Escape From Zulaire by Veronica Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

another corpse. It was the gardener’s helper, sprawled across three risers. Hugging the wall, Andi tiptoed carefully past his outflung hand.
    She burst onto the second level of the house and stopped short at the sight of Lady Tonkiln struggling with a burly man. Screaming obscenities in a harsh voice, the lady was clawing her attacker’s face and chest. Unfazed by her blows, he wrapped his hands around her neck, squeezing as he cursed her.
    Retreating two steps, Andi set her lamp down, grabbed a heavy bronze urabu statue in a wall niche and ran to attack the assassin. She stabbed the man in the back with all her strength, driving the bronze horns of the statue deep into his shoulder muscles. Adrenaline gave the blow considerable force. He dropped Lady Tonkiln, who fell against the wall and slid to the floor, wheezing. A broad smear of blood coated the elaborate tapestry where she hit it.
    The man swept his beefy arm back, hitting Andi in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her staggering. The urabu statue fell, bouncing over the edge of the stairs. She grabbed at the wrought iron railing to keep herself from tumbling headlong to the first floor. The would-be killer strode to where Andi lay on the top stair, stunned from her fall. Fisting his hand in her hair, he yanked her to her feet, scattering hair pins as her elaborate chignon loosened. Andi fought to get away, but her arm was numb where he’d struck her. Black spots danced in her vision.
    Deverane launched himself up the last few stairs and tackled them both, breaking Andi free of the attacker’s hold. A clump of her hair tore from her head in the process. The pain radiated through her body, paralyzing her for a minute. Pressing the muzzle of his blaster into the other man’s stomach, the captain fired. The stench of burned flesh filled the hallway as Deverane rolled away and came to his feet, looking to Andi.
      Tears of pain in her eyes, she crawled to Lady Tonkiln to check how badly the Obati matriarch was wounded.
    “Leave me. Save Sadu, save my baby,” the lady moaned, her words slurring.
    Swallowing hard, Andi averted her eyes from the wreckage of Lady Tonkiln’s severely beaten face. She put an arm under the older woman’s shoulders and tried to get her to sit up.   “We’ll go get him together.”
    “No time, I—I’m dying. You must save him.” Lady Tonkiln grabbed Andi by the shoulder in a viselike grip, shaking her in a final surge of strength before falling against the wall in a violent convulsion. Some of the dark blood staining the woman’s garments spread onto Andi’s jumpsuit.  
    “Are you hurt?” Deverane pulled her to her feet, looking at the bloodstains. Andi shook her head, numb, unable to say anything. She kept staring at Lady Tonkiln’s body. I can’t believe she’s dead. I can’t believe any of this—it has to be a nightmare.
      Coughing from the increasing smokiness of the air, he gave her a little shake, tried to get her to meet his eyes. “Come on, Andi. We have to get out of here.”  
    He was tugging her toward the stairs leading down.
      “ No .” She wrenched away from him. “We can’t leave. You heard her—I have to get the children—Sadu and his cousins, in the nursery.”  
    A woman’s voice cried out in agony from the level above. Deverane didn’t say another word but jerked Andi behind him and started climbing the stairs two at a time, before dropping to his knees to crawl the last few. She matched his pace on the top risers, chest tight and hot as she moved, choking on the smoke infiltrating this level from the fires. By staying a few inches above the carpet, she could still find some breathable air. The corridor ahead was lit by roaring flames in several of the rooms.
    A man emerged from one of the side doors.
      Iraku.
    Andi rose to her feet despite the choking smoke. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see you,” she said. “Come with us to get Sadu from the nursery.”