A Storm of Chaos (The Hunter Legacy #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

Sneaking out of Shield Tower had been easier than Kaya expected.

After night fell, Kaya had leapt from her window to land on the stone passage below it and then kept to the dark crevices between the buildings of Shield Tower as she made her way toward it's front. The patrolling Shields had also been easy to predict, but Kaya supposed in a city like Brax where the threats were minimal it wasn't surprising defences were lax. Besides, the Shields were watching for someone sneaking in to the Tower – not sneaking out of it.

In the streets now, Kaya lifted the hood of her cloak and made her way further into the city proper. She was drawn by festive music and the gaggle of cheerful voices and laughter, but as she walked she admired the sunstones that were perched on almost every shop awning and street corner adorned with paper lanterns in all different colours, making the usual pale-white light of sunstones shed different hues. She walked under banners suspended between buildings and the closer she came to the heart of the celebrations more performers appeared in the streets, from dancers to jesters to fire-breathers.

Kaya spied two Shield Knights at the end of the street she walked, and instinct had her ducking into a narrow lane to avoid walking past them. She had changed out of the clothes with Klave's symbol on it, now adorning just a black tunic over leather-panelled leggings and a nondescript cloak, but she wouldn't put it past the Comavren to ensure every Shield had been made aware of the faces of those visiting from outside Braveya – just to be on the safe side. Kaya intended to be back in her rooms after the fireworks, but regardless she didn't need any witnesses to her little adventure.

Yet as Kaya moved through the quieter streets, where the decorations weren't as many and the sunstones shed their standard white light, she felt a shiver up her spine. Since the night was warm and the air was still, she knew it had nothing to do with temperature.

Kaya slowed, looking cautiously back over her shoulder. She had moved further away from the heart of the festival than she meant to.

There was a bang behind her and, startled, Kaya whipped back around with her hand going straight for her dagger. She saw only a young couple stagger out of a tavern after slamming open the door with the loud, delighted laughter that implied they'd had too much to drink. Together they stumbled away, their laughter turning into secretive giggles. Kaya almost rolled her eyes.

Their departure didn't ease her caution, though, because as she walked past the tavern, peering momentarily into the lit windows where silhouettes moved behind them and continued down the street that feeling of being watched didn't leave her. It was a sensation she was familiar with, since she experienced it frequently in Klave, and she had always been right.

Thrown back to those streets, Kaya's instincts kicked in. She kept walking, but her focus was behind her, and while her eyes looked ahead she concentrated only on the periphery of her vision. She itched to grab hold of her dagger, but she kept her hands by her sides, her fingers loosely curled in readiness to create fists. Casually she turned into an alley, but she flattened her back against the wall right at the alley's mouth. She counted the seconds, heard the faintest scuff of boot against stone, and silently slid her dagger from its sheath.

She saw his shadow first, the light from down the street casting it forward, and as it grew nearer she braced herself, all her weight and strength bunched in her legs in order to lunge with force.

He appeared then, and Kaya grabbed him by the front of his shirt with her free hand to throw him into the opposite wall in the alley. She raised her dagger to his neck and his empty hands came up in submission either side of him, but she froze when she realised who it was.