Finn knew better than to argue, especially at this point when he suspected there was much more taking place than what Master Meyer wanted to believe.
“You should be cautious. If this has some sort of explosive powder inside of it, any movement might trigger the explosion,” Lena said.
Finn glanced over to his sister. “How do you know about that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been studying. I told you. One of your books has a discussion on particular types of powder.” She glanced over to Meyer, flushing slightly. “None of them really talk about explosions, but it can be inferred. Then when you combine what is written in Gisles with what I found in the book by Tradler, the combination makes that suggestion.”
Meyer simply watched Lena. “Perhaps the two of us need to speak.”
“I’m sorry, Master Meyer. If I’m not supposed to be using those books—”
“Do you think I’m displeased?”
Lena paled. “I didn’t know if you were upset I was reading Finn’s books.”
“They are not his books. They are mine, and they are for anyone who has a desire to learn.” He regarded her for a long moment. “Perhaps I have not given you the appropriate opportunities. It’s time that changed.”
“Opportunities?” Lena asked, glancing over to Finn with worry etched in her eyes.
“If you would be interested, I would work with you.”
The rest of the color drained from Lena’s face. “I don’t think I can do what Finn does.”
Meyer shook his head. “Not that aspect. With medicine. As an apothecary. I could train you.”
For the first time in a while, Finn noticed a light burning in his sister’s eyes.
“You would do that?” Lena asked.
“I think I should have started a long time ago.” He took a deep breath. “First, we need to finish with this.” Meyer stood in front of the strange device, holding it closely, frowning at it. “Unfortunately, seeing as how I have no idea what they used on this, I am concerned that we will not be able to open it safely.”
“There’s someone who might be able to help us,” Finn said. “She had fire ash and I know you don’t approve of it, but I think it might be similar.”
Meyer’s frown faded. “Wella,” Meyer said.
Finn nodded.
“Go get her. Tell her what you told me. Make her listen.”
Finn looked to his sister before looking to Master Meyer, nodding. He didn’t want to leave them there with something that might explode on them, but there was one person in the city who might be able to help them.
He gathered his cloak from the closet, stepping out into the night.
It was late, and a time of night when he normally wouldn’t even be out. He would likely startle Wella, but it wouldn’t be the first time. He suspected she had been startled awake more than once in her time serving as an apothecary. After he stepped through the gate, out onto the street, he darted along the street, heading toward Wella’s home.
He hadn’t gone very far when he felt something off.
Movement.
Finn slowed just enough to look around him. He needed to be more careful. Especially given what he had just done and how he had taken the device from Wolf, but at the same time, he also wanted to move as quickly as possible.
He ducked down a side street, waiting for a moment, testing for any sign of additional movement, but there was none.
He looked again, turning down another side street, and still found no movement. By the time he turned a third corner, Finn had started to feel a bit more relaxed.
Shadows moved away from the wall nearby.
“There you are, Shuffles.”
Finn recognized Wolf’s voice. He was still quite a ways from Wella’s shop, and though he was still in Meyer’s section, this wasn’t one of the nicer sections of the city. “I know what you’re up to, Wolf. Not so much about trying to get revenge for the King, is it?”
Wolf started toward him, a wide sneer on his face. “Revenge would have been fine, but I’d rather have the coin.”
He nodded, and another shadow slipped forward.
Rock.
Wolf sneered at him. “Do you think you’re the first executioner’s apprentice I took care of? The other one was easy. The King and I had very little difficulty removing him when he posed a danger to our operations. Got a little too close, you know?”
Could the Lion have been investigating some of the same things I had been?
Maybe he’d end up the same way. Drowned in the river.
“You won’t be quite as challenging,” Wolf went on, “but you certainly will be more fun.”
He had to buy time. “Why are you so eager to destroy the city?”
Rock and Wolf converged on him, and Finn glanced in either direction along the street, knowing that he would either have to run—and he didn’t know if he could run fast enough to get away from both of them—or he had to try to get the Archers’ attention.
They were well past the city curfew, so any noise should draw attention of the Archers. Finn could whistle and call for them, but he suspected Wolf and Rock would react quickly in dealing with him definitively.
“It’s not my city,” Wolf said.
Finn frowned. “You’re from here.”
Wolf glared at him. “I might have been from here, but it’s not my city. If it were, it would’ve taken care of me. No. All the city wants to do is punish people like me. Take from people like me.”
“People like you? You mean thieves.”
“You were once a thief,” Wolf said. “Could’ve brought you in on this. Still could.”
There was the threat of violence in the offer. Finn either agreed or suffered.
Finn backed along the street, trying to keep his attention on Rock, but he also had to focus on Wolf. If either of them got too close, he had to fight.
“I was once a thief, but I was never one like you. I never betrayed my crew.” Finn glanced over to Rock. “You know that, don’t you? You’ve been working with Wolf and the King long enough. You do realize that they were more than happy to betray everybody on the crew. And now you betrayed the King by choosing coin over vengeance.”
Justice wouldn’t appeal to Wolf. Vengeance might.
“You aren’t going to try to convince me,” Wolf said.
He reached an intersection. At least there, out in the open, there was a bit more opportunity for Archers to see them. Lantern lights shone down, giving him a slight advantage when it came time for either running or fighting. He had to be careful there.
“And now you’ve taken up working for Yelind?” Finn asked.
“That’s all you think it is?” Wolf laughed darkly. “It won’t matter pretty soon. You caught on to this too late. Just a little longer, and you’re going to start to see other places exploding.”
“Like what happened in Jorend section.”
Wolf frowned. “That stupid bastard. He nearly ruined us. Damn apothecary. All he was supposed to do was write down what he mixed. At least he managed to do that much before he got himself pinched.”
That didn’t fit with what Finn had known of Sweth. It just didn’t feel quite right.
“You used him?’
“Way I hear it, he blasted a hole through half of his village,” Wolf said. “Didn’t have much choice but to come here.”
It explained why Sweth was here, but not why he served.
“Who forced him to help?”
“A man will do almost anything for those he’s got left. Until he’s got none left. Right, Shuffles?”
Wolf nodded to Rock, who darted forward, grabbing Finn before he could even react.
He wrapped his arms around Finn and squeezed. “I’m going to enjoy this, Shuffles.”
“You would destroy the city, Rock? I’ve seen Jorend. I was there when it burned. If that’s what you want for your city—”
“It’s not my city, either,” Rock said.
“Fine. Then it’s going to be
on you when all of those people die.”
“All of them?” Rock chuckled. “It don’t matter. Not anymore. Not with what’s coming.”
“What’s coming?” Finn asked.
He glanced along the street, raising his voice as he spoke. He needed to draw attention to him, but he also had to do it in a way that wouldn’t alarm the other two. He kept his voice loud, anxious, agitated.
“War,” Wolf said.
He nodded, and they started dragging Finn through the street.
“Meyer knows about it,” Finn said.
“It don’t matter,” Wolf said. “The device you took from me was going to be the last. Why shouldn’t it explode in the hangman’s house?”
If it did, it meant Lena would be there. Meyer.
Finn whistled.
He used a sharp and shrill sound, belting out three quick trills, and the suddenness of it caught Rock off guard.
He loosened his grip just a little bit, and Finn spun quickly, punching him in the midsection, though it did nothing. He brought his knee up, connecting with Rock’s groin. Rock groaned, dropping to the ground.
Wolf started toward him, slipping a knife out of his belt. “You’re going to regret that.”
Movement along the street suddenly appeared in either direction. Archers.
“You see, now that I’m the executioner’s apprentice, I can move freely. I don’t have to fear curfew the way you do. And I don’t have to be dressed in darks to conceal my movement. I’ve got plenty of reason to detain you. And Rock.” Finn nodded to Rock, kicking him in the face to keep him on the ground. “And you’re going to tell me where the other devices were placed.”
Wolf just sneered at him. “This isn’t over, Shuffles.
He spun, racing off.
Three Archers appeared, and Finn motioned down the street. “My name is Finn Jagger, apprenticed to Master Meyer, executioner of the city!” He hated needing to slow down chasing after Wolf, but at the same time, the Archers needed to know who he was and why he was out. “We need to detain the man who just ran down the street.”
Two of the Archers took off, racing after Wolf, though Finn had a feeling they weren’t going to be fast enough.
The other Archer motioned and two more hurried toward them along the street. They grabbed for Rock. “What about this one?” one of the Archers asked.
“Bring him to Declan. He and I are going to have words.”
Rock tried to fight, and he got so far as to knock one of the Archers down, but the other two unsheathed their swords, and Rock fell still.
“Either tell me now or tell me later, but I will know how many devices you placed throughout the city,” he said.
Rock sneered at him. “I’m not telling you nothing.”
“So, you just want to see the city burn. What will that accomplish? Revenge?” Vengeance wasn’t the answer. This had to be about justice, not about vengeance. “If you tell what you know, I’ll make sure you have a more lenient sentence.”
Rock glared at him. “Lenient. You don’t know anything about that.”
“I know that you will hang—or worse. If those devices explode and fires burn throughout the city, who do you think they’re going to blame? The ones we have in custody. The same way we’ve had to blame Sweth. So, if you want to go out the way he did…”
Rock said nothing.
Finn waved the Archers away. “Bring him to Declan. Have him strapped into the chapel. I will be there shortly.”
He hurried off. When he reached Wella’s shop, he pounded on the door, and was surprised when she pulled it open quickly.
“Finn Jagger,” she said, frowning at him as she looked along the street. “It is quite late for you to be out here.”
“Meyer needs your help. We discovered a plot against the city. Explosives have been placed throughout it. We need your help learning how we can counter it.”
Wella’s eyes widened. “I will be right there.”
“I’ll wait.”
She shook her head. “Don’t wait. I need to gather some supplies, and then I will meet you at Henry’s home. You get back there to help him as much as you can.”
Everything felt like it was happening so quickly now. He raced back, seeing no signs of movement. When he reached Master Meyer’s home, he hurried inside, taking off his cloak, and moving to the back office.
There was one more person in the room.
The dark-haired woman that he had seen at Seamus’s tavern.
“What are you doing here?” Finn snapped.
She turned, looking at him. She had on a dark cloak, with the hood pulled up over her head, but she hadn’t unsheathed her knife, which he figured meant they were safe.
For now.
“I was to bring this to you,” she said. She reached into her pocket, and Finn tensed immediately.
When she pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket, Finn let out a relaxed breath.
“Seamus?”
She nodded. “He’s found the location of all he can. The items we were to deliver, along with the four other crews hired for the job. There are about fifty of them in total. I can’t say if there are more than that, though I don’t think so. We would have heard.”
“He did it that quickly?”
Her gaze drifted over to the device resting on the table. “Will it truly destroy the city?”
“Did you see Jorend?”
She looked over, nodding. “We can help.”
Finn frowned. “You would help?”
“We will do what we can to remove them. All of them. But…”
“But what?”
“But we need immunity.”
Finn looked over Master Meyer. He had pulled a chair over and sat in front of the small table, staring at the device. “What do you think?”
“We don’t have the resources to get these items that quickly,” Meyer got to his feet, looking at the woman. “If the only thing taken out of the places where you delivered these devices is the device itself, I will promise you immunity.”
The woman nodded. “We will have them delivered to the southern forest. I will personally keep an eye on them until you notify us of what you want done with them.”
She slipped out of the office, and then out of the home, leaving Finn staring after her.
“Who is she?” Lena asked.
“She’s known as the Mistress,” Master Meyer said.
“That’s the Mistress?” Finn asked.
Meyer nodded. “She has been known to be complicit in crime throughout the city, but we haven’t been able to catch her.”
“You don’t want to try now?”
Meyer sighed, shaking his head. “I suppose it fits.”
“What fits?”
“Relying upon the underworld of the city to help resolve this particular dilemma.” He looked up at Finn.
“Fol. That’s what this is all about. He’s the one person we haven’t found.”
Meyer frowned.
“Do you really have authority to grant immunity?” Finn asked. There were times when that might be useful in the future.
“In a crisis, I would be able to sway the king, so yes.”
The door came open, and Wella slipped in, glancing from Lena to Master Meyer before finally turning to consider Finn. “This is it?” She hurried over to the device. Her eyes widened. “Yelind,” she muttered. “Someone had knowledge. They should not have used it like this.”
Sweth. There had been more to him than Finn had managed to uncover.
If only he had the time.
“You recognize it?” Meyer asked.
“I recognize the writing. Dangerous, this is.”
“Do you know how to neutralize it?”
“As well as I can. I’m afraid we don’t have much time.”
“Why is that?”
“Do you remember the fire ash?”
Finn nodded. “I remember it.”
“The substance inside of this would be similar, I suspect. It w
ill gradually burn through one layer, combining with another substance, and when the two mix, you get an explosion. A dangerous and deadly explosion.”
“How long does it take?”
“It can be anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. It all depends upon the purpose of the explosion and how the device was fabricated.”
She held her hands up from it. She frowned. “It’s growing warm. I don’t know if we have much time.” She hurriedly pried open the top of the device, ignoring Meyer’s sudden protestations, and reached into a pouch strapped to her side, pouring in a grayish powder. “I have to hope that will be enough,” she said.
“You have to hope?”
The device took on a fiery glow, and she stepped back. “Oh. This might have expedited it.”
“Wait.” Lena hurried behind Master Meyer’s counter, and she grabbed for a vial of liquid. She brought it over to the device and tipped a single drop into it.
“You have a reaction taking place between the two powders. You need to have more of a contrasting reaction than what you’re adding to it,” Lena said. “I read about something like that in Kessel, though I don’t think it related to this.”
Wella watched her. “You need to start working with this one,” she said to Master Meyer.
“I know.”
“Or I will.”
Meyer glanced over, nodding slowly. “I know.”
They stood back, and the glow coming from the pot started to ease until it dissipated altogether.
“Well. That is that.”
“Not quite.”
Wella frowned, looking at him. “What do you mean?”
“Because there are somewhere near fifty of these devices still in the city.”
“Oh,” Wella said, her eyes wide. “I think I will need to gather more supplies.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A knock came at the door as Finn prepared to head over to Declan Prison and interrogate Rock. He glanced down the hall to where Lena and Master Meyer were visiting softly inside of his office, neither of them speaking very loudly, before pulling the door open and frowning.
It was one of the Archers. He was tall, dark-haired, and little bit older. The sigil on his left shoulder implied rank.
“Is the hangman here?”
Finn nodded. “What is it?”
The Executioner's Apprentice (The Executioner's Song Book 2) Page 36