by Lisa Daniels
Her eyes flashed, “Do I look like the kind to joke, Master Falmen?”
Her choice of words told me everything I needed to know. It was a warning and a reminder.
I gave a slight bow. “My apologies. One look at her, though, and it is obvious that she has never worked outside of the palace. I am not sure how she is supposed to benefit me, apart from distracting my men.”
Mrs. Teasdon nodded, “That was exactly my first thought when I saw her, and—well, here she is, ready to work even before I arrived. Giving her to you is certainly not my first choice, but right now it is necessary. Don’t worry, once I get everything settled, I will want her back. Gods know I’m not going to live forever, and I need someone who can take over for me once the inevitable happens. I dare say it is going to be important within the next few years.”
The words were jarring and it made me a little uncomfortable. “Are you planning on leaving us?”
Giving a wave of her hand, Mrs. Teasdon moved over to the larder. “I don’t think that death is going to wait for my approval. If I can have a few years on my own, so much the better.”
Hoping to persuade her not to ask this particular favor, I responded, “If she is so valuable to you, why are you sending her away?” I knew that Mrs. Teasdon worked far too much, and seeing her give up someone who clearly meant something to her was just as concerning as being responsible for the woman who would stick out like a sore thumb.
She glared at me as she slapped some meat on the counter. “Once upon a time, I helped you, and refused to answer any questions. Consider this repayment.”
Mrs. Teasdon was starting a very dangerous dance. She would never ask for repayment, she had said so herself many times. Yet she just confessed that was exactly what this was in front of someone who had no idea about what I owed her. That meant this was incredibly serious. Hoping that the young woman may be able to assist in basic weapons maintenance or duties, I asked her, “Do you know anything about being a guard?”
“No, sir.” Her voice was musical, and I heard a bit of sadness. There was, of course, her accent that made it clear she was still fresh to the city, but it was the difficulty that all women had adjusting to the city that was the most telling sign. The sadness in her voice was more than enough to indicate that she had not acclimated to the way things were.
“Do you know anything about weapons?”
“None, sir.”
That was one hope down. Pursing my lips I asked, “You have an accent. Are you from the north?”
“Yes, sir. A little town called Ridenbach.”
“I take it that means you do not know that laws of the city.” Of course, I already knew the answer, but if she could pleasantly surprise me, I wanted to find the avenue where that might be possible.
“Not beyond the usual. Don’t steal. Don’t kill.”
Those were all of the ideas I had. I tried to refrain from glaring at the poor woman, who was clearly scared, just like everyone else who fell under my gaze. Striving to keep my voice level, I said to Mrs. Teasdon, “I have no idea how to use her.”
Of course, Mrs. Teasdon wasn’t going to let that stop her from pushing forward with her request. “She’s very capable. Her abilities in the kitchen were limited in the early days. I have no doubt that by the end of the day you will have found a use for her.”
I stared at the young woman, racking my brain for anything that she could do. A glance at her made it obvious that she was going to need nearly constant protection, something I did not have time to do. Ignoring the world around me, I went over a list of all of the possible roles, and none of them fit a woman who had no training in weapons or the law.
When there was no response to her words, Mrs. Teasdon turned to me, “I know for a fact that you don’t have a runner. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have a uniform, she can serve the purpose very well. She’s also very competent and does not mince words. If you need someone to deliver messages, you have the perfect candidate right in front of you until you can replace the last fellow.”
“But she is a woman. There are rules against them being in the guard, as you are well aware.” I said it almost without thinking. It would be like flaunting the fact that a woman was working with the guard, as well as making her a target for some and a distraction for nearly all of my men. How were the men going to hear the message when they didn’t have enough brains not to stare and focus on her looks? Acting as a runner was out of the question. I would pretty much have to keep her at my side all the time to protect her. That was not something I had any desire to do given my circumstances. Mrs. Teasdon probably didn’t realize just how much she was asking, and I knew that she honestly felt the woman could work as a runner.
Mrs. Teasdon waved away my concern, ignoring the real problem we were avoiding voicing. “Then make sure everyone knows that she is just on loan for now. I do plan to take her back, so don’t go getting attached.” After this, the cook turned her back on us to close the discussion.
With no other argument, I finally relented. Waving her to follow, I left the kitchens. Annoyed and concerned, I was almost immediately irked by the sight of a bright dress that quickly tried to hide itself. The princess was sneaking around the castle again.
What else can possibly go wrong today?
Instead of acknowledging the princess, and thereby making my current predicament that much worse, I let her think that I hadn’t seen her. A spoilt, demanding little brat, I loathed every moment that I had to be in her presence. It was almost as if she didn’t have a name. I simply thought of her as the entitled brat or the selfish princess. Whatever she was doing, the princess was her father’s problem, not mine. If he wanted her tracked, the king would have to ask for it. I believed in instilling fear and respect into my men, but making any of them stay with that little wretch was a type of torture that I wished only on the worst of them.
The rest of the morning was filled with all of the usual problems that were fairly easy to manage despite my new responsibility. I only had the bandwidth to deal with the former at the moment, and left the poor young woman to stand and observe. If she was as useful as Mrs. Teasdon said, she would start to pick up just by watching the interactions. That was how I had learned all those years ago.
Then the next wrench in the day arose as one of my men rushed into the room.
“Our guest has a visitor, and he is currently trapped in the courtyard.”
“Is it one you recognize?”
“No, sir. Definitely memorable, though.” I noticed the guard’s eyes move to the young woman and notice her for the first time. But he knew better than to say anything, particularly given the current situation. “Kind of like that.”
It was subtle, but told me what I needed to know. Shifters were always good-looking, but this one must have been really attractive if one of my guards was making a slight comparison to the woman I was having to protect. I rose and headed to the door. Turning to see if she was following, I noticed her standing there, uncertain of what to do.
“Well?” I asked, the annoyance obvious.
She looked at me in complete confusion, “Sir?”
”Don’t just stand there. I may have use for a runner.” It definitely wasn’t true, but for her sake, I wanted her to feel like she had a chance to contribute. From the way she had been fidgeting all morning, it was clear she did not like feeling idle. She began to follow me, but at too slow a pace.
If it came to protecting her or stopping a shifter, I knew which situation was more serious. If something happened to her, it would be unfortunate, but she was only one person. A shifter, on the other hand—it had been centuries since anyone had been able to kill one, but they could easily kill an entire contingent of my men. Having one of them freely roaming the city could be catastrophic. I ran toward the courtyard, trying to prepare myself for the encounter. We had been expecting something like this, and there were things set around the courtyard to take any intruder down. We knew that killing him would be nearly
impossible, but all we needed to do was knock him out so that we could lock him up for a little while. At least until I could figure out what he really wanted. Shifters would periodically enter the city and take women, though on the rare occasion something worse would happen. As if women in this city needed it any worse. I wanted to find out why they did this, but the current shifter we had was proving to be just as difficult as I had heard they were. Cocky, condescending, and conniving, I was always on edge talking to him. I couldn’t say I hated it. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was nice to have someone so competent to talk to—the problem was that we definitely were on different sides. Despite being a prisoner, it always felt like he was actually the one in charge.
I pulled my sword out of its sheath as soon as I reached the courtyard. A few of my men were already around the shifter, their swords drawn, but he looked about as concerned as I felt in front of the young woman whom I had left so far behind.
“Why did you come here, shifter?” My voice echoed around us as I stepped in front of my men. Looking at him, I was incredibly glad for the warning because the man’s appearance was awe-inspiring. I had little doubt that his appearance had momentarily confused most of my men, and I would have been even more susceptible had I not been warned. None of us had ever seen anyone who looked like that.
His eyes bore into mine for a moment, then a strange grin spread across his face. “I wonder…” the shifter seemed to be thinking aloud as his eyes took me in, and for a second I flinched under that gaze. To those around us, it must have seemed like his answer to my question, but I knew what he was thinking, and for a second I felt entirely exposed and afraid. He tilted his head to the side, as if he understood what I was thinking, then he laughed and shook his head. But instead of addressing his thoughts, he held out his hands, a smirk on his face as he finally answered my question, “For the warm reception, of course. Oh, look at how you fawn over me. Please, go back to your daily routine, I promise not to be a bother.”
Though his appearance was stunning, his tone was all too familiar, and it helped me shake off any remaining shock. “You have already broken that promise. Now my men and I shall have to prepare another cell for you and incur a lot of extra work around this encounter.”
“Certainly not. All you need to do is turn and march off to your happy little pretend world, and everything will be good.”
I adjusted my stance ever so slightly, just enough to make my point. “You are not going to leave here based on whatever plan you have. And you certainly will not be leaving here with anyone currently in our prison.”
He gave a shrug, nothing about his posture suggesting that he felt any kind of trepidation. “You will soon learn that luck is always on my side.”
I took a few more steps toward him, and my men followed suit.
Still he remained unimpressed and totally calm. It was like we were little more than toys and he was playing with us, though I couldn’t imagine why he had wandered out in the open. I knew just how stealthy shifters could be; the last one had not been easy to capture. And I still wasn’t sure exactly what the king had planned for him. At that moment, though, all of my focus was on the shifter immediately before me. For some reason, he had made his presence known, which meant that he was likely working as a distraction. My eyes met those of my second-in-command, Jacob, and he understood what I wasn’t saying. The shifter was focused on me and the men immediately around me, so he did not notice how Jacob signaled for a few guards to head down to make sure our other shifter prisoner didn’t go anywhere. If there was a shifter in the courtyard, I was willing to bet that there were others nearby. This was a distraction. I would have bet my life on it.
And in a way I did.
Then, to the shock of everyone in the courtyard, a woman came stumbling in, her eyes looking up at the sky as if she were completely insane. My first impression was that she was a simpleton who had escaped her guardians. Then I narrowed my eyes as I began to suspect that she was in some way a part of the distraction.
This suspicion was quickly erased when my eyes moved to the shifter whose expression was one of the same surprise as mine. The woman walked almost right into him. It had been like a strange nightmare where I had watched people blindly walk into danger that swallowed them whole. Now it was happening right in front of my eyes.
The shifter moved with impossible speed, pulling the woman to him, using her as a shield between us and him. Too late, I thought to try to get her to safety. Cursing myself for having been shocked into inaction, I adjusted my sword and glared at her and the shifter.
The smile on the shifter’s face was infuriating. “As I said, luck is always on my side. If you don’t want to be responsible for her death, let him go.”
I gritted my teeth so hard, I half expected to hear one of them crack. The woman’s eyes were wide, and the fear was obvious as she began to realize the trouble she was in. A part of me wondered if she could possibly understand how desperate her situation really was. This I quickly shook off because there was no way she could have known. Even if her feeble mind could understand the swords pointed at her, she would have no idea that the real danger was currently at her back.
Hoping that the shifter would be merciful, I growled, “Let the girl go. Clearly she is a simpleton who can’t even recognize danger. Even a lowlife such as yourself would not harm someone with the mind of a child.” As I spoke, my eyes bore into the woman who had interrupted what I had hoped to do. The only option left now was the one that I had hoped to avoid. With a stupid yet innocent woman now involved, I definitely did not want to have to resort to this last option. She had ruined what little control I had over the situation.
To my horror, the shifter tightened his grip on the woman as he responded to me, “A lowlife such as myself would be more than happy to sacrifice someone for his own safety. That is why the burden is all on you to call them off and let us go. Including your prized prisoner.”
Something about his movements suggested that he was now protecting her. Shaking that idea from my head, I knew that I was going to have to proceed. If the choice was mine, I couldn’t afford to let either of the shifters go, not knowing what they were capable of in the city. It was more important to find a way to contain them than to save one woman who seemed to have no survival instincts. That made two women that morning that I was willing to sacrifice for the protection of the city. Resigned to do something that made me sick to my stomach, I stole myself to give the order I dreaded. “I have no time to go saving every fool who ambles into danger. My job is to capture criminals like you.”
The next series of events happened in rapid succession.
As if the shifter wasn’t enough for me to contend with, an unwelcome voice shrilly yelled out at me. “Don’t you dare, Falmen. Don’t you dare! If you go through with it, I swear it will be the last thing you do as captain!”
Having avoided her once that day, I had hoped to not see the princess again. But there she was, witnessing the entire business. Why she would care what was happening was beyond me. Unless she was just desirous of further making my life miserable, which I suspected was her reason for interrupting now. She just couldn’t stand not being the center of attention.
Ignoring her cries, I glanced up to give my men the sign to proceed. As they began to push a gargoyle from its position, the shifter looked at me and again adjusted his body around the woman, a gesture I could not understand. What was he doing? Then he laughed before he turned his attention to me, his words catching me off-guard, “Ah, sweetheart, just what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?”
Unlike the princess’s words, what the shifter said caused me to freeze. I knew he was addressing me, and those words were the most terrifying threat I had ever heard. If this didn’t kill him—and I was certain it wouldn’t—I now had to fear what would happen when he woke. I knew that he wasn’t here to make my life miserable. But those words alone were like the threat of a future that was worse than death.
The
n the gargoyle struck him. And I realized that he had moved his body to take almost all of the force of the blow. The woman had been injured, but I knew that she would live. Another horrible realization began to creep in—he had intentionally protected the fool who had stumbled into the courtyard. Either he had been a surprisingly good actor when he had seen her, or he had found one more way to mess with me. Having protected her from death, the woman’s life would now be his.
I had essentially given him a woman to take away from the city, and I had little doubt that her life would be made far worse for it.
Very aware that I didn’t have long before the princess emerged and started trying to take control of the situation, I hurried to get the shifter and the woman out of the courtyard.
“Take him to the dungeons. Make sure he is kept far away from his leader in case this was some bizarre attempt to break him out.”
Then yet another wrench was thrown into what was already a horrible situation. The woman whom I had left so far behind had not only finally caught up, she had decided that there was a task she could complete. Now she was interfering with my job.
Her voice was meek as she asked, “What of the woman?”
I knew the woman wasn’t dead, but I had hoped that no one else would notice. If I had been able to get Jacob to remove her from the courtyard, we could have taken her somewhere else and sought her guardians. She could have returned to her life as if the events in the courtyard had not happened. Now even that plan was impossible because this supposed helper was declaring that the woman was not dead.
Praying that she might be smart enough to understand my intentions, I tried to hint at what the outcome should be. “I imagine the idiot can be chucked into the next mass grave.”
We had no mass graves, and hadn’t in nearly a century. It was a signal to step back and pretend the woman was dead.
But this woman was not from the city, and my hope was entirely dashed when she said loud enough for people nearby to hear, “Um… she’s still alive.”
