The Executioner's Right (The Executioner's Song Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

“Maybe,” Meyer said.

  “You don’t think so.”

  Meyer shook his head. “As I’ve said before, I have decades of experience questioning men like him. He doesn’t want to talk. He feels as if he will be betraying his crew. Does that remind you of someone?”

  Finn flushed. “He thinks I talked.”

  “I imagine they all do,” Meyer said.

  Finn thought that his going to the gallows, having the noose around his neck, and nearly hanging would have been proof enough that he hadn’t shared anything.

  “You knew,” Finn said.

  “It’s a logical step,” Meyer said. “Not my intent. Far from it. But when you return to your crew, they will naturally be suspicious.”

  Finn looked over to Meyer. “Let me have a chance to talk with him.”

  “Talk?”

  They had been friends ever since Finn had worked with the crew. Rock had been a part of everything he’d done. He had to have this chance. “I don’t know that I can do what you did, but I can talk with him.”

  “For you to maintain your position, you’re going to have to use these questioning techniques.”

  “Maybe, but not this time.” Not on Rock.

  Meyer glanced at the door before nodding.

  Then Finn headed over to the door, resting his hand on it for a moment, and he took a deep breath before stepping inside.

  Rock had fallen silent, his head lolled forward.

  Finn made his way over to him.

  He crouched down, and he twisted the boots, reducing some of the pressure. Meyer couldn’t fault him for that.

  “They’re not coming for you. They can’t. Not in this place.”

  “Go away, Shuffles.”

  “When I was here, no one came for me. The only time I saw anyone was during my sentencing. I’m the only one here, Rock. Let me help you.”

  Rock looked up briefly before his head slumped down again.

  “Give him something. It has to be more than a necklace. Whatever you give him will buy you some time. Maybe you need proof the crew isn’t coming for you. I know when I was here, I thought they’d somehow find a way in for me.” Finn flicked his gaze to the boots. “I was questioned much like you. Boots and water.”

  The memory of it made him shudder.

  “Water?”

  “They filled a pitcher of water and poured it into my throat. It felt like I was drowning. It was a horrible thing. A terrible feeling. At that point, I wanted nothing more than for it to end.” Rock’s breathing continued quickening. Finn reduced more of the pressure on the boot, and Rock looked up at him. “Just give them what you were after. They don’t care anything about the crew.”

  “I told him. It was—”

  “More than a necklace. I know it was. There has to be some reason the Client wanted you to go after this necklace.” And it had to be the Client. That was the one person the King worked for these days, though Finn had no idea why he continued to work only for him. “What did the King ask you to get?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I know you didn’t take a job outside the crew. I know you, Rock.”

  Rock held his gaze. There was a moment where Finn saw a sign of his old friend, but then it faded. “It don’t matter what we were after.”

  “It does.”

  “No. It don’t. The Client wants something we can’t get. That’s why I was there.”

  “What does the Client want?”

  “I told you what he wanted. I’m not keeping that from you, Shuffles. Just a necklace. Silver with a strange little charm of something that looks like a dog.”

  That reminded Finn of something he’d seen somewhere, though he couldn’t quite place it. Could it be on another job? He squeezed his eyes shut a moment.

  Not a job.

  Hegen.

  There had been a strange silver figurine in Esmerelda’s house.

  “Why that?”

  “I can’t tell you.” When Finn started to say something, Rock shook his head. “Because I don’t know. All I know is we do that, and we don’t take another job.”

  Finn frowned, his mind working. “What other job?”

  Rock said nothing.

  “Dammit, Rock. Just tell me!” Finn hissed.

  “You’re not in the crew no more.”

  “Not by choice, and we both know it.” Rock didn’t say anything. “I’ll go ask the Hand. You think he’ll keep it from me?”

  Finn didn’t know if he would or not. It was Oscar, and they were friends, or so Finn thought. So was Rock.

  But Finn wasn’t in the crew.

  “A job in the palace,” Rock whispered. “None of us want to do it, so we took an alternative. That’s what the King told us. Do this, then we’re off the hook.”

  “Why would you be on the hook?”

  Rock shook his head. “Don’t ask me questions I can’t answer.”

  “So, you were in that shop to avoid another job?”

  “We can’t very well break into the palace. You know what happened to the last bastard who tried that.”

  Finn glanced to the door.

  What had the King gotten the crew into?

  He had to protect them. Somehow. Whether they knew it or not, they were his crew.

  How much of this did he need to share with Meyer?

  “What happens if you don’t finish that job?”

  “I don’t know. The King don’t know. I get the sense the Client isn’t the kind of man you disappoint. You heard what happened to Pegg’s crew.”

  “I did.”

  “That was the Client. The King has made it clear that we have to finish this. No choice but to do so.”

  Finn started to shake his head. That wasn’t the way the crew took jobs.

  “And if we don’t do this job, and if we don’t succeed, that’s what’s going to happen to us.” Rock grunted. “Do what you need to. Tighten these damn boots as much as you need to. I’ve said all I can.”

  Finn stared at Rock. He believed him.

  Which meant that he believed him about the danger the crew was in.

  They were his crew.

  He wanted to protect them the same as he had when he’d been sitting in Rock’s position.

  Much like then, he didn’t know how.

  The door opened, and Meyer came in.

  Finn turned to him. “He told me all we need to know.” Meyer looked at him. “You can stop hurting him now. He’s told enough.”

  Rock lifted his head, holding Finn’s gaze, glaring at him, but a question lingered in it.

  Chapter Twenty

  Finn lingered outside of the Wenderwolf, dressed in the grays from the day of his hanging, preferring to be a little less noticeable than he would be in the finer clothes Meyer had purchased on his behalf. At least the Sinner’s Cloth blended into the shadows along the street a little better. Not perfectly, and they made him wish for his darks, but better than what he’d worn when he’d been there before.

  In the growing darkness, the Wenderwolf glowed with a soft light. Welcoming, in a way. Muted music came from inside, a jaunty sort of sound. A few people had entered, but none that he wanted. The buildings neighboring the tavern were all quiet for the night. A butcher a few doors down had a sign featuring a pig with a red streak across it. A little too on the nose for Finn. The smokehouse next to the butcher had a soft trail of smoke drifting from the chimney that carried the scent of meats. Up close, it was almost overwhelming, filling the street with the aroma.

  He’d been waiting for the better part of an hour. Finn started to question whether he should even remain there, or whether he should move along, but he couldn’t get past thinking about Rock, even though there was much he still had to study. The books Meyer gave him continued to pile up. There was only so much time in the day to study what Meyer asked of him. Though he’d now worked through three of the books, all of them on anatomy or various healing compounds, he still had much more studying to go. None of them had gone into torture tec
hniques, anything that he thought he should be learning about were he to be useful as Meyer’s assistant.

  After seeing Meyer torment Rock, Finn wasn’t sure he could do that anyway.

  There had been no sign of the King. Wolf. Oscar. Even of Scruff. None of them had been by the Wenderwolf in the time that he’d been watching. What were they doing, then?

  Finn wanted to warn Oscar away from taking the job that would endanger him to the Client. Will he listen?

  When it came to Oscar, Finn didn’t know. He could be stubborn.

  Finn didn’t know how long he could stand there and wait.

  He needed rest. More than that, he wanted to know what more Meyer had uncovered from Rock, if anything. Finn hadn’t heard anything more from him, though Rock probably wouldn’t share anything more with him.

  It was time to head back.

  Voices drifted toward him.

  Wolf.

  Finn retreated to rest against the nearby building. A broker. There were many of them in Olin. The title of broker sounded fancier than it was—nothing more than a place to trade personal items for money. Too many thought they could borrow from the broker, but the fees were so exorbitant that most just ended up deeper in debt than they were before. Brokers were buildings Finn never minded breaking into, if only to steal coin from the owners.

  “Still haven’t been able to get to him.” Wolf’s voice drifted down the street, soft enough Finn could tell he tried to keep it from carrying, though it was loud enough that he wasn’t able to do so.

  “See what the Hand can do. He’s got the connection. And find the last one. Then we can get the rest of this over with.”

  “I’ve got a lead. It shouldn’t be long now.”

  Wolf and another—the King—came into view. Neither wore their darks, though it was late enough that Finn would have been surprised if they were simply out for the night. What were they doing dressed the way they were? Wolf had a dark, dappled cloak that didn’t necessarily hide in the shadows, and the King looked dressed for a party. The hat on his head was tilted askew, and his boots had a gleam to them that reflected the moonlight. Neither of which would blend in the way they needed were they wanting to sneak.

  “Not sure this is something the Hand will want a part of. Might have to pinch him a little bit more. He’s got a soft spot, you know. Especially with how he feels…” Wolf paused, looking around the street.

  He nodded toward Finn.

  They’d spotted him.

  Should have found my darks.

  Meyer would have to have them. Knowing that Finn still came to Olin and still came to visit with the crew, he wondered if Meyer would even have allowed him to have them again.

  Finn stepped toward them. It was better they thought he’d been waiting for them rather than trying to spy on them.

  “Shuffles?” the King asked.

  Finn forced a smile. “I’ve been waiting for you. Took you long enough to make your way to the tavern.”

  The King and Wolf shared a look. Finn wished he recognized what passed between them.

  “Annie would have welcomed you had you wanted a drink. Gods, I’m sure she’s got some girls she could have sent to you.” The King smiled, though there was an edge of darkness in the back of his eyes.

  Finn shook his head. “That’s not why I’ve come.”

  He took a step closer. Wolf tensed.

  What was he concerned about? Could it be me?

  “What is it, Shuffles?”

  They’d know something happened to Rock. Finn counted on that.

  “I needed to tell you about Rock.”

  The King glanced briefly to Wolf, tipping his head to the side.

  That was an expression Finn recognized. It was almost as if the King told Wolf, You see?

  “What about Rock?”

  “He’s in Declan.”

  “Declan?” Wolf asked. The deep frown suggested that though he might have known that Rock had been taken, he hadn’t known where he’d been imprisoned. “What would he be doing in Declan?”

  “Same as me, I suppose,” Finn said. “Though Rock has more priors than I did.”

  The King glanced around him before flicking his gaze to the Wenderwolf. “Why don’t we have a seat inside and talk about this?”

  “You sure about that?” Wolf asked.

  The King nodded to Finn. “Shuffles probably needs a drink. I know I do. And we can talk about what happened to Rock and what we intend to do to get him out.”

  The King led them toward the tavern. Wolf watched Finn, who kept his gaze locked straight ahead of him. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing there, other than wanting to warn the King of the heat coming his way. He didn’t want any of them to get into more trouble than they could handle.

  Inside, Finn realized the musician was a singer with a mandolin. She picked the instrument with a fast pace, strumming every so often, her voice rising above the rest of the din of the tavern.

  Annie noticed them come in right away and headed in their direction.

  The King guided him to a seat at the usual table, and he and Wolf sat across from Finn. It felt like they were prepared to question him. In that way, it made him think of his sentencing.

  When Annie brought mugs of ale over, she took a seat next to Finn.

  “Not tonight, Annie,” the King said.

  She looked across the table. “You got problems, Leon?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  She glanced over to Finn and patted him on the arm. “Gods be with you.”

  When she got up, she disappeared to the back of the tavern, though Finn had the sense that she watched them. Annie always seemed to watch.

  The King didn’t touch his ale. Neither did Wolf.

  They were on edge, but given the kind of job he knew they were involved in, he understood why they’d be on edge. They worried about what happened to Pegg’s crew happening to them. They’d worry about failing.

  “What do you know, Shuffles?”

  “Just what I told you. Rock is in Declan. Saw him myself last night.”

  “And you waited until now to tell us?” Wolf asked.

  The King turned to him. “Shuffles came as soon as he could, I’m sure.” He glanced to Finn. “Isn’t that right, Shuffles?”

  Finn nodded. “I wouldn’t have been able to come last evening after we questioned him.”

  “You questioned him?” Wolf asked.

  “I was there when Meyer questioned him.” He licked his lips, swallowing. “I tried to help him. Damn, but Rock is my friend.” He swallowed again, looking from Wolf to the King. “He didn’t say anything about the crew, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

  “It’s not the crew that I’m worried about,” Wolf said.

  The King shot him a look.

  Wolf shook his head. “We need to get this resolved,” he said. “If Rock said something—”

  “He didn’t say anything,” the King said.

  “That’s what Shuffles was telling us, but how sure are you that we can trust him?”

  The King turned and looked at Finn. He regarded him for a long moment, and the darkness that he’d seen in his eyes lingered for that moment before fading. “We can trust Shuffles,” he said.

  “And if we can’t?”

  “If we can’t, then the gods had better favor him,” the King said.

  The coldness in his voice surprised Finn.

  “I wouldn’t have come if you couldn’t trust me,” Finn said. “I don’t want anything to happen to the crew.”

  “You’re here because of the crew?” Wolf asked.

  “I’m here to warn you. Whatever job you’re doing is too dangerous. You need to back off.”

  The King leaned back, lifting his ale, and he took a long sip of it. “I don’t think you understand, Shuffles. I know you didn’t have much time in the crew, but you should have known that once we’ve taken on a job, we need to complete the job. The consequences can be severe.”
/>   Finn understood what the King alluded to, only he also knew the King was mostly concerned about the financial repercussions, not the physical, and not about what could happen to them.

  “Rock was concerned about not finishing the job,” Finn said.

  Would the King tell Finn anything about the job at the palace?

  “Rock is always more concerned than he needs to be.” The King shrugged. “If he were less concerned, he might not have gotten himself pinched.”

  “That’s not why he got pinched,” Finn said.

  “No? And why did he get himself pinched?” The King leaned forward.

  Finn struggled with the answer. If he shared too much now, he would potentially reveal details that he wasn’t supposed to.

  He also didn’t know if there were details that he wasn’t supposed to reveal.

  Nothing that had happened to Rock had been secretive. He had been picked up in the Theden section, breaking into an antiquities shop. That much would be common knowledge, at least among the Archers, and considering how the King had contact within the Archers, he doubted that there was anything that the King didn’t know when it came to Rock’s role.

  “You know why he got pinched as well as I do,” Finn said. “He was in that antiquities shop and got himself the wrong kind of attention. The Archers snagged him.”

  The King sneered at Wolf. “The damn Archers.”

  “Probably tipped off. Too much of that lately,” Wolf said, his eyes narrowing.

  “They weren’t even supposed to have been there. So much for paying them,” the King said.

  Wolf glanced at Finn. “Are you sure you want to be having these conversations?”

  The King glanced at Finn. “Shuffles isn’t going to say anything.”

  “Are you sure?”

  The King leaned forward. “Can we trust you, Shuffles?”

  It was a loaded question and the kind of question that Finn wished he could answer honestly. The problem was that he didn’t know the honest answer. Could they trust him?

  He’d come to the King to share what he could about Rock, wanting to warn him, if nothing else. At the same time, Finn couldn’t deny that he had a growing loyalty to Meyer.

  How could I not when Meyer had brought his mother in?

  Meyer had saved Finn from the noose.