Bared Blade Read Online Free Page B

hand. In this case, too close.
    The captain was good and he was fast, flicking a bundled coil of deep purple magic loose of his wrist and lashing out with it in the very instant he noticed me. But I was already inside his guard. I drove my knife up and in, under his ribs and into his heart, twisting as I pulled the blade free. Hot blood followed it, contrasting sharply with the cold ice thatwrapped my spine when the captain’s already dissipating spell lashed across my back.
    Triss shrieked in pain and the lower half of my body effectively went away, as I lost all feeling below the waist and collapsed. I caught a boot in the ribs—someone tripping over me while bolting toward the momentarily unguarded door. I rolled away, hoping to get clear before they had time to think about what had just happened. That’s when I noticed that I’d lost my shadow, or rather that it had returned to being no more than a dark outline on the floor.
    I didn’t know what the spell had done to Triss, only that he was still alive or I wouldn’t be. As much as his absence scared me, I didn’t have time to do anything about it if I wanted us both to survive the next few minutes. I was half-paralyzed, exposed and vulnerable and that was after taking only the dying aftereffects of the Elite’s spell. What would the full treatment have done? I shuddered and pushed the thought aside. I needed to get under cover. I started dragging myself toward the closest refuge—the dark space under a nearby table—sweating ice water all the way.
    Up close, the filthy straw on the floor was more noisome and foul than ever, lousy with centipedes and nipperkins. Not that this was the first time I’d ended up crawling around on the Gryphon’s floor, just the first time I’d ever done it sober. I’d just about made it under the table, when the feeling started coming back in my lower body. I had to clench my jaws to keep from swearing aloud, because I didn’t think I’d be able to quit if I got started. It felt like ten thousand tiny imps had decided to use me for target practice with their tiny bows, every one of them shooting fire-tipped arrows. If you’ve ever been jabbed with hot needles, you know the sensation. Yes, I have. No, I don’t want to talk about it.
    But with the pain came the ability to move, and as much as I just wanted to lie there until the hurting stopped, I had things to do, starting with checking on my familiar.
    “Triss!” I hissed, forcing myself to hands and knees. “Are you all right?”
    My shadow shifted beneath me until it looked as though it belonged to a small dragon—Triss’s preferred form. The dragon nodded his head briefly, though he didn’t speak, then collapsed back into my own outline a moment later. That really worried me—he’s normally much more circumspect, and this was a case where words would have spoken more quietly—but he
had
nodded and I still couldn’t afford to stop moving.
    I had to find out what had happened to Vala and Stel, help them if they were among the living, and make my escape if they weren’t. Grabbing the edge of a table, I pulled myself upright and scanned the room. Compared to the chaos of a few minutes before, the Gryphon seemed positively peaceful. Three dead Elite and two stone dogs lay on the filthy floor along with a dozen other mixed casualties. The Crown was going to be profoundly unhappy—it took years to make an Elite and their numbers were few.
    Stel was down and out, though presumably not dead, judging by the light of healing magic Vala was applying to her fallen companion. Most everyone else on both sides of the conflict had fled. As I staggered toward the women I noticed an unspilled drink sitting at the edge of a table—a short glass filled with something clear and no doubt brutally alcoholic. Rice-white or one of its cousins.
    I thought about it, I really did. I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse that I picked it up and lifted it to my lips, and at that