by Andra Leigh
The girl was wincing, holding her ankle. At the question she gave Eliscity a stubborn stare. Grabbing the girl by tangles of her dress collar she yanked her down and out of sight.
Jinx joined them a moment later, giving a bemused shrug. “She insisted.”
Eliscity rolled her eyes dramatically.
Together they moved for the edge of the wagon. The guard was still alone and still oblivious to their presence.
They lowered themselves over the side slowly, dropping to the mud track with a whisper. The horse tethered to the wagon snorted, stomping a hoof, but the guard didn’t pay attention. His focus was on the back door of the inn, clearly believing that any trouble would be coming from that direction.
Eliscity moved to soothe the horse, which calmed under her hand. Jinx began creeping toward the guard, arms rising.
Out of the corner of her eye Eliscity saw their stubborn tag along clambering down from the wagon, but didn’t think anything of it until a crash vibrated across the space. She froze, watching the pail the girl had tried to balance on bounce across the track, coming to a stop against the low wall of the sty.
The guard spun around, eyes going wide at the group that had managed to sneak up behind him. But rather than yelling for help or moving to the defensive, something strange happened. His jaw went slack and he looked past Jinx, past Eliscity, his eyes glimmering incredulously as he said, “Gentle Reigness?”
There was a beat of silence, then –
“Bloods,” the girl swore.
Before the guard could make any further movement Jinx stunned him with a blow to the head, knocking him out, as Eliscity rounded on the girl.
“Gentle Reigness?” she hissed. “Tell me that’s a silly nickname.”
“Thought you didn’t like nicknames,” Jinx muttered behind her.
“Technically it’s a title,” the girl scowled.
Jinx and Eliscity exchanged a cautious look.
“Is she…” Eliscity murmured under her breath to him.
Leaning toward her, eyes boring into the girl, he mumbled back, “She does match what I’ve heard about the Reigness.”
The urge to close her eyes and stick her fingers in her ears, in an attempt to ignore how this day was going, was growing stronger by the moment. First the guards, then Jinx searching for a fight, now this.
The Gentle Reigness.
The only way this could get worse was if the Lord Reigner himself wandered up next. And she was beginning to think it was a plausible possibility.
Looking at the petite girl with light curls and hard blue eyes, Eliscity wasn’t fooled. She was trouble.
“Can we leave? Before this gets worse,” she ventured to Jinx.
He nodded, checking their surroundings.
“Thank the Dead,” she muttered to herself.
“Wait,” the girl – the Gentle Reigness – squeaked. “Take me with you.”
“No,” Eliscity exhaled, growing impatient with that order. Glancing at Jinx she said more firmly, “No.”
Jinx rolled his eyes, momentarily obscuring the curious expression playing across his face. “Oh, I know. Just… why?”
The girl huffed, shifting uncomfortably. “What?”
“You had me drop you out the window, you refused to go out to the hallway. You’re asking to come with us.” Jinx narrowed his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. “You’re trying to get away from the guards as much as we are. Why?”
Her curls were tossed over her shoulder as she shook her head in indignation. “Because I wasn’t kidnapped, okay.”
“Huh.” Eliscity blinked at Jinx, completely lost.
“Er.” Jinx rubbed the nape of his neck, the small cut above his eye pulling as he frowned. “Okay, did we think you were kidnapped?”
The girl looked between them, utterly perplexed. “Where have you been for the last few weeks?”
Jinx leant in close to Eliscity. “I’m beginning to think I should have checked in with Cyan before we left.”
A yell. A hollow thud. More voices.
The guards had made it to the room above where they were standing.
Eliscity was moving before she knew what was happening. Jinx wasn’t far behind her, sidling between the guards’ wagon and the inn wall.
The chaos above moved off without looking out the open shutters, but Eliscity remained where she was, pressed into the narrow space.
“You had to hit the guard…” she sighed.
It was then she realised the girl had followed them into their hiding space.
“Why are you still here?” She wasn’t sure if she should be feeling frustrated or on edge at the presence of the supposed Reigness.
“I’m coming with you!”
Definitely frustrated, Eliscity decided.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you –”
“I’m just going to put a stop to this argument before it starts going in circles,” Jinx interrupted. Leaning toward her he mumbled, “We have to get out of here, but if we carry the food out we’ll be slowed too much.”
“What food?” the Reigness girl asked, only to be ignored by both of them.
Eliscity had forgotten about their stores of food, waiting only a few steps from their hiding place. Jinx was right, there was too much to make a quick getaway. They could, of course, leave it behind. But who knew when it would be safe to come to the Falling Inn again – and whether Miq would even be willing to trade with them after the destruction caused today. It could be a long time before they were able to replenish the Manor’s food stores. If they went back empty handed today, they would be relying on what Cyan managed to secure. The Family was too large to let that happen. Not if there was any chance they could return with the stores.
And there was a chance.
It stood along their backs, tethered to a horse.
What was a little unlawful borrowing of a guard’s wagon, when they were assumed dead fugitives who could be killed under the Extinction Law if caught.
Jinx agreed with her plan without preamble and they moved sideways, out of the narrow gap between wall and wagon. They were still alone in the back section of the inn. But for how long remained to be seen. Yanking the back loading door of the wagon open, they peered into the dim carriage. It was empty, except for two long benches on either side. A small opening in the front wall looked through to the coach’s seat.
They began loading their stores into it the fastest they could.
Tossing a sack of grain onto the pile, Jinx tilted his head at the Reigness who was darting her eyes between them and the inn. “The guards; they’re here for you?”
The girl hesitated, running her fingers through her tangle of curls. As Jinx paused to stare at her, she finally answered. “I ran away. They’re saying I was kidnapped. But I ran away. Yes, they’re after me. But I’m not going back, not yet. I can’t go back yet. Take me with you. I’ll pay. Just help me get out of here.”
Despite her pleading words, Eliscity could only hear the obstinate tone they were said in. This was a girl who got her way.
“I’m still voting for leaving her here,” Eliscity muttered, earning a scowl from the girl.
“Your method of hiding out is to stay at an inn in the middle of Trelyes,” Jinx frowned.
“I was told I’d be safe here. That they weren’t the type of people to ask questions.”
Eliscity gave a small laugh. “Doesn’t mean they’re not the type to answer questions.”
Jinx ignored her. “Why’d you run away.”
The girl’s jaw went hard. “None of your business.”
“You want us to take you with us, get you out of here, then it becomes our business.”
Eliscity bit back a string of curse words as she tossed two smaller bags of dried fruit across the space to Jinx. Everything from his tone, to the glimmer of curiosity in his eyes and purse of his lips told her he was willing to get the Reigness out of here. And endanger them in
the process.
Snagging his sleeve, she tugged him as far away from the girl as the small space would allow. “We can’t take her with us, Jinx,” she said, surprised at the calmness in her voice.
Jinx made a noise somewhere between agreement and dispute. “Don’t you want to know why she ran away?”
Eliscity noticed the Reigness edging closer to them and dropped her voice. “No. Not as much as you do. I’m more interested in staying alive. She’s the Reigner’s daughter, Jinx.”
“Exactly,” he stressed. “She’s the Reigner’s daughter!”
“And you what? Want to use her? Find out what she knows?” she guessed. “The Reigner thinks we’re dead. Dead, Jinx. And I want to keep it that way. And how do you know she isn’t in on it. The Clinic. No matter what, she is part of the reason we’re here and we’re branded. Her father is the reason we’ve been Blooded. The reason we all may die young. And you want to take that back to the Manor with us? Whether this is part of your desperate need to pick up strays or you’re planning on forcing information out of her, I’m against it.” Another yell echoed from within the inn. “They’re looking for her, not us. If they find her, they’ll have no reason to continue after us. So we leave her, while we’re still just a passing meeting to her and get the Bloods out of here.”
She could see Jinx weighing up her comments, behind him the girl had her arms crossed tightly across her body, looking them both up and down.
“What are you doing?” Eliscity asked cautiously.
The girl smiled sweetly. “Memorising your faces so when you leave me to the guards I can give an accurate description of my kidnappers.”
“She comes with us,” Jinx stated firmly.
“Fine,” Eliscity yielded. “But if we’re becoming her kidnappers, we’re doing this right.” Tearing a strip of material off one of the sacks and unstringing one of the ties, she marched toward the girl and proceeded to bind her hands and gag her. She tried to resist, but Eliscity was taller and stronger. Once finished she pushed the bound girl into the wagon, where she collapsed on the pile of food, wiggling awkwardly away from a bloody leg of doe. Turning to Jinx, she plastered a big grin across her face. “I quite like her like this.”
Jinx shook his head, amused, then gave a serious flick of his head to their new hostage. “Check her for coin. She said she could pay. Well, Miq and Maiva are going to need it after the mess caused here.”
Eliscity felt weird searching the girl. She had no satchel on her, so there was only her dress pockets to try. She found a purse in the second and after confirming the rattle of coin inside, tossed it to Jinx, along with the brass key she had somehow managed to keep a hold of. They were placed in the alcove where their stores had previously resided.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Jinx jumped in the coach seat as Eliscity gave the Reigness a wide smile and slammed the wagon door closed. Jinx wasn’t having much luck coaxing the horse into moving. In fact, they seemed to be in a form of silent stand off when she joined them.
“What’s wrong?”
“He won’t go. I thought you just snap the reins…” Jinx looked helplessly down at the straps in his hands, giving them a jerky wave. The horse snorted as if sniggering and flicked his tail to and fro.
“Oh, give me those.” She pushed herself next to him and grabbed the reins. The horse reacted to her clicks and gentle tug on the straps immediately, pulling into a light trot around the walls and out into the street.
“How’d you do that?” Jinx was glowering at the horse.
“Just like every other person does it. What’s your problem with horses?”
“My upbringing didn’t exactly feature them,” he grumbled. “They’re not a common possession in Hynxt.”
She didn’t get a chance to be surprised at the new piece of information he’d let slip about his past, as a guard that had been patrolling the front side of the inn had noticed them. Instinctively she whipped the leather reins sideways into the horses flank and they lurched forward with a new burst of speed.
She handled the horse easily and naturally as they finally started to make progress in their escape, reminding her that, unlike Jinx, she had grown up around horses.
CHAPTER TEN
The Kidnapped Reigness
• Acanthea •
It had taken them hours to lose the chasing guards.
Hours!
Not that she had seen anything stuffed in the back of the wagon like some animal. For all she knew the two lunatics had driven like that just to fling her around the space with the limbs of some disgusting dead thing!
If that wasn’t bad enough, when they’d finally let her out of the wagon they’d blindfolded her.
Her!
First that insufferable woman had had the nerve to gag her and bind her wrists, then the man – who up until then had been simple to manipulate – had tied a damn cloth over her eyes. Surely a pointless action as by that point it must have been well into the night. She knew they’d still be in the Northern Cities as they had not crossed the bridge, but the amount of time she’d been in that wagon meant they could be in any of the three. There had been a moment where she’d feared they had driven into Heuthan and were leading her up to the palace gates to return her, when she sensed everything around her change. The wind stopped tugging at her curls, night time noises disappeared and her footsteps became damp; echoing around just like the tense comments from the two fools she was suddenly sharing a journey with. They were proving rather adept at acting well above their non-existent titles.
It was clear they were trying to be vague in their conversation, but it didn’t matter. She’d already heard enough back at the Falling Inn to know she needed to demand more from them. There had been the sounds of fighting outside and she’d known they were the ones responsible the moment they had barged their way into her room. Initially she had wanted to use them to help her escape. Especially since they’d been the ones foolish enough to lead the search right to her! If only she had been able to find her room key and lock the door, but the guards had burst into the eating house so suddenly that she’d barely had time to dash up the stairs from her table, let alone keep track of her belongings. But then she had overheard the woman with the suspicious glare saying the Reigner thought they were dead. Then snippets and words; something about blood and her being in on it. In on what, she had no idea, but it had piqued her interest.
She’d been at the Falling Inn for weeks and Tylan was yet to give her anything.
Nothing!
Well, it looked like that would be what he would find of her the next time he checked in. Almost nothing, more like. In her haste to convince the strange-eyed man to help her jump out a window, she had forgotten to grab her bag. It wasn’t the dresses and soaps that she was angry at losing, but the small vial of powder tucked into the side pocket. Tylan had snuck some Dust over to her a week and a half ago and it had made everything okay. Now it looked like she was going to have to deal with these fools without any soothing.
Eventually they had removed the blindfold and binds, revealing their surroundings as dank tunnels with streams of water rushing far too close to her feet. She had insisted on being told their destination but had, thus far, been ignored.
The nerve these two had!
They were insolent and unwise. They were below her. They were dirt on her shoe. A slur to the good names of the Northern Cities. Yet in their short time together they had dared to tie her up, shove her in the back of a wagon with food and order her around. Her!
“I demand to know where you’re taking me this instant!” she ordered again.
But the two impertinent individuals before her didn’t bow down. They didn’t even look back at her.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” the woman, she hadn’t gotten her name, said, “we stopped ‘taking you’ anywhere the moment we removed the blindfold. Now you’re just following us. Not quietly, might I add.”
The man, Jinx – that was the r
idiculous name the woman had called him at one point – waved his hand back at her and readjusted one of the straps keeping half the food which had been in the wagon tied to him. “Either keep up or get lost down here. Might I suggest the keep up option? If you die down here you’ll rot into the water and I don’t think the Northern Cities worship you enough to want to drink you.”
The woman made a sound halfway between disgust and amusement, her load of the food jostling with her steps. The light from a strange crystal with a fire inside it bounced off the damp curved walls.
Acanthea shook her head at their foolishness. “These aren’t the cities’ water tunnels.”
Finally her company glanced back at her, pausing in their journey. Deadpanned, the woman gestured around them. “Tunnel…”
“Water,” the man completed, jerking a thumb at the stream rushing past them.
“The water tunnels are small, you can’t walk through them,” Acanthea corrected. “They were dug after the War by boys needing the coin. They’re only big enough to crawl through and you can’t do that because they’re filled with water.”
They stared at her for a moment, not saying a word.
Finally the young woman shrugged and said to her partner, “Can’t argue with that logic.”
The man named Jinx shook his head dolefully before turning back to their path. “Water tunnels or not, I’d still recommend keeping up, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped sharply. “It’s antiquated. Not to mention a derogatory term.”
“Your fancy tutors teach you those big words?” Jinx called back over her shoulder.
“Yes. That’s their job.”
Looking over to the woman, he muttered, “Let’s gag her again.”
Acanthea expected the insufferable woman to agree but instead came the amused reply, “Aw, upset because someone else doesn’t like your nicknames?”
She couldn’t figure these two out. One moment they were arguing furiously while somehow still working together, the next they were teasing each other happily while weighed down by a mountain of food. Was this what friendship was? If so, then perhaps she could classify Tylan as her friend. Without the need to carry things, of course. They weren’t pack mules.
