To Seduce An Assassin (The Omaja Series Book 2)(69)

She nodded nervously.

“Tor and Shor will be stationed right outside your door. Stay quiet and out of sight.”

She nodded, then touched his stubbled cheek. “Yavi—I don’t want you to be hurt. Please be careful.”

He grasped her hand and pressed his lips to her trembling fingers. “I will return to you in one piece, Sheir-zin. Don’t worry.”

When he left, she barred the door, reached under her bed to retrieve the shortsword he’d given her, and knelt on the rug before the fireplace to pray.

§

Yavi strapped on his swords and hurried down the main staircase to join his brother and Jiandra in the Great Hall, where the rest of the palace guards were assembled.

Jiandra rushed toward Yavi as he descended the stairs, eyes frantic. “Where’s Gracie?”

“I took her to her room. The door is barred, and two guards are stationed in the hall. But don’t worry, sister-in-law. Those bastards won’t get past us in the streets.”

She nodded.

Yavi turned to his guards. “Manck’s battalion is heading this way. We need to hold the invaders off from the palace until they arrive.”

“Who’s attacking us, Sire?” Guard Captain Harshad asked.

“Unknown. Could be rebellion fighters—they were attacking townspeople at random. Take some prisoners so we can interrogate them. Yajna and I will clear the side streets—you keep your men in the palace district, Harshad, clearing the main thoroughfare.” Yavi glanced at Yajna.

Yajna nodded, slinging his bow on his back. “Ready, brother.”

“I am ready, too,” Jiandra said.

The three of them left the palace, slipped out through the gate and into the shadows along the palace wall, then headed west toward an alleyway that led out of the palace district. Before long, the sound of screaming ahead drew their attention, and Yavi motioned Yajna and Jiandra to follow him as he ran down the alley to locate the source.

Three Nandals dressed in peasant clothes and carrying crude daggers were attacking a shopkeeper, while his wife stood nearby screaming.

“Cease!” Yavi shouted, drawing swords.

The attackers looked up. “It’s the usurper!”

Three of Yajna’s arrows flew past, each one hitting its mark, and the attackers fell dead.

Jiandra ran to heal the bleeding wound in the shopkeeper’s stomach. “Who were these men? Where did they come from?” she asked the wife.

“I not know, Your Highness,” the woman cried in broken Villeleian. “They come in shop, seize my husband, try to kill him here in street.”

Yajna grasped Jiandra’s arm. “Let’s keep moving.”

Yavi motioned them to follow him to a ladder on the side of the building, and they climbed up to run along the roofline. Soon they saw a bigger group of assailants in the square below, also dressed as peasants, trying to stab as many townspeople as they could get their hands on.

“Brother, take out as many as you can with arrows,” Yavi said. “Jiandra, come with me.”

He helped her climb down the side of the building they were on, dropping himself to the ground below and then reaching up to help her down to her feet. He drew his swords and motioned her to follow him. Just ahead of them, the attackers were dropping like flies with Yajna’s expert shots. Yavi headed for a large group of rebels who were surrounding a small group of Darpanians. He grabbed one attacker from behind and slit his throat, then spun and sliced the chest of the next one as he turned and lunged toward Yavi.

The rest of the rebels screamed, “Usurper!” and turned to attack Yavi with a crazed look in their eyes. It was something akin to the look Terijin had when they’d arrested him and thrown him into the dungeon. Yavi leapt and spun, taking out three of them with a double slice of his scimitars while his brother’s arrows felled the remaining two.

“You all right?” Jiandra shouted from behind him. “No injuries?”

“No, nothing. These men are untrained fighters. If this is someone’s idea of a rebellion, it’s not very well executed.” Yavi lunged to take down another attacker with his blades before the man could kill a Darpanian he was dragging into the street by the neck. Once the attacker was immobilized and his captive ran free, Yavi looked around for any remaining rebels in the square.

Yajna’s arrows had taken out all but four aggressors, and Yavi ran to make short work of them with his scimitars before motioning Jiandra to retreat with him into the shadows of the alley beside the building where Yajna’s lookout point was.

Yajna dropped from the roof to the cobblestones next to them. “This is too easy, brother. Something’s not right. I don’t like it.”

Yavi nodded his agreement. “Let’s head to the temple, make sure the priests are safe. Jiandra, try to read the minds of some of the attackers before we kill them this time.”

They encountered another small group of rebellion fighters on the way, dealt with them, and paused for Jiandra to heal the wounded Darpanians before continuing on to the temple of Darpan. When they entered the courtyard, Yavi signaled Yajna to climb up to the front balcony while he and Jiandra ran around to the side. Yajna tossed up his grappling hook while Yavi and Jiandra slunk along in the shadows of the temple wall, eventually reaching a side entrance that led to the hall of the dead below the sanctuary.