Read The White Assassin for Free Online Page B

insightful.
    “Night, you two,” said Stono, watching the pair run off.
    “Night,” called Carn as they disappeared into the dark.



CHAPTER THREE
Dig Him Up
    T HEY RACED TOWARD THE POND , but then made a wide circle so as not to be seen heading to the side of the manor. They sat against the side of the house, hidden by the pile of firewood where Carn and Telula had agreed to meet.
    Carn examined the trees, looking for any sign of her. At last he spotted her, a shadowy, flapping blur against the darkening sky. She flew down onto a low branch of the nearest tree.
    Carn took Oleander’s paw. “Telula,” he called in a whisper. “It’s Carn.”
    Telula dived swiftly down from her perch and landed atop the firewood. She looked at him, wide-eyed. “Carn, you’re alive!” she whispered happily. “We all thought—”
    “I know,” said Carn. “I’m sorry I worried you all, but I didn’t have a choice.”
    “Everyone will be so relieved—” Spotting Oleander, Telula froze for a moment, distressed. “And who is this?” she asked guardedly.

    “Don’t be alarmed,” answered Carn. “This is Oleander. She’s not like the others. She’s from a secret group within the horde, all smart like us.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” Oleander said softly, staring up at the bat. “Carn speaks highly of your colony and how you’ve all been so obliging to his kind—well, my kind. I know you think the horde a coarse and violent sort, but they just don’t know any better. They’re good on the inside—truly.”
    Telula felt embarrassed. How harshly she’d judged the swamp rats. “If you are a friend to Carn, then you are a friend to my colony. Our rat friends are numerous. We should have known there was more to the horde than what we saw from the trees … ignorance on our part, I’m afraid.”
    “Oleander and her group want to be rid of Billycan, same as us,” said Carn, climbing up on the logs to get closer to the bat. “Telula, you have to warn Juniper. Billycan is planning an attack on Nightshade in two days. There will be a feast tomorrow night, and then he’s taking the horde to Nightshade.”
    “Oleander, who is the leader of your group?” asked Telula. “Who is the elder in charge?”
    “That would be my father, Mannux,” said Oleander.
    “All right,” said Telula, thinking. “I’ll inform Juniper and Dresden of these new developments. My colony can get Juniper and the others into the manor, if Mannux and your group can keep Billycan occupied at the feast.”
    “No problem there,” said Carn with a guilty cringe. “I’m … well … his guest of honor.”
    “Carn!” scolded Telula. “What were you thinking? Unremarkable, remember?”
    Billycan looked out past the front gates of the manor. The moon had all but disappeared. A gluey fog had blown into the swamp, swallowing it entirely, as though heralding bad tidings. Except for the breeze whispering through the cypresses, the swamp was still—a welcoming calm. The horde slept in back, the sputtering of their snores too far away to hear.
    Ears perked, Billycan watched anxiously as the light from the fire pit bounced with tall shadows. There it stood—the boar. Billycan observed from the parlor window as the mud-caked razorback scraped its great body against the ancient willow and then pushed its way through an opening in the rusted gate. The thing had been wandering for days, hopelessly separated from its clan. It had torn up large mats of earth, searching for roots, mushrooms, and insects—whatever it deemed digestible.
    The boar was now perilously close to the horde. It would be only a matter of time before it sniffed them out through its muck-encrusted snout, plucking them off the ground, happily crushing them in its decaying teeth. The sooner it was killed, the better.
    Billycan had commanded the horde to dig a hole, big enough for the razorback to fall into but small enough that it could not turn about or clamber its way to freedom.