Blade and bone, p.16
Blade and Bone, page 16
A shape to the right of the road caught her attention, and she looked over at it, trying to make out what it was. Two platforms rose up on either side of a gleaming base made of pale stone, with…
It was the executioner stone.
Gallows.
As they approached, Honaaz stiffened in his saddle. “What is that?”
He pointed, and she saw a small collection of buildings far to the right, tucked almost to the edge of the forest. The homes were lit from within, and there was a familiar sound of music from it. She knew the song, and she would even be able to hum the words to it if she was pressed to do so.
“That’s the hegen,” Kanar said. “They don’t live in the city.”
“Witches?” Honaaz asked.
“They aren’t witches,” Lily said. As soon as she did, she realized that she might’ve been far too emphatic with that comment. Kanar looked over to her, and her hand went to her pouch, toward her own collection of prizes, when she glanced over to the hegen. “Witchcraft is violent.”
“The hegen can be violent,” Kanar said.
Honaaz glanced toward her, and Lily shrugged.
Seeing the hegen village outside of the main part of the city brought back too many memories. She could easily remember the look on Ezra’s face when she had left. She could remember the sound of the songs that had been sung as she’d departed. She could remember the promises she had made, and the promises she had not kept.
Kanar kept moving, but she found her gaze drifting toward the hegen section.
Then she saw movement.
“There’s someone out here,” Jal said.
“They must’ve had an execution recently,” Kanar said. “The hegen are collecting their prizes.”
Lily saw several people standing along the stone, working their way around what she could only imagine was a body. The executed weren’t dangling from a rope, so they must have faced the sword. There were some in this land who believed that falling to the sword was somehow more honorable. If it were to come down to it, Lily had always thought that it might be better just to face the rope, though there was some appeal to the idea that you wouldn’t see the blow coming. It might be better that way.
That was how she’d been trained. Ezra had taught her how to use the art, but Tayol had taught her how to truly use it. He had been responsible for the subtle art.
As they passed the execution stone, she found her focus drawn to it.
What kind of prize might be there?
She had collected recently so she wasn’t hurting for her own supplies, but something like this might be useful. Surprisingly, those who were condemned to execution often offered great value. There was something to be said about the kind of person who was willing to commit a crime. They often had a certain vibrancy in life. She hated to acknowledge that, but it was a simple truth.
“Look at them,” Honaaz said. “Scurrying along there like roaches. It might be better just to smash them.”
Kanar urged his horse closer to the gallows, his agitation increasing.
“What is it, Kan?” Jal asked.
“We needed to get here before the execution… no. Not her,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper at the end. “Gods.”
What is this?
Kanar got closer to the hegen, which Lily didn’t care for. He didn’t need to interrupt their collection. I wouldn’t want anyone interrupting me.
“Let them be, Kanar,” she said.
He pulled up and returned to the group, saying nothing.
She had been hiding in Sanaron much like it seemed Kanar had been. At least she hadn’t been hiding all aspects of herself, but enough. She’d been hiding her skill set, concealing talents that she had been trained to use. But after she’d failed the citadel, there had been no going back for her, so Lily had gone looking for other opportunities. What she’d found in Sanaron probably wasn’t the kind of opportunity she should have gone after, but it was something.
Those were the troubling thoughts that stayed with her. Troubling thoughts that left her uncertain about what she might have to do to avoid Kanar Reims coming after her.
They were on the same team, at least for now. What would happen when she could no longer serve on the same team as him? What might he do?
They reached the gates to the city, and she hazarded one more look back. It seemed as if one of the hegen stood upon the executioner stone, watching them. It was easy for her to imagine Ezra there among them, though Ezra was not from Verendal, and would have no reason to be here. Then again, there would be someone like Ezra. There always was. Someone who helped direct the people, mentored them, and tried to ensure that they were safe.
“What now?” Honaaz asked.
“Now we make our preparations,” Kanar pointed at a stable.
When they reached it, they each climbed down from their saddle. Kanar took the reins of their horses, leading them away.
“You think we’ll take the same horses back?” Honaaz asked.
“We can take the best horses,” Jal said.
Honaaz scoffed. “I don’t think there’s any such thing as a best horse.”
“You’ll hurt their feelings if they hear you.”
“They hurt my ass, so I’m not so sure that it matters,” Honaaz grumbled.
Lily grinned. “And I thought I was having a hard time. You seem like you struggled even more than I did.”
He looked over, glowering for a moment, before shrugging. “I’m not used to the saddle.”
“Even though you were escorting Heatharn?”
“I was sitting in a wagon, not on top of a horse. I’d much prefer to be standing on a ship, looking out over the sea, and—”
“You’re a sailor,” Jal said, his smile spreading widely. “I should’ve seen that before. You have a look.”
“What kind of a look is that?”
“The kind that says you might push me over the edge of the ship.” Jal shrugged. “I don’t know. You just have a look that screams sailor. Now that I see it, I’m not sure I can unsee it.”
“I’m not a sailor any longer,” Honaaz said.
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
Jal frowned. “Something must’ve happened. You were in Sanaron.”
“I lost my ship. I stayed in Sanaron. That’s all you need to know.”
“A sailor doesn’t just lose his ship,” Jal said.
“Like a farmer doesn’t lose his farm?” Lily asked. Honaaz glanced over to her, and she smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ve heard him talking about his farm a time or two. That’s all he wants to talk about these days.”
“That is not all I want to talk about. I have plenty of other things to share with you, including how poorly we have taken care of these creatures…” He trailed off as Kanar returned, moving carefully through the streets, his eyes darting around.
“Let’s get moving,” Kanar said.
“Why do you look like you’re waiting for an attack?” Jal asked.
“Because I’m sure there’s going to be one. We’re newcomers in this city, and most of the crews in places like this will see us as a threat. As well they should.”
Kanar started off, and Lily hurried to keep up with him.
“Were you followed?” she asked.
Kanar nodded to a rooftop, and she looked in the direction of his gaze.
Strangely, it was almost a comfort to be in a city like this. Now that she was here, she felt as if she were back where she needed to be—where she could explore, and where she had an advantage. Perhaps in a place like this, even a place where the hegen had a presence, she could make her way along the rooftops and scout.
Of course, that was what Kanar expected of her.
“I noticed two near the gate,” he said. “A couple in an alley near the stable, though both of them turned away when I reached for my sword. I have a feeling that we have a shadow behind us even now. We need to make sure that we don’t get separated.”
“We aren’t going to be able to find what we want to find if we’re stuck with staying together.”
He frowned. “You see the darkened building near the center of the city?”
She had seen it from the very first moment they’d entered the gate, as it seemed taller than most of the other buildings. “I don’t know how I could miss it.”
“That’s where we’re going. The prison.”
Her brow furrowed. “There? It looks like a church.”
“It was. At least once. I think. Meet me there.”
She looked over to Jal, then Honaaz. They would protect Kanar in the unlikely event that he would need it.
She, on the other hand, didn’t like the idea of being trapped here on the street level. And Kanar essentially gave her permission to go.
She slipped off into the shadows of the dark street. There were a few streetlamps, though they didn’t cast enough light to truly illuminate the area. Shadows still stretched everywhere, and the air had a fragrance to it from the surrounding forest.
The city was still. Almost too still.
Having been in Sanaron as long as she had, she was accustomed to the steady gusts of wind and the fog that rolled in over everything. The haze made it difficult to see much, but it also hid her presence. In a place like this, there would be no real concealment—other than the darkness.
The roofline here was slightly sloped, and she suspected that she would be able to scale along it easily enough. There weren’t too many roofs she couldn’t traverse.
As she pulled her grappling hook out of her pouch, she saw shadows moving down the alleyway. She turned and reached for a pair of knives.
At least in Sanaron, she knew about the Dogs and some of the other teams that worked in the city, and she knew who not to offend. In Verendal, she knew none of that. She was the outsider.
The shadows faded away, though she knew that whoever was moving along the street was still there.
Lily tossed the grappling hook, making sure that it set solidly. As she scaled the side of the building, she saw someone moving beneath her.
She hurriedly scrambled onto the roof, wrapped the rope around her wrist, and then pocketed the hook. She crouched and waited for the figure to reappear.
They crept along the street.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Lily whispered to herself.
She followed, already knowing the answer. They were tracking Kanar, Honaaz, and Jal.
Lily scrambled along the roof, ducking around one of the spies she noticed, before reaching the main street yet again. The shadowy form continued to trail after the other three.
Kanar wouldn’t let them sneak up on him. Jal either. She wasn’t sure which of them would be more dangerous in the darkness. Probably Jal, as he could pull an arrow from his quiver and fire it before anyone was even aware of what happened.
Honaaz would need to get closer. He struck her as a brawler. She had caught a glimpse of his daggers one night, though he made a point of trying to keep them concealed, as if he needed to hide his weapons from the rest of the team. If it came down to a fight…
Well, if that happened, then they were in trouble anyway. At that point, Lily might have to reveal her other gifts. She wanted to avoid that as long as possible—really, she wanted to avoid it altogether now that Kanar had shared his little secret with them.
A pair of men stepped out of an intersecting street. They had on cloaks, carried crossbows, and wore metal helms. City watch, she suspected. The shadowy form who’d been following the three drifted away.
As did Kanar and the others.
He must’ve known that he was being shadowed.
Lily smiled to herself as she darted along the rooftop. She encountered only one other man, and she steered clear of him. At one point, she was forced to use her grappling hook to swing across the street to the next building, but that was easy enough.
This city was different than Sanaron. Nearly half of the buildings there were made of stone. They were tall and narrow, and also brightly painted, as if to cast aside the dreariness of the fog. In Verendal, many of the buildings were made out of wood, and some of them were run-down.
From where Lily was up high, the smells of the city began to permeate around her. She looked for the source of that stench but found nothing. Just the foulness.
A river stretched through the midpoint of the city. A few barges moved along it, and other ships were moored. Her gaze followed the direction of the river, out of the city, and then beyond. She didn’t know her geography well enough to know where the river connected, though she suspected that it might even eventually reach the sea. If Honaaz was a sailor, maybe that was why Kanar had brought him along.
From what she could see, the city stretched upward, gently rolling up the hillside, though not quite as steep as the hills found in Sanaron. In the far distance, she caught sight of what had to be the palace. A wall surrounded it, and more lights glowed in it than in any other part of the city. It was like its own island in the midst of Verendal. A city within the city. She wondered whether it truly was impossible to reach.
That’s not the job.
If she were to get distracted, she could easily end up endangering the mission. She’d done that enough times when she had been working with a different team.
She tore her gaze away and crept her way toward the prison. By the time she reached it, she had refocused her mind.
Down below, she caught a glimpse of Kanar and Honaaz and Jal. Each of them had taken up a different position to scope out the prison.
She checked for some alternative entry point. Perhaps they might be able to scale a wall, enter through a window, and then exit the same way.
The building itself stretched several stories high. It was all made of black stone, something that looked almost somber to her from here. There were windows, though if Kanar was right and this was an old church, they may have been added later. They were small cutouts with crisscrossing bars of metal worked into them. She wouldn’t be able to slip through those. They might be able to cut through the windows, or if she were to reveal her art, she might be able to blast through, but there wouldn’t be anything subtle about it.
She wasn’t sure if going up would even be possible. The top of the building came to a point, and she didn’t see any way for her grappling hook to hold.
Lily picked her way carefully around the entire prison. Each angle was the same. It would not be easy to break into, which meant it would be even more difficult to break out of.
Kanar probably had some plan in mind, but what?
She reached for her pouch. She had several different items that might work here. The windows were small, but they were large enough that she could set something into one of them, activate it, and explode an opening. They might be able to find the person and get them out of the prison quickly enough that they wouldn’t even have to worry about pursuit.
All of that depended on her ability to work quickly. Not only that, it depended on her willingness to reveal what she could do.
At what point would Kanar grow angry? Lily could claim that she had bought her prizes from the hegen, but he was too smart to believe a lie like that. Which meant that she might be forced to show him what she could do.
Maybe it was time.
A soft whistle carried up to her.
Lily climbed down, then pulled the hook back to her before turning to Kanar.
“Let’s go talk about the plan,” he said.
“Do you have a way in?” Lily whispered.
He shook his head. “And from your expression, I doubt that you do either.”
“Well, there might be one thing we can try,” she said, “but I’m not thrilled with it.”
“Let me tell you my thoughts first,” Kanar said.
She nodded. All that mattered was that they succeed. In the end, it might come down to her revealing her secret.
Regardless of what that cost her.
Chapter Fifteen
KANAR
The room was small, which Kanar appreciated. Better to look poor and unassuming. Weary travelers passing through, looking for a place to sleep, before moving on again.
At least, until he had a handle on how the city felt. It had been too long since he’d been here.
Too long since he had seen Morgan.
He’d tried not to think about her on their journey but had found it increasingly difficult. When he slept, her face appeared in his dreams, unbidden, and her smile a warning to him. As if she knew he was coming, and as if she wanted to taunt him with his betrayal.
Kanar sat on a stool, the dim light of a lantern glowing near them. There were two narrow beds, and extra blankets that he had been forced to pay for, but enough room for all four of them.
“You can’t be serious,” Honaaz said, looking over to Lily. “I’d rather sleep outside the city.”
“You go ahead,” Kanar said. “If it bothers you so much to sleep next to a woman, then feel free to lie out there under the stars. You will get your cut.”
Honaaz clenched his jaw. “That’s not it.”
“I’m not going to bite,” Lily practically purred. Honaaz stiffened, as if he were afraid that she might actually bite him.
Under different circumstances, Kanar might be amused by this turn of events. He hadn’t expected Honaaz to be the kind of person who’d be so bothered by sleeping in the same room as a woman. Lily, though, wasn’t just any woman, and he suspected that Honaaz was completely aware of just how dangerous she was.
“Let’s talk through this,” Kanar said. “We need to get into the prison. Then we need to make sure that we can get out.”
“I was thinking about that,” Lily said.
Honaaz frowned at her.
“There are hegen outside the city,” she continued. “We could go to them, see what they might be able to offer us, and—”
Kanar shook his head. “We are not going to the hegen.”
“You’re going after her because of her connection to magic, right?” Lily asked. “It seems like you would want to use whatever resources we can. The hegen might have magic that would let us break in. Why be afraid of it?”
