Blacknail’s master looked them over contemplatively for a few seconds before turning to his companions. “They’re just throwaway hirelings, and probably a distraction for the real scouts.”
“What do you want to do with them?” one of Herad’s rangers asked. He didn’t sound like he really cared all that much.
The old scout turned to look at the captives again and frowned. The woman gave him a hopeful smile. Blacknail took a step forward and eagerly voiced his opinion.
“You could let them go…” he suggested eagerly.
Some of the tension disappeared from the captives’ posture, and they looked relieved.
“… and then I could hunt them down through the streets for fun,” the hobgoblin finished.
Both the captives took a hasty step back from him, and a horrified expression appeared on the woman’s face. It was a very quick reversal.
“That would take up too much time,” Saeter replied dryly.
“I could catch them very fast,” Blacknail remarked as he eyed the woman.
She smelled strongly of fear, and Blacknail detected a slight shiver to her movements. She was obviously more afraid than her companion, and her fear was exciting the hobgoblin. He would really enjoy hunting her. Blacknail licked his lips greedily.
“Nope, still not going to happen,” his master answered sternly, and Blacknail sighed deeply in regret.
Saeter then turned toward the two captives. There was a sad look in his eyes. “You shouldn’t have taken this job. I don’t have time to lock you up, and you obviously can’t be trusted.”
“No, wait please!” the brunette woman wailed before one of the scouts silenced her with a swing of his blade.
The stocky man tried to flee, but Saeter stabbed him ruthlessly in the back. The old scout then sighed unhappily at the corpses at his feet.
“I wanted to do that!” Blacknail whined. His master obviously hadn’t enjoyed doing it, so why had he hogged all the action?
Saeter looked up and frowned at the hobgoblin. His master looked sad for a second but his face quickly hardened. “I have another job for you, Blacknail. I’m betting there’s another more skilled group of scouts around, and I want you to track them down. There should only be one or two of them.”
“Sure thing,” Blacknail replied happily. He would get to hunt some people after all! That was better than just stabbing them.
The hobgoblin immediately took off at a sprint down the dirty alleyway. He had plenty of energy to burn, and within seconds, he disappeared from Saeter’s sight. Instinct told him that anyone using the humans from earlier would have wanted to make sure their distraction did as they were told, so Blacknail back traced the enemies path and soon stumbled on a scent that didn’t belong to them. Someone had indeed been shadowing the first group of humans as they'd approached Herad’s territory.
From there, it was simple for Blacknail to follow the new scent trail through the winding back alleys until he closed in on his prey. The man he was following wasn’t bad at moving silently and keeping out of sight, so the hobgoblin had to proceed carefully when the trail grew fresh, lest he stumble into him. He didn’t want the man to know he was being stalked, that would take the fun out of it.
Blacknail carefully scanned the shadows for any sign of movement, or anything that didn’t belong, as he moved through the alley. His prey was close now. He saw nothing though, so he closed his eyes and concentrated on listening. The clatter of everyday activities echoed through the narrow streets from far away, but Blacknail tuned it out. A slight wheeze stirred the air somewhere to his right, and the hobgoblin’s eyes shot open. He immediately stalked toward the source of the noise. There was someone nearby. It had come from the other side of a decrepit-looking building, so rather than expose himself by walking down the street, Blacknail chose a different way. Silently, the hobgoblin crept up to the wall in front of him and began to climb.
He swiftly made his way up the rough, uneven wooden exterior of the building and pulled himself up onto the roof. Ever so carefully, he stalked across the clay roof tiles until he reached the far edge, and then he looked down.
Below him, a man wearing the familiar hooded cloak of an assassin was pressed up against the building. The hobgoblin watched as the man peered nervously around a corner and down the street for signs of pursuit. He appeared nervous for some reason, and that annoyed Blacknail. Had he somehow detected the hobgoblin’s presence? Blacknail was just about to drop down on the unsuspecting assassin and assassinate him, when he heard someone else approaching. Thinking it might be more enemies, he quickly rolled back over to the other side of the roof and out of sight.
When the new arrival turned the corner, the hobgoblin peeked over the tip of the building to see who it was, and his eyes widened in surprise. He recognized the man; it was What’s-His-Face the bandit! He was one of the men that had joined Herad after Fang had died. Was he also looking for spies? Much to Blacknail’s confusion, the assassin stepped out from the shadows and greeted the newcomer. What’s-His-Face returned the greeting, and the hobgoblin’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. The man wasn’t looking for spies, he was a spy! Blacknail was definitely going to kill him.
“Do you have the information?” the assassin asked the traitor.
“I don’t know, do you have my gold?” he replied.
The assassin grunted, pulled out a small pouch, and threw it to the traitor. The bandit caught it and opened it so he could peer inside. He seemed satisfied with the contents because he smiled and tucked it into his coat. Upon hearing the word gold, Blacknail had instantly focused on the pouch, but he hadn’t been able to see inside of it when it had been opened. If there was gold in there though, then he planned on taking the shiny stuff for his own. He didn’t actually have any gold yet, just a bit of silver.
“It’s your turn,” the assassin remarked, and the traitor nodded.
“All the information you want is in there, including stuff about her defenses and the location of her camp,” the man explained as he pulled out a scroll case and handed it to the assassin.
“What about information on which merchants she deals with, the caravans she’s hit in the last year, and the details of her operation down south?”
“Ya, that’s in there too. I don’t know why in all the hells you want that though. It seems pretty bloody useless.”
The assassin nodded and then opened the case and looked the scroll over quickly. A few seconds later, he closed it again and tucked it away.
“Good, this will do nicely. Thank you for your efforts,” the assassin replied.
The traitor man snorted in response. “I know which way the winds are blowing. Herad’s no match for Werrick and the people behind him. Her days are numbered.”
“Very true, but then so are yours,” the assassin remarked with deceptive calm. He lunged forward and stabbed the traitor up under his ribs.
The man coughed and crumpled lifelessly onto the alley floor. The assassin quickly cleaned his knife off with a cloth and re-sheathed it. The corpse’s eyes were wide open in surprise, and the assassin gave it a smug smile. He picked the pouch up from where it had fallen on the ground and opened it. This time, Blacknail clearly saw the glint of gold from within, and he purred softly to himself.
The man laughed. “I'll be taking this back for myself.”
Blacknail giggled as he dropped down on the man’s back. “Nope, it’s mine.”
“What, who?” the startled assassin gasped. He was stunned by the impact and started to fall.
The hobgoblin wasted no time; he began stabbing wildly at the man’s exposed sides. Before the assassin even hit the ground, Blacknail had stabbed him more than half a dozen times, and then Blacknail stabbed him half a dozen more. The grinning hobgoblin stepped off the man’s squishy body and started to loot the bloody corpses. He took the scroll as a gift for Herad, but he claimed all the assassin’s knives and the pouch of gold for himself. He’d earned them after all.
Chapter
33
With his human prey laying dead on the wet cobblestones at his feet, Blacknail hurried back toward Saeter and the other scouts. He broke out into a quick run so it only took him a few minutes to find them. Thankfully, they hadn’t gone far and were just around the corner from where they’d fought Zelena’s hirelings.
When he turned the last corner and Saeter’s form came into view, Blacknail let out a deep relaxing breath. He was relieved his master hadn’t managed to get himself into trouble while he’d been gone. He'd sort of been expecting Saeter to have picked a fight with a troll or something. He had no idea how or why a troll would show up in the middle of the city, but if one did, he was sure Saeter would run into it.
“I’m back,” Blacknail called out as he rejoined the rangers. He didn’t want to startle them and get shot in the chest by an arrow.
“Did you find anyone?” his master asked with obvious interest.
“Yep, I found-ss two stupid humans—”
The hobgoblin was unexpectedly cut off by the shrill sound of a distant whistle. The first blast of noise was soon followed by several more, and they formed a pattern Blacknail recognized. It was the signal that enemies were coming down the road. Even the humans beside him, with their tiny useless pink ears, had apparently heard it because they turned to look in that direction.
“Time to go. Quickly, get back to the road!” Saeter commanded everyone as he broke out into a jog.
Together, the group of rangers dashed back toward the main street that led to Herad’s compound and the lookout there that had signaled them. As they ran, Blacknail risked a quick look around.It was still cloudy overhead, so it wasn’t all that bright out, but there was enough light to strip most the shadows from the tight corridors that Saeter’s group were running through. The sunlight had also finally started to dry the wet ground, and all the puddles were evaporating.
The scouts soon arrived near the warehouse where they had stationed the sentry earlier, and they came to a cautious stop. One of the scouts peeked out at the street from around a corner, but the roadway seemed clear. Carefully, he led the others to the entrance of the building. Blacknail listened carefully for signs of an ambush as well. He didn’t hear anything at first, until they got close to the doorway, and then he heard a slight shuffling noise. There was at least one person concealed on the other side of it. He was about to hiss a warning when he got a good whiff of their scent. It was familiar. Sure enough, a second later, a familiar face stepped out of the doorway and greeted them. It was one of the rangers Saeter had sent out earlier.
“Good, you're back. We need to get out of here,” the ranger told them. “Zelena’s men are moving in force now. There’s easily a hundred of the scum coming down the road. The misbegotten bastards will be here in just a minute or two.”
“Any word from Herad about how the preparations are going?” Saeter asked him gruffly.
“No, and I don’t care. We’re not here to buy her time, if she even needs it. We were just told to stop anyone trying to get a look at our defenses until the main attack comes, and it’s bloody well here now,” the other man replied impatiently.
Saeter grunted in vague agreement before replying. “Fine then, let’s get going. Tell the sentry to get his ass down here so we can leave.”
The other rangers soon arrived, and the entire group quickly retreated down the road toward the base. As they ran, Blacknail could hear a commotion behind them, and it made him more than a little anxious. The clutter of hoofs on stone and the thud of boots were very clear in his ears. It definitely sounded like people were chasing them, and he didn’t like being hunted. He was a predator. Prey were beneath him.
Blacknail could also hear quite a bit of activity from up ahead, and he really hoped it was the rest of his tribe. It would be awkward if it was a trap, because then he’d have to make a break for safety and leave everyone else behind. The reason for all the noise soon became obvious, however, and it wasn’t a trap. The wide cobblestone road that led to Herad’s base was full of bandits, and a tall wooden barricade now stretched all the way from the building on one side to the building on the other. It was a little taller than a human man and had been hastily constructed out of mismatched wooden panels. Herad herself was out front overseeing the work as her minions finished assembling the wall. Her idea of supervision seemed to involve an awful lot of screaming and insults.
“Move faster, you lazy vermin! If you don’t start moving your fat asses, then you won’t have to worry about the enemy because I’ll kill you scum myself!” she yelled savagely at the workers. The bandit chieftain then noticed Saeter’s group returning and turned toward them.
“I take it that your arrival means that Zelena’s finally attacking?” she asked Saeter as they walked up to her.
“A large force of what certainly looks like Zelena’s men is coming down the road right behind us. There’s no sign of the mercenaries yet though. How are things going here?” Saeter replied.
“Well enough. The barricade isn’t pretty, but it should do the job. The demolition crews have also finished collapsing buildings across the other ways in,” Herad answered.
“We sure are making a mess,” one of the other scouts murmured to himself.
Before Saeter could respond to Herad, her expression hardened and her hand dropped toward her sword. Thankfully she was no longer looking at Saeter but gazing past him instead. Both Blacknail and his master hurriedly turned to see what she was gazing at. It was probably important. The hobgoblin growled softly as he took in the figure of a lone horseman on the empty road behind them. The rider had come to a stop well out of bowshot, and he was too far away for the hobgoblin to see details, but he seemed to be scrutinizing Herad’s barricade.
“The first enemy has arrived. Looks like you two got here in time for the big fight,” Herad remarked.
“Oh, joy-ss,” Blacknail hissed sarcastically. He had seen human battles before, and being stuck in the middle of one was among the last places he wanted to be.
The bandit chieftain whistled sharply to get everyone’s attention. Blacknail winced as the noise painfully pierced his skull. Ugh, he hated it when humans whistled. How did they even do that?
“All right, everyone, get to the other side of the wall. The pathetic fools we’re about to slaughter have arrived!” Herad yelled loudly enough for all her nearby minions to hear.
There was no gate in the barricade, so Saeter’s group followed Herad into a nearby building. The door was shut and locked behind them, and a large bookcase was jammed up behind it for good measure. With that done, they stepped out of another door and into the area behind the barricade where they would supposedly be safe. The hobgoblin was glad they had a wall, but he thought it would probably be safer to be somewhere that wasn’t about to be attacked.
A slight smile appeared on Herad’s face as she surveyed the scene before her. Her men were rushing around to put the finishing touches on the wooden barricade that loomed before them. Blacknail thought this was a good time to give her his gift, because it looked like things were going to get very busy soon, and he didn’t want to forget. He found that when people tried to kill him, it was usually very distracting.
“Oh great-ss mistress, I have a present for you!” he announced loudly to catch her attention. Herad turned around and scowled at the hobgoblin. He gave her a hopeful grin in return.
“You’d better not be about to lay some dead rat you caught on the way back here at my feet,” she remarked coldly.
“He’s a hobgoblin not a cat,” Saeter interjected dryly.
Herad huffed impatiently for Blacknail to get to it. The hobgoblin hurriedly pulled the scroll case out from where he’d tucked it into his belt and held it out in front of himself where she could see it.
“I don’t think you’ve started writing or even reading, so what in all the hells is that?” she asked curiously as she reached out and took it from him.
“Maybe it’s hobgoblin poetry,” one of the scouts w
hispered to the man beside him, which caused him to snicker quietly. Blacknail ignored them.
“The vile and smelly traitor gave it to the stupid human assassin I killed. So I offer-ss it to you as proof of my kills,” he told Herad excitedly.
“What traitor?” Herad asked with sudden anger as her eyes narrowed dangerously. Her expression didn’t get any better when she opened the scroll case and started reading. In fact, it got much worse.
“Umm, you know… the man. The um… pink one with the tiny ears and nose,” Blacknail stuttered in reply. The traitor may also have had hair of some color.
Herad looked up from her reading and scowled at him again. Blacknail cringed under her scrutiny. Why was she angry at him? Maybe he should learn people’s names after all. Why did all humans have to look so similar?
“He’s the one who smelled kind of rusty all the time-ss,” the hobgoblin added hopefully.
He was disappointed; Herad’s scowl grew deeper, but thankfully she turned away from him and toward his master. Surely he hadn’t been the only one to notice that smell? Humans sure had bad senses.
“Saeter, I don’t suppose you happened to see the bastard Blacknail is talking about?” Herad asked.
“Um no, sorry,” Saeter replied carefully. Herad groaned in uncharacteristic frustration and eyed Blacknail irritably again. The hobgoblin gave her a nervous smile back.
“Fine, whatever. Don’t worry about his bloody name then. Tell me exactly how you got this scroll!” she commanded the hobgoblin.
Blacknail immediately launched into a rambling explanation on how he’d tracked the super dangerous eight-foot-tall assassin through the streets and then killed both him and the traitor in an extended knife fight. There may have been a vicious pack of dogs, or harpies, as well. He left out the little unimportant details though, like the pouch of gold.
“Well, it seems like you handled the situation right,” Herad told the hobgoblin. “I can figure out who in all the hells the traitor was after I deal with the small army that is about to attack us. Now get back to work. I want you both to join the defensive line, but don’t forget to keep an eye out for anyone trying to sneak around it.”
City of Daggers (The Iron Teeth Book 2) Page 32
