A disguise, was it? Well, Siobhan had to admit it was a good notion. She might have Sylvie do that again if the situation looked dangerous enough. “Did you decide on which enforcer would go with you?”
“Rune. He’s the most logical choice, after all. And it’ll save us serious traveling time.”
In her shoes, that was who Siobhan would choose, too.
A knock rattled the door before Wolf’s voice rumbled through the wood. “Siobhan. You in there?”
Siobhan flinched in reaction, instinct sending her deeper into the tub, even though he couldn’t see her through the solid wood door. “I am,” she called back with a note of panic in her voice. “Perfectly naked, I might add.”
“I won’t enter,” he assured her, sounding amused. “Don’t panic, woman, I know better than to step in there.”
“Wise man.” Sylvie darted her a look that said she had once again overreacted. Siobhan made a face at her.
“I’m looking for Rune. Did he mention going anywhere to you?”
Puzzled, Siobhan responded, “No. You can’t find him anywhere?”
“I’ve looked high and low and can’t locate him.”
“He said he had something to do,” Denney piped up. “He mentioned it to me this morning, although he didn’t tell me what.”
“Maybe he wanted to finish some task in Goldschmidt?” Rune had been the only one not to come back with them. Siobhan hadn’t worried about it, as he was perfectly capable of beating up anyone dumb enough to pick a fight and make his own way back.
“The sun’s set and he’s still not back.”
The sun had already set? Just how long had she been in here? Frowning, she shifted to her knees, the water sloshing in all directions. She now understood why Wolf was a little concerned. Rune should have been back by now. The paths would be impossible to use in the dark, after all.
“Did you check with the gate guards?”
“No. I’ll do that.”
“Do. Then let me know.” Either way, it was impossible for her to relax now. She threw a leg over the side and climbed out of the barrel, reaching for a towel.
Denney moved as she did, also reaching for a towel, an odd expression on her face.
That look of mixed suspicion and worry made Siobhan stop dead, only half into her pants. “Denney? Something you forgot to mention?”
“When Rune said there was something he had to do,” she said slowly, as if working through the idea aloud, “it was right after I told him about Fallen Ward. He had this look on his face like he was planning something.”
Siobhan had this uneasy pit developing in her stomach. “Denney, recite exactly what you were saying.”
“Well, I was basically repeating what Markl told Sylvie and me. About how bad the market was over there, and how Fallen Ward’s guildmaster was a hereditary position, and they stopped working on the bridge, and none of the new statements by the guildmaster were making much sense.”
“And then?”
Denney gave a helpless shrug. “And then Rune said he just realized he had to go and do something. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but…what could he possibly have to do that the whole guild wouldn’t know about?”
Not a blessed thing that Siobhan could think of. But when she put his words into context, it made that uneasy pit turn into a yawning abyss. She just didn’t completely understand why this fear had seized her. It was instinct that said her adopted brother was going to do something very dangerous.
Taken with a new sense of urgency, she threw on her clean clothes, bundled up the dirty ones under her arm, and took off for the main room. By the time she made it out, Tran and Wolf were waiting at the entrance of the hallway.
Tran said without prompting, “He didn’t come through the gate.”
Siobhan started swearing aloud, not caring who heard her.
“Did he fall into some sort of trouble?” Wolf apparently realized from her reaction that she had a good guess what their boy had gotten into.
“No, I think he went looking for it.” This was still theory on her part, and she needed validation. “Where is Hyun Woo or Ryu Jin Ho?”
“Ryu Jin Ho is in the inn across the street,” Tran answered promptly, jerking a thumb that direction. “I just saw him go in.”
“Siobhan,” Wolf said in exasperation, growing impatient at her lack of response to his question.
“Wait. I need to verify something first.” Pushing her dirty clothes into Tran’s hands—he was surprised enough by this that he fumbled and almost dropped them—she slipped in between the two men and headed straight for the door.
The inn across the street was just as crowded as her own, and it took her several moments before she spotted Ryu Jin Ho in a back corner of the room. He had several men and women sitting with him, and the discussion was a lively one, from the looks of it. Siobhan would have felt bad interrupting them if the situation wasn’t so important.
Aware that she had Wolf on her heels, she didn’t slow her pace or try to keep him close. She just went directly to Ryu Jin Ho’s side. He looked up in mild surprise to see her, rising out of his chair on instinct.
“Siobhan-jia. Something is amiss?”
“I don’t know. That’s the problem.” Her appearance alone probably told him this wasn’t a casual visit. After all, her hair was still dripping wet and tangled around her head. Taking a breath, she tried to order her thoughts and suspicions well enough to voice a question. “Ryu Jin Ho-zhi. I need you to think like a strategist for a moment. If someone were to tell you about the situation in Fallen Ward, all the facts that we heard yesterday, what would you do?”
Ryu Jin Ho’s dark eyes focused on her face in a penetrating way. “Is this question purely academic?”
“No. Rune is missing and we don’t know where he went. I suspect it has something to do with what he learned this morning, which was all about the condition of Fallen Ward.”
“So what you are truly asking me is, if I were Rune, and I learned all of that, what would I do?”
“Yes. You’re both students of Hyun Woo. Knowing strategy as you do, knowing Rune’s skills, what do you predict he will do?”
Ryu Jin Ho didn’t even think about it for a full second before he answered her. “Assassinate the guildmaster of Fallen Ward.”
The table fell into shocked silence. Wolf just groaned, the sound guttural with frustration and a resigned acceptance. Siobhan felt like she had just been punched hard in the gut. She was surprised by this answer and yet not at all at the same time.
“You’re not surprised.” Ryu Jin Ho said quietly.
“No,” she sighed, closing her eyes in a fatalistic resignation. “Rune’s first instinct when something troubles him is to kill it first and send flowers later.”
“I think this time, his reasoning is sound. If he is truly going to Coravine, then it is because he has realized what Hyun Woo-zhi and I have. The guildmaster of Fallen Ward is an unpredictable and rash adversary. His recent tactic of ransacking the cities did not wholly succeed, but they did not wholly fail either, and he profited greatly from it. He will likely try this again, especially since he has decided to no longer pursue building the bridge. But if he chooses to keep doing this, we will be hard pressed to stop him. We will always be on the defensive, never knowing who he will attack next. It is a poor strategic position to place ourselves in.”
Yes, she understood all of that, but… “So what do we do? Just assassinate the man?”
“That is one of two options, yes. The other would be to raise an army of our own and march against him, destroying him so utterly that he cannot attempt this again. Which would you prefer, Siobhan-jia? The death of thousands or the death of one?”
Neither, but it was a naïve answer to give. Siobhan realized the truth of the matter even as she wrestled with it.
“All of that aside, are you sure that Rune has gone to Coravine?” Ryu Jin Ho’s tone was heavy with worry. “This is not something a single person should
take on alone.”
“It’s a guess on my part,” she admitted. “I’m really hoping that I’m wrong, and he just got caught up in something in Goldschmidt and couldn’t get back before sunset.”
“If he is at Goldschmidt, we’ll know in the morning.” Ryu Jin Ho hesitated before asking, “How long would it take a Pathmaker to travel to Coravine?”
“By himself? A day, I would think.” Not wanting to ask the next obvious question, she had to force the words out of her mouth. “How long would it take to assassinate a guildmaster?”
“Likely more than a day. He’ll need time for reconnaissance before making a plan.” Head tilting back, he looked at the ceiling, logistics flashing across his eyes.
“I think he’ll need about five days to do the job,” Wolf offered behind her, voice solemn.
“Yes, I must agree. That is a good estimate.” Shaking his head, Ryu Jin Ho stared at the floor for a long moment before his eyes came up to hers. “If he is not back by morning, we will assume the worst. When he comes back from Coravine, you must send him directly to Hyun Woo. His master will take him to task for this. He was taught better.”
Siobhan snorted. “If there’s anything left by the time I’m done with him, I’ll do that.”
Rune had left the deserted remains of Stott behind him, and was about halfway across the bridge, when he realized that leaving as he did was likely going to get him in trouble. Rune didn’t believe for a second that he could have gotten permission for this particular mission. But he could have at least told them that he wouldn’t be back that night so they wouldn’t be worried and searching for him.
Ah well. Damage was done now. He’d best be quick. The longer he left them hanging, the more he would suffer when he was back.
A Pathmaker traveling alone could move much faster than a group. Rune had used the last of the sunlight to get to Stott, and from there it was a three hour run across the bridge. There was already a path in place that would lead from Channel Pass to Coravine. He would likely reach the city before mid-morning.
From there, he had no plans.
The problem was that Rune didn’t have enough information. He knew from his previous trip to the city its layout, and where Fallen Ward’s compound was located, but that was all he had been able to learn in the two days they’d spent there. In order to sneak into the compound, he’d need more information than that. It would take days of him observing the traffic coming in and out of the compound and the guard rotations before he would see the weak points.
A part of him wanted to just slip in, kill the guildmaster, and slip out again. Nice and easy so he could go home. But rushing things would get him killed. Rune was fairly certain that if he died, Siobhan would make Conli revive him somehow just so she could kill him again. He owed it to her, if no one else, to be careful with this new life she had given him.
As he ran, he planned in his head as best he could. He didn’t have much in the way of supplies on him, just a pouch full of money and his weapons. He’d either have to forage for food—he knew how to do that now thanks to Wolf’s survival training—before he entered the city, or buy food when he got there. Once he was set in a good perch, he wouldn’t leave it for the next two days. Buying enough food to last him might be difficult considering how expensive things were in Coravine right now.
No, better to do some foraging out here.
Decided, he took a break from running and settled on the side of the bridge. From his pathmaking tools, he made a rough line and hook, baited with a fly that had been trying to bite him for the past several minutes. As Wolf had taught him, he set his mind to fishing. Night fishing was actually the best kind, as some fish were much more active now than during the day. It took him a little longer than he liked, but he caught four fat fish.
Satisfied, he hooked their gills through a line before setting off at a run. He’d cook and eat one in the morning while waiting for the sun to rise. The other three he’d sell in the city or use to barter with. He’d need more ready-to-eat food than raw fish.
It took another hour for him to reach the end of the bridge. He decided to stop right near the embankment, as sleeping anywhere near Channel Pass would be too creepy, but sleeping out in the open space too dangerous. The side of the bridge would give him some cover, at least.
He hooked his catch line around a stone and let the fish soak in the water, trying to keep them as fresh as possible. Then he snuggled into a dry patch of ground and tried to get some sleep. For some reason, it proved difficult. Was it just because he was in a relatively open place, outside of the city, and therefore unprotected? No, he’d slept in more dangerous places before.
Rune snorted, amused at himself. Was he really so used to having his guild at his back that he now found it impossible to relax when he wasn’t with them? He’d been with them a little over six months. Six months had overturned eighteen years of habit?
“I really am in trouble,” he murmured to himself. “How could I become this dependent so fast?”
Shaking his head, he tried again, shifting his arm underneath his head to a more comfortable position. Determined, he closed his eyes tightly. He had to sleep. Rune had worked a full day before he had done that little marathon across the bridge, and he’d be up with the sun. Then, when he arrived in Coravine, he’d only be taking cat naps before he went for the guildmaster. Four days, perhaps five, to do the job. That was a long time without properly sleeping.
Sleeping several hours every night was a foreign thing even now. Rune managed four hours a night and the rest of the time he was patrolling the place and making sure nothing was coming anywhere near his guild. He did manage naps during the day, sometimes, if he found a good spot. But he was nothing like his master. Grae could sleep ten hours and still want a mid-day nap. How a human being could sleep that much was beyond him.
Despite his best efforts, Rune never really fell asleep that night. He managed a doze, but came awake at the least bit of sound. When the sky turned that light blue-grey, he gave up trying to sleep at all and rose with the sun. It didn’t take much effort to find some driftwood and make a cook fire. With his fish cleaned and staked out near the fire, he went back to the shoreline and tried to clean himself up some. He was still covered in soot from yesterday. It proved easy to wash off, although his clothes didn’t improve any. It would take strong lye soap to get it out, not that he had any on him or a change of clothes.
Shrugging, he let this go. He’d been dirtier in his life. It wouldn’t kill him to wear stained clothes for a few days.
After a hot meal of the fish, he doused the cook fire, grabbed his catch and a small flask of water, and went for the path. This one was a coral pattern, a much larger one than he needed, as it was built for caravans. But it was also the only one that was prebuilt and Rune wasn’t going to stop and build himself a path just because this one was too large. It wouldn’t hurt to use it.
Opening a path and stepping through it never got old. The brilliance of the stones as they lit up in that clear blue color, the way the air felt against his skin, the thrum of power as it hummed through him and into the path, all of it made him feel alive in a way he had never been able to describe. According to Denney, she sort of felt these things as well. She could see the stones light up, and the air felt more moist and dense to her, but it wasn’t on the same level as what he felt. Only Grae could understand his feelings perfectly.
As much of a rush as it was to open a path, it was just as much a disappointment to close it again. Grae had cautioned him, the first time he’d activated a path, that this would happen. He said that under no circumstance should Rune just open a path and then sit there. It would cross his mind to do so at some point, and tempt him, but doing it was dangerous. Staying on an open path would invite anyone that wanted to use it to just go across, and if they brought too much with them, it would make the path warp or collapse. Even if no one came, if Rune sat there too long, it would drain his life force away and make him dizzy. It took conc
entration to keep a path open. If he lost that focus at any point, it would again warp the path or close it unexpectedly, leaving him heavens-knew-where.
The way that Grae had given this advice made Rune think it was personal experience talking. He really wondered, just how and when had Grae done this? And what had happened afterwards? Grae wouldn’t say, and the only other person that might know was Siobhan. One day, he’d have to get her alone and ask her.
Knowing better than to linger, Rune concentrated as he should all the way through and closed the path promptly once he was at the last stepping stone.
Coravine. At last.
Rune was barely a hundred yards from the front gate and, already, he did not like the feel of the city. He had only gotten the informant’s report third-hand, but what he had been told was remarkably on target. There was an air of desperation about the city, mixed in with an odd sense of greed, and a great deal of confusion. The state of the city was such that he was able to go through the main gate without even being questioned or checked by any guards. Granted, Rune had not done a great deal of traveling in his lifetime, but every city that he had ever passed through always had guards at the gate that at least took down your name and asked you what guild you were from. To have absolutely no control over who entered and exited the city was completely unheard of.
Once he was inside, he used his memory of where the market was to navigate his way there. It took a little haggling, but he was able to trade in his three fish for some bread, jerky, and a jug that he filled up with water in the main fountain nearby. As food went, it was nothing to write home about, but it would be the perfect thing to have on hand while he observed the Fallen Ward compound.
Getting inside of the city had been easy. Rune soon discovered that getting near the compound was actually the tricky part. He’d never seen a place that was so tightly locked down and so heavily guarded. If he wanted to know where the guards that should’ve been at the gate were, one look at the compound was enough to answer that question. They were all guarding these gates instead of the city gates.
Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) Page 10
