by Raven Dark
“I don’t…” He lifted the glass and studied it, then his gaze turned to me. “Setora, are you sure?” His voice was suddenly frightening.
“Look at it in the light,” Hawk said.
Sheriff marched over to a wall sconce and held the snifter up to it, looking closely, turning it this way and that. He rounded on us.
“Fuck me sideways.” The glass in his hand shattered.
“Master!” I started toward him. “Your hand.”
“It’s not bleeding.” He held up his big palms for me to see until I backed off.
While Sheriff rubbed his face with his palm, Steel swore, and I heard the girls whispering to each other in shock.
“There’s no way.” Pretty Boy started pacing the room like a cat. “I can’t believe that.” He looked up at all of us. “Lord Falnar, stealing from us?”
“What other explanation is there?” Steel demanded.
“But we’ve known him for years.” Pretty Boy shook his head at the General. “He loves the Legion. Always has. He’d never do something like this.”
“But what about Madi’san?” Doc seated himself at the table in the corner of the room, leaning on his knees. “And Grizzle? Whoever’s been stealing from us sent Madi’san to kill Sheriff. If Lord Falnar wanted him—or us—dead, he would have put us six feet under by now.”
T-Man walked over to the shattered glass on the thick carpet and picked up a piece, studying the glittering green fragment. He dropped it and shook his head. “This isn’t making any sense.”
Behind him, Diamond spoke up. “But Lord Falnar has so much money. Why would he want the Legion’s gems? He’s wealthier than most zone Captain combined.”
“That’s a good point, Diamond,” Hawk put in, sitting in the other chair at the table with Doc.
“How do you know this glass comes from Lord Falnar, anyway?” Emmy’s voice was quiet and shy as she glanced around at us. “It could have come from one of his venders. He could have bought it from one of them, or maybe those glasses been in his family for years.” She shrugged.
“But Emmy.” When everyone looked at me, I sighed sadly. “Lord Falnar makes his own glass. Pretty Boy and I saw the whole operation yesterday at his winery.”
I glanced at him. Pretty Boy put his head back, visibly making the connection.
“It would be nothing for him to make glass that looks like your gems and switch them out,” I added.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see that,” Pretty Boy snarled. “We were right there; I was looking right at the glass, and I didn’t even pick up on it.”
Sheriff slammed the top of the dresser near the bed with his palm. “Damn it all to hell.” He turned to us, rubbing his forehead. “These are all good points, but we don’t have enough evidence either way. Something’s not adding up.”
“There’s only one way to get to the bottom of this.” Hawk’s voice was the epitome of logic, the only calm in the room.
Sheriff nodded. “We’ll have to question him. All right, here’s how it’s gonna go. I can’t believe Falnar would steal from us either. Whatever the evidence says, my gut tells me he didn’t do this. I don’t want to be rash, but we have to play it smart here. Just in case things go south, I want everyone packing up to leave while Hawk and I question him.”
He waited until Hawk nodded.
Steel crossed his arms. “I say me and Pretty Boy take the women now. Head out, meet somewhere else before you question him, General. That way they’re safe if shit hits the fan.”
“Too dangerous,” Hawk rumbled. “There are Dregs still out there, not to mention other gangs nearby like the Iron Wolves.”
“Not to mention the J’nai,” Pretty Boy added. “Setora’s hair isn’t dyed. If Damien and his fucking cronies get her, we’ll never handle them alone.”
“Exactly.” Sheriff nodded. “Hawk’s right, separating is too dangerous. Emmy’s already been kidnapped once. If Lord Falnar didn’t do this, we’ll have put you and the women in danger for nothing.”
Steel sighed with a curse and sat on the bed.
Emmy’s face paled at the mention of what had happened to her. “Yeah, staying together is definitely starting to sound good.”
“But what about you, Sheriff?” Once more, everyone looked at me. Sheriff cocked his head. “You’re the one the thief wanted dead. I mean this in the most respectful way, Master…but I think you should leave this place.”
Sheriff gave a derisive laugh. “I can take care of myself, sweetheart. Besides, like Doc said, if Lord Falnar wanted me dead, I’d be dining with the Maker by now.”
We all looked to the General, waiting for his direction.
“Everyone stay together.” He enunciated the last word slowly. “No one let the women out of your sight. T-Man, where’s Crash?”
“He’s probably asleep in his quarters.”
“Get him. Bring him up here to help us pack. How long will it take to get the bikes ready?”
“Two hours.” T-Man was already headed for the doors.
“Why that long?”
“We kept everything but the essentials packed in the bikes like you said, General. But my bike refuses to keep her charge. I’ll get her fixed, but I’ll need a couple of hours.”
Sheriff pressed his palms to his eyes and sighed. “Fine. Everyone, you’ve got two hours. No more.” He opened the doors and gestured for Hawk to follow him, then nodded to us. “Move it, all of you.”
He didn’t wait for anyone to answer before he and Hawk left. He didn’t have to.
Lord Falnar, a thief and a traitor to the Dark Legion. Maker, please, please let us be wrong.
* * *
As soon as Sheriff and Hawk had left, and T-Man followed them to get Crash, Pretty Boy closed the doors behind him and turned to all of us.
“Okay, everyone, listen up,” he announced, suddenly sounding a lot like Sheriff. It made sense since, with Sheriff and Hawk gone, he was next in rank.
“Princess, go with Doc and pack up his, Sheriff’s, and Hawk’s rooms. Steel and I will pack our stuff and T-Man’s. Diamond, Emmy, we need you to change out of those clothes.”
“Our clothes are back in the slave quarters, sir,” Diamond said.
I went to the closet and pulled out one of the bags we’d brought up with my clothes. “You can’t go back and get them now.” I pulled out two cadris for them, matching pink pants and top for Emmy, and a black set for Diamond. “Here, wear mine for now. It’ll be easier for you if we have to move quickly in these than in those tabris. I don’t have any shoes for you, so…” I trailed off and looked to Pretty Boy.
He waved his hand. “We’ll think of something once we’re on the road.”
While Pretty Boy and Steel started throwing clothes into bags and suitcases, and the women dressed, I followed Doc down the hall to Hawk’s room next door. We’d do his first, then Sheriff’s beside it.
“Doc,” I whispered while I folded a pair of Hawk’s pants. When Doc looked at me, I placed the pants on the bed. “We are leaving today. Serena was right.”
In the doorway to the water closet, Doc dropped Hawk’s shaving kit with a thud. “Yeah. That’s…interesting, isn’t it.” He picked the kit up and tossed it into the open backpack on the bed.
After a few minutes of harried packing, we moved on to Sheriff’s room. We’d just closed the doors when someone knocked.
“Yeah?” Doc said.
Crash came in, munching on an apple and looking sleepy.
“Oh, good. Kid, get over here and help us.”
“Am I hearing this right, Lord Falnar’s stealing from us?” He caught a shirt of Sheriff’s Doc had tossed to him and put it in the bag I was already packing by the closet.
Doc gave a rundown of what we’d discovered while he swept a handful of books off a shelf and threw them into Sheriff’s suitcase.
“It can’t be him,” I said, tossing all of Sheriff’s clothes from the closet into the bag. “He seemed like such a nice man. But I
guess we never really know anyone, do we?”
Doc made a sound of agreement.
Damien stood as a stark reminder of how deceptive people could be. I’d thought he’d cared about me until he’d tried to sell me to that barbarian. But Lord Falnar, that jovial, kind man? It didn’t make sense.
Crash put the apple core into his mouth and tied up the bag for me. “I hope to hell it isn’t him either. I’m not looking forward to another fight.”
He wasn’t using his cane. Other than a slight limp, you’d never know he’d been shot.
The three of us finished with Sheriff’s room and finally went on to Doc’s. Pretty Boy and Steel had apparently decided we weren’t moving fast enough, because they’d already brought their luggage into Doc’s room and were throwing all of his things into bags. I noticed Pretty Boy’s sword in its scabbard propped against the dresser by the bed. He wore his sword less often then Hawk did, to the point where I often forgot he had one.
“Apparently we don’t know how to pack right, so we’re sitting this one out,” Diamond complained from a chair she was sitting in at the table in Doc’s room.
Emmy doused the fire burning in the hearth.
“We have to haul ass, and you two are worried about wrinkles,” Pretty Boy grumbled. He picked up a glass beaker and a tray of vials from the table. The vials rattled on his way over to the bed, where he was about to drop the tray into a suitcase.
“Hey!” Doc grabbed it from him. “Give me that before you break it. These are fragile.” He opened his kit on the dresser and set the beaker and tray in carefully, then closed it. “No one touches my medical supplies.”
He ignored Pretty Boy’s eyes rolling.
While we finished up, I heard Sheriff call out from down the hall. “Pretty Boy? Where the hell are you?” A door opened, then closed.
“Here, General.” Pretty Boy stuck his head out into the hall.
Sheriff and Hawk came into Doc’s room, and Pretty Boy shut the door behind them. Hawk’s twin sword hilts stuck up from behind the warrior’s shoulders; he must have picked them up from his room before he and Sheriff had gone downstairs.
Doc’s room wasn’t small, but with everyone packed inside, it was starting to feel that way.
“What did Falnar say, General?” Pretty Boy asked. “How’d it go?”
I stopped in the middle of putting the last pair of socks into Doc’s bag, hope making me look up.
“We’ve had it out with Lord Falnar,” Sheriff said, shoeing Diamond out of her chair and taking it for himself. “Neither Hawk nor I think he’s been stealing from us.”
“He was floored when we told him about the glass.” Hawk crossed the room, took the scabbards off his back and set the weapons down beside the fireplace. “From what we could see, one of his buyers is purchasing the glass and then using it to replace our gems.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and put the socks in Doc’s bag, then sat on his bed.
“So someone is setting him up.” Steel put his fist into his palm.
“Looks that way.” Hawk adjusted his shirt sleeves and cut.
“He told us he’d contact his business partner immediately to see if he got any answers,” Sheriff said. “He’s also getting us a list of all of his costumers so we can see if anyone on the list looks suspicious. He said it’ll take a little more than an hour.”
“Wait a minute, who’s this business partner?” Pretty Boy retied his ponytail. “Could he be doing this?”
“No.” Hawk took a seat at the table with sheriff. He picked up a letter opener from the table and started twirling it between his fingers. “We’ve met him before. Not at a summit meeting itself, but at one of Lord Falnar’s dinners after. Two years ago, I think? Matais Abernel, Falnar’s nephew.”
“The squirrelly guy with the fluffy shirts and way too much lace?” Pretty Boy made a face like he’d eaten something sour.
The corner of Hawk’s mouth twitched. “I never noticed but, yes, that’s him. He doesn’t have the intelligence or the money to pull something like this off.”
“Plus, Lord Falnar said he’s been gone for months.” Sheriff waved his hand in dismissal. “He just got back a few days ago.”
“So, it must be one of his customers.” Doc folded his arms, leaning against the door to the water closet.
Sheriff tapped table fingertips. “That’s what we’re thinking, yeah. He has thirteen thousand buyers. Any of them could be responsible.”
“Thirteen thousand?” Steel let out a growl. “We have to look through all of that?” He rubbed his temples as if the sheer volume of it made his head hurt.
“That’s going to take forever,” Crash said, leaning his head against the wall.
“No, it won’t.” Pretty Boy sat beside me on Doc’s bed and stroked my hair idly. “Once I have the list he’s compiled, I’ll go over the top ten clients with the highest purchase amounts in the last six months. An operation like this would take some serious credits. I’ll dig into their backgrounds first. That should only take a few hours.”
“So we might be stuck here a while,” Diamond said.
“Maybe.” Sheriff stood and leaned on the table with his hands, looking at us. “But we still need to stay on guard. Everyone should be packed and ready to go within the hour, just in case.”
“I hate to say this,” I added, glancing at everyone. “Lord Falnar still might be pulling the wool over our eyes.” When everyone focused on me, I shrugged. “I know first hand how easily someone can turn on you.”
No one said anything for a long moment. When Sheriff finally broke the silence, it startled me.
“Once we know for certain it isn’t him, we can take the documents with us, if we have to. Crash, go downstairs and see how T-Man’s getting on with his bike. See if you two can’t get it fixed faster.”
“Yep.” Crash left.
“My instinct tells me Falnar isn’t in on this,” Sheriff added when the door closed. “But something still doesn’t feel right.”
The group sat cramped into the room and talked for almost another full hour. We discussed every aspect of Lord Fanlar’s business, how many shipments of gems had been stolen from the Grotto and when, and who among Lord Falnar’s customers might have the finances to steal from us. The conversation seemed to go in circles with no answers, only to descend into silence again.
While the men talked, Diamond and Emmy climbed on Doc’s bed behind me and started braiding my hair. Two violet braids which they wound up around my head like a crown and pinned in place.
“There’s no time to dye it, so we’ll have to hide the color.” Emmy looked around the room.
Pretty Boy ripped off a part of the curtain from the window.
“Ohh…that’ll work.” Emmy wrapped the dark red cloth around my head, covering every inch of my hair and tucking stray fly-aways carefully underneath.
“Very fashionable,” Diamond teased, momentarily lightening the tension.
Pretty Boy crossed the room and gently lifted my chin. “You look like a cute little strawberry.” He kissed my nose.
Steel snorted, and Sheriff groaned.
I laughed and glanced at the window behind me, catching my reflection in the glass. It would work. At least the curtain would pass for a scarf.
Through the window, the half-moon went behind the clouds, leaving the room in near darkness. I’d guessed it was close to two-thirty in the morning when one of Lord Falnar’s servants brought food up for us.
Sheriff took the tray and thanked the man before closing the door, setting the food on the table.
Steel came to take a thick slab of roast beef off the tray, but Sheriff slapped his hand before he could touch it.
“We’re not eating anything he gives us.” Sheriff winced as if the thought of Lord Falnar doing anything to harm anyone stung him. “Hawk, get rid of this.” He handed Hawk the tray.
Hawk tossed the food in the fireplace.
Steel grumbled and collapsed across the bed. “M
aker’s tits, I’m hungry.” He massaged his belly.
I twisted around and rubbed his stomach soothingly. He crossed his ankles and put his hands behind his head.
“Me too.” Pretty Boy flopped on the bed beside him.
I looked at the two of them and suddenly felt my cheeks heat. Pretty Boy winked, letting me know he knew I was remembering the conversation we’d had about him and Steel the first night we’d slept here.
“Hey! Get off my bed, you two,” Doc complained.
“Why?” Steel grunted. “You won’t be needing it anymore after tonight.”
Neither he nor Pretty Boy moved.
“I want a manator ear,” Pretty Boy said. His eyes looked dreamy.
Steel made a hungry sound of agreement in his throat.
“A what?” I asked.
“Ohhh. It’s a big pastry thing,” Pretty Boy sat up and made a large circle with his hands. “Covered in sugar, and as big as a dinner plate. A woman used to make them for us in Mount Dire when we were kids. Remember, Brother?” He nudged Steel. “What was her name?” He snapped his fingers.
“Neena,” Hawk said. “I liked those too.”
“Yeah. Steel, remember her? Does that name ring a bell?”
“Not even a tinkle.”
Pretty Boy laughed.
“Guys, shut up,” Sheriff scolded. “Steel, you won’t starve.”
The group fell silent. Minutes eked past and we began to grow restless. Sheriff paced like a caged animal. The letter opener, still twirling between Hawk’s fingers, started moving faster. Diamond had taken Sheriff’s seat and drummed her manicured nails on the tabletop until Doc put his hand out and stilled them.
“Sorry, sir,” she muttered with a half smile.
“It’s been well over an hour, and Falnar still hasn’t gotten back to us,” Sheriff finally said, pacing from the door to the window again. “What the hell is taking him so long?”
“We have to be patient.” The letter opener in Hawk’s hand stilled. “He has a lot of paperwork to go through.”
“He should have gotten back to us by now. I don’t like this.” Sheriff crossed the room and opened the door. “Come on, all of you, grab your stuff and let’s go. Hawk and I will go and find him, see what’s holding him up, but first we’ll get you all at the bikes and ready to go.”
