“Not the first time this week.” Dismissing the last part as unimportant, Siobhan turned to Fei with a warm smile. “Thank you so much, Fei, for jumping in like you did. I do worry for Wolf sometimes because he gets overwhelmed and he doesn’t always have someone at his back. I appreciate you fighting with him.”
That seemed like a good opening to him. Taking a breath, Fei said firmly, “Maley-zhi.”
“Yes?”
“I think I will accept your offer and join the guild.”
Siobhan fumbled what was in her hands, nearly upsetting it entirely, before catching the bag at the last second and placing it squarely on the table. Only then did she turn, revealing a wide smile. “Truly?”
“I have come to the conclusion that I wish to stay.” More like, he needed to stay. The one thing that this guild lacked was a peacemaker and they sorely needed it. He could also admit that out of every guild he had ever met, this was the one that he was drawn to the most. The people here were honorable and talented. He respected them.
Siobhan launched herself at him, arms tight around his shoulders, enough so that it almost cut off all circulation. “I absolutely will not let you take that back.”
Not expecting a reaction quite this strong, he froze for a second before patting her tentatively on the back. “You wish for me to join that badly?”
“Do you know how rare it is that I find a fighter as strong as Wolf?” Finally, she stepped back a foot, beaming. “Besides, I was truly worried about you going out on your own. You’ve done it for three years, but honestly I feel like you were just tempting fate. You’ve had incredible luck so far to get by unscathed.”
Perhaps he had, at that. When he thought of what he was like at fifteen, so naïve coming into Robarge, he had to wonder just what it was that safeguarded him. Fighting skills alone could not account for it. That she worried for him warmed Fei’s heart. “I am glad to stay,” he added honestly. “I have grown fond of all of you.”
“And we of you. Aside from liking you, I need you. You mediate when fights break out, which is something that I’m not always able to do.”
So she’d caught that, ne? He shouldn’t be surprised—not much got past Siobhan. “Then, if you will accept me as a member?”
“Absolutely.”
“Offices are closed at this hour of the day,” Wolfinsky pointed out.
Siobhan growled in frustration. “So they are. Then we’ll do the paperwork the minute they open tomorrow.”
“So you’ll be my brother in truth then.” Wolfinsky settled into a satisfied expression. “Good. I’m glad.”
So was he. “Since that is the case, I must change how I address both of you. It is no longer appropriate. I will call you Siobhan-ajie and Wolf-ren.”
Siobhan paused, not quite knowing how to react to this. “Ah, you never have explained how your honorifics work., ‘Ajie’ is for…?”
“An older sister or relative.” Seeing that she looked pleased but confused, he elaborated quietly, “Deepwoods is a family, is it not?”
“It is,” she agreed, expression softening. “It is indeed.”
Epilogue
“And that is the story of Man Fei Lei.”
“It was a good telling and I thank ya for it.” Rune paused, ruminating on it. “You’re wrong. It was an interesting story.”
Fei didn’t see how. “Why do you think so?”
“Because even though ya weren’t looking for a guild, they still charmed ya into joining. Did ya really join because it felt like they needed ya?”
“I truly did. It was that more than anything that drew me in. Well, and I really did long for that sense of ‘family’ again. I had not tired of traveling, or learning new things, but not having a place to rest or people to rely on had worn thin. If Deepwoods had not been an escorting guild, I’m not sure if I would have made the same decision. With them, I could pursue all of my desires without sacrificing anything.”
Rune nodded in complete understanding, as well he should, as he had more or less reached the same conclusion that Fei had for almost the same reasons.
“You see now, don’t you, why I said we are very alike?” Fei asked, watching Rune’s reaction from the corner of his eye.
“We both weren’t looking for a guild to join,” Rune said slowly, the light starting to dawn. “We both only joined in the beginning because they needed us, but we stayed because we could see more of the world with them and they felt like family to us.”
“Precisely so. It is why I said that at our cores, you and I are not very different.”
“Well.” Rune didn’t quite know how to react to that. He went back to scrubbing dishes. “I thought it was because we like to sit up high and sneak behind people.”
“And that,” Fei agreed, chuckling.
Rune scrubbed some more. Without looking up from his hands, he said quietly, “It’s good ya joined. I wouldn’t have known how to belong in Deepwoods without ya.”
That was literal truth. Fei had spent many a night coaching the ex-assassin and then spent a good majority of the day running around pacifying people when Rune did step on toes. “I am this guild’s peacemaker, after all.”
“Even now?”
“Always.”
The Story of Tran Amar and Sylvie Waverly
Prologue
After two solid days of stone gathering, Tran was ready to admit to himself that he felt like an old man. His back was trying to settle into a semi-permanent hunch, his knees protested whenever he bent them, and his hands were dry and cracking. After dinner dishes were washed, he put his hands against his back and arched backward, trying to straighten out his spine. As he did this, he saw Rune smirking at him. He scowled back. There was about ten years difference between them, which wasn’t much in the long view of things, but a nineteen year old’s recovery powers were much better than a thirty year old’s.
He’d make the kid suffer for that smirk later.
They’d spent the day gathering stones for both Pathmakers, still building the path toward Saoleord. Grae had asked Tran to teach all of the different Way Songs to Rune as they worked. Having nothing better to do, and knowing that their future safety depended on Rune’s knowledge, he had done so. The kid now had five songs stuck firmly in his head and another half-learned. Tran judged that by the time they had this path built, Rune would know all of the major routes. The other Way Songs, the ones that led to the more obscure places, he could teach him slowly over time.
Siobhan clapped her hands loudly, calling for people’s attention. “Let’s mix up pairings a little. Wolf, you and Conli take first watch. Tran, you and Rune take second. Beirly and Fei take third. Sylvie, you take fourth.”
Sometimes Tran didn’t understand how Siobhan’s mind worked. She was obviously trying to mix up who was taking watch so that the same people weren’t losing sleep every night. Of course, the enforcers drew the short straw on things like night watch. They were the ones that really needed to be on guard. But why mix up the pairings like that?
Well, it didn’t matter. Shrugging, he gave her a nod of consent before shaking out his bedroll and rolling himself into it. It felt like he had just closed his eyes before Conli’s hand landed on his shoulder and shook him awake.
“You up?” Conli murmured in a low tone.
Tran grunted something unintelligible.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Chuckling, Conli moved off to find his own bed.
Resigned to being awake for a few hours, Tran sat up, pushing the blanket off, and got to his feet. Finding his boots by firelight, he laced them up and then put both swords back on.
Rune, not having any weapons, was ready before him and patiently waiting by the fire. When he saw that Tran was ready, he signaled him with a beckoning gesture and started off for the outer perimeter. Tran, stifling a yawn, followed.
They walked in peaceful silence for a while, the grass rustling against their boots, with the perfect ocean breeze caressing their skin. It was nights lik
e these that Tran enjoyed most.
“Last night,” Rune said in a quiet voice, “I asked Wolf-dog ta tell me how he came into the guild.”
Tran blinked in surprise. “I thought you knew how he came in.”
“I knew the basics,” Rune corrected. “I knew Siobhan bought him off a black market. I knew he was in a dark guild before that. But that’s not a full story.”
After living with Wolf for nearly eight years, Tran fully understood that the Wynngaardians valued having the full tale, not just the bare bones of it. One of the few things they could both agree on was the value of a complete story. “Ahh. He told you, then?”
“He did.” Rune sounded satisfied, like a man remembering a feast at a banquet. “But I’m just as curious about everyone else. I don’t know how the rest of ya came into Deepwoods either. So, Tran Amar, will ya tell me your story?”
Tran grinned at him. “I’d be pleased to.”
Chapter One
What to do now? Tran looked around him, taking in this foreign city. He’d passed Goldschmidt twice now, briefly stopping once to stay overnight, but he couldn’t say that he’d spent time here before. Since leaving home, he’d been all over Wynngaard and Robarge, but while familiar with most of it, he couldn’t claim to know any part of it well.
Tran scratched at the stubble on his chin, looking both ways and trying to figure out where the nearest job board would be. He’d signed on as a temporary caravan guard simply because it was the only work to be had, but the job had ended once they’d reached Goldschmidt. It left him in an unfamiliar city with no work. Worse, it was approaching the winter season; if he didn’t find something to do, he’d soon run out of money entirely. For a man as large as him, skipping meals was simply not an option.
He was in the livestock markets now, and the odds of there being any job boards nearby were slim. Not knowing where to go, he struck out blindly, hoping to go more towards the center of town. Hitting a pocket clear of people, he stretched out into a slow run, enjoying the feel of it. He’d been forced to walk for several months now, keeping pace with the caravans, and had missed running.
Seven years he had been doing this, going from one caravan to the next, acting as a guard. Once he had been employed by the same trader for nearly two years, until a bad accident had put the man permanently out of business. When he’d left home at seventeen, he’d never imagined he’d lose all stability in his life by doing so. At first it had been thrilling, exciting to never know where he was going to end up, but that had worn off fairly quickly. Funny how the adventure stories had never described being short on money, or having to scrounge for meals and a place to sleep. Tran didn’t mind roughing it now and again, but he was a man that appreciated the home comforts.
Maybe it was time to find a guild to join.
He’d toyed with this idea before, but had never reached a definite conclusion one way or another. Most of the guilds that he’d come across were very stationary by nature, or they didn’t have positions open for a man of his skills. The stationary guilds, the ones that never left a city, were of no interest to him. There was too much of the world he hadn’t seen yet. He wouldn’t be content staying in one place the rest of his life. The crafting guilds, and supply guilds, and anything of that nature wouldn’t have a use for him anyway. He would need a trading guild or an escorting guild, and few of those had positions open.
Tran would have to come across a brand new guild, one that was still short on members, and that was a hard thing to find without knowing someone that knew someone that could point him in the right direction. He had a letter of recommendation from his previous three bosses in his bags, and that would help, but only if he found a guildmaster to give them to.
Goldschmidt lay directly on the main trade route in Robarge. Surely here, of all places, he could find a few escorting guilds or trading guilds that were looking for an enforcer? If not, maybe one last job that would take him to a city where he would have better odds of finding winter work?
A particularly sharp gust of wind cut through the city streets, making a shiver race along his skin. Hissing at the force of it, he snugged his jacket up a little tighter underneath his chin. It was October now, so they had another month until the winter snows came in. If he was to find work, he’d best be quick about it.
Finally, he hit a main street and got out of the market area. There were clothing shops, shoe shops, trunk shops, and things of that ilk. If he’d had the spare change for it, he’d like to get that hole in his left boot patched, but things like that would have to wait until he had another job. Ducking his head against the force of the wind, he trudged along, hoping he was going the right way. In this cold weather, most people were quickly darting between buildings, leaving the streets empty. Only a few people passed him, and none were inclined to stop and answer questions. More’s the pity. He could use a few answers right now.
“I said go!”
Tran’s head snapped up. The tone behind that command was all wrong. It spoke of fear and panic, and a desperate determination to not sound either. The voice was high, sweetly feminine, although from here he couldn’t tell exactly where it had come from. Somewhere up ahead.
“Now, sweets, we’re concerned for you,” a male voice responded. The man must have chewed gravel every day to have a voice like that. The sneer and lust in the voice made the fine hairs on Tran’s neck stand on end.
Whoever that man was, he was no friend of the woman’s. It didn’t sound like she had any help nearby, either. Tran wasn’t one to turn his back on a situation like this, so he lengthened his stride, trying to follow his ears so he could find her before things got out of hand.
“Listen to me,” she commanded, the scrape of a boot heal on stone accompanying her words. “I’m from a guild. My enforcer doesn’t have any sense of humor when it comes to the women being hurt. If you do something to me, he will hunt you down like the dogs you are.”
“But we’re trying to help you, lovey,” a different male voice crooned.
Two men? No, three, as someone else laughed like this was funny. Three men and one woman? Those cowards. They truly were like a pack of wild dogs, cornering their prey.
Two thoughts ran through Tran’s mind, one after another. If the girl was part of a guild, and had an enforcer in it, where was he? And if Tran saved her, would she repay him by introducing him to a guild that needed an enforcer? At the very least, surely she could tell him where the job boards were.
He rounded a corner and finally found them. A dark, stunningly beautiful brunette was pinned against the wall. She had a dagger in one hand, but from the way she gripped it, she knew it wouldn’t do her much good. Arranged in front of her were four men, all of them seedy looking, and even from here he could smell the cheap alcohol. Four men against one woman. Tran shook his head. Unbelievable.
Tran planted his feet shoulder-width apart and cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. It worked. The girl gave him a glance that became an outright stare. He more or less knew why. His pitch black skin and hair marked him clearly as a Teheranian, which was rare in Robarge. To top it off, he was a veritable giant among these people. He got reactions like this all of the time.
The men looked him over from top to bottom before exchanging uneasy glances. Even four on one, they weren’t sure they could take him. It was a good assessment—they couldn’t.
One of them, braver than his comrades, said slowly, “We’re not in a sharing mood.”
Tran gave him a smile known to make lesser men tremble. “I’m not in a tolerant one. Four men against one woman? For shame.”
The shortest among them took a step forward, swaggering with false bravado. (Or maybe he really was that drunk.) “Move on with you!”
Ignoring him, Tran turned to her and said, “I need information. If I get rid of this scum, will you answer some questions for me and introduce me to a good guildmaster?” He’d help her regardless, but he wasn’t above using the situation to his advantage when pos
sible.
The brunette’s eyes lit up. “Deal.”
Well, this day was looking up already. With a feral smile, he cracked his knuckles against both palms. “Boys, your luck just went sour. I am now this woman’s bodyguard.”
They swore at him in a stupidly repetitive fashion and then charged, like four bulls after the same red flag. He hadn’t faced four opponents at once in quite some time. Laughing, he waded into the middle of them. Ducking low—well, for him it was low, it put his head at about waist height—he swept a leg out and knocked one man to the ground. His head made a meaty thunk as it hit the cobblestone. Not focusing on him, Tran kept moving, hands lashing out and finding bones to break.
His opponents were drunk and on top of that, poor fighters. He broke arms, noses, and a few ribs without trying to do any real damage. In fact, he had to stop cold and back off three steps before he accidentally killed someone. When he did retreat, he made sure to put the pretty brunette at his back. No need to leave her open to danger. These four might strike upon the idea of using her as a hostage, and that always got messy.
However, when Tran backed off, the four were in too much pain to be interested in anything but escape. Gathering each other up, they helped the more injured to their feet and limped away. Tran, watching this, spat in disgust. Weaklings. That hadn’t been a fight at all. He wasn’t even breathing hard yet.
“Phew.” The girl at his back slumped against the wall, her hands shaking. “I’m so glad you came along.”
“So am I.” Tran turned to face her. She was a little thing, not even reaching his collar bones. Close up like this, he could see she had the type of stunning looks that would draw trouble like bees to honey. What was she doing out here alone?
From the way she looked up at him, even though they had a deal, his sheer size was scaring her. Hoping to put her at ease, he offered a hand and introduced himself. “Tran Amar.”
Hesitantly, she grasped his arm and returned, “Sylvie Waverly of Deepwoods.”
Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) Page 17
