Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

focused on the soldier who had begun to brief everyone.

‘ … different today. We have had intelligence that there may be Resistance units scouting through the area. Given how close we are to launching our attack on the capital, we need to be sure that the area around the city remains clear of Resistance spies. Hence, today you will be patrolling the mountains, your objective to find and eliminate any potential agents you come across. Resistance spies usually operate in pairs; thus, our numbers should be more than suitable for our purpose today.’

Siraay’s ears picked up at that. A real chance to hunt the Resistance? Suddenly she didn’t care so much about Drosni or Pyron.

‘We’ll be splitting into two units to cover the area needed—two groups of five,’ the soldier continued.

Siraay was trying to assess his rank, given that he was hosting the briefing, when the male oriented himself towards her and bowed. ‘The lady and her unit will form one group, and the chief archon, myself, and the rest of you will form the other.’

Siraay saw Pyron shift slightly against the wall. ‘Sergeant, I’m supposed to stick with the lady.’ His voice conveyed an undertone that told Siraay he would rather be anywhere else. But his words brought back last night’s dream …

The sergeant shook his head. ‘Sorry, chief—I have my orders too, from Archon Renhed. Unless she says otherwise, I stick to the orders she gives me.’

Siraay felt her eyebrows rise and fought to keep an amused smile off her face. She liked this sergeant. And she would also have to thank Renhed later.

The sergeant explained how the two units would approach the hills and then link up later in the day.

‘Both units have a member who can take the form of a kitespray, so if you need to communicate outside of the city, use them to run messages to the other group, but be careful—if the Resistance groups spot a flyer too many times, they will know we are out there.’

Drosni and the others were nodding.

The sergeant looked at all of them. ‘Good hunting, then.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

PERCHED IN A little dip in the side of the hill, with sufficient coverage around her, Siraay took note of her team members’ positions.

Drosni was off to her right, and the other three were spaced around to her left in a wide arc. They had been scouting out the area for half a day now and hadn’t found any sign of a Resistance unit. But she wasn’t complaining. She was finally getting to explore the mountains she had been observing from her balcony for the last couple of days, and even better, she didn’t have Pyron looking over her shoulder.

Though Drosni was still smiling.

Even now, as the male signalled to her that the way forwards was all clear, he had that annoying grin on his face.

She really couldn’t tell if he just enjoyed his job that much or if this was the constant state his face was stuck in.

Thankfully, he turned away as he rose and led them all forwards again, moving slowly and sticking to cover as much as possible. And there was a fair amount of it, which had surprised Siraay, given how bare and rocky the mountains had looked from the palace.

But up close, there were tall trees, rocky outcroppings, thick, low scrub, and jutting cliffs that joined flat plateaus.

Plenty of places for spies to hide.

They kept moving, always heading in an elongated weaving pattern towards the point where they would link up with Pyron’s unit.

She wasn’t looking forward to that.

The sun had moved a number of handspans towards the horizon when they finally reached the meeting place. While Siraay and Drosni moved towards where the sergeant and Pyron were huddled by a rock, the other three members of Siraay’s elite unit joined the other soldiers on perimeter watch.

The exchange of information was quick.

‘Anything?’ the sergeant asked.

Siraay shook her head and was relieved to see Drosni’s smile dim a little. ‘No. No sign of any activity.’

Pyron snorted and shook his head. ‘Well, this has been a useful exercise.’

The sergeant wisely ignored the chief archon’s comment and moved on. ‘We’ll head back in, then, taking parallel paths down. The intelligence could have been wrong, or maybe the spies didn’t come that close.’

Siraay narrowed her brows. ‘Why wouldn’t they come closer than this?’

The sergeant gave her a small, sharp grin. ‘Because they’d never walk away again.’

Siraay smiled back. Yes, she liked working with this male.

They broke up the huddle quickly, and the sergeant’s unit moved out first, Pyron glowering at the sergeant’s back as they departed.

Siraay was chuckling quietly to herself until Drosni seemed to pop up in front of her from nowhere.

‘Ready, lady?’

Ugh, that smile again. Still, it was better than dealing with Pyron. ‘Let’s move.’

***

The sun was beginning to kiss the horizon, making the sky appear to bloom outwards from that point in a range of oranges, purples, and a touch of pink, when Siraay and her unit began to make their final descent from the slope of the mountain.

From that vantage point, they had an excellent view of Xarcon City, especially the arena’s domed roof, which was reflecting some last rays of light as the evening chill descended, making Siraay especially glad for her jacket.

She was following closely behind Drosni when a gasp from behind her made her spin and reach for the knife tucked into her belt. The female behind her, Torina, was looking off to their right and pointing.

Siraay twisted that way, annoyed at the lack of information communicated by the female.

But then she saw what Torina was pointing at.

A kitespray was flying fast and low, heading directly for them.

Drosni had also seen the creature and was waiting expectantly as the kitespray glided lower.

And lower.

Its mid-air wobble was what made Siraay realise their winged ally was injured, and she shouted at the others, ‘Move aside!’

Just in time. The kitespray began to Change as it almost fell the last few body lengths to the