Hood and the Highwaymen

by TJ Nichols

  Morris laughed. “You think the wolves will help you? You’re more of a fool than the other two.” He smacked the horse Aubrey was holding on the rump with the flat of his sword.

  Aubrey let go and the horse bolted. He lifted his sword to defend, but a man on the ground didn’t stand much of a chance. He should run, but he couldn’t leave the mayor. He was going to die in the woods. The fourth dead hood, and the truth would never be heard by the king. Morris would spin a new lie to cover what he was doing. Aubrey put himself between Morris and the mayor. The dogs barked and circled, confused about what they should be doing. The mayor snatched at Aubrey’s cloak, pleading and whining.

  The wolf howled, a sound that cut through the woods, startling birds and wildlife and even Morris paused for a heartbeat, but the help it summoned would come too late.

  Hooves and metal. Aubrey defended as best he could, then Morris stabbed downward. The blade sank into Aubrey’s shoulder and deeper, hot as it went in, cold as it was pulled out. Aubrey dropped to his knees, sure he could taste his blood on his tongue.

  Morris’s horse danced back, the dogs at its heels. “No wolves today, but still a good hunt.”

  Aubrey toppled over, and everything went dark.

  Jardin had heard both howls. The one warning of hunters and the second that there was death. He didn’t know who was dead, but he was hoping he wouldn’t be having to bury another body. Or another hood.

  Four dead hoods would bring an army…though in the chaos it would be easy to slip away. But the thought of leaving his pack to deal with the mess wasn’t something he could contemplate. He’d wanted to leave on good terms, with the door open to come back. But if the soothsayer wasn’t welcome back after leaving, would he be?

  He’d never been his father’s favorite. Nothing he’d done had ever earned him any favors. Whatever was happening, he had to stop.

  The ground was a blur beneath his four paws. He could hear the distress of horses and the barking of dogs as he drew closer. He wasn’t the only wolf racing toward the danger.

  Others from his pack were running through the forest, too. The warning was too close to the ruins. He slowed, treading carefully and drawing closer, hugging the shadows and slinking around trees like a wraith. A horse bolted past with no rider, followed by another with a rider wielding a bloodied sword. Jardin lifted his nose. The scent of the man was familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

  Then the hot, metallic smell of blood hit him hard, along with a scent he knew too well.

  Aubrey.

  As much as he didn’t trust the hood, Lyle did—and more than that, Lyle’s eyes had lit up when he’d talked of him. Which was irksome, but he had to admit that the hood did have an allure, and Jardin had seen rather more of him than Lyle. More interestingly, Aubrey hadn’t been too shocked at seeing a naked man in his room. Perhaps it was a common occurrence for him, one he delighted in.

  Now Aubrey lay on the ground, face pressed to the dirt and leaves. The mayor was slumped against a tree, an arrow poking out of his chest. The dogs milled around. Not sure what to do, they licked at their master’s hand and sniffed at the blood. Jardin’s lip curled. They were too dependent on humans to think for themselves, the wild tamed out of them hundreds of years ago.

  Jardin caught the gaze of another wolf and gave a yip before he stepped forward, ears straining, listening for the man on the horse in case he returned.

  Without looking, he knew the three other wolves were nearby, circling the area ready to warn him if the killer came back. He shifted from wolf to human, shaking free of the fur before standing straight like a man. He was just as silent on two feet as on four.

  Guilt twisted his gut as he stared at Aubrey. There was too much blood for him to be alive. He shouldn’t have taken the wolf fur bracelet off Aubrey. Lyle would be angry with him, and he’d be right—he hated it when Lyle was sensible and right—because then this was his fault. Even though Aubrey was a hood, Jardin didn’t wish him dead.

  Jardin walked over and checked the mayor first. His pulse was weak, and there was too much blood leaking out of the hole the arrow had made to save him. Removing the arrow would only cause more pain and damage. It would be better to leave him to die.

  He stepped back and knelt at Aubrey’s side. He hadn’t been wearing his scarlet hood, but his clothing was still too red, his shirt collar soaked. Why were they hunting so close to the ruins? And who was the man who’d ridden away?

  Carefully, he touched Aubrey’s neck, expecting to feel nothing, but there was a rapid pulse. His heart still beat, and then his eyelids flickered open. Jardin started and stepped back. Aubrey reached for him, and Jardin saw the bracelet.

  Jardin clasped his hand. “You’re alive,” he whispered.

  Lyle must have returned the bracelet. He’d never been so glad that Lyle didn’t listen to him. He lifted his head to call for the wolves.

  “He’s alive. He’ll live. Let’s get him to the village.”

  Two other wolves melted out of the woods and shifted.

  “He’s not one of us.”

  “And yet…” The other bent to touch the bracelet, her long hair hiding her face. “If I take it off him, he’ll die and won’t be our problem. They are too close.”

  Jardin put a hand over hers. “He’s a hood, trying to find out what’s going on. I’d say he knew a little too much, and that’s why he’s bleeding everywhere. Letting him die would be wrong.”

  She hissed out a breath. “The leader can make the decision. We’ll take him back.”

  That was better than nothing.

  They used Aubrey’s cloak to carry him and made the much slower trip back to the village. They were greeted by most of the village, curious about the almost dead man they brought. They put Aubrey by the central fire for the healer and leader to inspect.

  A pair of pants was thrown to Jardin, and he put them on. The clothes he had been wearing were in the forest, and he’d have to go and get them later. He’d lost plenty of clothes before. It was annoying but also part of life. Other forest folk often returned to the village with clothes that had been discarded and returned them to their owner.

  Lyle stood to the side watching, his lips pressed into a thin line. Aubrey was only alive because Lyle had given him back the bracelet. He nodded in his lover’s direction. Lyle had been right. As much as it rubbed him wrong, he couldn’t distrust every human or hood.

  The healer and leader approached.

  Jardin was beckoned over. He didn’t want to be a part of this, and yet he was up to his neck. He hadn’t brought the hoods like he’d first thought, but he hadn’t stopped them either. He hadn’t offered to help them because he thought he was to blame. Maybe if he had done something, then none of this would’ve happened. Fewer humans would’ve seen the ruins.

  He’d have dug less graves.

  “Where did you find him?” the healer asked.

  “Outer edge of the ruins. The mayor is dead, another took off. We need to know what he knows.” Jardin pointed at Aubrey.

  “I want to know why he’s still alive,” the leader said.

  That was clear to everyone there, but Jardin answered anyway. “He’s wearing wolf fur.”

  “But why? Is it yours? How do you know him?” His father had the decency to appear concerned.

  Jardin glanced at Lyle. “It’s not my fur. He’s the new hood, and Lyle has been watching him.”

  “How did he get the bracelet?” The leader’s attention turned to Lyle.

  Lyle walked over. “The soothsayer. She wants to come back.”

  The leader grimaced. “Let him heal…then I’ll talk to him and see if he deserves to wear it.” The leader looked Jardin straight in the eye. “See if he knows who the highwaymen are.”

  Jardin held his father’s stare. This wasn’t about the highwaymen. “Shouldn’t we be more worried about the invasion of the ruins?”

  The leader nodded. “Maybe it’s all connected.”

  Jardin had to bit
e his tongue hard. He didn’t care about the ruins, or the history the wolves had. He only cared about having a future beyond scratching about in the forest.

  His father strode away, not caring what Jardin thought or wanted. He only cared about the pack.

  The other man who’d been near the ruins was still alive, and Jardin was sure he’d if not seen, then he’d smelled him before. It wasn’t the highwaymen making trouble. It was the unknown man committing murder in their woods.

  Lyle put on his coat and grabbed a bag, a sense of urgency flooding him. “I’m going to town.”

  “You need to stay—you know Aubrey. He’ll talk to you when he wakes.”

  “Aren’t you lucky I returned the bracelet to him? Dead men don’t tend to talk, and dead hoods only bring more trouble.” The last thing they needed was to be digging another grave. He didn’t want to look at Aubrey lying limp and almost lifeless.

  “Rub it in. Doesn’t mean he’s on our side. Mayor wasn’t.”

  The mayor had made no secret of his distaste in having to trade with the forest folk. He liked the goods but always tried to pay the cheapest price. Now he was dead, not a fitting punishment.

  “I’m going to find out what’s going on. Who was the other man?”

  “I don’t know. Well-dressed. Blond hair. I only saw his back as he fled.”

  Lyle paused and stared at Jardin. “The mayor’s visitor. Some noble that Aubrey was interested in. He was watching them this morning. Who killed the mayor?”

  “Don’t know, but he had an arrow sticking out of his chest.”

  “And Aubrey had one in his leg.”

  Until Aubrey had recovered enough to talk, they wouldn’t know what had happened, but a safe guess would be that the mayor’s guest had attacked them both. No doubt the blame would fall on the forest folk the way it always did.

  “Yeah.” Jardin nodded.

  “Why don’t you go find your clothes…then meet up with me near town.” Lyle smiled. “We could get some answers out of the mayor’s guest.”

  “One of us should stay here in case he wakes.”

  Lyle stared at his lover. “Since when did you care what happens to a hood?”

  “Since you do. You do care, don’t you?” Jardin stepped closer.

  “I think he can help us stop the trouble, that’s all.”

  “Or maybe you are tired of playing with wolves and you’d rather disappear into the city with a well-connected hood.”

  Lyle grabbed Jardin’s shoulders. If he was going to run alone, he’d have done it years ago. This was his family and pack as much as Jardin’s, even though he couldn’t shift. “Don’t be a fool. I’m not running off with a hood.”

  “But he turned your head.”

  “So? For all I know, he’ll take two fingers if I stare at him too long.” He was attached to his fingers and he didn’t want extra trouble. He sighed. “Look. The soothsayer said I have to help him or worse trouble will come. I know you don’t put weight it her words, but I do.”

  “She gave him the bracelet for a reason.”

  Lyle nodded. “I’m going to see what the mayor’s friend is up to. I’ll see you about?”

  “Be careful. He’s killed to men today; he might have a taste for blood.”

  “He thinks he’s killed two men…he might be thinking of success.” If it were Lyle, he wouldn’t be. He’d be thinking of escaping because people would notice a missing mayor even if they didn’t notice a missing hood. “We need to do something.”

  “What?”

  “Make him too scared to stick around? Make him stay so Aubrey can deal with him? Something.”

  “This isn’t our mess.”

  “Yes, it is. It is now. The wolves will be blamed. We’ll all be blamed. You heard the leader. He suspects.”

  “But we didn’t do anything.”

  “That doesn’t matter. We should never have started stealing.” He pressed his forehead to Jardin’s. “It’s only bought us trouble, not the way free we wanted.”

  Jardin put his arms around him. “It doesn’t matter now. We can’t go back and unravel the past. We wanted a future…we deserve a future.”

  “But how many have to die? No one was supposed to die.”

  “And we haven’t killed anyone. We’ll find out what Aubrey knows when he wakes. Check in on the mayor’s friend and see what he’s up to. But keep a safe distance. I don’t want you to be next.”

  Chapter 6

  It was dark, and for several heartbeats Aubrey wasn’t sure that he’d opened his eyes, but he had. His body ached, and fractured memories of the fight returned, ending with looking up into the blue eyes of the werewolf. Then nothing. His fingers found the wolf fur bracelet. Magic. That was why he was still alive.

  He relaxed for a moment before starting awake again. Where was he?

  Where was the mayor, and where was Morris?

  He sat up and shoved back the blankets.

  “Rest, your body is still healing.” A woman pressed him back to the bed.

  “I can’t stay here. I have to—”

  “You need to rest,” the woman said.

  Aubrey didn’t have the strength to fight her as she drew the blanket up. He couldn’t stay here. He had things to do. But he couldn’t stay awake either. When woke again, it was still dark. The only light came from a fire on the far side of the room. The flames flickered and danced but didn’t shed much light.

  A shadow moved. Aubrey reached for his sword, or the knife he kept by his pillow, but his fingers found nothing. For a few panicked heartbeats, he couldn’t work out where he was. He sat up, wincing as his shoulder pulled.

  “You shouldn’t be up. You should be dead.” The man came closer, his eyes blue and bright even in the dark. It was the same man who’d broken into Aubrey’s room above the tavern.

  Memories flitted just out of reach. Aubrey should know what had happened and why he’d ended up here.

  The man sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t think you mind if a man sits on your bed.”

  He didn’t…but how did this man know?

  “You were almost dead when I found you. You’ll have a nice scar by your collarbone, but I’d be careful doing too much. Your heart might still be a bit delicate after being skewered on a sword.”

  Aubrey touched his collarbone and traced the skin below. Sure enough, there was a scar the width of a sword. It was scabbed up and tender, as though the wound had happened weeks ago. Had he been in this room that long? His heart leaped, and he grimaced. He was sore inside.

  “How long have I been asleep?”

  The man smiled, his teeth too pointed. “It’s the same day, hood. Well, same night. The fur bracelet saved your life. You owe the wolves.” The man put his hand on Aubrey’s leg. “There are some who wanted to rip it off your wrist and watch you bleed out.”

  Aubrey should be flinging himself out of the bed and…and… “I’m in the werewolf village?”

  “You are. So don’t be running off into the woods. You’ll only get lost, and I’ve done enough rescuing for the day.”

  “You’re the wolf who was in my room. You stole the bracelet from me.”

  “And my lover gave it back to you.”

  Lyle. Lyle was very much human.

  “He lives here, too? In this house?”

  “Of course. Where else would he live?”

  In the city they wouldn’t be living together openly. Aubrey pushed that thought aside. “The mayor, did he survive?”

  The man looked away. “No. He died of his wounds. Who attacked you?”

  There was more to it, but for the moment Aubrey didn’t press. The mayor had been gravely wounded. He remembered the arrow and the blood and trying to stop it. “Morris Harrow. I need to get to town. I need to stop him.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere. Did you not hear me? Your body is healing. Magic can only do so much, and you lost a lot of blood. So unless you want to fall on your face, stay in bed.”

  “Wh
o are you?”

  “The man who saved your life. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  That had been rude of him. But this wasn’t a man, it was a werewolf. The heat of his palm was seeping through the blanket, and the blue of his eyes was sharper than any sword. “Thank you. And your name?”

  “Jardin.”

  “And you are a werewolf?” He needed to hear it from the man’s lips.

  Aubrey fiddled with the fur bracelet. Had it really saved his life? Was it possible his injury hadn’t been that severe and Jardin was lying? He shuddered, remembering the feel of the metal sliding through him. Maybe there were things he shouldn’t remember.

  Jardin flashed him another pointed smile. “I thought hoods were supposed to be smart?”

  “If I was smart, I wouldn’t be a hood. My father sent me into service to gain favor with the king. Most hoods are noble bastards with nothing better to do.”

  Jardin nodded. “That explains a lot.”

  “Perhaps you can explain something to me. Morris mentioned the wolves had treasure. It’s what he was after, but we weren’t near the village, were we?”

  Jardin went very still. His grip on Aubrey’s shin tightened for a moment. “Are you sure that’s what you heard? Are you remembering right?”

  “I’m sure. He seemed to know it was there. Wherever there is.” Saying it aloud wasn’t making it seem any realer. If anything, it sounded quite foolish. Treasure hidden in the forest and guarded by wolves. How much blood had he lost?

  But Jardin wasn’t laughing. He drew in a breath. “What do you know about the fall of the wolves?”

  “I heard the same tales as everyone when I was growing up.” Aubrey paused. “They weren’t stories, were they? There were cities ruled by wolves.” In the children’s tales, the wolves were betrayed because they were corrupted by magic. Hoods had originally been wolf hunters. He hadn’t really believed it, but there was a werewolf sitting on his bed. And hoods had hunted his kind until the world believed them extinct.