The Traitor Queen Read Free

Air rasped in and out of his lungs. His whole body ached, and his legs wobbled as he forced
     them to keep jogging onward. He made himself think of the danger Anyi was in. She would be the first one the assassins killed
     if they caught up. He couldn’t let that happen.
    Something grabbed at his ankles and he toppled forward.
    The ground wasn’t as flat or hard as he expected, but heaved and rolled, and muffled curses were coming from it. Gol – now
     invisible in utter darkness. The lamps had gone out. Cery rolled aside.
    “Shut up,” a voice whispered.
    “Do it, Gol,” Cery ordered. Gol fell silent.
    Back down the passage, footsteps grew louder. Moving lights appeared, filtering through a curtain of roughly woven fabric
     that Cery did not recall encountering.
It must have been dropped down after we passed it
. The footsteps slowed andstopped. A sound came from another direction – more hurried footsteps. The lights moved away as their bearers continued in
     pursuit.
    After a long pause, several sighs broke the silence. A shiver ran down Cery’s spine as he realised he was surrounded by several
     people. A thin beam of light appeared. One of the lamps. It was being held by a stranger.
    Cery looked up at a young man, who was staring back at him.
    “Who?” the man asked.
    “Ceryni of Northside.”
    “These?”
    “My bodyguards.”
    The man’s eyebrows rose, then he nodded. He turned to the others. Cery looked around to see six other young men, two sitting
     on top of Gol. Anyi was in a fighting crouch, a knife in both hands. The two young men standing on either side of her were
     keeping a safe distance, though they looked willing to risk a cut if their leader ordered them to take her down.
    “Put them away, Anyi,” Cery said.
    Without taking her eyes from them, she obeyed. At a nod from the leader, the two men climbed off Gol, who groaned with relief.
     Cery rose to his feet, turned back to the leader and straightened his shoulders.
    “We seek safe passage.”
    The young man’s mouth quirked into a half-smile. “No such thing nowaday.” He jabbed a thumb toward his chest. “Wen.” He turned
     to speak to the others. “This name I know. One who leaves food. What we do?”
    They exchanged glances, then muttered words to which he shook his head: “Kill?” “Free?” “Worm?” one said, and Wen looked thoughtful.
     He nodded. “Worm,” he said decisively.Somehow this resulted in nods, though whether of acceptance or agreement Cery couldn’t tell.
    Wen turned to Cery. “You all come with us. We take you to Worm.” He gave Gol back his lamp, then looked at one of those who
     had been sitting on the big man. “Go tell Worm.”
    The young man scampered off into the darkness behind Wen. As Wen turned to follow, Anyi reached out and took her lamp back
     from the youth holding it. Two of the youngsters hurried forward to join their leader Wen and the rest took positions at the
     rear.
    No one spoke as they walked. At first Cery only felt an overwhelming relief at simply not running any more, though his legs
     were still shaky and his heart was beating too fast. Gol looked as winded as he did, he noted. As he recovered he began to
     worry again. He’d never heard of anyone meeting with a Slig called Worm. Unless …
unless Worm isn’t really a man, but something they feed trespassers to
.
    Stop it
, he told himself.
If they wanted us dead, they wouldn’t have hidden us from our pursuers. They’d have stabbed us in the dark or led us into
     a dead end
.
    After walking for some time, a voice spoke in the darkness ahead, and Wen grunted a reply. Soon a man stepped into the light
     and the group stopped. He stared at Cery intently, then nodded.
    “You are Ceryni,” he said. He extended a hand. “I am Worm.”
    Cery held out his hand, unsure what the gesture meant. Worm grasped it for a moment, then let it go and beckoned. “Come with
     me.”
    Another journey followed. Cery noticed that the air was