Shard Knight (Echoes Across Time Book 1) by Matthew Ballard Read Free Book Online Page B

the neighbor’s cat who sat perched on a nearby tree limb.
    Tucked in a low crouch, Ronan dashed along the alley past several houses moving away from the fire. Hope blossomed in his mind. He’d earned anonymity from the fire.
    A city block away, he stumbled onto the side street used by Master Wilburn a few hours earlier.
    Ronan crept along the cobbled street remaining hidden by shadow. At the intersection he paused and gazed toward the burning townhouses he’d escaped.
    A small crowd had gathered and formed a makeshift bucket brigade. A tall lanky man grabbed an overflowing bucket and tossed water against the fire-threatened townhouse.
    Any sign the city guard had visited burned beneath the damp Meranthian night.
    In the opposite direction, dawn’s purple haze gave early warning to the impending sunrise.
    Ronan turned his back on the burning wreckage and loped toward Old Town’s entrance and a meeting with Patron Tyrell.

A New Friend
     
    Stretched out in the damp dawn air, hung a line of laundry with no hope of fully drying. The clothing stood unattended as did the other streets and alleys inside the laborers district. Most people remained indoors during the early morning hours, but they’d come outside soon enough.
    From his hiding place in the bushes, Ronan surveyed the small yard and dashed for the hanging laundry. He grabbed a pair of linen trousers and a blue cotton tunic. They looked big, but he’d make them work.
    With his heart racing, he tore through a shrub line and disappeared. He’d change clothes with minutes to spare before meeting Master Tyrell.
    He ran through the district traversing alleys and jumping fences. Five minutes later he slowed to a walk as he entered the alley that took him to the Old Town entrance.
    At the alley’s mouth, a thick elderberry bush grew behind an overgrown backyard. Small unripened berries, hung in clumps on its branches.
    Ronan’s stomach growled. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He tore free a few berries and popped them in his mouth. As he sank his teeth into them, a bitter acidic tang spread across his taste buds. He spit out the hard berries and kept spitting until the taste disappeared.
    The elderberry bush provided more than unripened fruit. The branches covered a small hollowed out spot inside the bush.
    With a quick peek toward the house, he slipped into the bush and peeled off his torn soot-stained clothing. His stomach twisted as he pulled the smoke-filled tunic over his head. Removing the clothing felt like saying good-bye to a part of his life he’d never get back.
    Ronan touched the intricately carved gold ring that dangled from a silver chain around his neck. His mother gave him the ring on his eighth birthday. It had belonged in his family for centuries and remained his last treasure from happier times.
    He changed into the new clothes and transferred a small coin purse from his old trousers. He carried what most nobles considered a modest amount of coin. The people living inside the Laborer’s District would work a year to earn the equivalent. With his personal business settled, Ronan emerged from the elderberry bush and walked along the alley.
    A hundred yards ahead, the alleyway met the street that connected Old Town to the Laborer’s District. That intersection provided the perfect vantage point to hide and wait for Tyrell’s arrival.
    He increased his pace eager to meet Master Tyrell. A patrol of city guards would recognize Tyrell on sight, and Ronan didn’t want to put the man’s life in further jeopardy.
    The back sides of several modest homes, trade shops, and businesses lined the alleyway. On the right, the Queen’s Heart, home to the finest ale in Freehold, gave way to Lady Holloway’s tailor shop. Near the alley’s exit, an old broken wagon sat behind Master Belmont’s blacksmith shop.
    The alleyway itself had trash bins full of discarded boxes, old food, shredded newspaper, and bits of scrap metal.
    Ronan ditched his old