Read Ghost in the Blood (The Ghosts) for Free Online

off to work through her forms. She felt better when she was done. Vigorous exercise always cleared the mind. 
    After breakfast, Halfdan drove, Caina sat next to him, and Ark paced alongside the wagon. More traffic began to fill the road, merchant wagons traveling back and forth, liveried horsemen performing their masters’ errands, and commoners going about their business. 
    She smelled the city before she saw it. Baking bread. Tar and salt. Wood and coal smoke, lots of it. And the smell of ordure, common to every city in the Empire. 
    “Almost there, Father?” There were enough travelers in earshot that she didn’t dare speak openly.
    “Aye, lass,” grunted Halfdan. A wagon laden with barrels groaned ahead of them, the driver cursing at his oxen. “And we would have been there an hour past if not for the fool in front of us.” 
    “Your father, my lady,” said Ark, “likes to drive fast.” 
    “Bah,” said Halfdan. “Time is wasting. No one ever turned a profit sitting about.” 
    A short time later Marsis, the chief city of the western Empire, came into view.
    It sprawled as far as the eye could see, spread out between the northern bank of the River Marentine and the seashore. Hundreds of ships crowded the fortified harbor, and Caina saw a score of vessels maneuvering to their piers or setting out to sea, surrounded by clouds of seagulls. A pair of fortified lighthouses sat at the harbor entrance, topped with both beacons and war engines. Ferries and boats choked the river, carrying cargo from the towns and villages further inland. Caina saw mansions, temples to the gods of the Empire, and high towers, all surrounded by countless houses and warehouses and shops. 
    And above it all loomed the Citadel.
    It sat atop a crag overlooking the harbor, walls and gates and scarred towers piled atop each other. The walls bristled with catapults and ballistae, reading to bring death down upon anyone foolish enough to assault the harbor. But Caina barely noticed the grim Citadel, or the city sprawled at its foot.
    The massive black tower rising out of the Citadel’s heart drew her eye.
    It stood six hundred feet tall from crown to base, blacker than the night. It looked too delicate, too slender to stand, and yet it did. It had stood for a long time. It was older than the Empire. Perhaps it had been there before mortal man had ever come to Marsis, if the stories were true.
    “Welcome,” said Halfdan, “to Marsis. City of a thousand ships.”
    “I thought that was New Kyre,” said Caina. 
    Halfdan chuckled. “It is. But don’t tell the Lord Governor that, or any of the highborn. Marsis likes to pride itself as a city of trade, where any merchandise can be bought and sold.”
    “Like slaves?” muttered Caina. 
    She saw Ark staring at the city, face grim, and knew that he was thinking about his wife. 
    The docked ships drew her eye. She looked over the hundreds of ships, and wondered how many might carry chained slaves. 

Chapter 4 - Zorgi's Inn

    They pulled into a long line of carts waiting to enter the gates. The walls of Marsis loomed over them, gray and scarred from ancient battles. Caina remembered vaguely that Marsis had been conquered and retaken a score of times over the centuries. Though the Citadel and the black tower at its heart had only fallen from treachery, never from assault. 
    “What’s the plan?” she said.
    “We go to an inn,” said Halfdan. “Run by a friend of mine. Set up shop there. Then we’ll go looking for business.” 
    “And where, Father,” said Caina, watching the carts rumble through the gates, “shall we find business?” Four legionaries stood by the gates, asking questions of the drivers. 
    He glanced at her. “The noble Houses, I think. Noblewomen are vain and prideful and ever eager for more jewels to flaunt at their expensive balls. It should not be hard to get an invitation or two.” 
    Caina nodded, and their wagon pulled up to the gates.
    A legionary