Shadows Read Free Page B

and they tried again. This time they managed it. Another tall wave doused them both with spray and sluiced freezing water around their ankles, almost tugging them down again, but Mara held on, though she was now so thoroughly soaked that her teeth, too, were chattering. “Hold on t-t-to me,” she gasped out.
    â€œRight . . .” he mumbled.
    Together, they began struggling back toward the Secret City. The young man . . .
he can’t be more than twenty
, Mara thought, glancing sideways at his smooth-shaven, unlined face,
maybe younger
 . . . was a head taller than her, but thin enough that she was able to support him without trouble.
    Even as she thought it, his feet slipped on the ice and he fell, dragging her down with him so that she sprawled across him once again, this time over his back. Her knees had both cracked hard against the ground as she fell, and she sat up and rubbed them. “Ow,” she said.
    The youth rolled over. “S-s-s-sorry,” he said.
    â€œIt’s all right,” Mara said. “We’re alm-m-m-ost th-there.”
    â€œWhere?” the youth said as she helped him stand again.
    â€œThe Se-secret Ci-city,” Mara said, then clamped shut her chattering teeth, wondering if she’d said more than she should.
    Well, he’s going to see it for himself soon enough, isn’t he?
    â€œWhat’s your n-name?” she said as they struggled along, the going a little easier now they were past the defile leading up to the pastures. “I’m Ma-ma-mara Holdfast.”
    â€œChell,” he said. “Royal Korellian Navy.” The chatter of his teeth had stopped, but his speech was slurred. “At your service. May I have this dance?” He blinked sleepily at her. “Actually, rather tired. Think I need a nap. Dance later.”
    The name was outlandish, the rest gibberish; clearly the cold was making him delirious.
Catilla will have to figure this one out
, Mara thought.
    The youth leaned harder and harder against her, his weight dragging at her, and then, with the cove still a hundred yards away, slipped away from her entirely. She clutched at him and managed to slow his fall, but when he hit the ground he lay motionless, eyes closed, cheek pressed against the icy stone.
    Mara straightened and ran for the Secret City, slipping and sliding and shouting for help.
    As bad luck would have it, there was no one in the drifted space between the cliffs, but when she dashed into the Broad Way she saw Hyram and Keltan coming toward her, hair wet, faces shining, carrying towels; they’d obviously just come from bathing in the underground lake. “Hi, Mara!” Keltan said cheerfully, and then his eyes widened as he took in her soaked clothing and red face. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œStranger,” Mara gasped out with what little breath she had. At least the exertion had stopped her teeth from chattering. “On the beach . . . freezing . . . hurry!”
    The two boys exchanged startled glances, then dropped their towels on the floor and ran after her into the cold. The Broad Way was cold enough that they wore proper boots and light jackets, despite having just come from the baths, and they followed her across the snow-covered space between the cove, then outdistanced her and ran ahead, leaving her to pant along in their wake, when they spotted the strange golden-haired youth’s dark form on the beach.
    Within minutes they had carried him inside and up the stairs to the chambers of healing, where Mara had spent far too much time herself. Asteria, granddaughter of Grelda, the Secret City’s nonmagical Healer, looked up from chopping herbs as Hyram and Keltan carried the unconscious stranger into the whitewashed chamber. Lanterns and firelight provided the only illumination, since the shutters over the narrow window slits had been closed to keep out the chill. “Go get your