Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

Exhilaration and relief flooded Kiram's body in a shaking rush. He was alive. He'd won. For the first time he dared to look at the wound in his side. He found no more than a thin scratch beneath the gash in his vest. He was very lucky that Musni had slashed at him instead of stabbing.

A shadow fell across Kiram. He looked up in time to see Musni's glaring companion. The man's fist smashed into the side of his head, sending him staggering. Kiram hardly took in anything but a snarling mass of hard muscle and punishing fists as the big man pounded his skull.

Reflexively, Kiram blocked a second blow to his face and struck back. The man took two of Kiram's fast jabs, grunting at the impact. Then he hurled Kiram back against the stone wall of the wine house.

Kiram thought he heard someone shouting for help, glimpsed the blur of a young woman running up the street, but he could hardly think. Blood poured down his nose. The knuckles of his right fist felt split and broken. The man in front of him grinned and the wall behind him offered no escape.

When the man swung Kiram dropped into a crouch, letting the wine house take the blow. The man shouted in pain and Kiram bounded up, driving his whole weight into the man's face, crushing his nose and hurling him back. Blood gushed over Kiram's fist. His attacker groaned and stumbled and Kiram bolted free.

A block away he heard the alarm whistles of the Civic Guards but he didn't look back and he didn't stop running.

By the time that Kiram reached the Grunito house, the streets were dark and a full, yellow moon lit the sky. To Kiram's surprise he found the gates enclosing the vast grounds open. Bright torches illuminated the marble entry and dozens of glossy carriages lined the drive. Footmen in the Grunito colors escorted opulently dressed Cadeleonians from their carriages into the house. Very faintly Kiram caught the melody of Cadeleonian dance music floating from the huge building.

Kiram felt criminal, hiding in the shadows of a cherry tree and watching this brocade and silk-swathed parade of wealthy men and women, their faces glittering with gold dust and their hair powdered black. Gold and silver threads flashed in their clothes and jewels glittered around their necks and hands. No doubt they were all perfumed with the oils of rare flowers and exotic musks.

All Kiram could smell was the blood that clotted his nose. He recalled how out of place Riossa had appeared when she had been admitted alone to Lady Grunito's dance in Zancoda. She had brought the entire room to a silent halt and Riossa had been a well-dressed Cadeleonian girl from a good family, possessing a legitimate invitation. Kiram on the other hand was a ragged Haldiim without so much as a scrap of paper to prove that he knew anyone. His face and clothes were bloodied from a street fight. Just glancing at him a footman would know better than to allow him up the steps, much less through the door.

He slunk away from the light and music and wandered between the cherry trees. He heard a distant bark and vaguely recalled Nestor talking about his father's many dogs. The last thing he needed was to be mauled by a pack of hounds. He ought to just leave.

But he was hesitant to explore the unfamiliar Cadeleonian streets searching for shelter. After his fight with Musni he wanted to be somewhere that felt safe. Knowing that friends were close at hand seemed more important now than any real physical comfort or security. And he could think of at least one place where he could find shelter, if nothing else.

He crept through the shadows, catching distant laughter and music as well as the whinnies of horses. His chest ached in a dull, deep way while his hands felt swollen and clumsy; he hoped he wouldn't have to attempt to force a door open. But the flashing lights of swinging lamps and busy voices reassured him that nothing had been locked up for the night.

At last he reached the stables. They were well lit but nearly empty due to the sheer number of grooms required in the carriage house to attend the needs of so many teams of carriage horses and their drivers. One man shouted to another about a scratch on a carriage door, while another called out for a drink from a flask of white ruin.

Kiram slipped past the carriage house and into the warmth of the stables. Inside he wandered past tack rooms and walls of straw bales until he reached the long rows of stalls where horses of all colors and sizes were stabled. Once he would have been terrified by the way the animals watched him, but now he understood the flick of their ears and their flared nostrils. He felt at ease among them. Most took no more note of him than they would have a new groom.

As he moved farther from the noise and activity of the carriages one big piebald gelding thrust his head out and snuffled at Kiram's hair as if it were a mess of straw. Kiram drew back and patted the horse's muzzle. It lipped at the salty sweat of his brow and then, finding neither an apple nor feed proffered, gave Kiram a bored sigh.

Kiram smiled at the big animal. He didn't know why but just that simple caress of its soft muzzle and warm breath on his skin made him feel a little better, somehow more cared for.

Then Kiram caught the sound of quiet laughter.

"Lunaluz, I'm serious. You eat any more of Lady Grunito's flowers and she's going to banish us both."

At the sound of Javier's voice Kiram wanted to call out but feared he'd just attract a groom. He followed Javier's soft murmurs until he reached an open stall where Javier stood, dressed in costly black and silver brocade, grooming Lunaluz. Kiram noticed the faint glow of gold dust on Javier's skin. He almost shimmered in the flicking lamplight.

Kiram simply watched him. Javier looked so handsome and calm. Just seeing him made Kiram feel sure that he'd made the right decisions last night and today, as bloody and tired as they'd gotten him.

Lunaluz lifted his head, catching sight or perhaps scent of Kiram. Javier turned back. At first he didn't seem to recognize Kiram, then his eyes widened and he strode forward.

"What the hell happened to you?"

What hadn't happened to him, Kiram thought. He'd lost his family, beaten his previous lover to the ground, and then nearly been killed by a stranger. He'd evaded the Haldiim Civic Guards and run across half of Anacleto.

"I've had a rough day." Kiram laughed despite himself. "Can we just leave it at that for now? I don't really want to talk about it."

Javier considered him and then nodded.

"Do you need to see a physician?" Javier carefully lifted Kiram's bloodied right hand. One of his knuckles sported a dark scab from where he'd broken his skin against another man's face. Dried blood caked his nails and fingers.

"No. Most of that isn't my blood."

"Good to know," Javier replied but his expression was still troubled. "Should I ask whose blood it is or would that ruin the surprise when we find the body in the morning?"

"It's nothing so dramatic," Kiram replied, but a shudder trembled through him as if shaking loose the bone deep knowledge that his fight with Musni could easily have turned deadly. If Musni's knife had struck him at a different angle, if Musni's friend had pinned him against that wall a little longer.

It didn't bear thinking about-not now that he was here and safe.

"I had no idea you dressed so formally when you were alone with Lunaluz," Kiram commented just to change the subject.

"I'm simply demonstrating the difference good grooming can make." Javier released Kiram's hand. "He's prone to let himself go otherwise."

"I can imagine," Kiram replied. Somewhere far away a peal of laughter and brassy trumpet notes rose. Lunaluz flicked his ears. "It sounds like Lady Grunito is holding another dance."