Deepwoods (Book 1)

by Honor Raconteur

  “We’ll find out,” Ardin promised, jaw set in a determined line. “Guildmaster Maley, until we get a chance to thoroughly inspect that bridge, I don’t suggest that anyone cross it. Especially not any distance, which you’ll have to do to reach Island Pass. I know that you only intended to drop us off here and then go home, but can you stay for a few days?”

  “We’ll need her to anyway,” Romohr rumbled. Siobhan turned to look at him, as he had been walking behind her. He met her eyes levelly. “We will need your Pathmaker. Damage like this can’t wait to be repaired. We’ll need supplies and masons sent down immediately from Sateren.”

  He was right, of course. At the very least, they would need Grae’s help to send a message speedily to report the situation. “Yes, of course. Grae!” Her Pathmaker perked up in response to the call. “You be ready to go back to Sateren whenever they need you.”

  Grae gave her a casual salute. “Right-o.”

  Even though this wasn’t, technically, her party, she felt responsible since she was the escort. To Ardin, she said, “We’ll move the carts closer to the bridge so you can have easy access to any supplies you need. Then we’ll be on standby to help however we can until you’re ready to send a message back.”

  Ardin gave her a relieved smile. “Thank you, Guildmaster. Men! Let’s get to work!”

  As they went off, Siobhan turned and hailed Sylvie. “Find an inn that has enough space for us, somewhere that’s nearby. See if you can get enough food for everyone so that they can work and eat without worrying about going into the city.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Tran, go with her.” With that dispatched, Siobhan focused on moving the entire crew closer to the bridge.

  By the time that they had moved the carts to the very edge of the bridge and gotten a workstation set up, the architects had crawled over every part of it. One of them even jumped into the sea and did an underwater examination. An hour slowly passed as they studied the situation. Siobhan went from alert and anxious for an answer to dozing in the sun, comfortably propped in the back of the cart.

  “Guildmaster Maley!” Ardin waved an arm above his head, trying to get her attention.

  Whoops! Naptime must be over. She waved back so he knew he had succeeded, but didn’t try to yell over that kind of distance, just hopped out of the cart and crossed to him. Markl, who had been sitting next to her, followed along to also hear the answer. “How is it? How bad is the damage?”

  “Bad, but it’s also strange.” He glanced back at the bridge over his shoulder, eyebrows furrowing. “Guildmaster, I don’t believe this was natural.”

  She went very still as his words penetrated. “Not natural? Someone did this deliberately?”

  “I think so.” His face fell into grim lines. “Oh, they took the trouble to make it look like it was just the ground giving way under the supports, so the bridge would collapse on its own, but it’s not like that. I’d bet my eye teeth someone set a submersible charge and blew apart the pillars. The way the damage looks isn’t natural.”

  Her blood went cold. Who in their right mind would purposefully try to destroy the bridge? The entire economy of the four continents depended on the Grey Bridges. Destroying them would cause such upheaval that most of the poorer classes would starve before the bridges could be fixed!

  As her head was spinning, Markl demanded, “How much time is it going to take to fix this?”

  “I don’t know,” Ardin admitted frankly. “We’re still assessing how much damage the bridge took. Explosions on a structure like this will cause fissures throughout the whole frame. I wouldn’t suggest putting any weight on it right now, not more than we need to, until I can figure out how dangerous it is. But, Guildmaster, this was a deliberate attack, and I don’t think that whoever started this is finished.”

  Siobhan was very afraid that he was right. Making a snap decision, she promised him firmly, “We’ll guard you. I’ll send a report back to Iron Dragain and Blackstone telling them what’s really happened. You write one as well, give them details so they know what help to send.” Turning, she ordered, “Markl, get my enforcers over here. We’re setting up round the clock protection as of now.”

  He nodded somberly before spinning on one heel and racing off, calling for people as he went.

  Thoughts racing, she tried to consider all angles and prepare for the worst. “Ardin, I don’t know anyone in Quigg, and honestly, I don’t know who to trust from this city to call for help. For all we know, they’re in league with whoever destroyed the bridge.”

  “But why?” he demanded, throwing up both of his hands in pure confusion. “The bridges are Quigg’s lifeline when it comes to trade! Destroying one doesn’t make any sense.”

  “This isn’t the work of a rational mind,” she corrected. “It would take a madman to do this. Regardless, I don’t know who to trust from this city. I’m calling for reinforcements from Blackstone. We’ll guard and protect you until they get here. That might take about a week, all things considered.”

  Ardin gave her a relieved smile. “Yes, Guildmaster, I understand. Thank you.”

  “Go write,” she ordered before heading to the cart. She needed to put together messages, and quickly. Fortunately, she had Grae’s paths set up going to Iron Dragain, so it would be quick getting word back to Jarnsmor. She wished it would be as easy going toward Blackstone. Someone would have to spend two days crossing the Grey Bridges before they could even get to Robarge. Two and a half days there, plus the preparations necessary to form up a guard of men and bring them all back here. She’d be lucky if it only took a week to manage that.

  The logistics she would worry about later. Right now, she had around the clock protection to arrange.

  The challenge of setting up watch was figuring how to divide the fighting strength evenly. After all, some of the guild were like minor deities when they fought, and others were barely capable of protecting themselves. She didn’t want to put all of the true fighting strength on one watch, only to leave a different watch weakened.

  Even more fun, she had eleven people to sort out in four different watches, which didn’t divide evenly. Siobhan finally gave up and went to Romohr, asking if he would be willing to stand watch with her people. He readily accepted, which surprised her, but as he pointed out, the bridges were also his responsibility. And he didn’t have anything constructive to do except oversee things anyway.

  She finally settled on Beirly, Conli, and Denney on the first watch, Fei, Grae and Markl on the second, Wolf, Romohr and Sylvie on the third watch with herself, Rune and Tran on the last watch.

  With that settled, they went their own directions, some of them going for an early dinner before taking the watch, some of them taking the chance to explore the city a little more. Siobhan retired early in the inn that Sylvie had found, only to rise in the pre-dawn hours and quietly dress to face the day. She snuck downstairs, not wanting to wake anyone, and found that Rune and Tran were already at the door waiting on her.

  Without a word, Tran handed her a steaming meat bun. How he’d managed to lay hands on it at this obscene hour of the morning, she had no idea, but she consumed it gratefully.

  They walked in the cold night air, huddling in their cloaks and rubbing their hands together as they traveled down silent streets toward the bridge. Even Rune, who seemed impervious to cold, shivered a little and grumbled under his breath.

  Rune kept up with her as they walked, eyes searching every shadow they passed in sheer habit. She supposed paranoia was an occupational hazard for assassins.

  “Siobhan.”

  “Hmm?”

  “This whole thing,” he waved a hand to indicate the bridge now visible in front of them, “don’t make sense ta me. Why destroy the bridge?”

  “Trade logistics,” she responded promptly. It didn’t surprise her that he didn’t understand the motivations behind what was going on. He’d never needed to know or think about things like this before after all. But she, as a busines
swoman that catered professional escorting, had to understand it just to survive. “Look, the only way to get from Teherani to Wynngaard is by either using the bridge or going by ship, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So what happens if the bridge is out of commission? What if you have to send things by ship instead?”

  His brow furrowed a bit. “Ain’t it more expensive?”

  “It certainly is. Now, if shipping charges go up, prices go up. It’s inevitable. If prices go up, it has a ripple effect on the market that will shake the economy. But it’s not just one country’s trade with another that’s affected. It’s all four because we all use the bridges to get things to and from Wynngaard. By destroying the bridge, they’ve managed to cause serious damage to every major trader.” It might outright destroy the smaller traders, the ones that survived from caravan to caravan.

  “Fallen Ward must be behind this,” Tran said quietly, expression hard.

  She nodded unhappily. It was a conclusion that she had reached hours ago. “They sent assassins to Lirah to disrupt the trade agreement, but even Wolf said that was nothing more than a delaying tactic. When it didn’t delay them more than a couple weeks, they hatched another plan instead: destroy one of the bridges and disrupt all trade entirely. It’ll take months, if not a year, to repair the damage done. They’ve bought themselves some time to work on their own bridge.”

  “And when it’s fixed?” Rune’s eyes darted between them. “Then what do ya think they’ll do?”

  “Destroy another part of it,” Tran answered grimly. “I think this will be a never-ending game we’ll play.”

  Siobhan was afraid he was right. “I said as much in my letters to Blackstone and Iron Dragain. I hope they’re planning on dispatching guards at every entrance to the bridge, to protect them, because we can’t afford to go through this again. Honestly, we’re lucky that this is fall, and not in the height of trade season. I can’t imagine how much the economy would suffer if it was.”

  Tran grunted agreement.

  They stepped onto the bridge at that point. Siobhan looked around carefully but didn’t see any signs that there had been visitors. The bell that they had set up near the entrance was untouched. It was there to sound an alarm, to call for help when needed, but she hoped she wouldn’t need to ring it. In this inky black night, the place looked dangerously shadowed.

  Wolf saw their approach and waved his metal hand in greeting, the moonlight glinting off of it. “End of watch?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed, walking toward him. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “We discovered we can’t see under the bridge from here,” Wolf explained, heaving himself off the railing, where he had been casually sitting. “So Sylvie took up the other side, and Romohr went underneath to keep watch there.”

  That sounded feasible, although she didn’t like the idea of one man down there by himself, out of sight of his companions. “Are you sure he’s fine?”

  “He found a place where he can keep watch on the whole area, and Sylvie—” Wolf pointed to where she sat on the opposite side of the bridge “—can see him.”

  Oh. Well, alright, she felt better about that. “I suppose we should take up the same positions. Alright, who wants to be where?”

  Tran raised a hand. “I’ll go down. I think Rune will have a fit if he’s underneath something for long.” He flashed a teasing, wicked grin at the assassin.

  Rune glared back. “Ha, ha. Fine, I’ll stay up here and keep an eye on him, assumi’n I can see him in the dark.”

  “I’ll blend in quite well down there,” Tran agreed, still chuckling at his own joke.

  “I think we’re sorted, then.” Siobhan waved a hand at Wolf. “Go, go to bed.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Rubbing his hands together, Wolf called to his fellow watchmen and led them off, back toward the inn.

  Her group went to their designated areas. Siobhan chose not to emulate Wolf and sit on the bridge’s railing, as the stone was ice-cold and froze her behind when she tried it. Instead, she paced back and forth, eyes scanning the area.

  Standing watch gave one time to think. Sometimes too much time. As she walked back and forth, the cold sea wind kept her mind clear and racing with thoughts. When Markl had come to her all those weeks ago, looking for a guild to stay with, she’d never imagined that it would turn out like this. Never mind having to go on an emergency rescue trip across the world, but she hadn’t expected to adopt an assassin either. She’d grown rather attached to both of them, but the truth of the matter was, she didn’t have any real hold over either man. One of them was perfectly frank that he didn’t know how long he would stay and he had every right to leave whenever he wanted. The fact that Markl let her order him about was astonishing, really, because any other man with his background and position certainly wouldn’t put up with it.

  Siobhan harbored the suspicion that Sylvie liked him, perhaps more than she showed. For her sake, she hoped that Markl would eventually decide to stay. But she also realized that Markl could go anywhere and be anything he wanted. He had proven to be a very capable and intelligent man, after all. Why he chose to focus on studying the world instead of running a business, or creating a guild, was somewhat confusing to her.

  On the other hand, she had Rune to think about. Also a skilled man, he didn’t have any of the connections or backing that Markl had but he did have every bit the freedom. Their deal ended as soon as she could get him to Island Pass. What he would do then, she had no idea. Siobhan thought he’d rather grown fond of her, and liked being in their guild, but that didn’t guarantee that he would stay. She needed to tell him soon, too, that he was a Pathmaker. She wanted him to take Grae as a master, but wasn’t sure how to broach the idea. How could she approach him and extend the offer without pressuring him into accepting?

  “Rune,” she said under her breath, testing out the words, “I realize our original deal was that I would bring you to Island Pass and then you would be free to go wherever you want to, but you have to realize that finding another guild that will accept you is going to be beyond difficult…no, wait, that won’t work.” Frowning, she chewed on her bottom lip and thought about it some more. “Mmm, how about: Rune, I know I said that you can go your own way when we hit Island Pass, but I hope you’ll reconsider. We’ve all become rather fond of you and wouldn’t mind if you stayed. Oh. Oh, I like that one better. It doesn’t pressure him. Although should I also say—”

  “SIOBHAN!” Rune thundered in warning, his voice echoing.

  She spun about in alarm, boots grinding against the stone, eyes searching madly for the danger he had seen.

  They melted from the darkness, their silhouettes barely visible in the moonlight as they crossed the bridge.

  Siobhan stared at the three men slowly approaching her, all of them with swords in their hands at an en guard position, their faces masked by dark hats and night shadow. She drew both of her swords in a hiss of steel against steel, eyes darting from one to the other in an attempt to keep them all in her view. A warm presence abruptly appeared at her back with nothing but the faintest hint of sound, a whisper of displaced air. She started in alarm and half-turned to glance over her shoulder.

  “Hey, Siobhan,” Rune greeted calmly. “I think six men is too much ta ask for a girl ta take on alone.”

  Rune? Oh thank heavens. “You’re quite right,” she agreed with false neutrality. It felt like her heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest. “Six?”

  “Ya didn’t see the other three sneaking up on ya,” he explained.

  Rain and drought, had there really been three trying to ambush her from behind?! How had they even gotten there? Did they climb up the sides somehow? “Rune, my darling?”

  “Yes?” he responded with amusement in his voice.

  “Guard my back, won’t you?”

  “My pleasure,” he assured her, and this time there was a feral quality in his tone.

  They had no more
time for words. In the next instant, the three in front of her sprang forward, swords raised.

  Siobhan raised her own, swords crossed, before she exploded forward, swinging both swords wide to force them to either retreat or block her. The swords clashed and reverberated in her hands as they struck the opponents’ weapons. She didn’t stay still but instantly moved again, sliding the blades up and toward the men. They had to throw their arms up a little, ducking their heads, to avoid being beheaded. She spun low, knees bent, and slashed out again, one sword coming up and over her head, the other coming forward in a deadly arc.

  The one coming directly at her swung at her feet and she nimbly jumped over the blade before landing on her back leg and lashing out with the front one, catching him squarely in the chest and sending him flying backward. She spared no attention to how he landed, but instead caught the blade of the right man with her own sword and spun again, robbing it of its force and sending him half-stumbling toward his own ally.

  Another blade whistled at her in the darkness, only the moonlight glinting off of it making it visible enough for her to dodge. She had to kick herself up in a half-horizontal flip to avoid it completely, which unfortunately put her back within range of all three of them again. As she landed, she used the proximity to her advantage and put her back to one man, raising her arm up enough to slam her elbow into his nose sharply three times. He grunted at each impact, blood spraying, and stumbled back. Not giving him an opportunity to regain his balance, she kicked his legs out from under him as she turned again, facing the other two. He landed with a sickening thud, as if his head had cracked against the hard stone.

  Taking a page from their book, she aimed next for their legs, swords held parallel to each other. But they had also learned from her and kicked themselves up and over in a sideways flip that neatly avoided the danger.

  Worried, perhaps, that she had better fighting technique than they did, the last two standing retreated a few steps and gave themselves some breathing room. Siobhan rotated both swords in her hands with an easy turn of the wrist, deliberately egging them on.