Benjamin Ashwood (38 page)

Rhys
was about to leave to investigate what he could at the scene when Lord Reinhold
arrived.

Reinhold
marched up to the doors, which a porter quickly swung open, and walked in
without slowing.  He brought a heavily armed squad of guards who spread out
around the building and disappeared down side streets.  A few followed him in
and casually started examining the entryways and windows.

Reinhold
saw Rhys and gave a hawkish smile.  “I offer you a job and you turn me down. 
But when I really need it, I see you are here before me.”

“Just
here as a friend,” responded Rhys.

“Very
well.  Your presence is appreciated.”

Reinhold
turned to Ben.  “So, we are assuming it is our business that is under attack?”

Ben
shrugged, “I’m not really certain but I think it must be.  The attack was
planned and they used our own man to set us up.  I wasn’t supposed to be there
but they knew who I was.  What else could it have been?”

“Our
partner,” he looked to Renfro, “has been known to be involved in under the
table dealings.  Despite that, being set up by our own man and continuing the
attack against you, we must consider this an assault on all of us.  You will
have my full support in this.  The warehouse will be watched by my men and any
of our employees who wish it may stay at my barracks with their families. 
There is no better protection outside of the Sanctuary.”

“The
men will be glad to hear that.”

“I
understand this Red is still unconscious.  Is there anything we’ve been able to
find out?”

“Well,”
Ben answered, “the attackers were masked and did not leave anything behind. 
All we know is that they know us and that one of them was named ‘Arnold’”.

One
of Reinhold’s guards politely coughed and the Lord scowled darkly.  “I know,”
he said to the guard.  To Ben he continued, “I suspected of course, but it’s
good to get confirmation.  Arnold is one of Gulli’s thugs.  He is well known to
people who soon have their merchandise smashed, businesses burned and customers
threatened.”

“So
it is Gulli!” exclaimed Ben.  “I thought so as well.  I was worried that it
could be, uh, someone else.  It didn’t seem like their style though.  Do we go
to the authorities now?”

Ben
breathed a sigh of relief.  He knew it was irrational, but after the latest
dealings with the Sanctuary he was worried they were behind this.  It didn’t
make sense of course, a Mage could easily wipe out him, Renfro and their entire
warehouse.  Gulli was dangerous, but he was a man just like the rest of them.

“Who
else would it be?” asked Reinhold quizzically but he kept talking without
waiting for a response.  “No, there is no use bringing the Watch into this. 
Gulli isn’t any better than a common criminal, but he is a Lord and that offers
certain protections from the law.  The name Arnold is definitely not enough for
the Watch to even speak with him.  Besides,” Reinold laced his fingers and
glanced around the room, “sometimes these things are better settled outside of
the law.”

The
next few days were both tense and boring.  They continued to serve their
customers and conduct normal business but unless necessary, no one left the
protection of the warehouse.  Even when making deliveries, Reinhold’s men went
in force and provided support.  They barricaded some entrances to the warehouse
and added observation points on the roof.  No one could easily approach without
being seen.  Racks of arms now stood by the door and squads of Reinhold’s men
were always nearby.

The
City’s Watch paid scant attention to the small bands of armed men roving the
streets.

“It’s
not unusual for Lords to take matters into their own hands,” explained Rhys. 
“The privilege of having a Title.  Normally it’s knives in the dark so it
doesn’t make a mess in the streets and doesn’t disrupt Sanctuary business.”

But
despite their preparations, nothing happened. 

There
were no more attacks and they found out Gulli appeared to have fled The City. 
Renfro crowed with success, “we ran the bastard off.  He must have realized he
bit off more than he could chew.  We’re going to own this town!”

Ben
wasn’t so sure.  Gulli knew before the attack that Reinhold partnered with
them.  The attack made no sense if Gulli was afraid of conflict with Reinhold.

Ben
exchanged letters with Amelie and Meghan and they expressed the expected shock
and dismay at what happened and offered condolences for Renfro.  Ben was
looking forward to seeing them in person on the next Newday but finally that
morning they got their first bit of activity.  Red woke up from the week long
coma he’d been in.

“Water!”
he called coarsely over and over again.  They had trickled water into his mouth
while he was unconscious to keep him alive, but now that he woke, they wanted
him to be uncomfortable.  He was locked in a storage room in the warehouse and
they were waiting on Rhys to arrive to begin questioning him.

When
Rhys arrived he tersely asked, “how is he?”

“He
wants water and he’s alive.  We haven’t asked him anything yet,” answered Ben.

“Good. 
Come in with me and bring a water skin.”

They
entered the dimly lit storage room which was bare except for a pile of empty
sacks they had laid Red on.  The big man was huddled in a corner of the room
staring remorsefully ahead.

Rhys
tossed the water skin down next to Red and drew one of his knives which he
placed laying across his knees.  He squatted down in front of the man.

“You
are welcome to drink as much water as you need while you answer our questions,”
stated Rhys.

Red
snagged the skin and took a long drink before looking back at Rhys and
shuddering.  “I know who you are and I know what you do.  I’ll answer whatever
you need, but I don’t know much.”

“You
better know something,” growled Rhys menacingly.

Red
sighed and leaned his head back against the rough wall.  “I have a problem.  I
like to gamble.  Sometimes I go down to one of Gulli’s places, the Red Door. 
I, uh, I haven’t been doing too well recently.  Maybe longer than just
recently.”

Rhys
slid a finger along the blade of his long knife and nodded for Red to continue.

“Well
some men, I guess they are Gulli’s, they found me down there one night.  Said
they had a way I could wipe out my debt.  All I had to do was get Renfro to a
spot over by the granaries.  That was it.  I didn’t know what they were going
to do, I swear!”

“Surely
you had to suspect what they were going to do,” snarled Rhys.

“You’re
the one who hit Renfro with the cart!” exclaimed Ben.

Red
flushed enough that his red face was visible in the dim room.  “I didn’t know
for sure!  I hoped though.  I never liked that little shit.  Always running
around like he’s something special.  Everyone knows he was some two copper
thief in Fabrizo.  He just got lucky hooking up with you.  And yeah, I hit
him.  Once it started, I figured that was my shot to get personal.”

Despite
himself, Ben gained a sliver of respect for Red.  The man was their captive and
had to know Renfro was lurking around somewhere nearby.  And he still said what
he did.  He must have really hated Renfro.

“How
did you know they were Gulli’s men?  If they were going to wipe out your debt,
they had to give you some assurance, right?” asked Rhys.

“I
didn’t know for sure,” implored Red.  “I mean, so what if they weren’t?  I
wouldn’t be any worse off than I was.  Being in debt to Gulli, that’s a tight
spot.”

“You
don’t think this is a tight spot?”  Rhys gripped the hilt of his long knife but
left it resting on his knees.  “You said you know me.  Are you certain you are
not in a much worse situation now?  I want you to think about that.  Think
about what you could say to me to get out of the spot you are in now.”

Red
sighed.  “I don’t know nothin’.  I was just supposed to lead Renfro to the
granaries.  They said after I did it they’d send word to Gulli and my debt
would be wiped clean.  I don’t even know the guys.  I think they were the same
ones who attacked you,” he looked at Ben, “I’m pretty sure it was them.”

“Send
word to where?” asked Ben.  He looked at Rhys who rolled his eyes.  They’d
spent time planning how to get Red to talk.  Now he was singing like a bird but
had nothing useful to tell them.

“I
guess where ever Gulli is,” muttered Red unhelpfully.

Figuring
out where Gulli went proved to be harder than finding out he was gone.  By the
next Newday, they still didn’t have any promising leads.  His business
associates all claimed he was in the hills around The City but there were
plenty of small villages scattered around and none of them made sense as a hide
out for a Lord on the run.  His home in town and modest estate to the north on
the river were both empty.  Even the household staff had vanished.

Reinhold
was fuming.  He had moved into the brewery business to cut into Gulli’s profits
and erode his ability to do business in Reinhold’s other markets.  Ben realized
that Reinhold now relished the idea of violence with his smaller rival. 
Whether he’d planned for this conflict all along or whether he was just seizing
the opportunity, Reinhold was prepared and ready for anything except waiting. 
The man was a master strategist and not knowing what his opponent was doing was
driving him mad.

Ben
tried to remain calm as he left to make the regular Newday visit with Meghan
and Amelie, a pair of Reinhold’s guards in tow.  During the actual fight he’d
felt a weird sense of peace.  The confusion of the last few months had been
gone and there was only one direction he needed to move.  Now, he was back to
the nervous indecision he’d felt before the partnership with Reinhold.  They
were all ready to act, but they didn’t know how.

When
the tall copper gates of the Sanctuary came into sight, Ben looked back at the
two guards following him and decided he needed to let them know the tension
he’d felt recently from the Sanctuary guards.

“These
guys are pretty wary.  They haven’t given me any real trouble, but you two with
me and heavily armed, they might.”

“Really?”
asked one of the guards.  He was clean shaven except a neat blonde mustache
that matched his closely cropped hair.  He was typical of one of Reinhold’s
guards.  Self-assured, neatly dressed and always proper with someone he
considered his better.  He didn’t think Ben was.  “That’s strange, having
trouble with the Sanctuary.  I can understand Gulli.  I’ve been here countless
times though and these guys don’t give a rat’s ass who comes and goes.  What
are you going to do in there, attack a Mage?”

“Well,”
Ben regretted speaking up, “I’m just saying to be aware.  There’s something
going on around here and I don’t know what.”

“Ok,
whatever you say.  Maybe you’re on edge about the other situation.  I’m just
saying, think about it.  You’ve got reason to keep an eye over your shoulder
but this place ain’t it.”

At
the gates, the old and young women’s faces stared out stoically.  It was funny
thought Ben, how they seemed to change in the sunlight.  An overcast day lead
to an overcast expression maybe?  He told himself he’d have to pay more
attention next time he was there.

The
guard’s expressions had gone from watchful to uninterested.  Ben slowed his
pace expecting trouble but one of the men merely lifted his hand to wave them
on.  “Visiting an Initiate, right?  Take the path to the breezeway then 500
paces to your right.”

He
didn’t recognize the guard, but surely they had all seen him by now.  There weren’t
that many Initiates and that many people to visit them.  He’d been here plenty
of times.

“Glad
you warned us,” snarked his blonde companion.

Meghan
and Amelie were both there when he got to the gardens.

“Oh
Ben!  I hope you’re Ok.  How is Renfro?”

“I’m
fine,” he was glad to see the girl’s friendly faces.  The warehouse had gotten
to be a place full of angry glares and curses when another lead came up empty. 
“Renfro is alright too.  We had to nearly tie him to the bed for a few days but
after some rest he’s back up again.  He’ll have his arm in a sling for a while
though.”

“What
about your men, some of them were hurt as well, right?  A knock on the head?”
asked Amelie.  Meghan stared over Ben’s shoulder at the two of Reinhold’s
guards who were looking around pretending not to be eavesdropping.

“Uh,”
he couldn’t remember what he’d written about Red.  Red had been press ganged
onto one of Reinhold’s long haul merchant vessels with strict instructions to
the Captain that he be left far away and copperless.  It was better than it
could have been.  Rhys had seconded Renfro’s idea of cutting his throat and
dumping him in the river.  Reinhold was only interested in Gulli and didn’t
much care what happened to his minions.  So Ben found himself arguing to save
the traitorous former porter, if only because the man wasn’t the one who’d
struck the blow to Evan. 

He
thought more than once that maybe the other’s ideas of how to deal with Red
would have been best.  At the time, he couldn’t bring himself to do it though. 

“They’re
not good.  I don’t know if they’ll fully recover,” he hedged.  He didn’t like
talking about Evan’s death but he felt bad sugar coating it to his friends. 
The girls didn’t know the details and he hoped they never would.

“Maybe
there’s something we can do to help,” replied Amelie tentatively.

Meghan
shouted, “Amelie!”

“I
know!  But these are friends of our’s.”

“They
are not your friends, you don’t even know them!” chastised Meghan.  “And even
if they were, it wouldn’t matter.”

Ben
looked between the girls in confusion.

“It
matters to me,” challenged Amelie.

Meghan
simply rolled her eyes and stalked off to sit at a nearby bench.  She stared
back at Ben and Amelie impassively.

“This
place is getting to her,” muttered Amelie.

“I
don’t want to be a source of strife between you two.  Aside from me and Saala,
you just have each other.”

“There’s
a lot of stress here Ben.  And the Sanctuary has some strong opinions.  It’s
hard to stay true to yourself and not get absorbed in their philosophies.”

Ben
shifted uncomfortably on the pebble strewn path.  “What kind of philosophies?”

“I
suppose I should just tell you since I already offered my help.”  Amelie sighed
and spared a look at Meghan.  In a whisper to avoid the eavesdropping guards
she continued, “we’ve been learning to heal.  A little bit only, but maybe
enough to help your friends.  The Sanctuary takes a dim view of expending
ourselves unless it is for Sanctuary business and of course Initiates are never
supposed to practice off the grounds here.”  She shrugged.  “If someone is hurt,
it’s worth a try.”

“I…” 
Evan was dead and Red, where ever he was now, didn’t need that kind of help. 
“Reinhold hired the best physicians and I think they did everything that can be
done.  Honestly, I’ve seen what Towaal can do and even she couldn’t help with
this.  Thank you for offering though, I appreciate it.”

A
relieved looking Amelie nodded quickly and brushed an errant strand of hair
back over her ear.  “Ok then.  I had to offer.”

“So
healing.  Are you a Mage now?”

The
spark of the old Amelie, before the Sanctuary, shined through briefly and she
smirked back at Ben.  “I’m a Mage like you were a Blademaster the day we left
Farview.”

Ben
felt a little better as he walked back through the busy streets of The City. 
His two guards shadowed him several steps behind and he almost felt alone and
like things were back to normal.  Whatever that meant anymore.

He
hadn’t lost the watchful edge that he gained over the last week though and
spied Rhys heading towards him through the crowd while he was still a city
block away.