“Wait.” Ravi rubbed his temples, straining to think. “How did you know about the first? How did you find me?”
The big man shrugged. “I guess I’m what you’d call a Finder too.”
At the second mention of that word, Ravi’s heart thudded faster. He stared at the man, frozen.
“Hey, relax,” the stranger said, gentling his tone. “Obviously, I’m not with the Brotherhood. I just happen to be gifted with a particular magic, just like you.”
Just like me.
He flinched and glared to cover it. Too much was happening too fast. His brain was having a hard time keeping up.
“Tell me what was in the first Vision. It might be important,” the man prodded, and Ravi lost his temper.
“Are you kidding me right now?” he hissed. “You know what? Why am I still here? Why am I even talking to you? I have to get out of here.”
He made for the door again, but the stranger got there first and put one broad, scarred hand against it. “Where are you gonna go? They’re looking for you now. They’re looking for both of us. If you have another Vision, that Finder is going to lead them right to you.”
Despair lapped at the edges of Ravi’s anger, eroding it. “I had one shot,” he gritted out, shooting daggers at the man with his eyes from the shadowed confines of his hood. “I had one chance to get out, and you ruined it. Now I’m even worse off than I was before.”
“Then let me help you,” the stranger said far too calmly.
“How?”
“Believe it or not, it’s what I do,” the man replied with a quirk of his lips that made Ravi want to throw another punch. “I wasn’t in the area by chance. I’ve been to many of those markets. That’s how I know you would have regretted going that route. I promise you.”
Ravi took a couple of wary steps away from the man’s very solid and imposing presence so he could think. He wasn’t a fool. He knew the kind of men he’d have been dealing with if he’d stepped through that door last night. If this guy was either a buyer or a slaver himself, Ravi would have to be careful. Maybe this had all been some kind of trick or a trap to make him even more desperate to leave than he’d already been—desperate enough to sign his life away without a second thought.
He sucked in a breath and blew it out, trying to calm the warring voices in his head. He was getting paranoid. How could this guy have known Ravi’s curse would flare up so spectacularly, right in front of a brother? No one knew his secret beyond the ragged little family he and Vic had cobbled together out of desperation. Unless he’d been using his magic to follow Ravi, but that seemed highly unlikely. Besides, any real slaver would have gladly abandoned him to the Brotherhood and fled for his life in that situation, but somehow Ravi was here and the Brotherhood wasn’t.
“What happened last night, after I passed out?” he asked.
“You lit up like a bonfire, spoke a prophecy, and collapsed,” the man replied with another shrug that seemed incredibly at odds with the blasphemy of his words.
Ravi groaned. “Then what?”
The guy shifted from foot to foot and grimaced. “I may have punched a fully-fledged member of the Brotherhood in the face and run away with you over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes.”
Ravi could only blink with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds as that sank in. “Are you insane or just stupid?”
Surprisingly, the guy didn’t seem to take offense. His dark blue eyes actually crinkled at the corners with amusement. “Maybe a little of both. Felt real good, though, the punching part at least. The other part, not so much. You’re heavier than you look. And what’s in that damned bag? I swear I have bruises all over my ass from it banging into me.”
Ravi groaned and dragged a hand down his face even as he reflexively clutched his bag protectively to his chest.
This guy? This was the guy he might have to depend on to save his life?
If he’d had any faith left in the benevolence of the gods, he would have lost it then.
“How are you going to help me? And what’s it going to cost?” Ravi asked as calmly and bravely as he could manage.
“I have contacts.” The man folded his arms across his broad chest and glanced out the grimy window. “I need to get word to my partner, and she and I will decide the best way out of the city first. They’re probably watching the docks already, and the gates, but we can’t stay here, especially if you think you might have another Vision in the near future.”
He turned back to Ravi as he said that last, a question in his eyes, and the small bubble of hope forming in Ravi’s belly burst. He glared at the man before dropping his gaze to the floor. “I have no idea. I can’t control it,” he admitted bitterly.
The stranger grunted, but when Ravi reluctantly lifted his head again, the man didn’t appear repulsed or fearful, only pensive.
“Then we need to move fast. I may have thrown the Finder off a little by giving him the wrong name.” He smirked before his expression sobered again. “That will buy us a little time. But now that they know what to look for, the second you light up, they’ll find us.” He paused for a moment before he let out a long sigh. “If I leave you here to go get my partner, will you stay until I get back or will you do a runner?”
Ravi’s heart skipped, and he shook his head vehemently. “You’re not leaving me. It’s your fault I’m in this mess. I’m not letting you off that easy. How do I know you won’t just leave and not come back?”
Thick eyebrows lowered over angry midnight blue eyes as the man’s expression hardened. “I carried your heavy ass for at least an hour last night. Do you seriously think I’d go through all that trouble just to walk away now?”
“I don’t know you,” Ravi shot back, moving to put himself between the stranger and the door. “How the hells should I know what you will or won’t do? All I know is that you ruined the one shot I managed to get for myself, so now you’re stuck with me until I’m safely out of Rassa.”
Ravi was proud his voice didn’t shake. He had no idea if this was a good idea or not, but he’d run out of options. He couldn’t go home to their squat in Arcadia without putting Vic and the others in danger. He couldn’t stay in the city at all anymore. His curse and the idiot across from him had made sure of that.
The guy’s nostrils flared as he seemed to struggle with his own temper, but Ravi stubbornly held his ground. “I can’t get us help until I find my partner,” the man replied with obvious patience. “And if your gift could go off at any second, both of us getting to her is going to be dangerous. They’ll be looking for two men matching our descriptions. It’s better if I go alone. I give you my word, I’ll come back for you.”
Flutters of panic rooted him to the spot as he jutted out his chin. “No.”
“Then how do you suggest we get to my partner without being spotted?” the man growled. “Or should we just hang around here until you have another Vision and the Brotherhood finds us?”
Without stepping away from the door, Ravi ignored his snide tone and turned to peer through the grimy window. No one moved in the narrow street outside, but he could hear the bustle of people not far off. The air was redolent of sewage and fish, which meant they were close to Arcadia, where all the shit from Rassat’s elite literally ran downhill. He’d need to go outside to get his bearings, but they were at least near territory he knew well… and territory the Brotherhood only entered begrudgingly. Apparently, the Unnamed and the poor didn’t need as much spiritual guidance and attention as the wealthier classes. But honestly, many of the people who lived in Arcadia preferred it that way.
“I can find someone in Arcadia to go get your friend and bring her back to us,” Ravi replied slowly.
“That’ll waste too much time. And how do we know we can trust this person?” he countered.
“It’s my life too, you know,” Ravi shot back. “I have people I trust. They can get word to your friend.”
“Before we’re spotted? Before you have another Vision?”
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Ravi clenched his jaw and counted to ten. “I can’t guarantee that, no. But there are plenty of places to hide in Arcadia, and plenty of people with no real love for the Brotherhood. Besides, I’m usually fine on the streets I know. The Visions mostly happen when I meet someone new or touch someone. As long as I stay awake and away from crowds of strangers, I should be okay.”
The stranger in front of him looked skeptical, but Ravi stubbornly held his gaze. After facing off like that for a few more seconds, the man rolled his eyes.
“Fine. Let’s just do something before we waste even more time,” he huffed.
Ravi still had no guarantees the guy wouldn’t run away at the first opportunity, but the big idiot was right—they were out of time. The streets would be filled with people all too soon.
“Follow me,” Ravi said as he reached for the door latch.
He poked his head out and glanced both ways through the light morning mist before exiting their little shelter. Heading in the opposite direction of the bustling lines of laborers on their way to the docks, he clutched his bag close, scurried down to the far end of the street, and stopped. The stranger came up behind him, looming over him, and Ravi scowled.
“Can you try to look a little less….” Ravi swept a hand up and down as he fumbled for words.
“Less what?”
“Less, you know, big… thuggish.”
“Thuggish?”
The guy actually looked offended for about a second before his lips twisted in that infuriating smirk.
“You’re going to draw too much attention,” Ravi huffed. “The leather breeches stand out enough on their own. Just hunker down a little. Don’t look so damned puffed up. This is Arcadia. You need to look beaten down by life.”
When the man blinked at him in surprise, Ravi winced. “You know what I mean.”
“I take it you’re not from around here either,” the guy murmured blandly, and Ravi shook his head.
“I am now… or I was, anyway.”
The realization of what he was about to leave behind hit him like a punch to the gut, and he clenched his jaw as his throat closed.
“Come on,” he hissed.
They scuttled down every alley Ravi knew to avoid the main streets. At first, instinct led him toward home, or at least their most recent squat, but he changed course as soon as he realized it. The last thing he wanted to do was lead the Brotherhood straight to the others. He just needed to find a familiar face, that’s all.
After about the fourth time they’d changed direction and hunkered down behind some trash at the edge of a square, his companion nudged him and cleared his throat. “Uh, I don’t want to make you hit me again,” he murmured, “but we appear to be going around in circles. And if your plan is to avoid running into people, this doesn’t seem like the best place to be. Just throwing that out there.”
Ravi scowled over his shoulder, but the big jerk wasn’t wrong. He bit his lip, turned, and desperately searched the crowd again. Just when panic threatened, he spotted Sparrow scurrying through the thickening press of bodies, carrying a load that looked far too heavy for her tiny body, and his heart sang. He shot out of the alley and jogged after her before she could get too far away.
“Sparrow!” he called out as loudly as he dared.
She skidded to a halt, and a relieved smile spread across her face when she caught sight of him. “You didn’t leave!” she cried as she hurried over. She dropped her burden and made as if to fling herself at him, but stopped just in time and gave him a rueful smile. “You’re still here.”
Ravi closed his eyes as pain tightened his chest before he nodded. “I’m here.”
“Vic said you left. You didn’t say goodbye,” she accused, her full lower lip jutting out from grubby cheeks below a mop of tangled brown hair.
Ravi often forgot just how young most of the members of their cobbled-together little family were because of how fast they all had to grow up to survive. Sparrow looked so young right now, it hurt.
“I couldn’t. I had to go while I had the chance and before I brought the Brotherhood down on all of us. I’m sorry.”
Sparrow’s eyes widened, and Ravi felt the weight of the stranger’s presence at his back. “It’s okay,” he said to her. “He’s going to help me.” I hope. “Spar, I don’t have much time. I need you or one of the others to get a message to this guy’s friend.” He turned to the stranger. “Where is she?”
“The Dog and Duck near merchant row. If she isn’t there, then we have another meeting place behind the weaver’s hall.”
Sparrow grimaced. “Ezel is paying me a whole copper to take this bundle to the temple.”
Seven Hells. That’s in the opposite direction.
The stranger held out three coppers. “After, then. We need to find a place to hole up until she can get to us anyway.”
Ravi sucked in a breath and nodded. They had to get off the street. Sparrow pocketed the money. Her eyes had widened at the coins but saddened as she turned back to Ravi.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye to everyone,” he said. “I can’t now either. But you’ll all be safer without me. You know that.”
Her lower lip trembled, but she didn’t argue. “Who am I to deliver the message to?”
“My partner’s name is Shura. Have you ever met a Cigani before?”
Sparrow shook her head, her eyes rounding again. “I heard they have skin darker than the oldest of sailors’ and eyes as black as night… and they’re mighty fighters, and if they declare a blood feud, they won’t stop until every person bearing their enemy’s mark is dead,” she rattled off excitedly, bouncing on her dirty bare toes.
The stranger’s lips quirked. “And they’re ten feet tall and have claws and fangs,” he added wryly. “They’re not quite so scary as all that. They’re just people, like the rest of us, trying to survive in a world that rarely welcomes them. Shura’s skin is darker than yours and mine, and even his,” he continued, nodding in Ravi’s direction, “but more like toasted barleywine than an old sailor’s hide. She does have dark eyes and thick black hair, though. If she’s at the Dog and Duck, Faret, the innkeeper will know. Ask for him. If he says she isn’t there, leave the message with him and then try to find her at the weaver’s hall. She’s kind of hard to miss, in Rassat at least.”
“What’s the message?”
“Tell her, Daks—that’s me—Daks, uh, did as Daks always does. She’ll know what that means. Tell her I need her to pack up and come to us as soon as she can.”
He turned a questioning look to Ravi, and Ravi added, “We’ll be in that place behind Tanner’s Row. You remember it, right?”
Sparrow crinkled her little dirt-smudged nose, and Ravi smiled. “Yeah, I know. But it’s probably the safest place right now. Go, deliver your bundle, and then run as quick as you can, okay? The red cloaks are on to us. We don’t have much time.”
Her eyes bugged again, this time with fear, and Ravi ached to pull her into a hug that would convey all of his emotions without words, but he settled for giving her a reassuring smile. “Go. I’ll miss you, little bird.”
It was a testament to the kind of life they lived that Sparrow only nodded in resignation, hefted her burden onto her shoulders again, and hurried off without another word or tear shed. Ravi’s own instincts for self-preservation had him moving out of the street and into another shadowed alley without a backward glance.
“Come on,” Ravi said wearily when Daks joined him. “I know a place we can hide.”
Wisely, the big idiot didn’t say another word as Ravi led him through more of Arcadia’s narrow, trash-strewn alleys to the tanner’s row—one of the few places in Rassat that actually smelled worse than Arcadia. At least the wind was up from the ocean and the air slightly cooler today, so the stench wasn’t completely overwhelming.
Ravi pulled the edge of his patched and threadbare cloak over his nose and mouth as he ducked between loose boards in the back wall of one of the older buildi
ngs. He heard a quickly choked off gag from the big lump behind him as he also squeezed into the cramped, shadowy space. There was a reason he and Vic had kept this place as a last resort only. It would be warmer in the winter than outside, and no one would fight them for it, but that was the best that could be said about it.
“Gah. It’s even worse in here than outside,” Daks grumbled under his breath.
Ravi didn’t bother to reply. The more air he used, the more he’d have to take in. He settled on the dirt floor as close to the outside opening as possible, and Daks crouched down across from him.
“Your girl will be able to tell Shura how to find this place?” Daks asked, giving the small space a skeptical once-over.
“Yes. She’ll bring her here if need be.”
“Who is Sparrow to you?”
“A friend.”
“You trust her?”
“Yes.”
Ravi could feel the weight of Daks’s stare, but he ignored it. The man shifted and then shifted again. After a few beats, he stood up and prowled the space. Then he returned to his spot by the opening while Ravi tried to ignore him.
“How did you find it?” Daks asked finally.
“One of my friends worked here for a bit. We keep an eye out for likely squats for when the guard raids kick up again.”
“Guard raids?”
“King’s Guard comes through sometimes, clearing us out of abandoned houses and buildings, and we have to find someplace new to hide till they’re done. The King, the Brotherhood, and the city council like to keep Rassat all neat and tidy.”
He couldn’t help the hint of bitterness that crept into his voice, and sure enough, Daks was studying him intently when he dared to look.
“What?” Ravi asked defensively.
Daks shrugged. “None of my business, I guess.”
Ravi grunted and went back to staring out the opening to their hiding place, while Daks got to his feet and started prowling the small space behind him again. Could the man not sit still for even a second? Ravi gritted his teeth and glared at the rough wood in front of his face, trying to tune out the sounds of Daks’s booted feet shuffling in the dirt and his breathing, both of which seemed to be getting louder by the second. With all the yelling and racket from the tanneries outside, the sounds shouldn’t have been that annoying, but Ravi was tired and angry and already a little heartsick.
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