Kade worked his jaw as he counted the tents. Still squinting at the figures roaming around. When they’d trailed Taggart back, keeping a good distance between them, they made the decision to split up as Chris and Moss took a left, leading away from the Stormer camp. Kade had followed Taggart, and they’d agreed to meet back here to come up with a plan. But now they were together, unease was settling like a fog, layering everything with doubt.
He released another breath in an attempt to still his mind. “We can’t go back to Cester and start accusing another Stormer Unit of misconduct. And we still don’t know for sure it was Taggart who told Jax to interfere. Cester thinks he’d taken the job on the sly.”
Carl frowned and raised his hands. “What do we do then? Wait for Taggart to leave again?”
Kade squinted at the camp again. “How often you think he sends out Chris and Moss for the drugs and new recruits? We don’t have time for that. It could be weeks. We need to get down there tonight while it’s dark.”
Even as he said it, he realised how ridiculous it sounded. To confirm it was a poor plan, Carl snorted. “You know what would have been better?”
Kade hung his head and blew out a breath. “Don’t say it.”
Carl’s teeth showed in the light as he grinned. “Come on, I can get away with it. I’ll breeze in there tell them I got sick of you all, and I want in on the Southern action.”
Kade groaned. “We’ve been through this. Taggart is already suspicious, and he’s not going to just come out and say he’s recruiting an army for someone, now is he?”
Carl huffed out a breath. “Guess not, but still: sneaking around in the dark with a camp full of trained Stormers, that isn’t the smartest move, cuz.”
Kade’s nostrils flared as he suppressed a laugh. It wasn’t, and he’d promised to play it safe and not take any risks. “You see anyone who looked like they were in charge at the other camp?”
Carl sniffed, shaking his head as he positioned himself so he was leaning against the rock. “I skirted around the outside; didn’t seem too much activity. Chris and Moss passed out the opium then took off to their own tents. If I had to guess, that’s why they don’t need much supervision: everyone’s too hooked to risk losing their supply.”
Kade nodded vaguely, his stomach knotting as he considered. “You see what condition they’re in?”
Carl shook his head. “Like I said, I was in and out.”
He ran his hand over his face. “So, what? They keep them passive until what? War breaks out, and then they force them to fight? They’ll be useless; it makes no sense.”
Carl shrugged. “Unless they’re planning on using them some other way? Maybe they are planning on using the Stormers for the muscle?”
Kade stared down at the campsite as he mumbled an affirmative reply. They’d come this far, and Taggart wasn’t going to give up information, unless by accident or by persuasion. “We both go in. Taggart’s tent will be the one in the centre. You hang back and take out anyone who gets too close.”
Carl nodded and double checked his throwing knives were secured to his chest. “After you, cuz.”
With Carl at his back, Kade began to pick his way towards the campsite, his heart thudding against his ribs and hands trembling in anticipation as he considered the best entry point. With a last look at Carl, who was falling into position behind him, Kade slowly and carefully began the descent down the rocky cliff surrounding the camp.
If the rest of the Stormers were involved, and it was becoming harder to imagine they weren’t aware of a massive camp nearby, then it would be a dozen to two in hand to hand.
Quit thinking about everything that can go wrong, you idiot. Just focus on retrieving what you can.
As if in unison with his thoughts, Kade’s boots lost traction, and debris slid past him, rolling down the remaining bank with enough noise to make him freeze.
Carl rigid behind him, they waited for a break in conversation or a shout or any sign they’d been heard.
When raucous laughter, fire crackling and popping were the only sounds breaking the still night, Kade positioned his foot again and eased down the last part of the cliff.
When his boots met the grass, he released his breath in a quiet gush, his heart thrashing about from anxiety as Carl motioned to the largest tent.
Kade waited for Carl to withdraw two of his knives. His breathing rapid, pulse thrumming, Kade kept his footsteps as light as possible while he and Carl passed the back of each tent with a half run, half crouch.
His eyes darted from the grass beneath him to the largest tent close to the fire. The Stormers banner with the emblem of a snake wrapped around a dagger flickered in the breeze. He tensed as Taggart’s bulky figure stepped into view, highlighted by the campfire.
Carl slipped behind him, and they waited in silence as Taggart stalked away from his tent, heading towards where the horses were penned.
Kade waited a few moments, making sure no one else was near before he crept out from behind the tent, leaving Carl to act as his eyes out front. He froze as a Stormer crossed his path, too intent on his flagon of ale to notice much going on.
He swallowed and carried on inching closer to the captain’s tent. Keeping as quiet as he could, Kade ducked his head inside the large tent left illuminated by a lamp glowing.
His face contorted as he considered how risky this was. But if Taggart were checking on his horse or using the long drop, he might just have enough time to retrieve something useful.
He snuck a last look outside, but save for the laughter coming from a few tents, silence met him. He ducked back inside and immediately extinguished the lamp.
Waiting a few seconds for night vision to return, he paused before starting to search the most obvious places.
He rummaged through a chest left open on the ground next to Taggart’s bed. Various papers, contracts he assumed, were crammed inside. None of which looked any different to the papers he’d seen Cester handle.
He huffed out a low growl and took at random a handful of the executed retrievals, on the off chance one might prove useful. He curled them into a roll and shoved them down the back of his trousers, making sure his vest covered them should he need to bluff his way out.
It would have to do for tonight. Taggart wasn’t stupid enough to meet with anyone here; he was doing a reasonable job of keeping his two careers separate.
Maybe Carl was right? Maybe they should wait him out and see if he decided to pay a visit to the other camp?
Kade eased out, his heart thumping hard, his muscles twitching as he primed himself to move. The faintest sound of footsteps let him know he had to be quick. Using the tents as cover, Kade crept around the back until he was back with his cousin.
His breathing returning to normal, they made their way back around the Stormers camp. When they made it to the bottom of the cliff, Carl’s voice was a ragged whisper. “You left his bloody light blown out.”
Oh crap.
If Taggart was paranoid, it would be a giveaway someone had been snooping. With any luck he’d check his own men before even thinking about the Northern Stormers who should have been long gone by now.
It was a stupid mistake. One that would probably place them both in more danger than necessary. They needed to get clear as quickly as possible. Kade gritted his teeth all the way up the bank as he waited for the alarm to sound, waiting for the whizzing of arrows or the unsheathing of blades. None of which came.
As he crested the bank and sought his breath, Kade muttered a thank you to whichever god deemed him worthy enough to listen.
Hadley slumped in the chair and watched Gerty tend to Luke, painful thoughts stabbing at her the more she let them attack. Thomas had left her, left her to the mercy of Flynn.
And he was angry at her. Blaming her. Hadley clenched her jaw as she forced herself to ask the question. “Did Thomas ever talk about me?”
Luke flinched, the pity in his eyes giving her answer enough. “He talks a lot about the
gods leaving the weak behind.”
Hadley swallowed, her stomach churning. Thomas had been ardent in his faithfulness: cold as it may be, callous even, it was the foundation of the gods of their parents. Only the strong survive.
His gaze met hers, and he shook his head. “He has to change his mind though? I mean, with what everyone is doing for us? I’m grateful people care for the weak. I’d be dead in a ditch somewhere if everyone thought that way.”
His eyes misted, and Gerty clucked her tongue and drew away. “The boy talks sense. The only part ‘o Terry’s great book that I like. Don’t you be tellin him that. I get enough of that talk at home. You two mind yourselves for a bit while I check on young Amy. Luke, you be a good boy now.”
Gerty smiled as she pulled the door closed, leaving Hadley to examine Luke as Luna nudged her nose on the bed again. He was rake thin with a long nose, a splattering of freckles and freshly-washed hair that flopped into his dark eyes.
As he stroked Luna absently, his voice was strained. “Terry’s been reading to me from that book she was talkin about. Have you ever read any?”
Hadley shook her head, too rattled to think about the thick tome Terry carried with him. “My parents worshipped the Parvalian gods. They forbid us to read anything outside of that.”
Luke nodded slowly. “Me too, but I always wondered, you know? Why forbid us?”
Hadley frowned. The answer came easily enough, the result of many nights spent being taught by her mother. “Because the gods are jealous, and they don’t want anything else to have their devotion.”
Luke scrunched up his face. “But why would they care? I don’t reckon that’s what the problem is; I reckon it’s because the priests make the rules and still take when folks are going hungry around them. Haven’t you noticed that them and royalty are the only ones not starving?”
Hadley’s eyebrows raised. “You’ve seen the priests?”
Luke nodded. “Uh huh, at camp: they’d visit and tell us how important we were in reclaiming the land for the gods and setting things right.”
Hadley gaped at him for a long moment, till his cheeks flushed, and she frowned in case he got the wrong idea. “What do they look like?”
“Like they’ve never missed a meal.”
Hadley nodded, distracted by the information—important information that Kade surely would want to know about.
Her frown grew as she picked the teacup back up and took a sip, frustration building the more she thought on how little she could do to help. Hadley swallowed, her heart beginning to pound a little too rapidly as she looked at Luke. “Did you hear any names?”
Luke’s forehead furrowed. “I wasn’t really interested in names long as I got my fix.”
Her stomach dropped to her toes. Even if it was important, she had no way of warning Kade. All she could do was sit here and hope it wasn’t something vital they needed to know about.
By the time Amy returned and told her Thomas was asking to see her, Hadley’s nerves were on high alert. The idea of talking to her brother again made her hands tremble. What could he possibly want to say to her?
After a word from Justine about not taking any nonsense from him, Hadley followed Amy back into the stables where the smell of hay and horse sweat mingled with Thomas’ soggy clothing.
Tied against a heavy wagon wheel at the back of the stables, his lanky frame fought against his binding. Hadley swallowed thickly. His face reddened as he spotted her. Before he could spit a curse, Amy held her hand in the air. “One wrong word, and I’ll be back in ‘ere with a bucket of water.”
Thomas’s eyes slid to her as he worked his narrow jaw. “Hads, untie me?”
Amy folded her arms across her chest and eyed him. “She’s not doing that until you can be nice.”
Thomas locked eyes with Amy for a minute, then he relented. His head sagging against his sodden chest. “I’m freezing, please, Hads?”
Hadley held his gaze and held her chin a little higher as she saw him for the first time. Really saw him and how little value he placed on their relationship.
How had she missed it for so long? Had she just accepted it because everyone else’s brothers were so terrible too?
She stared at him, her mind back to the one person who’d done nothing but show her respect when a lesser man wouldn’t have done. And as Thomas’ gaze turned sour, she knew he really was a lesser man. Probably always had been. She’d just been grieving so deeply she’d never even seen it.
Everything she’d been through to find him, from surviving on her own for weeks by hiding in trees, on rooftops, joining the Stormers and hiding away as a boy, then journeying into a foreign land with Kade, and finding a way to help and assist him in his tasks, and she’d never once thought of stopping.
Cester was right. She had earned her place as a Stormer. Her brother wasn’t fit to wash the clothes of men like Kade, Carl, and even Cester who risked their lives and sacrificed so much to keep their families safe.
Her gaze hardened as her mind ticked over everything she’d learned. The slightest of smiles lit her face as she saw a possible way to assist Kade even though they were separated by hundreds of kilometres. “I’ll untie you if you tell me what I want to know.”
Thomas’s eyes widened a little, but he nodded. “Sure thing, Hads.”
Amy slid a glance sidelong, a small smile quirked at her lips. “After he talks and not before, girl. He’s as slippery as an eel, your brother.”
Thomas’s eyebrows shot up, his face indignant. “I can hear you, and I’m slippery because you pushed me in a slimy pond!”
Amy pouted then shrugged. “You’re lucky it was me who was with her.”
Hadley bit her lip to keep an unwelcome laugh from escaping as a thought struck her. Kade would beat him black and blue if he was here. And after what Carl and Brute did to Jax…
As though he was privy to her thoughts, Thomas narrowed his eyes a little. “I never said I was a good brother. Hads always thought the best of everyone: she never saw how vicious the world is. Gimme another chance? We can go home? I’ll tell Flynn to leave you alone. Just let me go.”
Hadley exhaled slowly. He was lying. He was saying what she wanted to hear so he’d be released, and most likely head straight back to the old man who’d give him more of the drug he had grown addicted to.
She watched him for a moment as he tried to convince her he’d do better. Ignoring her brother’s pathetic pleas and promises she knew he’d break, she turned to Amy and made sure she kept her voice low, so Thomas wouldn’t hear.
Hadley smiled as she spoke, pleased with herself as she came up with a scheme worthy of any Northern Stormer.
Kade eased off his horse and drew the stallion to one side, off the beaten track he and Carl were using. Night was thick, frigid air crushing in around them as they dragged their mounts uphill before they made their meagre camp out of sight.
If Taggart or anyone else happened upon them this close to either camp, there would be no explaining what they were doing out here. At least by being above the road, covered by thick underbrush, they had a chance at hiding till they had time to figure out their next move.
It would be a rough night with little to keep them warm but the clothes on their backs and the saddle blankets from their horses.
Carl grumbled as he untacked his mount. “No fire, nothing but dried beef to eat; Cester should be paying double time for this.”
Kade shrugged easily. Cester had already forked out for opium, and Kade was also using a little of his captain’s money to accommodate Luke.
Something he was pretty sure Cester, with all his grand ideas of charity, probably wouldn’t have a problem with. His own charity was stretched to the limit with the allowances he’d had to make for paying not just Hadley’s way but now her brother’s too. Too much longer and he’d be out of pocket and dipping into Cester’s coins anyway.
His fingers were freezing up as he finished untacking his mount and hobbling the stallion so he
wouldn’t stray.
Kade settled in beside his cousin, hugging the tiny blanket to his chest and ignoring the jabs about sitting too close. They both knew they needed to share body heat. Even if Carl complained the entire night, it was better than the alternative.
Carl shivered and slapped his neck as a sand fly attacked him. “I hate it down here. It’s almost as bad as Amaria. Stinkin’ hot during the day, frozen at night.”
Kade withdrew the now crumpled papers from his back pocket and squinted at them, trying to use the moonlight to make out the seals at the bottom.
Carl sniffed as the cold caused his nose to drip. “What do you plan on saying to Thomas when we get back to Ramshead?”
Kade cocked an eyebrow and craned his neck to look sideways, pleased Carl was at least feigning optimism they’d be successful. “I have no idea.”
Carl snorted and settled in against the rough bark of the thick tree trunk they’d chosen to sit under. “You better get thinking then. Soon as we find out Taggart’s game and whoever hired Jax, we’re out of here.”
Kade frowned and let his head relax backwards, papers still in his hands so he could peer up the stars in the blue-black night sky. With all that had happened, the last thing he’d thought about was talking to Hadley’s brother and asking permission to court her. It seemed trivial not to mention awkward.
How was he supposed to broach a subject like that when he wasn’t even sure if Thomas would be angry or pleased about his forced withdrawal?
More importantly, why should he have to ask a brother who’d been so dumb as to get hooked on opium? Was Thomas really that naïve? Or had he been tricked? Surely Cester couldn’t hold him to their arrangement if Thomas turned out to be a deadbeat?
Especially not if he left her there on purpose.
Anger sparked to life, a burning ember in his chest. He huffed out a long sigh and sent a puff of white into the darkness. What was he supposed to do if Thomas was precisely the kind of man he’d come to loathe?
Caught in his morose thoughts of busting kneecaps and noses, he jerked as the slightest snap of a branch alerted them to activity below where they sat.
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