Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 7: Shadows of a Stranger

Suthe tried to ignore her paranoia and took a left, down a road off the main street and away from the shadow she had seen. Forget sightseeing--it would be best to get to the trolley station as quickly as possible.

It wasn't long before the shadow caught up to her. Suthe's heart jumped to her throat as something dark flickered in the corner of her vision and disappeared before she could get a good look at it. It was far too large to be a bird. Had someone from Montmyth caught up to her? Did the government know she was here? Or maybe Alaera hadn't been so easy to fool after all, and had sent a soldier from Sylterra to follow and deport her?

Suthe rounded a corner with such haste that she nearly slipped. Her breath was coming out in rapid gasps now, and while she couldn't see the person following her, she could feel her skin crawl with an unseen gaze. It wasn't long now to the trolley station.  But the street before her now split in two directions, and Suthe skidded to a stop.  Indecision had her turning back towards the library, and she briefly wondered if it would be better to go back instead.

Too late.

The dark rustle of fabric and a soft tap on the cobblestones had Suthe whirling to face forward again. A tall, broad-shouldered figure in a black cloak was standing with his hood raised and his back to her.

"You want answers about your country," the man said over his shoulder, and Suthe barely kept herself from gasping when she realized he spoke her language.

"Y-yes," she stuttered. "Are you from Montmyth?"

Rather than answer her question, the stranger said, "The library does not have what you're looking for. Follow me, and keep quiet."

Before Suthe could come up with a reply, the man jumped upon a railing, kicked off the side of a wall, and launched on top of the nearest building. Suthe felt her jaw drop.

Then he ran.

"H-hey! Wait!"

The possibility that this stranger had the answers she was looking for banished all hesitation from Suthe's mind.  Stumbling after the man, she strove to keep him in her sight. She nearly cried out a warning when he reached the end of the first roof and leapt into the air—but he landed just on the eaves of the next building, and began to run again.

Shaking away her shock, Suthe started after the stranger again. He led her through winding back alleyways, and several times she almost lost sight of him—he moved like a phantom! Before long, the warm reddish bricks of the Rust District began to meld into colder gray stones and wooden buildings that made up the rest of the Sylterran capital.

When Suthe finally turned out of the alleys and on to a main street, something metallic whizzed over her head.

"Ack!" Suthe ducked belatedly, and then cautiously patted the top of her head. That had been way too close.

Someone shouted a phrase in Noth, and Suthe turned to find a dark-haired woman walking towards her, holding a metal box with buttons and levers in her hands. The woman continued to speak, but Suthe shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," she said.

"Cau-tion!" the woman said loudly, apparently the only Montese word she knew. She pointed at the box in her hands and then at the flying metal disk that had nearly hit Suthe, which was circling around and starting to come back towards them.

"Okay, sorry!" Suthe said, backing away and making sure to avoid the flying contraption this time. Then she looked back up at the rooftops, breath caught in her throat. Had she lost him?