Faces of Deception by Troy Denning Read Free Book Online

frowned and kneeled, cocking his fist to punch through the roof.
    “Yago, wait!” Atreus yelled
    The ogre was already bringing his fist down. A huge hand smashed through ceiling of the tenement and began feeling around. Atreus turned back to Rishi and pushed the basket forward, pulling himself along behind it as fast as he could.
    Rishi let out a deep groan and slipped closer to the window. The Mar’s knuckles were as pale as ivory. He kept his gaze locked on the treasure basket and did not blink. Atreus scooted another step forward. He was close enough to push the basket through the window, but Rishi was in the way.
    A strangled cry sounded from the other end of the plank as Yago finally caught hold of a guard. Atreus shouted a warning to the people below, then shoved the basket into Rishi’s startled face.
    The Mar had no choice but to release the board and grab the treasure basket. As it dropped away, Atreus flung himself forward and caught hold of the sill. His body swung down and smashed into the wall, leaving him dangling from the window like a rag hung out to dry. The plank tumbled into the alley below, demolishing two pairs of window shutters as it bounced off the tenement walls on the way down.
    “Good sir?” Rishi’s voice came from the other side of the window. “Are you there?”
    “Of course.” Atreus pulled himself up onto the sill. “You’ll have to work harder than that if you want my treasure.”
    “How can you say such a thing?” Rishi demanded. He was sitting on the floor with both arms wrapped around the heavy basket. “I am only trying to help.”
    “And you’ve done so much. Being a hunted killer is bound to be a great help in finding Langdarma.”
    Atreus swung his feet into the corridor, then looked back to see Yago’s hand hanging through a hole in the ceiling. The ogre was smashing a hapless guard about the hallway as though the man’s body were a war-hammer.
    “Yago!” Atreus called. “Come on.”
    The ogre dropped his victim, then pulled his hand back through the ceiling and disappeared behind the roof line. An instant later he came hurtling across the alley, flailing his arms and legs as though he were trying to fly. Atreus took an instant to judge where Yago would land, then grabbed Rishi’s ankle and jerked him back toward the window.
    “Good sir!” Rishi screeched. “Good sir, I am not some sack of rice to be dragged—”
    The ceiling exploded into a spray of splinters and plaster. then Yago crashed down where Rishi had been sitting a moment before. The floor bucked and shook from the impact of the ogre’s ten-foot body, and Rishi’s indignation turned to shock.
    “In the name of the Forgotten Ones!” he gasped, peering over his shoulder.
    Yago groaned, then rolled onto his back and began to look
    around the dusty corridor. “Hey,” he said, “I made it“
    Something struck the tenement wall behind Atreus. He looked back to see a guard standing in the window opposite, accepting a fresh dagger from one of his fellows.
    “We’re not out of the city yet,” Atreus said, grabbing the basket from Rishi’s hands and spinning around, holding it up before him. “Yago, will you get going?”
    As the ogre rolled to his knees, Rishi slipped past and led the way down the hall. Atreus backed after them, holding the basket up like a shield. This did not prevent the angry guard from hurling several more daggers through the window. The knives were hardly balanced for throwing, but one managed to lodge itself in the basket and another tumbled past perilously close to Yago’s back.. At last, Rishi turned a corner and ducked down a stairwell, and Atreus finally had time to take note of the foreign sounds and smells of the building. From behind every door came melodic Maran jabber. The upper floors, used primarily for residences, smelled—perhaps even stank—of exotic cooking spices. Every now and then the trio had to squeeze past a small group of Mar coming up the stairs. The