‘Do it!’ he snarled. I noted that he was staying well back.
Rather than wait to be escorted out, I pushed past the goblins and made for the stairs. They seemed happy enough to let me go. By the time I reached the doorway, satisfied that I’d done enough to have Ange transferred somewhere the wraith couldn’t get to her, they were moving warily in her direction.
I darted up and away before any of them thought to interrogate me further. I might still have more questions than answers but I was getting close to something. Whatever the hell it was.
Chapter Ten
I’d barely stepped out of the Tolbooth when a plan began to form in my mind. It was as risky as a teenage boy in a garden shed with his dad’s old magazines but I was starting to feel virtually untouchable. I only needed to make enough of a diversion and there was a good chance could free Ange.
With the cold afternoon sun shining down, I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about the wraith coming after me but, just to be sure, I stayed on the sunny side of the street and occasionally checked the shadows. There was no sign of him. I hoped that the goblins were so keen to find out what was inside Ange’s head that they’d keep her safe until I could put my plan into action. She’d been scared, sure, but she hadn’t appeared mistreated. There were no visible signs of torture and these days that counted as a win.
I rounded the corner, sticking my hands in my pockets and humming tunelessly to myself. Then I froze. I’d broken my number one rule and allowed complacency to get the better of me. Less than twenty feet away, surrounded by goblins and humans and staring right at me, was Gabriel de Florinville. His momentary shock was replaced with a look of dark, glittering satisfaction. He pushed away the two nearest goblins and strode towards me.
My default in a fight or flight situation is always flight but for some reason, my feet felt like clay. Move, insisted an urgent voice in my head. Run. My thoughts collided and I finally managed to get my body to obey my will. I turned to leave but it was already too late. De Florinville’s hand shot out and clamped round my arm, swinging me towards him until we were inches apart.
‘Saiya.’ He said my name possessively and an involuntary shiver ran through me. ‘You escaped. You’re alright.’
I tore away my gaze from his, realising that there were several dozen humans and goblins. They included Ghrashbreg, who was staring at me thoughtfully and rubbing his chin, and Rymark, whose eyes were narrowed with deep suspicion.
I glanced at de Florinville. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me for a second. ‘Hi,’ I said weakly. ‘Yeah, I escaped.’
There was a shout from behind. ‘Lord Ghrashbreg!’
My heart sank. I recognised that voice. My dodgy plan was falling apart before it had even started. I watched in dismay as the lead goblin from the Tolbooth’s depths marched towards. ‘There was a wraith in the Tolbooth! It was…’ he paused, apparently realising too late that he had an audience ‘…in the bottom basement.’
Ghrashbreg’s gaze snapped to his underling. ‘What?’ he roared. Members of the crowd gasped in horror and stepped back as if they were about to be attacked by a shadow monster at any moment.
The hapless Tolbooth goblin swallowed. I tried to use the distraction to wrest my arm away from de Florinville. He released his grip but instead of letting me go, he curved an arm round my waist and drew me to him until I could feel the hard length of his body against mine. Instead of horror at his physical proximity, something entirely different stirred deep within my groin. Um…
‘Don’t worry,’ he murmured into my ear. ‘No wraith is a match for me. I won’t let it take you again.’ He looked up at Ghrashbreg, his voice hardening. ‘We have to capture it.’
Ghrashbreg stared at me. ‘The prisoner?’ he barked at the Tolbooth guard.
‘She’s fine,’ he answered.
‘She’d better be.’ Ghrashbreg cast his narrowed gaze up and down my body and I felt de Florinville stiffen next to me.
‘Which prisoner?’ asked the Dark Elf. His tone suggested nothing more than mild curiosity but I could hear the steel beneath.
‘No one that concerns you,’ Ghrashbreg answered. ‘You should get your Fior Ghal back to the castle. I’m not sure she’s safe in Stirling. Clearly, she’s a target for this wraith. Perhaps it would be wise for you both to take your leave.’
No chance. With a concerted effort, I wrenched myself away from de Florinville. He looked slightly puzzled rather than angry. ‘I’ve got things to do,’ I said huffily. ‘I’m not going anywhere other than home.’
Gabriel de Florinville chuckled. ‘You don’t need to go back there. I’m going to take you to my home instead. I’m sure you’ll like it.’ My mouth dropped open while he looked at Ghrashbreg. ‘But first I want to find this wraith. And I want to know who this prisoner of yours is. There must be a connection with him and Saiya if the wraith is after both of them.’
I could have happily slapped him. Ghrashbreg was already coming to that conclusion himself but the Dark Elf didn’t need to bloody well spell it out for him. ‘You forget whose city you are in,’ the goblin growled.
The air crackled with the tension. Desperately seeking a way to defuse it – and to extract myself from this deepening pile of manure – I took a deep breath. ‘Look, I think that…’
I was prevented from saying anything else by a sudden high-pitched whistle from overhead. All at once people scattered in every direction; screams and panicked yells rent the air. It was over a year since we’d last heard that sound but we all knew what it was – a Gneiss shelling bombardment.
De Florinville reached for me again, yanking me backwards and down onto the ground just in time. The missile smacked into the corner building, sending dust and stone and shrapnel flying in all directions. De Florinville’s body covered mine, pressing me down. I could feel the rapid thud of his heartbeat and smell the musky spice of his skin. Then the smoke cleared; where I’d been standing there was now a massive pile of rubble. Shit. That had been really close.
‘Thanks,’ I muttered to the Elf. I wriggled out from underneath him and stood, brushing myself down. A heartbeat later there was another whine. This time it careened into a building ahead of us about a hundred metres away. I stared at the devastation then at the cloud of smoke and new debris crashing onto the road. Oh God. Between here and there, there was only one building that mattered: the Gneiss goblins were aiming for the Tolbooth. Suddenly there was no question in my mind as to why, especially if they’d been the ones to send in the wraith. I’d done the wrong thing in letting my supposed kin leave. I started to run.
I was dimly aware of de Florinville shouting my name and then Rymark shouting his. The visitors could do whatever they wanted to; I had to get Ange out of there before the entire building came down. Leaping over the rubble and choking in the clouds of dust, I sprinted for the Tolbooth’s entrance.
A large chunk of stone broke off from the jutting roof and crashed down towards me. I narrowly avoided getting crushed by it, veering away in the nick of time. Small fires were already alight, flickering both outside and inside what remained of the buildings. I pulled up the collar of my dark jumper to cover my mouth and nose and ducked underneath a beam that had fallen in front of the Tolbooth’s doorway.
If visibility was low outside then inside I was virtually blind. Even detaching my shadow wouldn’t work here. It wasn’t the darkness, it was the smoke from the fires and the dust that were saturating every particle of the air. Within seconds my eyes were streaming.
I felt someone push up against my back and grab me. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ exploded Gabriel de Florinville.
I pushed him off. ‘Piss off. Someone I know is in here and I’m going to get them out.’
‘You can’t…’
His words were swallowed by a small explosion from what I assumed was a gas canister. Three men barrelled past us, slamming into our bodies before they exited, and de Florinville staggered away from me. I ignored him. He was a Dark Elf; he could look after himself.
I plunged in deeper, weaving round fallen stones and furniture. The unmistakable sound of another missile reached my ears and the ground rocked.
‘Gabri…’ Rymark’s voice was lost as the Tolbooth’s entrance crashed down behind us, blocking our way out. That wasn’t good.
Hoping there would be another way out, I kept going. ‘Ange!’ I yelled, flailing my arms blindly in front of me. ‘Ange! Where are you?’
‘Saiya!’
I muttered a curse. De Florinville was really starting to get on my nerves. I ignored him and pressed on. ‘Ange!’ I shouted once more.
This time there was an answer. From the far corner, beside the staircase, there was a weak croak. ‘Here. Saiya, I’m here.’
I bounded towards her, stubbed my toe on more rubble and grimaced before continuing. It took longer than it should have to reach her but at least with the staircase beside her there was pocket of air that made it easier to breathe. I rubbed at my streaming eyes; when that didn’t work, I fumbled to see where she was tied up. There was a set of handcuffs holding her arms behind her back and a chain that appeared to be looped to the wall. I tugged at it, doing everything I could to pull it away but it wouldn’t budge. Yelling in frustration, I tried harder until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Bloody de Florinville. Again. He squeezed for a moment and then reached past me. I heard some kind of murmur, archaic words that I didn’t recognise, and there was a clink as Ange’s handcuffs fell open.