From the Ashes [Guilded Kingdoms: Book 1][Book sample; rest in KU]

Chapter 3

Though she didn't screech – a feat that she was rather proud of or at least would have been were she not desperately trying to regain purchase on the roof she was about to slide off of after being startled and losing her balance – Lael could feel a scream ready to break out as she struggled to save herself from the new, precarious position she found herself in. With only one hand free to grip the roof peak and to try to pull herself up by, she was fighting a losing battle while, with her other hand, she clutched to her chest the book and sheet of paper she'd brought to keep from losing them and refused to let them go.

Lael's fingers hurt from digging into the slate tile to keep from slipping, but she could already feel them weakening and sliding and it wouldn't be long until, like her piece of charcoal, she too went plummeting towards the ground. It was about a twelve foot drop to the ground and all Lael could think of was how was she going to be able to explain this to her stepmother, assuming she survived the fall.

"Hang on!" she heard a man's voice say, the same one that had caused her current predicament.

Above her, she heard a thud that must have been her would-be rescuer jumping down from the roof above the one she was about to take a tumble off, but she didn't look up. If she let go of the objects she was holding, she might be able to grab the peak with her other hand, but there was no way of knowing what would happen to the book and paper. Paper wasn't cheap and Lael knew Bridget had to have paid a substantial amount for the quality of this one and, while the book wasn't particularly special to her beyond her natural fondness for them, there were people below that might be injured if she was just to let it fall.

Just when Lael thought her fingers were about to give out and send her hurtling off the roof, she felt the cold contact of fingers wrap around her wrist and begin to try and pull her up. It wasn't going to be enough.

"Give me your other hand!"

Lael shook her head. "I can't! If I let go, they'll fall."

"If you don't let go, they'll fall anyway only with you to keep them company! I hardly think they'll do much to break your fall," he urged her.

Looking over her shoulder slightly, Lael gave a slight shriek as she saw just how much of a fall it would be. It was amazing how much higher it all looked when one was about to make intimate acquaintance with the ground below.

"Give me your hand!" he urged again, his voice slightly strained as she felt his fingers tighten around her wrist.

With only a half-second more hesitation, Lael released her hold on the book and paper and reached up with her newly freed hand to find his other one already waiting for it.

With both of her hands in his, he was finally able to pull Lael back up to the top of the roof.

"Thank you," Lael panted out, breathing hard with her head down and eyes closed as she tried to keep her heart from beating out of her chest from the fright she'd just had.

"You're welcome," her rescuer sounding not much better than Lael did.

Lifting her head, Lael looked at him for the first time that night. He was slumped against where the building rose to meet the upper level roof, and there looked to be a rope tied around his waist and dangling down from the roof above. As near as she could tell in the dark with her candle being on the wrong side and offering little help, yet by some miracle still intact and looking not the least bit disturbed, and Lael disinclined to rectify it at that moment as her arms felt like limp noodles he looked to be roughly her age, possibly a few years older.

"Just why are you up here anyway? Most people wanting to observe Master Fardin would simply join the throng below," he asked when he'd found his breath, his head gesturing to where excited onlookers still encircled the artist and his demonstration.