An Anthology of Blades: First Pages - Stiletto's Luck
Stiletto’sLuck is about an assassin dealing with the consequences of taking part in a battle for reasons of his own, while trying to remain uncompromised by either side.
They
could have called him Scimitar, Blade or Dagger, but, no, his parents had to
call him Stiletto. Stiletto did the only thing he could. He learned to be the
best at what he did, and he learned to walk tall - without the heels. When he
finds himself in the center of a plot to assassinate the most powerful men in
the city, Stiletto has only one question: How on earth is he going to walk out
of this one?
First Page
Stiletto's Luck
Sheathed
in a suit that shifted with the colors of a city night, Stiletto crouched in
the shadows, looking very much like the other gargoyles on the roof line, but
one set far too close to the casement. Those he’d arranged to meet in the room
beyond had been on time. They’d come, as arranged, bringing no nasty surprises
and no extras, but he wanted to learn something more about them before going
inside.
Such
as why four of the pairs hadn’t left as soon as they’d seen each other. And why
their bodyguards had failed to check the window and make sure it was locked.
Were they careless, or did they know he waited just outside? And why did they
stray so far from their principles, each guard moving to the outer perimeter of
the room, leaving their masters close enough to do each other harm before they
could intervene.
Three
had hired him to protect them from one of the others. Two had hired him to
investigate separate matters that now appeared linked. And he had approached
one of the men acting as a guard, with a proposition.
Stiletto
waited. The figures in the room grew restless. Finally, one of the three turned
to another.
“A
precision weapon, you said he was. I would have thought he’d have been on
time.”
“Perhaps
he scries,” another—Anderman—said and his guard gave a sigh. The man breathed
in, sweeping his arms wide and drawing them in as he exhaled. His principle
watched as his protector settled into stillness. The others waited.
“No,”
the guard said, after six heartbeats of concentration. He did not say what else
he might have noticed with his heightened sensitivity, but he moved closer to
Anderman’s side. “No one scries here.”
The
men in the room did not seem to realize the significance of the guard’s movement.
They relaxed.
“Then
why did he invite us together, if he wasn’t going to meet with us?”
Huh,
now they thought of it.
Stiletto watched as the bodyguards moved closer
to their principles before shifting onto the narrow ledge alongside the
casement and opened the window. Three crossbow bolts and two shards of magic
parted the space he might have filled.
END FIRST PAGE
If you would like to read more, Stiletto’s Luck has been included in An Anthology of Blades, but is currently available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords, Amazon-Kindle and CreateSpace and will be distributed from Nook, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.
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