I blinked, opened my eyes and gazed up at Bin, whose face was white with fear. I licked my lips; my mouth was as dry as sandpaper. ‘Yes,’ I croaked. ‘Yes, I’m okay.’ I flicked my eyes to the side then sat bolt upright as terror shot through me yet again. ‘Where’s Thane?’
Bin lifted a shaky hand and pointed to the row of terraced houses behind us. ‘He went that way. He climbed up to the roof of one of those houses and disappeared.’
‘When?’ I demanded. ‘How long ago?’
‘Ten minutes, maybe? He told me to stay here with you. He told me not to leave you.’
I was already pulling myself to my feet. There was a dull ache in my chest but other than that I felt surprisingly alright. Thane had clearly understood my desperate mute flailing and gone insearch of the bastard attacker. But ten minutes was a long time: he should have been back by now.
‘Don’t go anywhere,’ I ordered Bin. ‘Stay right here.’
The trow was disturbed enough by what had happened to hold up his hands in submission. He was still terrified. I couldn’t blame him.
I softened my voice. ‘Please,’ I said. ‘I need to find Thane and make sure he’s alright. I won’t be long.’
He nodded. ‘I won’t go anywhere.’
I touched his shoulder and this time he didn’t flinch. Perhaps watching me writhe around in agony had diminished some of my commanding stature. I didn’t pause to dwell on it but spun around and sped towards the houses. I’d sent Thane in this direction: this was on me.
Although the terraced houses looked higgledy-piggledy, they were all relatively low-lying; even the tallest was only three-storeys high. It made sense to aim for that one to get the best vantage point. It was also the likeliest place for the magic thief to conceal themselves.
I grabbed hold of the sturdy, cast-iron drainpipe, checked its strength and shimmied up it. I’d climbed up the side of enough buildings in the last few days to become more confident of my abilities. It was just like old times.
Don’t forget what you are, Kit,I whispered to myself. And then I climbed even faster.
I expected to see Thane as soon as I reached the rooftop but there was no sign of him. There was no sign of anyone.
I resisted the urge to call his name; revealing my presence to whoever was behind this devastating attack could do more harm than good to my copper-haired wolf. Instead I examined the rooftop. It looked empty and nothing seemed out of place – except a strange dark lump that was mostly obscured by a squat chimney stack. I drew in a sharp breath and darted over.
As I’d feared, it was Thane and he was out cold, lying face down on a section of flat roof. My instinct was to focus all my energy and worry on him but I quashed it down in favour of checking the area again. This could be another trap, a quickly planned but cleverly created ambush.
Nobody was lurking behind the chimney stack or hanging off the edge of the roof waiting for the right moment to reappear. There was nothing in the air above me. Whoever had attacked Thane – and me – was no longer here, but there was a patch of dark, miasmic gloop. I glared at it briefly, as if a monster made out of black gunk were about to appear from its centre. Then I crouched down and carefully turned Thane onto his back.
He was still breathing; his eyes were closed and his skin was pale, but his chest was rising and falling with reassuring regularity. I ran my fingers around his head, his neck, his arms, his torso, and up and down his legs to check for wounds but there was no blood. This hadn’t been a physical attack.
The ice running through my veins wrapped its way around my heart. I had little doubt that whoever had tried to rip my cat sith soul from my body had taken the wolf from Thane. I leaned closer. ‘Thane?’ There was no answer. I tried again. ‘Thane?’
His fingers twitched and I was rewarded with a very brief, very soft groan. I swallowed hard, aware of the tears pricking at the back of my eyes. I knew what had happened to him, which meant I knew what I could do for him next. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much.
Under normal circumstances,it took me twelve and a half minutes to walk from the riverside market to my house. On this particular occasion, it took more than two hours.
The hardest part was dragging Thane’s unconscious form down from the rooftop onto solid ground. I was concerned that the soul stealer would return and, as a result, I was painstakingly vigilant. Shimmying down a drainpipe was a no-go, so I was forced to rummage through several dark garden sheds until I located a ladder tall enough to suit my purposes.
I pressganged Bin into holding the base of the ladder steady while I manoeuvred Thane’s dead weight down it. It wasn’t easy; in the end, I placed Thane’s body at an angle and sandwiched him between myself and the ladder with one arm between his legs and one awkwardly positioned at his shoulder so that he didn’t fall. It made for slow progress – and it didn’t help when the homeowner, a grizzled witch, woke up and came out to see what all the commotion was about.
‘You ain’t that dirty thief that’s been stealing from the good folks here, are you?’
I didn’t look at Bin. ‘No.’
‘Then what were you doing up my roof?’
I wasn’t in the mood for lengthy explanations. ‘Looking for my friend.’
‘And what was your friend doing up my roof?’
I gritted my teeth. ‘Looking for that dirty thief.’ In a manner of speaking.
The witch narrowed his eyes, clearly disinclined to believe me, then a flash of recognition crossed his face. ‘Wait,’ he said. ‘I know you.’
