Thief's Covenant (A Widdershins Adventure) by Marmell Ari

Author:Marmell, Ari [Marmell, Ari]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2012-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

NOW:

“All right, all right! I'm coming, confound it all!” Through the living room of a small house, its interior neat and crisp as a military barracks awaiting inspection, the old man moved toward the front door. In one hand, he carried a small lantern, for he'd already doused the lights in preparation for bed. In the other, he carried a heavy bludgeon with which, even at his age, he was more than skilled enough to crack a skull or two. He wasn't expecting trouble, no, but neither was he expecting visitors—and one didn't reach an age to retire from the Guard of Davillon without knowing how to take precautions.

It took him an extra moment to work the lock and the latch on the door, what with both hands being full, but eventually he hauled the portal open a crack, just enough to see who waited on the other side.

“Well, I'll be…Come in, Major, come in!” The door swung wide in invitation.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” Julien Bouniard told him as he stepped across the threshold, doffing his plumed hat.

“None of that, Major,” Cristophe Chapelle told his former protégé with a smile far wider than any he'd offered during their years of working together. “No longer a sergeant, me. Unless you want me to call you ‘Constable'?”

Julien smiled in turn. “There was a time the thought of calling you anything else would have terrified me out of a week's sleep.”

“Well, I suppose you can go with ‘sir' if it makes you comfortable.” Then, still grinning, “Have a seat, Major. I fear I haven't anything prepared this late, but I could offer you a brandy.”

It was a test, as much as an offer, and Chapelle saw in the younger man's face that he knew it. “Nothing for me, thank you,” Julien demurred as he selected a chair.

“Not a social visit, then, is it?” The old soldier sat across from his guest. “Let me see. You obviously think of yourself on duty, but you're not precisely here in an official capacity. You need my advice on something, don't you?”

Julien couldn't help but chuckle. “You haven't lost a step, I see.”

Chapelle harrumphed. “I could return to the job tomorrow if they wanted me.” Then, more seriously, “Tell me about it, lad.”

And that he did, from Widdershins's arrest to the bizarre incident at Rittier's manor, from the man he'd been forced to kill to the murdered guard they'd located only afterward.

“Monstrous!” Chapelle agreed, puffed up with enough indignant fury that he'd clearly forgotten he was no longer part of the Guard. “For them to come into one of our headquarters…”

Julien nodded. “I don't know what Widdershins is up to, or the rest of the Finders' Guild. I don't know if His Eminence is still in danger. But I do know that things are heating up, at a time where Davillon really can't afford them to. And I have no bloody idea what the Shrouded Lord could possibly be thinking, since he should be as anxious to avoid

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.