Ghost in the Flames by Jonathan Moeller Read Free Book Online Page A

looked out at Lasko. “Do you know the way to the Inn of Mirrors?”
    Lasko grunted. “Aye, my lady. Across from the Imperial Basilica, below the Great Pyramid of Corazain.”
    “The Great Pyramid of Corazain?” said Caina. Her fingers brushed the book lying on the seat. “Is that the big one?” She looked at the colossal pyramid looming over the lesser pyramids, rising over the city like a black mountain.
    “Aye, my lady,” said Lasko. Ark swung up onto the running board, hand on his broadsword. Lasko snapped the reins, and the coach clattered into the streets of Rasadda.
    Caina gazed at the alien city around her. It was a dark place, a grim place, and yet had its own solemn beauty. Most of the buildings had been faced with dark basalt, no doubt quarried from the nearby mountains, while the larger houses gleamed with black marble. The Saddai themselves seemed to favor garments of bright red and orange, and went about their business on the basalt-paved streets. 
    There were a lot of beggars, though, leaning against the walls, ragged and gaunt. Caina had visited many of the Empire’s great cities, and all of them had beggars. But she had never seen so many in one city. 
    “Quite a lot of beggars, aren’t there?” said Caina.
    “It’s very sad, my lady,” said Anya. “They’ve all been driven off their lands, and there’s no work to be found, so they come here to live on the Lord Governor’s grain dole.”
    “Very sad,” murmured Caina. And desperate, starving men had more reason to kill than most. 
    “Oh, humbug,” said Cornelia. She gave the beggars a disdainful sniff. “Look at them. They’re all Saddai. Lazy and shiftless to a man. No doubt they’re too lazy to find work, and so come here to grow fat and indolent on the grain dole.”
    “Perhaps there is no work to be found,” said Caina. 
    Cornelia smiled. “My lady, forgive me for speaking so, but you are young, and quite innocent. A woman my age has seen much of the world, and I can say beyond a doubt that these Saddai are lazy and deceitful.”
    Cornelia sounded so like her mother that Caina felt again that furious, choking wrath, and she found her hand twitching towards the knives hidden in her sleeves. She hid the gesture by smoothing her skirts. “Yes. An innocent.”
    The coach jolted to a stop.
    “You there!” shouted Lasko, his voice furious. “Get out of the way!”
    Ark’s colder voice rang out. “Clear the way at once!”
    Caina twisted around in her seat and looked out the window. 
    The coach filled most of a narrow alley between the windowless backs of two sagging, grim houses. This looked like a bad part of town; the houses were not built of basalt but black-painted brick. A dozen men blocked the street. They looked like beggars, but they had weapons. Some of them had clubs, others had swords, and one hefted an enormous steel warhammer. 
    “Move,” said Ark, voice deadly cold, “or get run down. Your choice.” 
    The man with the hammer spat and began speaking in Saddaic. “Aye? Well, this is our street. You want to pass, you’ll deal with us. You’ll pay our toll.” 
    “How much?” said Ark, drawing his broadsword a foot from its scabbard. 
    “Bah!” said the man, spitting again. “We don’t want your gold. You high-and-mighty Imperial scum, strutting about our streets as if you own them.”
    “We do,” said Ark.
    The beggar’s lips pulled back from his teeth. “What we want is blood, fool. You give us the highborn bitch in the coach, and we’ll let you go. Otherwise we’ll kill you all.”
    Caina’s heart beat faster.
    “Dear gods,” said Cornelia, horrified, “those men are criminals, they’re…”
    “Shut up,” said Caina. Cornelia fell into a shocked silence. 
    “No,” said Ark. “Out of my way, now.”
    The beggar with the warhammer laughed. “Aye? Or what? You took the wrong street today, you Empire-worshipping fool.” The other men raised their weapons. 
    Ark’s sword