Excerpt Thursday: GHOST IN THE ASHES

I haven’t done an Excerpt Thursday yet in October, so let’s change that! This week’s excerpt is from GHOST IN THE ASHES.

GHOST IN THE ASHES is the book where Caina meets Tanzir Shahan. This is significant later. 🙂

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Caina glided forward, throwing knife in one hand.

And she did, the assassin apparently changed his mind and turned, bow still in hand.

For a moment he stared at her, stunned.

He raised the bow, in his hands a blur, and loosed an arrow.

Caina dodged and heard the buzzing hiss as the arrow shot past her head, the resonant thud as it sank into the ladder. She caught her balance and flung the throwing knife at the assassin. The man swung his bow like a club, deflecting the weapon. Caina stepped back and drew her ghostsilver dagger from its sheath, preparing herself for the assassin’s attack.

But instead the man stepped back, snatching an odd-looking leather cord from his belt. Why would he do that? He had left himself open to another throwing knife. He would only do that if…

The assassin spun the cord over his head, and Caina saw the blur of lead weights at either end.

A bola.

If that thing hit her legs, it would entangle her long enough for the assassin to kill her. Or, if his aim was good enough, it could strike her throat, snap her neck, and kill her in the space between two heartbeats.

The assassin flung the bola, and Caina collapsed her legs, dropping hard to the clay roof tiles. The leather cord slammed hard into her stomach, and the impact felt like a blow from a wooden rod. But the lead weights struck the roof and bounced, and the cord did not entangle her.

The assassin lunged, raising his foot to crush her throat.

Caina slashed her ghostsilver dagger, the shining blade ripping into the assassin’s right calf. The man hissed in pain, and Caina rolled sideways as the assassin fell. He landed hard upon his right knee, and Caina slashed her dagger.

The blade sliced through the assassin’s throat, blood spraying from the wound. Caina stepped back and rammed the dagger between the assassin’s ribs. The man stiffened, loosed a gurgling groan, and fell as Caina wrenched the weapon free.

She looked around, breathing hard, her stomach throbbing from the bola’s impact. No had noticed the fight, and she heard no sounds of alarm from the street.

Nobody ever looked up.

-JM