The Executioner's Right (The Executioner's Song Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Stepping through the threshold, he started to close the door.

  “If I bring you the consultation fee?” The fee would probably be the same with any physician he found, but that didn’t make it right.

  “If you bring that, then I will see what I can do. Only then. Good evening.”

  He closed the door, and Finn stood in front of it. His hand went into his pocket, fingering the coins he had. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

  He could get close, though.

  It would take work. It would take risking himself. Doing jobs that concerned even Oscar.

  He’d have to risk it.

  The sound of heavy boots thudded along the street.

  Finn looked up to see an Archer marching down the street.

  Gods!

  He hurried toward the alley and slipped along them until he didn’t think the Archer followed him. He thought about the job. The money he needed. The look on the physician’s face when he’d mentioned the Olin section. What would he say if he knew the real section?

  None of that mattered. Not until he could get the coin.

  When a bell on the Elia Tower tolled for midnight, Finn jumped.

  He’d lost track of time.

  He was going to meet Rock, but he also needed to rest. And to be ready for the job.

  Chapter Five

  Finn listened for anything that might be off. It was something Oscar had been working with him on trying to master. The key was noticing the change in the sounds around him, that of the city itself, along with the wind and, according to Oscar, even the energy in the air.

  He noticed nothing.

  Oscar glanced in his direction. He marched along the street with his usual quiet gait, saying nothing. In the distance, Finn saw Rock, though the massive man couldn’t do much to hide. They hadn’t stayed up too late the night before, though Rock had pushed Finn to have just one more mug of ale, the way he always managed to.

  “I warned Rock his shadow is big enough to get us caught.” He needed to say something to break the silence. “At least we’ve got Red and Scruff and Jiggers running off any Archers who might come through."

  They were all low level cutpurses looking for promotion into a crew. A job like this wouldn’t pay well for them, but they’d get credit with the King.

  “Not now,” Oscar said. “You’re making too much noise.”

  Finn felt as if he had to talk. His nerves made it difficult for him to keep quiet. Not like Oscar. It didn’t seem to Finn that the Hand worried at all about heading out on a job that might end with them getting captured by Archers.

  “I’m doing my best to be quiet,” Finn said.

  “You’re not. If you were doing your best, then you would’ve been quiet. Stop chattering so much. You’re acting like you’ve never pulled a job.”

  Finn followed him along the street, keeping up with Oscar as much as he could. He stopped talking as they went, trying not to irritate Oscar. They veered along the main streets through the city. Were it up to him, he would have had them taking the alleys. There were plenty of ways they could have gone through the alleys that wouldn’t risk them drawing the attention of the Archers, but he knew Oscar wouldn’t do it.

  The street widened in front of him just as a bell tolled nearby.

  Finn counted how many times the bell rang. This was the Shisen Bell, one near the center of the city, and it rang more softly than some of the others. Four tolls.

  Late.

  Late enough after the new curfew that there wasn’t anyone else out in the streets. Late enough that were the Archers to see them, they’d know something wasn’t quite right.

  Finn found himself looking all around as he walked, worried about what he might find. There hadn’t been any sign of Archers, but that was part of the reason they’d split up as they made their way there. They should have come from different directions, but the King didn’t want to hear his suggestions. He’d listened to Wolf and Oscar. That was it. Even then, Finn thought the King had already made up his mind about how he planned to take the job. He didn’t need their input.

  “We’re getting close,” Finn said, once again breaking the silence of the night.

  “I know we’re getting close.”

  “That alley there connects to one of the others on the far side,” he said, motioning. “I still think we’d be better off by using the alleys than the streets.”

  “Archers watch the alleys, too,” Oscar said softly. “Harder to escape down an alley when you’re pinched by an Archer there.”

  They might watch the alleys, but they didn’t watch them quite as closely as they watched places like this. The homes along this stretch of the street were well maintained. Nothing like in his section, or even in the Olin section. Most were freshly painted, and none of them had cracked and damaged shutters or doors. Most had smooth glass windows, though a few had stained glass on the upper levels. Many homes even had small spaces behind the home, a luxury anywhere within the cramped city. The farther they went along the street, the larger the homes became.

  Oscar paused and looked around.

  Finn tried to listen, focusing on what the Hand might have heard, but there wasn’t anything. Just Oscar acting as jumpy as the rest of them.

  Finn shifted his pack. He’d be working as a scout, but on this job, that involved him getting over the wall, heading toward the manor, and watching from there. If something went wrong, he’d even have to be ready for the possibility that he’d have to go into the manor. The pack carried rope, powders he could mix into an explosive, and a drawing the King had given each of them of the manor house layout which Finn had memorized. Not that Finn expected to need to use it. If the Hand failed, none of them were getting out of this.

  “Keep moving,” Oscar whispered.

  “I’m coming.”

  The street ended near the circular road leading around the walled manor house.

  The King and Wolf stood near a large home at the end of the street, talking softly. Rock was on the other side of the street. Watching.

  “He’s got to be careful. I told him he’ll look suspicious,” Finn said.

  Rock hurried across the street and lowered himself into the shadows beneath the wall around the mansion.

  Finn always gave the big man credit. For a large guy, he moved fairly quickly. When he ducked down, he did manage to hide in the shadows enough that Finn couldn’t see him as anything more than a blur of darkness. The darks helped. Finn’s weren’t quite as nice as what Oscar wore and didn’t fit him as well as they could have, but then, they’d been his father’s.

  The Archers along the wall made another pass.

  They either didn’t see the King and Wolf, or they passed by without paying much attention to them. When Finn and Oscar came closer, he realized it had to be the former. The angle of where they stood protected them, blocking them from the patrols seeing them.

  “You two ready?” the King asked.

  Finn nodded quickly. Oscar didn’t respond nearly as fast.

  “We get to the other side of the wall, there’s supposed to be a row of hedges. We regroup there,” Wolf said. His black beard matched his darks. Even his normally gray eyes looked black against the night. Of all of them, he would blend in the best. A real wolf. Finn didn’t know how old Wolf was, but he was clever, with something in those flat gray eyes that spoke of cruelty. All crews needed a man like Wolf.

  Oscar regarded Finn for a moment, his hand twitching the way it did when he considered things. He didn’t say anything, but Finn could tell something bothered him.

  “We get to the hedges, and we regroup,” the King said. “From there, the Hand and Wolf go in like we planned.”

  They shared a look and nodded.

  They had the most challenging jobs.

  Not that either of them would have it any other way.

  Oscar was the thief. Slippery. Quick. Elusive. One of the most skilled and renowned in the city for good reason.

  Wolf was deadly. The
sword strapped to his waist was more than just decoration. Still, it was his mind that made him almost more important to the crew than the King. The planner. Cunning. Conniving. Between him and the King’s connections, they were a powerful combination.

  Finn looked up at the wall.

  Oscar’s preparations had revealed a pattern to the patrols. That was what they had to follow now. By paying attention to the patrol and knowing when they would pass by, they had a sense of the time between each patrol.

  “Now,” Wolf said.

  They hurried across the street to where Rock waited.

  Wolf was the first over. Rock linked his fingers together, providing a boost, and Wolf went up to the top of the wall, quickly disappearing to the other side.

  Oscar went next. His gaze lingered on Finn for a moment, holding him with his dark gaze, and then he shook his head and jumped off Rock’s outstretched hands.

  “Your turn, Shuffles.”

  Finn took a deep breath. He nodded and jumped up so that he planted his boot into Rock’s hands. Finn wasn’t nearly as tall as Oscar and not as heavy as he suspected Wolf was. Still, Rock flung him far higher than he expected.

  The suddenness of it jarred him.

  He went soaring for what seemed an eternity.

  Then he landed on the top of the wall. The sounds of movement near him drew his attention. He rolled forward, toward the other side of the wall.

  Hands grabbed at him.

  Finn struggled but heard Wolf’s harsh whisper, “Stop thrashing!”

  They lowered him to the ground, and Wolf gave him a shove. He started forward, reaching the row of hedges much like they’d promised.

  Oscar was already there, crouching and looking all around him. His eyes darted around, as if he were expecting to see something jump out at him.

  The King rolled over the wall and landed gracefully next to Wolf.

  Finn wondered how Wolf looked landing. Not nearly as skilled as even the King, and he was the oldest of them. Oscar had probably bounded off the wall and into the hedges, moving so quickly that it would be like he was never there.

  The other two joined them, crouching. They waited as a pair of Archers patrolled along the wall before disappearing in the distance. While they were near, Finn held his breath. Everything seemed more momentous from this side of the wall.

  This was the viscount’s manor. As the king’s appointed hand in the city, he ruled in his absence. Attacking the viscount’s home was no different from attacking the king. If they were caught…

  “That’s about how it needed to go,” the King said. “Wolf figures we’ve got about an hour before we run the risk of morning activity catching us, so let’s get moving. You all know your responsibility.”

  Everyone nodded, including Finn.

  His role was to stay outside and watch.

  Scouting, the kind of scouting that involved a greater danger than he’d taken on before.

  They crept along the hedges, following a path Wolf seemed to know, before pausing when the hedges ended and open lawn stretched in front of them.

  Finn waited.

  “You stay here until we get in,” Wolf said, looking at Finn and Rock. “Keep your eyes open.”

  Oscar and Wolf slipped off, quickly disappearing into the darkness. The King eyed him another moment before he moved off. Finn crouched down, looking all around the yard.

  The lawn was incredible, though that wasn’t surprising, given someone of the viscount’s stature. Not only were the hedges completely groomed, but the small trees that grew in clumps seemed to have also been sculpted.

  The air had a pleasant fragrance to it. He could smell the flowers that had to be growing nearby, the grass under his feet, even that of the earth. All of it was far more pleasant than the scents he’d gotten used to in the outer sections. No wonder the viscount rarely left his grounds. The only time he was rumored to do so was on the rare times when the king came to visit.

  That hadn’t occurred in several years. With Verendal on the edge of the kingdom and so close to the forest and the people of Alainsith beyond, Finn doubted he had much reason to make his way here. The Alainsith had warred with the kingdom years ago, but there had been peace for as long as Finn could remember. They were said to have magic, but no one actually knew whether that was true seeing as how no one actually saw the Alainsith any longer—other than the king, and he wasn’t saying anything.

  Peering around the hedges, Finn searched for what would suggest they had to move. He hadn’t seen anything. Archers patrolled the walls, and he didn’t have any idea if they patrolled the grounds as well. Were he the one in charge of the security here, he would have suggested it. It didn’t take much to get over the wall and reach the grounds.

  A shadow moved toward him from near the wall.

  Finn stared. It was too small to be an Archer.

  And too fast.

  A dog.

  Shit.

  It began to bark.

  Finn looked around him. If the dog continued to bark, it’d draw attention to him.

  He should’ve figured there would be something else out there in the yard, patrolling. It didn’t have to be an Archer. An Archer might even have been better. At least there he wouldn’t have to worry about it racing toward him the way this dog did, howling…

  Finn lowered his shoulders and braced for the dog to come crashing into him.

  It jumped.

  Someone moved toward him.

  Rock grabbed the dog around its legs and spun it, slamming it to the ground. The dog whimpered. Rock clamped his hand around the dog’s jaw, holding it in place for a moment.

  “Just relax,” he whispered.

  “What are you doing here?” Finn asked.

  “Heard the noise. Wolf told me that if I heard anything, I was supposed to find a way in.”

  “You heard it from out there?”

  How loud had the damn dog been?

  “Lucky I did,” Rock said.

  “How are we supposed to incapacitate a dog?” Finn asked.

  Rock looked down at the dog. “I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

  “The plan was to get in and out without anyone knowing we were here. You kill the dog, and they’re going to know we were here.”

  “Fine. Not killing the dog.”

  It still whimpered, and considering the way it had been howling only a moment before, the whimper seemed like a good change, though it was still too noisy.

  This was what he was supposed to scout for.

  Finn should have anticipated a dog.

  Gods—Oscar should have anticipated one. What were we thinking?

  Rock pressed his hand more tightly around the dog’s snout. Thankfully, it didn’t struggle. Finn didn’t know what he’d do if the dog struggled against Rock.

  Another shadow moved across the grounds. This one was back the way they’d come, closer to the wall.

  An Archer.

  Likely they’d heard the commotion and had come to investigate.

  “We’ve got to move,” Finn said.

  Rock grunted softly. He leaned close to the dog. “Sorry about this.” He slammed its head on the ground, harder than Finn thought necessary but hopefully only knocking the dog out.

  The dog twitched but didn’t move. It didn’t howl anymore, either.

  Rock nudged him. “Get moving.”

  “I think you killed it.”

  “Nah. Just stunned. We’ll share a drink about him later.”

  Finn crept forward, moving closer to the hedge. From there, he could peer out and found an Archer making his way toward them.

  He was a shorter man, though solid. Sort of like Rock in that way. A sword strapped at his side suggested he wasn’t concerned about the dog howling. Yet.

  The moment he came across the dog, he was going to raise the alarm.

  Finn spun, raced over to the dog, and dragged him back toward the hedge, hiding him beneath it.

  Rock looked over and opened his mouth a
s if he were going to say something, but Finn silenced him by raising a finger to his lips.

  The Archer moved past.

  They stayed where they were until Finn was sure he was gone.

  “You should get back to the other side of the wall. The King wanted you to watch to make sure nothing happened on that side. I don’t want him pissed that you came over.”

  “I didn’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why I came.”

  Finn thought he would have managed something as simple as a dog, but Rock had moved fast. He didn’t know if he would have been able to grab the dog the same way, and he doubted he would have the stomach to slam it to the ground that way. Stealing was one thing. Hurting someone—or in this case, something—was another problem.

  “Stay here. I’m going to get closer.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Rock said.

  “Is there anything you wouldn’t do?”

  “Probably not.” Rock grinned.

  Finn snuck forward.

  The Archer had disappeared, but that didn’t mean he was gone. Finn didn’t know if the Archer would return—or if there would be others.

  For now, the garden was empty.

  He hurried along, looking for another place to hide and watch.

  Finn looked up the viscount’s manor. It was a massive two-story stone building, probably two hundred feet long, with enormous glass windows facing the gardens. No lights were on in the home, and there was no sign that anything was amiss. He didn’t even see a door ajar or anything to suggest that the crew was just inside.

  Creeping forward, he paused by a small tree.

  From there, he looked around, searching for any movement.

  A soft whistle behind him caught his attention, and he spun.

  Rock looked toward him, watching.

  He grinned again.

  Whistling like that was only bound to get them pinched. Worse, if any of them inside heard the whistling, they might think they’d been detected and come back out. Finn waved his hands at him, but Rock only grinned wider.

  Finn moved away.

  Another low row of hedges ran along a small path in front of the manor. The house was enormous, and the path up to the front entrance widened. Finn stayed close to the hedges, keeping as low as possible. The darks should mask him.