The Light of Heaven by David A McIntee Read Free Book Online Page B

of the warehouse.
    As soon as she started up the steps, two scruffy-looking beggars bounded down the stairs from above.
    "Stop her," one of them rasped. "She mustn't catch up to him."
    This one leapt at her from half-way up, slashing wildly with a wickedly curved dagger. She spun, letting his attack slide off the blade in her left hand, and slashed with the right. The man fell screaming, filling the air with the coppery stink of blood. The second man stumbled and that gave Gabriella the moment she needed to step forward with a stopping kick, planting her boot in his chest before smashing his nose with a pommel.
    She jinked past his crumpled form and ran the rest of the way up the steps, sheathing her swords. As she reached the top of the flight the man was at the far end of the roof, just dropping out of sight and Gabriella sprinted in pursuit, as the man ran across the next roof.
    Gabriella dropped off the edge without thinking. She landed on a lower roof, the impact jarring her from heels to hips. She rolled back up without losing momentum, and kept running.
    Ahead, the man scrambled up a wooden ladder, pausing halfway to look over his shoulder. He then redoubled his speed, and disappeared up on to a higher roof.
    Gabriella reached the foot of the ladder and scrambled up it and then she saw that he was across the roof, almost at the opposite edge already, but she was definitely gaining on him. There was a narrow gap between the end of the roof and the roof of the boathouse across the way and Gabriella kept going, landing not far behind her quarry. The tile under her leading foot gave way with a crack and - her heart in her throat - she flung herself forward, grabbing at the roof as the rotted beam under the tiles collapsed. She rolled forward and was off again as a shower of wreckage clattered an awfully long way down inside the building.
    The fugitive had now extended his lead, and she pushed herself to keep up. She wasn't running so hard that she didn't have the energy to smile, as she saw the next gap was wider than any they had so far crossed. The chase would soon be over. There was no way the fleeing man could jump across that the way he had jumped the narrow cuttings so far, but nobody seemed to have told the man about the physical impossibility of such a leap as, incredibly, he accelerated off the edge of the roof.
    Gabriella darted forward but was careful to not repeat his suicidal error.
    As she reached the edge of the roof she saw the man roll face up in mid-air, and the glint of the crossbow's iron lath, just as his fingers clenched on the trigger bar.
    Gabriella was already diving before the bolt was launched, flying headlong, out into the space between the roofs.
    There was no sudden pain, so she knew the bolt had missed, but now she was also falling.
    She slammed into the end of a cartload of straw bales a few seconds after the fugitive. He was already rolling out of the cart and onto the street between boatyards as she landed with outstretched hands. Gabriella rolled out of the cart and slammed onto the cobbles.
    Tasting blood, she staggered to her feet. She stumbled off after the fugitive, drawing a sword. She held no illusions that it would be of any use against a crossbow bolt, but she didn't intend to give him the chance to launch another one.
    The fugitive dashed towards the large double doors of a warehouse. A small door set into the main doors was ajar. He ducked inside, and Gabriella pushed through a moment later.
    The warehouse was half empty, the remaining crates bearing rough scrawls identifying their ownership. It stank of mould and darkness. Bare wooden scaffolds and stairs led up to a catwalk halfway up the wall. The vast space was dark and gloomy, filled with enough pools of shadow to hide an army of ambushers, but there was plenty of dust on the floor, so it was easy to make out the fugitive's tracks.
    Trying her best to stick to the shadows herself, Gabriella crept along after the footprints.