The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1) by Marie Andreas Read Free Book Online Page A

kidnapping.
    With a sigh I went back to the clothing, but there were few clues there. Except that the only clothes even close to Alric’s size were too worn out for decency or just too ugly to be believed. When no bursts of insight jumped out at me, I forced myself to have another ration bar and get some rest. I wanted to be ready in case Alric came back.
    ***
    I’d just settled into a disturbing dream of armies of bodiless clothing chasing me when an explosion rocked me awake. It wasn’t huge, so the town wasn’t under attack, just this building. And it was close enough to leave a fine rain of plaster drifting in the room.
    I leapt to my feet to yell for rescue. I had no idea why the city guards would be trying to blow up Alric’s home, but hopefully they could get me out before they did.
    I drew in another breath for a louder yell, but it wasn’t needed. Instead I had to fling myself behind a mountain of neatly stacked clothing as the door shattered with a force definitely not found in nature.
    Picking a few troll-sized toothpicks out of my hair, I slowly rose to my feet with my hands up. No use getting an arrow in my belly because they thought I was Alric.
    “Taryn St. Giles, drop any weapons you may have on your person and submit to the King’s guards.” Four guardsmen glared at me over drawn crossbows from the doorway. It sounded like there were more behind them. That many for Alric? Although he must have hit me harder than I originally thought, I almost heard my name.
    I flashed a calming smile at the front guard, but kept my hands up. “Alric isn’t here, he kidnapped me and trapped me here—”
    My comments were cut off as one of the guards stepped forward with a small dart gun. He raised it to his lips and shot me in the thigh.
    I swore at the five-inch-long needle sticking out of my leg. I only got halfway through my litany of swear words when the contents of that needle overwhelmed my ability to remain conscious and I crashed to the floor.

 
    Chapter 5
     
     
    Unlike my awakening after Alric kidnapped me, I didn’t wake on a pile of fluffy clothing. The ground was tamped dirt, so hard it felt like metal. It was also old and crusty and gross. With an oath I threw myself off the ground. Unfortunately, it’s damn hard to throw yourself off the ground and even harder when your limbs won’t work.
    Whatever had been in that dart hadn’t been designed for someone my size. Dogmaela the troll would find it hard to recover from this dosage. I settled for rolling over so I at least didn’t have to look at the filthy thing I was laying on.
    The face above me made me want to take my chances staring at the floor. I’d been dumped right in front of a crumbling metal bunk-bed and one of my cell mates was passed out cold above me. A half-breed harpy. Wasn’t sure what the other half was, but it was even uglier than the harpy half. The lavender drool coming out of its snout didn’t help much.
    “You might want to move,” a voice far above me said. “That purple stuff has been burning holes in the dirt all night long.”
    My formerly numb limbs managed to rally enough to let me roll a few times to get away. Now I was lying in the middle of the cell, still on my back, but away from the harpy.
    “Damn, girl, what have you been drinking?”
    A voice different from the first shouted. Actually they weren’t shouting, they were just so drunk they couldn’t hear themselves. I twisted my head to see who was talking.
    Two lovely female goras of the night were staring at me from atop one of the bunk beds at the far end of the cell. Neither had a stitch of clothing on, and both were covered with so much body paint it was clear they’d started out that way.
    Goras were so promiscuous their prostitutes paid the clients.
    Both had the thin, waif-like look of satiated gora women, long gossamer hair clung to the rude but practical paint covering their bodies. When goras weren’t sexually satiated they looked worse than