After seven years in the dark underworld, Erik knew a bad situation when he saw one. Siobhan clearly saw the same, as she didn’t trust this man. Of course, right now, all they had to go on was intuition. Deciding it was time to make or break, Erik cleared his throat and added, “You said your name was Ranton. What guild?”
Ranton’s smile flinched. “No guild for this deal. I’m working with a private trading company.”
There was no such thing. Not in this world. “We’ll need a detailed list of the cargo you have.”
“With providence,” Siobhan said with a deliberately casual tone. Her eyes watched the man like a hawk, though.
At the word ‘providence’, the smile ran away from his face. He wasn’t sweating, but Ranton looked as nervous as a mouse trapped by three hungry cats. “Well, these are all handmade products, of course there’s no providence—”
“Of course there is,” Siobhan corrected gently. “A maker’s stamp, a history of the making, and a date. That’s all I need.”
Ranton cleared his throat, or tried to, but sounded like a choking duck. “I’m afraid I don’t have that on me. Well, it looks like we can’t do business today. I’ll take my leave, contact you later—”
Erik’s patience with the situation broke at that point and he grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and slammed his face against the table’s surface. Of course, the man flailed and tried to push himself away, but his strength was no match for the Wynngaardian’s and Erik just leaned against him harder.
Siobhan had leapt out of her chair when he moved, sending it flying backwards. She had her hand on one of her hilts, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. Seeing that Erik had the situation well in hand, she slowly lifted the hand free.
“Ahem. Wolf. He’s a smuggler, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Erik growled.
“I thought so.” Tsking the man, she bent at the waist to look him in the eye. “Thought to try your luck with a brand new guild, hoping they didn’t know better? Too bad for you, but the man leaning on you is a former dark guildsman. He can smell a rat better than I can.”
For a moment, Erik almost felt proud of his bad history. All of that experience had certainly come in handy.
Shaking her head, she straightened and requested, “Wolf, keep him here. I’ll call for an enforcer.”
“Sure, sure.”
When Siobhan had left, Ranton tried twisting his way free again, breathing hard between clenched teeth. He looked like a turned over turtle, doing that. Erik found it mildly entertaining. When he had exhausted himself, he gave up and whined, “You’re not really from a dark guild!”
“I really am,” Erik assured him, almost feeling a smidgeon of pity for the idiot. Or at least, he would try to feel pity for him at some point. Perhaps in the distant future. Leaning in a little closer, he breathed into the man’s ear, “That woman saved me from being a slave at a black market. There is not a thing I wouldn’t do to repay her for that kindness. So if you try to hurt anyone in this guild again, I will cut your throat and count it was a good deed.”
Ranton swallowed hard and went about three shades paler.
The would-be smuggler was saved by Beirly, who chose to come out of his workroom at that moment. He took in the situation with a startled blink, then asked slowly, “I take it something went wrong?”
Erik went with the short explanation. “Smuggler.”
“Ahhhh,” Beirly intoned in understanding. Then, for some reason, his face furrowed into a disturbed frown. “Did Shi tell you to do that?”
Glancing down, Erik looked at the situation from his perspective, but still didn’t understand the question. “Do what?”
“Pin the man like that. Did she realize what he was?”
“Not at first. But she saw through him quickly enough.”
“Not at first,” Beirly repeated, his frown deepening. Rounding the table, he came in closer, the wheels spinning in his mind. When he got to Siobhan’s upturned chair, he flipped it back up to its proper position and then stared down at it for a long moment. “Wolfinsky.”
The tone alone said that whatever was on Beirly’s mind, it was weighty. So Erik responded cautiously. “Yes?”
“I see now what you meant before, that it was foolhardy for us to open for business without having an enforcer. It gives me chills to think that if not for you, Siobhan would have met this scum alone.”
It gave Erik chills, for that matter.
“So. I’ll offer you a deal.” Beirly pointed a finger at his new hand. “That’s nothing more than a block of wood that you can attach a shield to. I can do much better work than that.”
Better than this? It was functional, certainly, but Beirly was right in that it was little better than a block of wood strapped onto his arm. Beirly had in essence created a large cap for his stump. It was solid, a polished dark wood, with one wide notch in it so he could slip a shield’s strap into it. Aside from its fighting ability and using it to protect his stump, it had no other merit. “How much better?”
“I can make it so you can grab things and lock onto it.”
How he would manage that, Erik had no idea. But he’d seen this man’s handiwork throughout the Hall. He had no doubt that if Beirly said it could be done, the man would pull it off somehow. “In exchange for a better hand, what do you want?”
“You stay until we can find a new enforcer.” Beirly said this straight forwardly.
Was that all? Erik was inclined to stay longer anyway, just to work off the debt he’d incurred with Siobhan. “Deal.”
Beirly relaxed into a grin. “Didn’t have to think about that, did you? Well, that’s fine.” Dropping into a chair, he got comfortable. “Well, while we wait for Shi to return, let’s talk about your new hand.”
ӜӜӜ
“How does it feel? Does it chaff?”
Erik twisted his arm in different directions, trying out his new wooden hand. It fit like a glove over his stump, with a leather strap on the forearm keeping it in place. Beirly had carved it as if the hand was in a closed fist, with only the thumb detached and moveable, and for something that was supposed to be temporary, it had an amazing amount of detail whittled in. It actually looked like his hand. “No, no chaffing.” Whatever the man had lined it with on the inside was soft as butter. Lifting it closer to his face, he studied it in detail. “This is amazing,” he marveled. “Have you thought of making these for a living?”
“Not until I started on yours,” Beirly admitted frankly, beaming. He was pleased his work was so well appreciated. “But I’m thinking I could make a good sideline business out of it. This is just temporary, mind, so don’t get attached to it. I figured out how to make a metal version with moving fingers and thumb so you can latch onto things with it.”
So this was nothing more than a mockup of the metal version he’d make later? It seemed too elaborate for that, but Beirly wasn’t one to do anything in halfway measures.
Curious, he slammed his new hand into the other, testing how it felt against flesh. A slow smile took over his face as his real hand tingled in pain. “I could do some damage with this.”
Beirly looked up at him uncertainly. “Come again?”
“It’s a useful weapon you’ve given me.” He tried to explain it so the man wouldn’t think he’d try the new hand out on him next. “Even without the sword, if danger approaches any of you, I can combat it with the help of this hand.”
The shorter man sank back onto his work stool and just stared at Erik for a long moment. No one else was in the workroom and Beirly seemed to realize he could take advantage of this privacy to probe. (Neither man seemed brave enough to try it in front of Siobhan.)
“Wolfinsky. You seem dead set on acting as an enforcer for us. But Siobhan clearly didn’t ask you to do that. So why are you?”
Erik was not a man of words. He fumbled for a moment, trying to find the right way to explain. “I’m not good at many things. But fighting, protecting someone, that I excel at. It’s the only w
ay I have of repaying you.”
Beirly lowered his head and stared at the floor for a long moment. “Is that why.”
“I was standing at the edge of an abyss,” he said softly. “You and Siobhan and Grae saved me from that. I should be doing something more, something grander to repay the grace you’ve given me. But I can’t think of anything else I can do for you.”
After letting out a long breath, Beirly looked back up, his beard lifted up in a smile. “I’ve misjudged you, Erik Wolfinsky. You are a good man.”
Erik blinked at him. Had something he said struck a chord in the man?
“Now, finally, I get it. I understand what Siobhan saw when she looked at you.” Shaking his head at himself, Beirly muttered under his breath, “It’s borderline magic, those eyes of hers.”
“Is she truly never wrong?” Erik couldn’t help but ask.
“Not once since we were children. Boggles my mind how she does it. Gives me grey hairs sometimes, too.” A twinkle appeared in his eyes. “Like when she insists on buying former dark guildsmen off a black market slave train.”
Erik snorted, seeing the humor in the situation now. “Aye, I still think she’s crazy for doing that. Even if it’s me she bought.”
“You set a bad precedent,” Beirly mock complained, half-seriously. “Since she succeeded with you, now she’ll think she can do it again.”
His eyes went wide with horror as his imagination conjured up future scenarios. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not. I’m dead certain she’ll do this again. It might be years later, but she will. I’ll bet my beard on it.” Already resigned, Beirly put his hands against his knees and pushed himself to his feet. “Well, regardless, the hand fits you well. Now, I suppose I’ll start in on your true hand.”
Not about to stop the man, Erik waved him on and headed out. In the doorway, he paused and turned back to ask, “I haven’t seen Siobhan or Grae all morning. Where are they?”
“Oh, them? They left early this morning. Grae spends his spare time building paths so we can take on more clients. Siobhan decided to help him today.”
The blood drained out of Erik’s face as the full meaning of that sank in. “You mean to tell me that those two are outside of Goldschmidt’s walls, on their own, building pathways?”
“Right,” Beirly confirmed, puzzled by Erik’s reaction. “Is there a problem?”
“Wind and stars, man, that’s dangerous work to do without any protection!” Erik felt like swearing, only couldn’t think of any words strong enough. “Which way? Which way were they going?”
“Ah?” Beirly looked toward the ceiling as he tried to recall. “South side. I think Grae wanted to build a path towards Winziane.”
Now knowing everything he needed to, he spun on his heel and sprinted out of the Hall. The street outside was busy with mid-morning traffic, so he had to pay attention to avoid running into something or plastering himself against the side of a wagon. As he ran, a steady stream of curses ran through his head. Seriously, what were those two thinking?! Being inside of a city was bad enough, but if true danger broke out, the city guild enforcers would step in. Outside of the city, there were absolutely no rules or anyone to turn to for safety.
Even as he ran, he knew what had happened. Siobhan was worried about Grae going out on his own, so to safeguard him, she’d gone along. And true, two were safer than one. But it probably didn’t occur to her to call Erik, because he was still too new in her life. Out of sheer habit, she took on the burden of protecting her friend. He was going to have to break this way of thinking with her, and with Grae, or they’d get themselves into serious trouble when he wasn’t around.
It took precious minutes to get out the south gate, and then another minute for him to find the two. They were several hundred yards out past the gate, off the beaten highway, kneeling on the ground with their heads buried in their work. Neither of them paying the slightest bit of attention to their surroundings.
They did this regularly? The idea terrified him. “Siobhan! Grae!” he called, not slacking his pace.
Both looked up, Grae having to shield his eyes to see who approached. Siobhan had her back toward the sun, so saw him and waved in greeting. “Wolf! Is there a problem?”
“You’re both fools, that’s the problem,” he snarled at her. Skidding to a stop, he loomed over her, torn between shaking sense into her and collapsing in relief that no trouble had found them yet.
Grae scrambled to his feet, then shifted from one foot to another in unease. Siobhan popped up as well, but she met Erik’s enraged expression head on, not in the least fazed by his temper. “What’s this about?”
He flung a finger toward the gate. “Do you really think that just because you’re within sight of the gate that you’re safe? That no trouble will find you here? That just because there’s two of you, you can handle things if thieves or brigands do approach? Siobhan, that’s madness!”
Arms akimbo on her hips, she argued, “Well, what do you want us to do? We have to work! The paths don’t build themselves.”
“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO CALL ME TO WATCH YOURS BACKS!” he thundered, a vein throbbing at his temple.
Even Siobhan flinched back, eyes shooting wide. Grae was about a hair’s breadth from hiding behind her.
Immediately regretting his loss of control, he lowered his voice to a more quiet tone and pleaded, “Siobhan, please. Don’t do this again. Grae, you either. If you need to leave the city, even if you need to leave the Hall, please call me. I will happily go with you rather than face something bad happening.”
Grae and Siobhan shared a glance before Grae ventured, “Then you were serious? You sincerely want to be our enforcer until you return home?”
“Yes, man, I was serious,” Erik said as patiently as he could.
They shared glances again, and this time, a multitude of words and emotions were expressed without them saying a word to each other. Erik could tell that this time, they knew he was sincere. He would not be repeating himself again on this topic nor fear them going out without his knowing.
“Then stay,” Grae invited, not quite meeting his eyes. “Help us.”
“Gladly.” Erik looked about on the ground, noticing for the first time where he stood. “Is this near a dry riverbed?”
“Yes, exactly,” Grae confirmed. “We’re harvesting rocks to build a path with.”
“We only have 5,800 something to go,” Siobhan said mock-brightly, voice heavy with sarcasm. “I’m so glad you volunteered to help, Wolf.”
Erik bit back a groan. Digging about in the dirt for pebbles was hardly a fun way to pass the time, but if it meant getting the job done faster, he would do just that. Resigned, he turned to Grae. “Show me what to look for.”
For the first time, Grae’s eyes came up and met his. Those blue eyes were wide with surprise. “You’re truly going to help us? Not just guard us?”
“Aye.”
Grae’s lips parted in wonder and what might have been the beginnings of a smile. “Then,” turning, he bent and scooped up a pile from a canvas sack before splaying them out on his open palm. “See? About this size. And if you can get them flat, that’d be best, as they’re easier to work with that way.”
“No specific color or anything?” Erik asked, bending slightly to get a better look.
Grae shook his head. “No, that doesn’t matter. The size and weight of it, that’s what matters.”
The man was the Pathmaker, not him, so he took his word for it. “Right.” Bending, he splayed his good hand on the ground and started searching. “Ones like these, then?”
Grae sank into a crouch next to him and tentatively took the pebbles from his hand. “Yes, these two are good. This one isn’t. See how it’s cracked down the middle? We want ones that are solid.”
“Got it.”
They all bent down and set to work, sorting through rocks and tossing anything that looked good into a canvas bag at their feet. Erik kept a general ey
e on the area in case of trouble, but no one seemed inclined to approach them.
The day slowly passed and eventually it got too late to stay out any longer. They packed up and went back to the Hall. Wolf’s knees were killing him, his back was aching, and his good hand was dry and dusty. But Grae was now speaking easily to him, Siobhan had gotten comfortable enough to try teasing and joking now and again, and he knew them both far better than he had this morning. And because of that, all of his aches and pains were well worth it.
Chapter Five
“Wolf, everything fine back there?” Siobhan called from the front of the caravan.
“Just fine!” he assured her.
The anticipated escorting job of taking a caravan to Wynngaard had finally arrived. Erik was of two minds about this. He was of course overjoyed at the thought of finally going home, and seeing friends and family, but…there was another part of him that hated the idea of leaving Siobhan, Grae, and Beirly behind. He’d only had a month with them, but that month was precious. The thought that he might never see them again made his heart rebel.
They had a prebuilt path outside of Quigg that would take them to Brevik. Actually, that was why the guild had been in Converse and met him. They were coming back from a pathmaking trip. Siobhan had taken advantage of having a job scheduled a month in advance and used the time to build the paths they needed. So all they had to do was use the path to get to Converse, cross the Grey Bridges, get through Quigg, and then take the path to Brevik. In all, it shouldn’t be more than a four day journey. If things went wrong, perhaps five days.
And then after that, they would travel up to Reske. So in ten days or less, he would be home.
Erik wasn’t as nearly happy about that as he should be.
So it was hard to diligently work on getting the caravan lined up and in motion, to make sure that there were no problems, and be professional as they left Goldschmidt. Really, all he wanted to do was find ways to delay the inevitable as much as possible.
In terms of caravans, this one was not particularly large. It was only six wagons, two outriders, and about ten traders and drivers that belonged to the company. Because of that, they could hire a small guild of four like Deepwoods to escort and guard them. Brevik was on the western side of Wynngaard and about a five day journey from his hometown. Erik had been through there a few times as a child, and while his memory was hazy, he had more experience with the route than anyone in Deepwoods did.
Blackstone (Book 2) Page 26
