Hawk (Vlad) Read Online Free Page B

this. It’s the obvious way to weaken me. And with the second attempt, the guy went for my sword arm. His whole plan was to make me drop Lady Teldra. They know enough about me to be very dangerous.”
    “We’ll have to be more careful,” he said.
    “I need to find a place to hide, to hole up for a few days while I recover.”
    “But if they can find you—”
    “Yeah. Need to figure out how they did that.”
    “Maybe figure it out before we go into a confined space without much visibility?”
    “Right. Good plan.”
    “So—”
    “Shut up. I’m thinking.”
    “It’s good to see you’re open to new experiences,” he said.
    I ignored him and, standing in the park on a chilly night, weak, trembling, and distracted, I tried to work things out.
    Sethra Lavode had once found me in the wilderness by tracking Loiosh, but she was Sethra Lavode; could anyone else do that? I could ask her, but that would entail its own risks. I went through the list: Sorcery required a link to the Orb, and the amulet I wore, a combination of gold and black Phoenix Stone, ought to prevent that. There was necromancy, but that was just a specialized use of sorcery. Elder sorcery? I was no expert, but I’d never heard of anyone doing anything as subtle as a location spell with it. Psychic skills? Witchcraft? The other part of my amulet should prevent those from working.
    So, perhaps it had been Loiosh someone found a way to locate. But in that case—
    “Loiosh?”
    “Maybe, Boss, if it happened while I was sleeping. But I’m pretty sure I’d notice someone casting a spell on me or Rocza.”
    “Sethra managed without you knowing.”
    “She’s Sethra.”
    “I’m going to have to ask her, aren’t I?”
    I didn’t like it that they’d taken a shot at Loiosh. I didn’t like that at all.
    There was a mild breeze, a bit chilly, and carrying the scent of pine needles. I had sheathed Lady Teldra, but I still had the park and the nearby streets to myself. It was sort of eerie, being alone in a place that was usually crowded. For a while, it was like time stopped, held its breath waiting for something to break. Loiosh and Rocza perched on my shoulders; they, too, were unmoving. The place had cleared because I’d drawn Lady Teldra—I held something so terrifying that it could clear a park and the surrounding streets.
    So why was I so bloody scared?
    I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that they’d come so close to killing me that I’d had to cut my own throat as the only alternative to dying.
    There was a bronze plaque on the ground not far from me, naming the place as Kodai Park; who Kodai was I have no idea. Be nice to have a park named after you. I hope whatever he did was worth it. I hadn’t realized that it really was a park—I thought it was just a place no one had built on. Nice that there are parks, don’t you think? I heard sounds from some distance away—cries, maybe; violence perhaps. But they weren’t coming any closer so I ignored them.
    I don’t know how long I stood there—maybe a quarter of an hour, maybe more—but eventually foot traffic started up again, and a few people walked through the park. Soon someone would find the body, and either scream or ignore it; and maybe inform the Phoenix Guards, who might or might not bother to look at it.
    “Boss?”
    “Yeah, we should move.”
    “And soon.”
    “The question is, where to?”
    “Well, Boss. Out of the park might be a good start.”
    “I need some sort of destination.”
    “Just pick—wait. Something…”
    “Loiosh?”
    “Something’s coming toward us.”
    “Some thing , Loiosh?” Well, I decided. This can’t be good. I put my hand on Lady Teldra’s hilt, wondering if the effort to draw her would make me fall over.
    Loiosh said, “It’s … oh.”
    I saw it. A dog—the big, loping kind, coming up to me, tail wagging. I’d seen that dog before, fairly recently, so I waited. It sniffed at my feet, then my hand, then wagged