Read Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks for Free Online

wildly, she grabbed the first thing she could: Haern’s wounded leg. The boy hung from the roof by his hands, and though his grip seemed like iron, she could hear his grunts of pain. She swung her foot farther to the side, onto what remained of the windowsill. When she let go of his leg, she heard him exhale slowly, as if he fought to control his pain. A moment later he was atop the roof and gone from her sight.
    The rest of the way up was easy, and when she got there she found Haern lying on his back, tears running down the sides of his face.
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “We can hide here, surely the guards won’t see…”
    “They will,” Haern said. “They can see us from the street. Even if it takes all night, they’ll find us.”
    Kayla sighed. He was right, of course. The roof was not perfectly flat, but instead sharply angled, with triangles rising up to make a space for windows. If they hunkered down they might go unnoticed for a while, but any searching eyes would eventually spot them. Slowly Haern shifted all his weight to his left leg and tried to stand. Kayla gently put her hands underneath his elbows and helped him.
    “I’ll scream when I jump,” he said. “Ignore it. I’ll be fine.”
    And then he was off, showing no sign of his injury. The roof, while angled, was still wide and offered plenty of room for a running start. In between the spikes of the gate were thick strips of the dark iron, and it was for them he dove like a swan. With both hands he latched on, and when his body swung downward, he kicked off the bars with his good leg. Feet in the air, he vaulted over the spikes and landed on the smooth carpet of grass on the other side.
    Kayla felt her lips tremble at the display. Perhaps it would be better to remain on the rooftop, hoping the guards would miss her. They weren’t searching for her, after all, just the strange, incredibly trained teenage boy who fought like an assassin. She couldn’t possibly mimic his act, could she?
    She made her decision. With her longer legs, perhaps there was another way…
    In a single quick motion she unbuckled her belt, counted to three, and then ran off the side of the house. When the fence neared, she looped the belt around one of the spikes and then did her best to hold in a shout of pain as her body rammed into the bars. She started to fall, but then the belt tightened. Using a technique similar to Haern’s, she kicked off the bars and somersaulted. Her breath caught in her throat as she passed over the incredibly sharp tips. She pictured herself impaled, her corpse upside down like some grotesque ornament, and then closed her eyes to banish the image.
    Then she was over, and blessed ground met her feet. She rolled along, then scrambled toward the nearest tree. Compared to the house, it made easy climbing with its many shoots and branches. Haern was waiting for her among the leaves.
    “Keep quiet,” he whispered. Tears ran down his face, but he kept the sobs out of his voice. With a slender hand he pointed through a gap in the leaves where the street was visible to them both. Soldiers ran past, torches in hand. They scoured the area, but not once did they inspect the land behind the walls.
    “Laurie Keenan’s property might as well be a foreign nation,” Kayla whispered. “No city guard will dare trespass onto property of a lord of the Trifect, not in the middle of the night for a whelp like you. A smart call, though you have the courage of a lion to leap like you did. If your knee had buckled…”
    “It didn’t,” Haern said. “Not until I landed.”
    She pulled up his pant leg and looked. His knee had already turned a shade of blue, with the very center an ugly brown. When she touched it with her fingers, she could tell it was badly swollen.
    “We need it wrapped and iced,” she whispered. “And you need to give it rest.”
    Haern nodded. “How long can we hide here?” he asked.
    Kayla shrugged. “We’re pressing our luck as is,