Page 27 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)

It felt somewhat lazy to use the same method to get into the governor’s office as last time, but it really was the easiest and best way.

With my hair tied up and tucked under a boy’s cap, and my face smeared with soot, I wasn’t questioned as I traipsed alongside the cleaners just before dawn.

This time I knew which office belonged to my uncle.

I waited for the other cleaners to leave, then opened the same locked casket on the desk where I’d found the document with King Alain’s seal.

This time it held only money. I doubted Uncle Roderic would have hidden the pendant anywhere else in the office, but I continued to search.

It wasn’t in the desk drawers, however, including under the false bottom in the lowest one.

There were no locked boxes hidden in wall cavities behind the hanging pictures, and nothing up the chimney.

I scanned the bookshelves, checking for any sign that one or more of the books were moved more frequently than the others, but the shelves were entirely devoid of dust all the way along.

If there was a hiding spot behind them, the only way of knowing would be to remove each one, and my fingers were covered in soot now. They’d leave marks.

One book caught my eye, however. The title on the spine was familiar. I pulled it off the shelf to see the front cover. It was red leather with gold lettering and a sun and moon motif in the center. I’d seen the symbol before on a book in Giselle’s collection in Upway.

The gold on the cover glinted in the weak dawn light coming through the window. The city was about to wake. It was time to leave. Time to ask Giselle why she kept me from reading the book each time I showed an interest in it.

Voices drifted along the corridor as two guards stopped for a chat.

I listened, waiting for them to continue on their way.

More people entered the corridor, however, their footsteps heavy with exhaustion.

The dull clunk of brooms and mops knocking against full buckets signaled the departure of the cleaners. I needed to leave with them.

I tucked the book into the waistband of my trousers and covered it with my shirt and jerkin, then I cracked open the door and peered out.

As the cleaners passed, I stepped in beside them.

The two guards at the end of the corridor weren’t paying attention and continued to chat as we headed in their direction.

They were interrupted by another guard, however.

He beckoned them with a crook of his finger.

They ceased their chatter and followed him.

I relaxed a little more. It had been an easy morning’s work.

The book’s hard cover dug into my stomach, but I ignored it. I didn’t want to draw attention to it while I was in the open. The punishment for theft was still imprisonment, although my uncle had never got his way and seen to it that thieves were hanged.

I was certain no one followed me after I peeled away from the other cleaners, or when I walked back through streets touched by dawn’s light to the Cat and Mouse. That self-assured certainty was my downfall.

A mere street from the tavern, two men blocked my way.

I recognized them. I’d seen them a short while ago in the corridor outside my uncle’s office.

They still wore their guards’ livery. I turned and ran, but another two blocked the exit.

As with Giselle’s final test in Upway, they were all armed with swords, and all looked capable of using their fists. They were also bigger than me.

But I’d been taught to use my size to my advantage. I had no sword, but I did have a knife. I withdrew it and crouched, ready to spring. They closed in, smiling at the prospect of capturing their quarry.

Heart pounding, I held the knife between my teeth and jumped.

I used a nearby barrel to push off and spring higher, somersaulting over the men, then grabbed the edge of the tiled roof.

The book fell out of its hiding place as I did so, and one of the men kicked it aside.

As two of them came close, I swung my legs and kicked one in the head, sending him toppling against his companion.

Hanging one-handed, I lashed out with my knife and feet at the other two, keeping them at bay.

I wouldn’t have time to haul myself onto the roof.

I had to battle through. With just a knife, I would be no match for skilled swordsmen, but if I could steal one of their swords, I’d be in with a better chance.

I quickly studied them all, wanting to choose the slowest as my target.

But there wasn’t a slow one among them. They held their swords like experts.

There was no more time to waste. I had to act. I swung my body and used the momentum to land some distance from the closest of my attackers. I kicked up a soggy flyer in the gutter and aimed it at him. It was a pathetic projectile and he simply batted it away.

He came at me again, his three companions alongside him. I couldn’t fight off all of them at once.

I sank into a recessed doorway and tried the handle at my back. Locked. There was no time to pick it. If safety waited for me beyond the door, I couldn’t get to it. I had to take my chances outside.

I changed plans. I would surrender. Tactical surrender, Giselle had called it. Lull them into a false sense of security and use my second hidden weapon to catch them off guard.

The men, however, stopped as a fifth one arrived. Despite being elderly and unarmed, seeing him sent a chill down my spine.

“Good morning, niece.” Uncle Roderic’s twisted smile contrasted sharply with his casual greeting. “I’m so pleased to see you alive and well, Jacqueline. I’m sure you must be keen to go home. Please. Come with me. We have so much to talk about.”

The four guards all pointed their swords at my chest. I dropped my knife and put my hands in the air.