Fire Weaver (Fall of the Fey #1)

Chapter 17

Ferra stuck to the alleys and avoided the light that lit up the night. A crescent moon hung low in the sky and the streetlights sparkled like the night stars, guiding the way of the night guards. Ferra was used to sneaking around them, knew their routes like the lines of her palm. She usually stuck to the roofs but tonight her attention had been caught by two red-heads strolling down the street without a care in the world. They weren't part of the King's guard because they weren't wearing the colours blue and gold. They didn't move like the guards, who moved with the relaxed boredom from walking the same streets every night. No, these two crazies were close together, glancing around nervously like they weren't sure of the area. She could see them from where she hid and knew that in three minutes the guards would turn down the intersection at the end of the street and see the two idiots as well. As they passed Ferra's spot in the alley she pulled them out of the street.

Well, that was the plan. As soon as she grabbed the girl's arm the man had Ferra pressed up against the wall of the alley. His hand around her throat tightened as she gasped. It took all her willpower not to try to struggle out of the hold. She needed to get them to trust her if she wanted to help them, which she was already regretting.

'Who are you?' He asked her, his face way too close to hers. She struggled to shift her head away but his hand tightened every time she tried to move away.

'Faux, let her go,' the girl said. Her voice was so musical Ferra thought that even if the girl said the worst words in the world she would still sound sweet. The hand left her throat but he still remained close. Ferra rubbed her throat and looked cautiously around the building and saw a guard looking right back at her. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, Ferra's face was exactly the same.

'Hey!' the guard yelled as she whispered: 'shit.'

'Follow me.' She told them not really caring if they did or not, this little adventure had now become about saving her own skin just as much as the stranger's. She grabbed the sill of the window and pulled herself up the wall, she could hear the clomping of the guards shoes on the tiled pathway coming closer. It had been the first time in months she had been spotted by one of the guard. She was stupid to help the idiots. Ferra should have let them get caught.

'You! Stop!' The guard yelled he pulled out the whistle all the guards carry and blew. The shrill sound was hard to miss in the silence of the night.

She could hear the sound of the guards mobilising all through the city in response. Ferra didn't hesitate when she got to the top of the building, this city was hers. She knew every nick and cranny and she knew how to get out of tougher situations than the one she was in now. Except all those times she was alone and now she had to save the two idiots as well as herself.

She led them over two other roofs and started climbing down a drainpipe. She waited for them on the ground. 'Hurry up!' she whispered to them. As the girl climbed down the pipe the guy just jumped off of the roof and landed lightly next to her. He grinned when he saw how unnerved Ferra was. She shook it off, pushed one of the giant bins to the side, and pulled herself through the crack between the building and the ground. The girl was the first one through again and then the guy followed. Ferra pulled the bin back in place and paused when she heard a thump upstairs. The guards had started searching houses or the owner of the house had heard them enter.

The girl opened her mouth but Ferra shook her head vigorously and opened a trap door in the floor and gestured for them to get in. She wasn't enthusiastic about the next leg of the journey. It was always faster to run by the roofs but it would be safer to go by the smelly dank underground while she had the others with her. She winced at the putrid oder and she saw the girl hesitate.

They both jumped in one after the other before Ferra so that she could pull the trapdoor closed behind them. The owners will hear the slap of the door but it was the closest entrance to the sewer system. All of the houses had hatches to the sewers, which in turn led to the ocean. The trapdoors were the most convenient way to get out of the city but not the best place to be during rain season, Ferra was thanking her lucky stars it wasn't that time of the year just yet.