Silver Skeletons: Book 3 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Seventeen: The League of Assassins

"A Slave must obey its owner's rules, excluding rules that violate the Law of Noelle. If a Slave Owner experiences consistent disobedience from his or her Slave, the owner may dispose of that Slave. All Slave deaths must be reported to the Association of Slave Owners within forty-eight hours of the death."

Rein shot above the trees to remain out of sight and then dove back down into the forest once she believed that she was well ahead of the cloaked woman. When she found Gideon again, she peered behind him to see that his pursuer had made incredible progress and was right on his tail. The moment of truth had arrived. Rein opened her mouth to call out Gideon's name.

"Gideon!" The fiery redhead had beat her to it.

Gideon spun around towards the voice and drew his panabas sword. The woman skidded to a stop at the sight of the curved blade.

"Ezra!" Gideon cried out in return. "You'd best keep your distance, I fear no flame!"

"Gideon, I have no intent to fight you," Ezra assured.

"You expect me to believe you after my brothers and sisters of Iah-Ra turned on me all at once?" Gideon challenged.

"They are not Iah-Ra!" Ezra insisted. "And they are not your family. True Iah-Ra would have listened and considered your words, which is what I desire to do."

"Gideon!" called another voice from the distance.

Immediately, Gideon and Ezra turned their attentions towards the new voice and Ezra drew her double-sided brandistock. She waited to engage the retractable blades of the polearm as she and Gideon watched two forms emerge from the foliage. The strangers came to a sudden stop when they saw Gideon and Ezra standing with their weapons drawn.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" cried the brown-haired soldier. "We side with you, Brother!"

"Why is it only you two?" Ezra asked. "Where are the others?"

"We led them astray once we realized where you were headed," he answered.

"Some are still capable of tracking," said his blonde friend. "It would be wise to continue this conversation elsewhere, even if the refuge is temporary."

"I don't find it wise to travel anywhere with any of you," Gideon said.

"Then we will start away first and you can follow from behind," said the brown-haired one. "But this is nowhere to discuss anything at the moment."

"Why should I believe that any of you are even willing to listen?" Gideon asked.

"Because it's what a true Iah-Ra would do," Ezra answered. "But I agree with Jed and Eli, we should talk elsewhere."

"There's a pub in the city which is too loud for anyone to hear us speak," suggested Elion, the one Ezra called Eli.

Jedidiah, whom she called Jed, snapped his fingers. "Giff's Pub! Excellent choice! Drinks on me! What do you say?"

***

Giff's Pub was essentially Arcor as a whole, only within four weathered and neglected walls located near Main Port. Here, the four League of Assassins members carried on their conversation away from the patrons who threw each other into walls and bashed each other with chairs. They sat at a precarious table in a distant corner as far away from the chaos as possible. However, bits of food and the occasional splash of mead found their way to the table every now and then.

Rein didn't like being inside the city of Arcor due to the massive number of career criminals, but this small group offered much information that she believed could be very useful in the near future. She spotted a hole where the roof met the wall and squeezed through it to gain access to their conversation next to Jedidiah's seat.