17
MIKANDRA HAD never seen rain like this before. Water came down in solid sheets. It was as if someone threw buckets of water from the sky.
People ran for cover. A merchant shouted at a woman—his wife?—who was dragging baskets of wares under cover.
Mikandra ran after Jocassa for the relative shelter of the leaning wall that surrounded the Exchange building. Behind her, Dalit tripped and fell. Mikandra ducked out of her shelter to help him up. Rain pelted on her back and head. Her hair dripped water into her eyes. Within moments, she was soaked to the skin.
Dalit said something, probably thanks but his words were lost in another clap of thunder, this one so close that the flash and the sound arrived at the same time, and the ground trembled with the noise.
They made for the guesthouse
