Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) (16 page)

Rune went taut as a thought occurred. Why not take the problem to Siobhan? If he didn’t know what to do, and he wanted her advice, and he wasn’t willing to leave this kid here, then why not just take him to Siobhan? It seemed the simplest solution to the problem. At least short-term.

After debating it with himself back and forth, he couldn’t find any serious drawbacks to the idea. Well, it would be a little challenging hauling a child through all the attic spaces and out of the compound without being caught, but Rune had done something similar before and knew that it was not impossible. He would have to gag and tie the kid up first of course. Maybe put him in a large sack to disguise him. But he was small, and Rune didn’t think he would weigh much.

Feeling good about this new plan, he went to work. Rune went on a scavenger hunt of sorts, looking for scarves or belts or something that he could use to bind the guildmaster with. There was a closet in the back corner that was stuffed to the gills and he found everything that he needed in there.

Going back to the bed, he set to work binding the child’s legs first. He half-expected the boy to wake up during this process, but apparently he was the definition of a sound sleeper. Rune managed to get his arms and legs tied without waking him up. Then, just for safety sake, he tied a gag around his mouth as well.

That was when the child guildmaster finally woke up.

The white of his eyes were visible in the dim lighting, wide with fear. Rune did not spare him any assurances or wasted breath speaking. He knocked the kid out with a sharp pinch to his neck. The kid sagged within seconds, becoming dead weight. Rune hefted him into a drawstring bag, tied it shut, and then slung him over his shoulder.

Now came the hard part.

The same method that had gotten him into the building would not get him back out again. Rune could hardly leap four feet across to another roof, carrying 70 pounds, without drawing attention to himself. Well, he could throw the kid first, then jump, but he had this vague notion that children were fragile things and throwing someone who was unconscious might be frowned on. So that option was out.

He’d have to create his own opening.

Rune took preparations first by going back up the way he’d come in, dragging his victim with him, and stuffing him through the decorative window that let out over the roof. With his sack resting on the tiles, Rune carefully closed the window behind him and looked for the pair of guards that were the least alert.

By this point, the guards weren’t even trying to stay at their stations. They were sticking to one wall, but were moving back and forth to talk to each other, no doubt in a last ditch effort to stay awake. Rune just had to wait for the opportune moment when two guards met at the same corner at the same time. As soon as that happened, he dropped down from the roof and quickly struck, knocking both men out so quickly they couldn’t get more than a gargled gasp of surprise out.

He propped them up against the railing, turning their heads so it looked as if they were talking to each other, with efficient speed. He’d done similar things countless times before. With them settled, he had a clear exit. Rune reached up, grabbed the sack, and hauled it down before darting across the exposed area and to the other side of the courtyard. Once there, he lifted his burden up first before climbing after him, making practically no sound as he did so.

Rune’s nerves were stretched thin as he did this—they always were—his ears straining for every whisper of sound to alert him. But there were no shouts of alarm, no whistling of weapons being thrown his direction, and he did not pause. A man that stayed still in this situation opened himself up to discovery. Rune had learned to move fast and find cover first, then check if he was in trouble of being discovered. The timing usually worked out better that way.

He stuffed the guildmaster through the first window he could find, sliding in after him, then shut it quickly. Leaning just inside, he took the first full breath he’d dared in the past hour. Only then did he allow himself a glance below. No, the guards hadn’t realized anything was wrong yet. If he moved fast enough, before their shift ended, he’d be able to get out of this labyrinth compound before the alarm was raised.

Rune quickly discovered that hauling something out of the compound this time would not be quite the same as his experience last time. Last time, the woman that he had helped out had been cooperative. After all, her survival had depended on Rune getting her out. This time, he had a very unwilling bundle that he was dragging along with him. It took considerable strength and concentration on his part to keep a hold of the kid.

Even knowing the route, and the schedule of the patrols, it still took him an hour longer than it should have to reach the outer wall of the compound. Rune was hypersensitive to the time. It was already predawn. Rune had no idea what time the little guildmaster was usually awoken. Or when someone would notice his absence. He had to assume that he only had a half an hour at the most to get out of the city before they would lock it down. With that in mind, he stretched out into a ground-eating lope and tried to cover as much distance as possible. The sky was a dark grey, and the air still had the chill of the night. Most people were still in bed with only a few out and about. With such little traffic on the street, he was able to move freely.

Before Rune reached the gate, the kid woke back up and immediately started kicking. If he wasn’t an enemy, Rune would have admired his fighting spirit. As things stood, he was just a pain. He didn’t have time to knock the kid unconscious again, as it would require taking him back out of the sack. Trifle hard, knocking people out blindly. Instead, he rearranged the bundle he was carrying. Rune slung the sack casually over one shoulder, then wrapped it around his chest to where one end was over a shoulder but the child’s legs were tucked underneath his other arm. He mostly did this because he did not want to carry a squirming package through the gates. Surely someone would think to question that.

When he reached the gates, it turned out that his precaution was unnecessary. The guards in the gatehouse did little more than glance in his direction, verifying that someone was leaving at this impossible hour of the morning, before they went back to chatting and drinking their morning tea. Rune rolled his eyes in despair. If this had been Guildmaster Darrens’ city, those guards would be flogged for their dereliction of duty.

Well, he shouldn’t complain when his enemy was making a mistake. Rule number five and all.

By the time that he had gotten water from the channel, the sun had risen just enough to where he could use a path. It was still shaky, and if he had had to carry more than two people he likely would not have risked it. But he dared not linger any more than he already had. Flask in hand, he dropped a splash of water on each steppingstone as he opened up the path and traveled back to the bridge at Channel Pass.

Once there he decided he might as well unload his captive from the bag. Partially because he was afraid the child would suffocate. With a distinct lack of gentleness, he dumped the boy onto the ground while shaking the bag. When he was free, Rune tossed the bag aside, no longer interested in keeping it. The boy’s face was quite a mess. He had apparently been crying during the entire trip. Tears were streaming out of his eyes, the rag was soaked with tears and snot, and his skin was blotchy and flushed. He was obviously terrified out of his mind. Rune tried to dredge up some sympathy but did not succeed.

“If you promise not to talk or scream I will take the gag out.”

The boy guildmaster seemed to think about this for a second before giving a hesitant nod.

Rune leaned down long enough to roughly yank the gag’s knot apart and pull it away. He waited a moment, but apparently the boy was wise enough to realize that if he broke the deal, the gag would go right back in. He did not so much as peep. Satisfied, Rune picked him back up and slung him over the other shoulder. This time he did not run over the bridge as he had done previously. He was tired after days of nothing but catnaps and running about in enemy territory, so he set his pace at a fast walk and maintained that.

It took longer to cross the bridge, of course. In fact it was past high noon before he made it back onto Robargean soil. But from there he was almost home free. Rune gave his back a break by setting the boy down on the grass while he fetched water from the channel. He was half tempted to untie the boy’s legs and have him walk along the path, but in the end decided it was a bad idea. If the boy had the use of his legs then he would likely try to make a run for it. Or he would start kicking Rune. Neither of those tactics would get the young guildmaster very far, but Rune was not in the mood to deal with it. So instead he slung the boy like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder and carried him along the open path to Goldschmidt.

Once they arrived, Rune spoke for the first time in several hours. “Well kid, we’re here.”

For the first time, the boy dared to speak. His voice was thin and reedy and wavered like he was tempted to start crying all over again. “Where is here?”

“Goldschmidt. The city that you ordered looted and burned. The city that I defended from your men. As you can see, it still stands.”

“What will happen to me here?”

“That’s up to my guildmaster to decide.” In a moment of brutal honesty, Rune added, “My first choice was to kill you. I don’t know what she will choose to do though.”

“I don’t want to die!” the kid blubbered, earnestly crying now.

“Save it. None of us do.” Rune could not wait to hand the boy over to Siobhan. He’d had about as much of him as he could stand.

Besides, he was hoping that with a live sacrifice, his guild would go easy on him.

Rune had not come back the next morning. Nor the next day, nor the next. When four days passed and he had still not returned, Siobhan felt like her theory about where he had gone, and why, was validated. No one in the guild doubted where he was or what he was doing. The only real question was if he would survive the homecoming. Everyone was more or less willing to punch him by the time he came to the door. The only two who seemed to be wavering on that was Siobhan and Denney. Siobhan was torn between hugging him and punching him dead in the face. Denney was just worried out of her mind. She was more likely to hug him than anything else.

Siobhan couldn’t sleep at night, for worry. She would toss and turn and wake up bleary eyed. On the third night, she gave up trying to sleep at all and got up, going down to the main room of the inn. The fireplace was down to embers, and she stoked it up, throwing a few logs on before settling into a wide armchair. A blanket around her shoulders, she curled into the chair and stared blankly into the flames.

Rune. Bloodless. A dark guild assassin turned Pathmaker. Her adopted brother, a Maley. Rune had many definitions but most of the time Siobhan didn’t think of any of them. She simply thought of Rune as Rune, her friend. A wildly unpredictable friend, but that description could apply to most of the guild.

After Ryu Jin Ho had confirmed her worst fears, Siobhan hadn’t needed to ask another question. She had known, in that moment, why Rune had gone. To protect all of them, he had thrown himself headfirst into danger without blinking. It would have been heartwarming if she didn’t want to strangle him so badly.

“Siobhan.”

Startled out of her thoughts, her heart nearly leaped into her throat. She was twisting out of her chair on pure instinct when a hand she knew well landed on her shoulder and pushed her back. “Shh, sorry, I startled you, didn’t I?”

Putting a hand to her chest, she tried to keep her heart in place. “You did,” she told Wolf frankly. “Why are you up?”

“Because you’re up,” he answered simply.

The answer made tears burn in her eyes. Siobhan had felt the fool before, for not realizing that he loved her, but now more than ever. How could she not have seen it, when he did things like this?

“You’re worried about our boy.” It wasn’t a question. Wolf sank on his haunches next to her, hand still on her shoulder, giving warmth and comfort.