The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition)
Page 55
Men were out scouring the streets and rooftops for wounded and checking for Kottermani agents, as well as securing the harbor. Wounded men had been found in the strangest of places and, luckily, many would survive. Rosaleen and an army of priests and helpers were doing their best but much of the healing had been begun by ordinary people, who had bound up wounds and tried to stop men bleeding until real help could arrive. There had been extraordinary tales of survival as well, from a crossbowman who had fallen from a rooftop and only broken a leg to the young guard who had raised the warning, found shivering and bleeding but alive in the harbormaster’s office.
Above all, however, there had been tales of death. The tally was still being made but more than two hundred young Gaelish were gone, with almost all of the survivors suffering some sort of wound.
Yet it was still a triumph. They had Prince Kemal and the Kottermanis would buy his freedom only once Gaelland could be sure it was free. Fallon mourned those who were lost but it was a smaller price than he had feared he would pay to save the country.
He sat down beside Bridgit and kissed her wet hair. Every part of him ached, while he had three cuts on his arms and chest that stung furiously every time he moved.
“Thank Aroaril that will be our last battle,” he said.
“Thank Aroaril I was on your side,” she said.
He laughed and then groaned as his wounds pulled at him.
“We’ll find a priest to look at those,” she said.
He shook his head. “There are too many others who need it more. I can wait.” He leaned in to kiss her but she turned her head and he ended up with a mouthful of ear. “What?” he began, only for her to turn his head also.
“I am sorry to disturb you, Captain,” Casey said, his hair plastered flat against his scalp by the rain, “but I thought you should know. We went back to the Duchess Dina’s house and the two men I left there were dead. She is gone, run into the night.”
Bridgit cursed and he looked at her.
“Where did you learn those words?”
“You would rather not know,” she said grimly. “But that is ill news on a dark day. I wish I had never summoned them away from there.”
Fallon sighed. “But if you had not, then Brendan might have been lost, and then me with him, even before you got to us. No, it was the right decision. Casey, double the guards on the gates just in case but I expect she has got out of the city by now.”
“Then we should send men after her. Capture her and bring her back,” Bridgit said.
“We will, but it matters little,” he said, reaching out to embrace her once more.
“Fallon, you need to listen to me. She is dangerous!”
“So she goes to Swane. It just means we get them both in the spring. What harm can she do us? She cannot create an army for him.”
Bridgit shivered a little. She told herself it was only the cold but things did not feel like they were finished. Worse, she was beginning to wonder if Fallon had the foresight needed to run this city.
*
Feray watched the coast of Gaelland slip over the horizon and shivered. She had ordered both crews from the two remaining ships onto the best vessel and sunk the other after stripping it of all supplies.
“Ana, when is our baba coming back to us?” Orhan asked.
She hugged her son. “Your baba is a prisoner with Fallon and Kerrin, as we once were,” she said gently.
“But when is he coming back?”
“Soon,” she said. “We are going for a little sail now. We need to see baba’s baba, your grandfather the Emperor. And together we are going to get your baba back.”
Acknowledgments
Even though my name is on the cover, there are many people who helped – either to make this book a reality or to make the story, the characters and the words better. Without them, it would be a lesser work and I thank them deeply for what they added to the book.
To my beta reader Belinda, who always has good suggestions; my agent Jo Butler at Cameron’s Management; the team at Momentum – Joel, Ashley, Patrick and Michelle; to copy editor Kate O’Donnell, whose brilliant work made me think about every aspect of this book and made my writing look better; to the fantastic proof reader (Melissa Kemble) whose eagle eyes were very much appreciated.
If you enjoyed this book, then you deserve my thanks as well.
Do you want a character named after you in book three of The Arbalester Trilogy, The Poisoned Quarrel? It’s a contest with a prize money cannot buy. Just review The Bloody Quarrel online and send me a link to the review via the Contact Me page on my website, www.duncanlay.com. Two reviewers will get a character named after them in the conclusion to this trilogy.
About Duncan Lay
Duncan Lay is the author of two best-selling Australian fantasy series, the Dragon Sword Histories and the Empire Of Bones. He writes on the train, to and from his job as production editor of The Sunday Telegraph, Australia's biggest-selling newspaper. He lives on the Central Coast of NSW with his wife and two children.
Twitter: @duncanlay
Website: www.duncanlay.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/duncan.lay
Also by Duncan Lay
The Last Quarrel: The Arbalester Trilogy 1
First published by Momentum in 2015
This edition published in 2016 by Momentum
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Copyright © Duncan Lay 2015
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A CIP record for this book is available at the National Library of Australia
The Bloody Quarrel: The Arbalester Trilogy 2 (Complete Edition)
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