Page 106 of Harbinger

The docks skirt the edge of Wolf’s Keep, and I keep my head down, counting steps and listening for anything out of place. This close to the water, the wind sends mist up to swallow the stars. Between a series of warehouses, wooden piers jut into black water, ropes creaking and ships rocking restlessly against their moorings. Lanterns flicker low and far apart, their light smeared by fog and spray, and beyond their faint glow is nothing but an endless abyss. Past the last pier, the land rises again in a ragged line of trees, their branches clawing at the sky.

Jude moves with that easy confidence, whistling under his breath like this is any other night.

Kieren leans close. “See? We’re almost there.”

We’re only a few feet from the docks when Jude stops so suddenly that I nearly run into him.

His head snaps toward the dark between the warehouses, head angled as though he’s caught a sound the rest of us can’t.

Unease prickles over my skin.

“Problem?” Kieren asks.

But Jude doesn’t answer. He lifts a hand without turning around. “Stay close.”

His hand disappears into his coat and reappears with a knife.

Something is wrong.

The words are on my lips, but it’s already too late.

“Run,” Jude shouts as the night explodes around us.

Shadows peel away from the warehouses and spring toward us. But I can’t make my legs move, even when a figure lunges from between two stacked crates and slams into Jude’s back.

There’s a flash of metal. Jude swears and ducks just as a sword carves through the air where his throat was a second before.

He shoves me back hard enough that I stumble, my heel catching on a warped plank. Our packs thud on the wooden pier, and Kieren catches me.

“Get to the trees,” Jude barks, and his knife flashes again as he drives it into the first man who reaches for me. His scream tears through the docks.

For one panicked moment, I wonder if this is Bishop.

If he found the note. If he’s come to stop us, lock me up in Miradores, and drag Kieren back to face charges.

To the left, someone else shouts, “There! That’s the witch!”

At the word, my stomach pitches. It’s not Bishop.

And whoever they are, they aren’t alone. More figures spill from the dark.

There are too many of them.

Kieren’s grip tightens, trying to pull me away. “Arden.”

“Don’t say her name,” Jude growls, as if it’s a lure. He slashes again, buying us a heartbeat. “Get out of here!”

Kieren yanks me forward, dragging me off the pier and onto solid ground. We sprint toward the dark line of trees. My legs scream as the ground slants up into scrub and bramble. Jude is still behind us, snarling curses. The sound of the fight follows us. Boots skidding. Steel clattering against steel.

I slow for a step. We should go back. We paid him for passage to the Lost Continent. Not to die.

“We have to keep going,” Kieren pants, grabbing my cloak and urging me faster.

I finally look back when we reach the trees, just in time to see a sword pierce Jude’s rib cage. He staggers, one hand going to his side. Something dark gleams between his fingers. Blood. More than a cut. Too much.

He catches my eye for one brief second. His face is grim, almost apologetic.

Like he knows this is it.