The Night Parade by Scott Ciencin Read Free Book Online Page A

She had fallen asleep in an awkward position, her head resting in the crook of her arms. Unconsciously, she raised her arms over her head and reached back to link her fingers behind her neck, stretching like a cat. Then she suddenly became aware of the sensuous image she was providing for the mage. Her thin shift had hardly been shocking, but it was not modest either. She was aware that the light from outside was serving to reveal her body’s perfect lines.
    Cardoc did not seem embarrassed in the least, and she found that she liked his reaction. He came to her from behind, raised the back of her shift, and said, “Sit on the side of the bed.”
    With a tentative smile, she did as he commanded. He delivered a powerful and soothing massage to the tense, knotted muscles in her back. His hands were stronger than she had anticipated. She resisted the urge to let him know exactly how pleasurable his touch was becoming as she bunched her hair in her hands and lifted it to give him clear access to her neck. He somehow knew exactly where to touch her and with how much pressure.
    She appreciated that he said nothing of the scars lining her bare back.
    “I have the information,” he said, a trace of amusement in his tone as he gently lowered her shift and backed away. “Would you like a few moments to dress? I could wait downstairs with the others.”
    She almost asked him to stay, then thought better of it. Her heart was racing as she turned to see him exit the room.
    An hour later, the Harpers were on the street. They had retrieved their mounts from the stable master, who had charged them an inflated fee, a common occurrence in Calimport, and rode through one of the designated routes set aside for intracity travel. They brought their supplies.
    Reisz chose to ride beside Myrmeen, with Lucius taking point. A thought had weighed heavily on him for the last few weeks, since he had responded with the others to Myrmeen’s summons and listened to her story. During the long ride to Calimport and through the trials that followed, there had been no appropriate moment to bring up his observation. Now, he felt, was as good a time as any.
    “Myrmeen, you said that your mother first told you of the Night Parade to explain what happened to your stillborn sister. Isn’t it possible that the monsters took her, too?”
    She drew a deep breath, as if she had been stung by his words. “Anything is possible,” she said evenly, betraying the fact that the thought had occurred to her, too.
    Lucius called for the company to halt, and he pointed at the sight that had arrested his attention. They were close to the shipping lanes, traveling between endless rows of buildings that had been converted into warehouses. Ahead they could see the bay’s sparkling, clear waters, along with nearly one hundred ships in the docks. Above one of the ships, like an angry black fist, rose a cloud of smoke. A small boat had been set on fire and was sinking into the waters.
    The mage dismounted and led his sleek black horse to the others. Reisz took the animal’s reins as Lucius offered to go ahead and learn what had happened. Myrmeen and Burke agreed. As they waited for him to return, she thought of Kracauer, the baby merchant who had been slain by the strange weapon charged by a form of magic that had unnerved Cardoc. She considered the possibility that the assassin had been close enough to hear the names Kracauer had given them. Having mentally traced the trajectory of the second blade, the one, presumably, meant for her throat, Myrmeen knew that, without Lucius’s interference, the knife narrowly would have missed her.
    The killing had been a warning.
    Lucius came back and announced what Myrmeen had already guessed: The boat that had been sunk belonged to Ivan Nehlridge, the smuggler who frequently shuttled Kracauer’s stolen freight from the city. Witnesses had seen him engulfed in flames, screaming for his life, as the boat had gone down.
    “Martyn Johannas