Guardian Last (Lords of Syon Saga Book 2) by Jordan MacLean

strongly of
smoke.  She would not know for certain whether he was injured until they were
in better light.
    She looked past him into the darkness, making sure no army
of angry Hadrians was about to spill out over them, then slipped her arm under
his to lift him.  “We best not be staying, lad.  The Hadrians––”
    “The Hadrians are all dead,” he murmured softly.  “All of
them, dead.  Those that weren’t trampled to death in the rush died when it all
exploded…  Metal wheels.  They scraped under the burden and sparked, and with
just a breath of gas…” 
    “By the gods,” she breathed.  “All of them, then?”
    The boy nodded.  “Limigar…”  He shrugged, as if that was all
that needed to be said.
    Gikka nodded.  “It’s this favor I bought of Him with the toy
you made.  I told you I’d not be leaving this account unsettled long.”  She
raised her voice slightly, and Chul knew she wasn’t speaking to him.  “A clever
and righteous payment, this is, for their treasons and greed.  My thanks to You
for Your trouble.”
    “I think,” coughed Chul quietly behind her, “that He enjoyed
it.  In fact, I know right well He did.”
    A soft rumble emerged from the mine followed by another
belch of dust and death smells from the depths, a sound not unlike a laugh.
    “Well,” Gikka said, looking at Chul a bit uncertainly, “I
suppose everyone’s the happier for it, then.  All but the Hadrians, of course. 
But come, and let’s have a look at you.  I’ll not have you bleeding to your
death while we ride.  And you can tell me how it is you came to be in the mine
at just the wrong time.”
    She led him out to the horses and helped him to his saddle. 
As she’d hoped, Chul’s wounds were no more than cuts and scrapes, probably from
scrambling over the rocks.  But some of them looked like they were already
scabbed over, like they’d happened hours ago.  A sick feeling filled her gut.
    “Did you get my message to the sheriff?”
    Chul sighed.  “After a fashion, Mistress.”
    “After a fashion?  Lad, you did or you did not.”
    “I did, but…by then, it didn’t matter.”  He saw the
questions lining up in her eyes, and he shook his head.  “It’s not so simple. 
I’ve so much to tell you.  The castle was surrounded when I got there, and the
Hadrians had already left, but the knights followed them, so I followed the
knights, and then there was a battle and—”
    “Peace, lad.”  Gikka closed her eyes a moment, willing her
heart to slow its panic as she swung up to Zinion’s back.  “The rest you can
give me as we ride, but tell me this at once, and only if you know for certain,
not as you go guessing at it, but certain with your own eyes:  do the sheriff
and Lady Renda yet live?”
    He nodded.  “They live, though the sheriff is injured. 
Badly.  After Brannagh fell––”
    “Brannagh fell?”  Gikka’s hands shook with rage.  “And me,
sitting the stoop at Graymonde like a schoolgirl, not there to fight?  Why did
you not ride to fetch me?  I could have…”  Her voice broke.  “I would have…”
    “You could not have stopped it.  Nothing could have.  I saw
it.”  He looked into her eyes, and the horror she saw there said more than he
could have.  “Yes, Brannagh fell, but the sheriff, Lady Renda, the knights… 
They were not there to fight, either.”
    Gikka only stared at him, unsure which question to ask
first. 
    “Gikka, I’ve so much to tell you, so much I need you to help
me understand, and tell you I will, but above all, know that I saw them safely
away to Brannford ere I came to fetch you.”
    She blinked away her tears and nodded.  “They are safe.” 
She nudged Zinion up toward the eastern road.  “All else falls aside, and we
cling to that.  They are safe.  Brannford it is, then.  Durlindale tonight, and
I’ll have this tale from you end to end, as we ride, lad.  Brannagh…fallen.” 
She shook her head in