Read Shadow Chaser for Free Online

abuse from all sides, I pulled my dagger out of its sheath and held it with the blade along my forearm, so that the weapon would be less obvious to the people around me, and I ran over to the spot where I had seen my old acquaintance just a second earlier.
    “What is it?” asked Eel, springing up beside me like a shadow. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
    “Yeah,” I answered, without taking my eyes off the crowd. “A ghost. But, unfortunately, a live one.”
    “Who was it?”
    “An old enemy,” I said gloomily, putting the dagger away in its sheath.
    “There are so many people here … you could have been mistaken.”
    “Yes…,” I said after a pause, and ran my eyes round the market again. “I hope I imagined it…”
    But I couldn’t have imagined it! That man had been far too like the hired killer Rolio. As we walked back, I kept glancing round all the time, but I didn’t spot anyone who looked like Paleface.
    The gnome and the dwarf had disappeared, and the goblin stood alone, hopping from one foot to the other.
    “Harold, what’s happening to you? Are you well?” Kli-Kli asked, looking solicitously into my eyes. “Who was it you saw that sent you galloping across the market like a herd of crazed Doralissians?”
    “Oh, no one. It was a mistake. Where have Deler and Hallas got to?”
    “The dwarf dragged the gnome into a barber’s shop,” Kli-Kli answered. “And what kind of old acquaintance was it, if he deserves your knife blade under his ribs?”
    “Paleface,” I replied tersely.
    “Oh!” the goblin said, and paused. He had heard plenty about this character. “Did he see you?”
    “You know, my friend, that’s the very question that’s bothering me. I hope not, otherwise there’s trouble in store, and not just for me. The character that Rolio works for would be glad to finish us all off.”
    “The Master?” the goblin guessed.
    “Yes.”
    “What are you talking about?” Eel had never heard about any Master.
    “Don’t bother your head about it,” I told the warrior. “Let’s just say you could get something sharp under your shoulder blade at any moment. As soon as Hallas gets his tooth fixed we’ll go back, and then Alistan and Miralissa can rack their brains over what to do next. I said we shouldn’t come into Ranneng!”
    “The halt was absolutely necessary. You know that perfectly well.”
    “You’re very talkative, Eely-beely! Is there some reason for that?” Kli-Kli asked.
    “Go and grin at someone else, Kli-Kli,” the Garrakian said good-humoredly. “Let’s go. Deler might need help.”
    “I’m warning you now,” I said hurriedly. “I didn’t volunteer to hold the gnome!”
    It was annoying that the goblin and the Wild Heart both turned a deaf ear to my warning. I wonder why in certain situations certain people suffer from a selective loss of hearing. I sighed bitterly and trudged toward the barber’s shop, following my comrades.
    Hallas, bright red in the face, came leaping toward us out of the door of the shop, almost knocking the jester off his feet. The goblin only just managed to jump out of the way. Deler came flying out after Hallas. The color of the gnome’s face would have put any beetroot to shame.
    “What’s happened?” I asked.
    “That…!” the gnome roared so loudly that everyone in the market could hear him and pointed back at the door of the shop.
    “Shut up!” Deler hissed, pulling his hat down over his eyes.
    “I told you, shut up! Let’s get out of here!”
    “But what’s happened?” I asked again.
    “That cretin who slept with a donkey wants money!” the gnome roared.
    “Errr…,” said Eel, who didn’t understand a thing, either. “It’s quite usual to pay a barber money, isn’t it?”
    “But not three gold pieces! Have you ever heard of anyone taking three gold pieces for a rotten tooth?”
    “No, I haven’t.”
    I hadn’t, either. Three gold pieces was a lot of money. For that much you could get all