“And then some,” he assured her, brightening perceptibly.
“He now has three shirts, two pants, an extra pair of boots, a coat, and a new belt,” Sylvie listed this off while ticking it away on her fingers. “Plus the books and papers that Markl requested I buy him. I bought a leather satchel for him to put it all in, but the strap is a bit damaged. Beirly, can you fix that for him tonight? The bag is in perfect shape except the strap.”
“And you got an absolute steal on it because of that,” Beirly guessed dryly.
Sylvie grinned like a cat that had just polished off a dish of forbidden cream.
“I’ll take a look and fix it, one way or another,” Beirly promised. “Rune, bring it to me after this.”
Rune ducked his head in agreement, bewildered but pleased by this ready offer of help from Beirly.
“I think that’s all we need to cover.” Siobhan stood from her chair, clapping her hands in dismissal. “Go to bed, and remember, stay out of trouble before we leave.”
People started moving, some heading toward their rooms, others trying to catch someone else’s attention. Siobhan had her own back to the room, heading for bed, when she heard Conli call to Rune.
Eh? Conli said Rune was fine…she turned back to see what it was he wanted.
Conli had caught Rune’s attention, but it was Denney that stepped forward, closing the distance between them. She had a serious set to her jaw, as did Conli. Siobhan cocked her head slightly. What was this about?
“Rune.” Denney’s voice shook ever so slightly but she stood steadfast in front of the assassin.
Rune went abruptly still, almost motionless, as if he didn’t even breathe. He watched her cautiously, having no idea what to expect from her.
“What you did for me earlier…” Denney’s lips curved in a helpless smile. “For protecting me the way you did, I cannot find the words to thank you. Because of that, I hope you will take this as my thanks.” From inside her vest, she drew out a mid-sized hunting knife and presented it to him on her open palms.
Siobhan’s eyes went wide. What he did for her? Protected Denney? What was this about? What had Rune done that was so weighty that Denney felt the need to give him a present in return?
The whole guild had taken notice of this interaction by now and had turned back to watch the scene play out.
Rune seemed oblivious to their attention as he reached out slowly with one hand that never quite touched the knife. “Are those…marks?”
“You weren’t registered with your own hunter’s marks that I could find,” she explained, still holding the knife out toward him on steady hands. “So I registered a set of marks for you.”
Siobhan felt her knees give way and she had to lock them to keep her feet. What Denney had done was huge. In all the four continents, only a handful of laws were universally obeyed, but the hunter’s law was one of them. No man could claim another’s prey if a hunter’s marks were found there. A man was not considered to be a whole man until he had his own marks to lay claim with. Siobhan had named Rune but hadn’t thought it wise to push getting him marks as well, all things considered.
Seeing that look on his face, his expression of open wonder, made her realize she was a fool for not doing so.
Rune swallowed hard before he finally raised his other hand and took the knife from Denney with both hands. In a gesture of utmost respect, he drew the knife from its sheath and looked it over carefully. Denney hadn’t spared any expense—the metal shone brightly under the light, the etching near the hilt fine and detailed. Three flat lines with two circles were engraved into the dark wood of the hilt, and that, too, gleamed. A hunting knife was the traditional method of gifting a hunter’s marks to a boy and Denney had chosen a very fine weapon to do it with.
He just as carefully sheathed it before saying hoarsely, “It’s a good gifti’n. I thank ya for it.”
Denney beamed at him. “No, Rune. Thank you.”
Conli added in a gentle tone, “She told me what you did, and how you’ve stepped in several times and warned people off on her behalf. It’s made you many enemies in a place where you had few allies to begin with. Because of that, I feel like we owe you something more.”
“What?” Rune’s head jerked back in instinctive protest. “No, sir, that’s not—”
“Whatever your agreement with Siobhan,” Conli cut in kindly, “you are clearly doing more than she expected. That dumbfounded expression on her face tells me that much.” Conli turned and winked at her before adding, “Because of that, I give you one more gift of thanks.” He snagged Rune’s hand and raised it up.
Before Siobhan’s—the entire guild’s—astonished eyes, Conli took his bejeweled bridge ring off his own hand and slipped it onto Rune’s middle finger.
“This is a bridge ring,” Conli explained. “Do you know of it? No? It’ll let whoever wears it travel through Island Pass without any questions asked. You can also search the records there, and request help or information from any inhabitant on that island. With this, you do not need to be bound to any place but can travel freely across the bridges as you wish to.”
Rune’s mouth opened and closed like a beached fish. He finally shook his head roughly. “I don’t deserve this.”
“Rune,” Conli chided gently. “You protected someone precious to me. Multiple times. I know that you will continue to do so in the future, and that because of your actions, you will draw anger and malice to you. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t help offset that by giving you a means to escape if you need it? We will, of course, protect you and safeguard you as you have us, but I do not intend to leave you trapped here unnecessarily.”
“We thought the best gift we could give you was the freedom to go and make any future you wish,” Denney added. “The marks and ring are for that purpose. Accept them, please.”
Rune’s eyes traveled from one face to another, mouth searching for words, but none were coming out. He clearly looked overwhelmed by this outpouring of gratitude and kindness and had no idea how to accept it.
Siobhan’s patience snapped with an almost audible twang. “I can’t take it anymore. Rune! What happened? What did you do? I’ve rarely seen them act like this before.”
Denney turned and gave her an odd look. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell. Me. What,” Siobhan gritted out.
“The reason why he was in that fight with the Iron Dragain men this morning,” Denney responded as if the answer was obvious. “The whole fight started because of me.”
“What?!” several voices yelled at once.
Siobhan took in a deep breath. “Denney. From the beginning, please.”
“Right.” She half turned so she could look at the whole room. “I’d come back from the baths, heading for my room, when those idiots cornered me. They…well, it was the usual thing. They thought I was a prostitute or something and were hassling me. I wasn’t sure what to do, at first. I mean, I never expected that sort of danger here.”
Neither had Siobhan, or she would have taken precautions.
“I was a little too late in using force to get them to leave me alone, and they thought I was playing hard to get, so they cornered me. It was at that point that Rune appeared from thin air—” she glanced at Rune, head cocked in question.
“Ceili’n, actually,” he corrected.
“Oh, is that where you were? I just knew you were suddenly there, between me and them. Rune hit them hard and fast and told me to run for it. I went straight to Conli, hoping to send help back to Rune, as I wasn’t sure he could handle three men at once.”
Rune snorted. Obviously, he hadn’t been worried about that.
“But by the time that I could get to him,” Conli picked up the thread of the story smoothly, “Sylvie, Wolf, Fei and Siobhan were already there and Siobhan was reaming the men for daring to attack Rune. Since those three were obviously hurt, I went immediately back for my bag so I could patch them up. Besides, I was afraid of leaving Denney al
one again, after what had just happened.”
Denney gave Siobhan an odd look. “Didn’t you tell me that he told you what happened?”
Siobhan glared at Rune. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “I thought he had, anyway.”
Rune shrugged uneasily. “She hadn’t done anythi’n.”
“Rune, I don’t blame the victim for trouble, y’know?” Siobhan responded in exasperation. “I realize it might not seem like that, because I’m constantly yelling at Wolf and Tran when trouble breaks out, but that’s because they’re usually the ones that start things. When Sylvie or Denney are in trouble, I know good and well they didn’t start it, so I’m not going to be harsh with them. You don’t have to protect them from me.”
Denney blinked at her, then turned to Rune with wide eyes. “You covered for me?”
Rune stared at the floor and muttered something unintelligible.
Rubbing her eyes with both hands, Siobhan blew out a long breath. “So, in other words, it’s not just Rune we need to look out for, but Denney as well? Rain and drought, but this is ridiculous. I’ll speak with Jarnsmor again, but for now, no one goes anywhere alone. Do you hear me? None of you.”
Everyone gave her nods or voiced some sort of assent.
She smiled grimly. The next fool that decided one of her own was easy prey wouldn’t live long enough to regret it. But for now, she needed to say something else. Stepping forward, she ruffled the back of Rune’s hair with an affectionate toss. “You did good, kid.”
Rune glanced at her from the corner of his eye with that almost-smile she was beginning to love. He openly basked in the praise.
Her eyes took in Conli and Denney as she repeated, “You did good.” If she had known all that Rune was doing behind the scenes, she’d have put together a reward for him herself, but having it come unsolicited from Conli and Denney meant the world to him. Perhaps it was best that she hadn’t known anything until now.
They both gave her understanding smiles.
Beirly cleared his throat and offered, “Rune, why don’t me and you put those marks on your things? Now that you have ‘em, let’s put ‘em to use.”
Rune nodded his head in agreement, pleased with the suggestion.
“There’s assassins after our assassin.”
Siobhan blinked and stared at Fei. She’d been in the middle of finishing preparations for tomorrow, but he apparently wanted her attention, so she dropped everything in her hands and turned toward the door. “I assume you’re talking about the nightly attacks from Silent Order? The ones that you’ve been helping Rune deal with?”
Fei cocked his head slightly. “I was not aware that you knew of them.”
“Oh, I know more than you think I do.” Not much more, though. “I would have thought they’d given up, though, as they’ve not been the least bit successful so far.”
“They are far from giving up,” Fei denied with a grim shake of the head. “In fact, the numbers they send increase every night. It has now reached the point that it is…difficult for only I and Rune-xian to deal with them.”
Difficult? When Fei said ‘difficult,’ he meant ‘impossible.’ She was almost afraid to ask. “How many are you expecting to show up tonight?”
He thought about that for a moment before offering, “Twenty or so?”
“Twenty?!” she spluttered. “Great wind and stars, man, how many showed up last night?”
“About a dozen.”
They’d been dealing with a dozen by themselves? No wonder he’d come to fetch her first thing in the morning and report. “Fei, my dear, why are you only asking for help now? Even a dozen is unreasonable for just two men to deal with!”
“Well, a few from Iron Dragain stepped in and helped.”
Oh sure, she knew exactly what he meant by that. In other words, a few men from Iron Dragain came and hauled unconscious and/or injured assassins away. They probably hadn’t interfered in the fight itself, not when it meant protecting Rune. She let out a pained groan. “Alright. I’d thought this had stopped or resolved itself, as no one told me there was a problem. I would have stepped in before this if I’d realized how serious it had become.”
She aimed a pointed glare at him. Fei didn’t falter, just offered a half-bow of apology. “What do you wish to do?”
“Why don’t we start with asking Jarnsmor how he wants us to handle this?”
ӜӜӜ
“Can’t you just kill them?” Jarnsmor requested plaintively.
Siobhan started, not at all expecting that response. For once, she hadn’t found the man in his study, but just outside the main holding complex, where Iron Dragain kept all of their prisoners. The place reeked of cold, being built of granite, and looked dismal and unwelcoming. It gave Siobhan the creeps just standing outside the main door.
“You want me to order my men to kill anyone that attacks them,” she repeated neutrally.
Jarnsmor’s shoulders slumped slightly. “No, I suppose I can’t say that. I would be violating my own laws if I did. But Guildmaster Maley, you’ve given me quite the predicament by bringing that young man here. He’s drawing in assassins from Silent Order like flies to rotting meat. My jail is practically full already. I’m running out of places to put people!”
Ahhhh. That was the problem. “Can’t you start judging these men and sentencing them?” she riposted. “You know them and at least some of the crimes they’ve committed. Surely you can let the law handle things from here.”
“That takes time,” he complained. “And what am I supposed to do with all of them while the Sateren Court judges each man?”
“Let the Sateren city jail hold them,” Fei suggested. “Isn’t that what they’re made for?”
Jarnsmor regarded him thoughtfully. “True. They should be holding these men to begin with. I’m not sure how full they are, though. They might not be able to take them all either.”
“They don’t need to,” Siobhan pointed out. “They just need to take whatever you don’t have room for.”
He snapped his fingers, expression brightening. “An excellent point. Alright, how many did you say you were expecting tonight? Twenty or so?”
“If they follow the same pattern as before,” Fei responded with polite deference. “They usually increase in number by at least five more than the previous night.”
“We’ll plan for thirty, then, just in case.” His lips pressed together in a tight, unhappy line. “You realize that I don’t appreciate having assassins coming into my home on a regular basis.”
Siobhan concealed a wince. “You don’t like having them in your city, either. Think of this as an opportunity to rid yourself of some of them.”
“Hmph.” Still unhappy, he turned and stalked away, calling out orders to people as he moved to get ready for the attack tonight.
She puffed out a breath of relief. “That went better than I’d hoped.”
“Truly,” Fei agreed. Lowering his voice, he asked, “Should I ask Wolf-ren and Tran-ren to help tonight? Or should we leave it up to Jarnsmor’s men?”
She gave him quite the look. “Did you seriously just suggest planning an ambush without inviting our two fight-loving maniacs to join in? Wolf would pout for weeks.”
Fei chuckled. “I’ll go tell them, then.”
ӜӜӜ
Her nerves jangled the rest of the day, leaving her restless and moody, waiting for a fight that she wouldn’t actually participate in. All four of her enforcers—Wolf especially—told her in no uncertain terms that they could handle it and didn’t need help. She understood what they actually meant: the men coming were ruthless and likely more skilled than she, and no one wanted her in danger’s way. Normally their protectiveness didn’t bother her. If she had a choice, she’d prefer not to fight, but that didn’t mean she could idly sit by while people she cared about were in serious trouble, either.
Siobhan understood that she wouldn’t be able to help much even if she participated in the ambush tonight. She really, truly di
d. But she just couldn’t stay safely away from the main building. After pacing her bedroom restlessly for several minutes, and then the common room for several minutes more, her feet automatically took her toward the main doors. The only way for people to enter was through the main gates, as Jarnsmor had tight security around his perimeter. The few holes he’d had were pointed out by previous attacks and corrected. Fei and Rune felt certain that the attack would come in through the front tonight.
She entered the main hallway cautiously, one sword held at the ready, eyes searching for any sign of life. Not a soul was nearby, but she could clearly hear the battle raging in the main foyer dead ahead. The light here was dim, barely any gleam coming through the windows, and it became progressively darker the further she went. The foyer was closed off from her view by two thick wooden doors, but even then it didn’t muffle the sounds of metal clanging, men cursing, and feet stomping on the floor. Was that really only thirty or so men fighting ahead? It sounded like a hundred.
Reaching the door, Siobhan paused with her hand on the latch. Did she dare open it and peek, satisfying her curiosity? Opening the door would allow her to see them, true, but it would also allow them to see her. If discovered, she would be in a world of trouble with Wolf. And Rune. And Tran. And Fei.
Just imagining it made her wince. Perhaps this wasn’t the best of ideas.
“Fei, duck!” Tran bellowed.
In sheer instinct she wrenched the door open and took a step through, sword up and eyes frantically searching for her people.
She found them in a split second, not ten feet away from where she stood and to the right. Fei, Tran and Rune had grouped together so that they watched each other’s backs, each of them striking out hard and fast only to fall back into position. Her eyes could barely track their hands and feet, they moved so quickly. They already had several men lying comatose at their feet, silent proof of how deadly they fought.
Wolf was some three feet away from them, fighting earnestly with shield and sword, a berserker grin on his face that sent chills down her spine. Even as she watched, he used his shield like a battering ram and slammed it into his opponent’s face, which no doubt broke the man’s nose. It sent him flying back and landing against the floor in an inelegant sprawl.
Deepwoods (Book 1) Page 25
