelids droop as he concentrated. Just before the flame winked out,
Basilard leaped out of the darkness on the far side of the car and
barreled toward the intruders.
    Darkness fell, and Akstyr didn’t see what
happened next, but the grunts of pain and sounds of flesh smacking
against flesh told much. He pushed away from the wall, ready to
jump into the fray, but the noises gave him little hint as to who
was where.
    Something banged against Akstyr’s toe. He
patted around and found a rifle. The scuffle died down before he’d
done more than pick it up.
    “ Akstyr, how about a
light?” Maldynado asked from a few feet away. “It’s hard to tie
people up in the dark.”
    “ Why not just throw them
from the train?” Akstyr asked, though he closed his eyes and
pictured a ball of light in his head. Creating illumination with
the mental sciences involved bending and enhancing