Arrow on the String: Solomon Sorrows Book 1 by Dan Fish (no david read aloud TXT) 📕

her hand and gathered in drops at the end of her fingers. Without the magic, tears slipped from her cheeks, fell slowly to the ground, mingled with the crimson puddle spreading on the white marble floor.

One moment she was an arm’s length away, searching but not seeing. The next moment Sorrows was on his back, Reshel was leaning over him, and Davrosh was kneeling behind her.

✽✽✽

IVRA JACE WATCHED Solomon Sorrows approach with Master Ostev Ga’Shel. They were slipped. They didn’t notice her. She kept her face hidden beneath her patchwork hood. She crouched in the shadows beneath a tall pine. The scent of evergreen and resin was sharp in the cold air, pleasant. She inhaled quietly through her nose, filled her lungs, exhaled quietly through her mouth. She waited.

They were ten paces away from the daughter and her family when Jace noticed a shadow stalking ten paces behind them, closing the gap. Her eyes narrowed. She ignored Sorrows and Ga’Shel and focused on the dark presence.

Sorrows and Ga’Shel were seven paces away. The shadow was only five paces behind them. It unfurled like smoke caught in the wind. A dagger emerged, gripped by darkness. Jace’s eyes widened, darted to Sorrows. She pushed away a branch, took a step forward, then another. She was thirty paces away. She moved fast.

Sorrows was four paces from the daughter when Ga’Shel turned, saw the shadow only two paces away, saw the dagger. Saw it thrust forward. He pulled Sorrows into the gods-stream. The blade passed through his body, no slowing, no wound, no blood. Jace was fifteen paces away.

Ga’Shel slipped the gods-stream again, brought Sorrows with him. Sorrows stopped walking, stared blankly ahead. But the shadow ignored him, crept toward Ga’Shel. Ga’Shel held out his hands, palms raised, shook his head. Jace was five paces away. Then four, three, two.

✽✽✽

SORROWS SAT UP, winced, moved a hand to the back of his head.

“What happened?” he asked.

He was sitting on the marble floor of what he assumed was Hirsch Manor. Probably the great room. Furniture had been pushed aside for the Maiden’s Dance; silver trays rested on tables, empty but for scattered crumbs. The musicians and guests had left, but the room was busy with the black and gray of Hammerfell Tower. Reshel brushed away a strand of hair from his forehead.

“That elf wench tried to attack you, but Master Ostev fought her off,” she said. Her eyes were bright. “You fell and hit your head on the stone outside. It would’ve been worse, but Master Ostev threw himself under you to break your fall. He was amazing. The healer said if Master Ostev had been a minute later, I would’ve lost my hand.”

“Your hand?” Sorrows asked.

Reshel flexed her fingers and smiled.

Sorrows shook his head. “Ga’Shel was under me?”

“I saw it myself. He dove.”

“Sunshine?”

“Who?”

“Ga’Shel?”

“Yes, Master Ostev. He was incredible.”

She sighed. Davrosh looked over her shoulder, lifted an eyebrow, turned to face Sorrows.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Sorrows said. “Ga’Shel must have pulled us into the gods-stream then slipped again. Last thing I remember was walking up the path. Then waking up here.”

Ga’Shel groaned on the floor. Reshel turned to face him and took his hand in hers.

“Are you hurt, Master Ostev?” she asked.

Ga’Shel pulled his hand free, moved it to the back of his head, stared sideways at her.

“I’m fine,” he said. Leave me alone, he was saying.

She didn’t notice. She sat back as he sat forward. He turned to Sorrows, staring. Brow furrowed, mouth turned in the hint of a frown. He was saying, you weren’t worth it.

“The things we do for love,” Sorrows said. “Right, sunshine? Next time you can be on top.”

Ga’Shel blushed. He looked away. “Go to hells.”

Davrosh grinned, clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a hero, Ostev. Orchole owes you one.”

“You were magnificent,” Reshel said. She reached for Ga’Shel, thought better of it, and returned her hand to her lap. She turned to Sorrows. “I only caught glimpses, but he was everywhere. My golden champion.”

“What exactly did you see?” Sorrows asked.

He stood, put his hands on his knees, took a deep breath. His head hurt like all hells. Ga’Shel was moving slow. His face had paled. He looked like he would throw up.

Reshel frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Did you see who attacked you?”

“Well, no. But it was her. I know it was. She tried to kill me like she killed the others.”

Sorrows patted the air. “Right. But how’d she get in? Was she wearing the Mage Guard uniform?”

“I think so.”

“You think?”

Davrosh leaned forward, putting a hand on Reshel’s knee. “Try to remember. Did you see a gray cloak? Black boots? Did she say anything?”

Reshel looked at her hands, folded in her lap. She shook her head.

“I don’t know. I remember lying in bed, then Master Ostev yelling at someone. I might have seen her. I think she had long yellow hair.”

Davrosh looked at Sorrows. “Sounds like her.”

Sorrows sighed. “Sounds like every gods-shunned elf I’ve ever met.”

“I’m sorry,” Reshel said. She started to cry. Davrosh looked at Sorrows. Orchole. He shrugged, turned to Ga’Shel.

“What did you see?”

“It was her,” Ga’Shel said.

“You’re sure?” Sorrows asked.

“Yes. But there’s something else you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“She’s strong.”

“Already knew that.”

Ga’Shel shook his head. “Not like this, you didn’t.”

“Fine. So she’s strong.”

“There’s one more thing.”

Sorrows looked at Ga’Shel, raised his eyebrows. And?

“I don’t think she’s working alone.”

Chapter 39

YOU DON’T KNOW what went wrong, and now you have a problem. The plan was simple, inspired. It was as close to a spontaneous act as someone with your patience is likely to attempt. You thought about it for days. You planned. You accounted for all known variables. It should have been easy. It was meant to distract, to pull attention away from Nisha Davrosh. An apparent mistake to bolster false confidence. It was meant to be quick. It did not go as you expected. You were injured. You may have been seen. It was not a good outcome. But that isn’t the problem.

Your feelings for