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Rogue let himself into the Grant house. He moved swiftly through it until he found Elizabeth in the office.
Lady Grant turned, rising out of her seat, surprised by the intrusion. When she saw it was him, she sat back down. “What’s wrong?”
Rogue grabbed the chair opposite her desk and sat down. “Why would two assassins be in Riverside hunting your daughter?”
Lady Grant turned pale. “Jas? What? Is she OK?”
Rogue nodded. “I assume she is a little rattled, but the assassins are dealt with. They didn’t know who hired them. They only had your daughter’s name and location. Someone from your husband’s past wants Jasmin dead.”
Lady Grant, recovered from the initial shock of learning her daughter was the target of assassins, started to think. “My late husband had few, if any, enemies that I know of. Most of the people he had financial dealings with owed him money and not the other way around. He was too far removed from the throne to be a threat to anyone, and his marriage to me angered many in the family to the point where they refused to give Jasmin a royal stipend. We haven’t been to Evermeir once since we left. And if it had been a bad business deal, why not come after me? I’ve been running the company since Gabriel died.”
Rogue frowned. “The men that came were skilled assassins. They scouted Riverside, spent a few coins around town gathering information, no doubt getting a description of Jasmin, and then found two possible ambush locations. They loitered around until Jasmin came up the street and then pushed her into the alley without a single person noticing.”
“You noticed,” Lady Grant said.
“I’d already been following them,” Rogue explained. “I picked up their tracks in the mountains around your house. I followed them into town and saw them scouting. I knew the other ambush spot they’d picked was no good, so I snuck into the alley before they could arrive. I had no idea Jasmin was the target until she was thrown into the alley.”
“Words can’t express my gratitude,” Lady Grant said.
Rogue shook his head. “Don’t. We both know the debt I owe you. I did what was necessary. The question is, what are you going to do now?”
Lady Grant paused, deep in thought. Finally, she said, “I’ll have to send someone to Evermeir. I can’t go, and Jasmin certainly can’t. Who knows if she was the only target, or simply the first. In the meantime, I will have to hire men to guard the estate.”
Rogue stood up. “If it were me, I would go to Golrog, in Vaton. There are good fighting men there that can be hired. They aren’t cheap, but they aren’t the type to flake out when things go wrong.”
“Isaac?” Lady Grant asked.
Rogue nodded. “And when you go to the sheriff, if Jasmin hasn’t already, the story will get out. Every young man within a hundred miles will want to help protect Jasmin.”
Lady Grant raised an eyebrow. “You think that will help?”
Rogue shrugged. “Probably not, but at the very least people will start looking differently at strangers. And they will certainly be keeping an eye on Jasmin and you when you’re in town. But I wouldn’t walk or ride to town unescorted anymore. It was only luck that I came across their tracks. Otherwise, you’d be planning a funeral. Whoever hired those men had money. They will try again.”
Lady Grant shivered. “Thank you for everything. I do believe a trip to Golrog is in order. Now, if I know my daughter at all, she’s probably finished her meeting and headed home. I should put on a kettle for tea.”
It was Rogue’s turn to be surprised. “You think she went to her meeting after what happened in the alley?”
“If she wasn’t hurt, that is exactly what she would do.”
7
Jasmin
After concluding her meeting with Kent White, Jasmin headed home. The meeting had gone as expected. Kent was eager to participate in her new project and had startled rattling off dozens of questions. Most she’d been prepared for, and she’d answered almost in a daze. A few she didn’t have answers for, and those made her focus, a fact she was grateful for. Anything to avoid thinking about the incident in the alley.
As she walked home, Jasmin nervously glanced around. She’d never feared the long walk from the village to her home, but now every stirring bush was an assassin waiting to kill her. At one point she had to stop walking. Her heart was pounding and her breath short. Shaking the fear off, Jasmin finished her walk home.
When she entered the house, her mother was waiting for her in the kitchen.
“I made tea,” Lady Grant said.
Jasmin started to shake. Her emotions finally burst. “Mom,” she sobbed.
Lady Grant quickly moved across the room, hugging her daughter tight. “It’s OK, Jas. You’re safe now.”
Jasmin cried into her mother’s shoulder for a brief time, the relief of feeling safe in her mother’s arms letting her anxiety flow out of her body. After a minute, Jasmin started wiping away her tears. She stepped back and looked into her mother’s eyes. “How did you know?”
“Rogue came and told me what happened.”
“He...he killed those men. Just slit their throats like he was butchering an animal.”
“Good. It was what they deserved.”
Jasmin looked at her mother with shock.
“Don’t give me that look,” said Lady Grant with a scowl. “Two men who push a young woman into an alley with evil intentions deserve far worse than what Rogue did to them.”
“But killing them? And so brutally?”
Lady Grant shook her head. “I love your heart, darling. It is so big and full of love. But what do you think those men were going to do to you?”
Jasmin paused. The two men had been there to murder her, there was no doubt about that. She’d seen it in their eyes and heard it in their voices. They were not bluffing; they would’ve killed her had Rogue not interceded. “They were there to kill me. But he could’ve yelled out or ran them off. He was there waiting for them in the alley.”
“Yes, and I’m eternally grateful to him for that. Rogue tracked them from the mountains behind our home. They stalked our house and then went into the village to lay their trap. Someone sent those men to murder you. Men like Rogue don’t yell out for someone else to come help them, nor do they let their enemies run away so they can try again later. You’ve been out here in the woods too long, my child. You don’t understand how little a person’s life can matter. Life is only as precious as the person judging deems it to be. Those men deemed your life worthy of a few coins—how many, I cannot say—but the results were the same. They forfeited their lives for that mistake.”
Jasmin nodded. She didn’t agree with everything her mother was saying, but she also couldn’t put her own thoughts into words. Riverside was a rough and tumble town where fighting was a sport. Every weekend there were fights, blood, and broken bones, but never murder. Even the fact that it had been her life that had been saved didn’t diminish the foul taste in her mouth. Perhaps her mother was correct. Perhaps growing up in the relatively small village of Riverside had made her soft. She had heard stories of murders and killings along the border roads, and in the cities, but never had she faced death up close.
“Have some tea, dear. We need to make a plan. In the morning we are going to Golrog. But first, did you tell the sheriff? Or just go to your meeting and return home?”
“I...I went to my meeting and returned home.”
“OK. We’ll have some tea, I’ll have a carriage made ready, and then we’ll return to Riverside and inform the sheriff of what happened.”
Jasmin nodded. She hadn’t thought of the sheriff. He did need to know why he had two dead bodies in an alley. “Wait, why are we going to Golrog?”
“To hire men. Whoever hired those men to come here might try again. You need protection. We need protection.”
Jasmin simply nodded. She couldn’t think straight right now, and her mother seemed to know what to do. She sipped her tea until it was gone. “We shoul
d go to town soon. I feel like taking a nap, and I don’t know if I’d wake up again today. I feel exhausted now.”
Lady Grant went outside and found Jerrod. The older man worked on the estate, mainly looking after the stables and running errands. “Jerrod, would you prepare our carriage immediately? You’ll be driving us to the village. And Jerrod, bring a weapon.”
The older man looked startled for a moment, but nodded. “Right away, Lady Grant.”
Lady Grant nodded and returned to the house. She gathered up Jasmin and brought her outside as Jerrod brought the carriage to the front door.
Jasmin got into the carriage and sat quietly as they galloped into town. She didn’t even notice the sword Jerrod was wearing. She was too caught up in her own thoughts. She kept replaying the event in her mind over and over again, trying to think of what she could’ve done differently. If only she’d kept her head up while walking, she might’ve noticed the stranger walking too close to her.
“We’re here, Jasmin,” Lady Grant said as she helped Jasmin out of the carriage. They entered the sheriff’s office together.
Sheriff Blair sat at his desk. He looked up as they entered. “Lady Grant, Miss Jasmin. What can I do for you?”
“We’re here to report an attempted murder,” Lady Grant said.
The sheriff sat up straight. “Another one? By the gods. We’ve already got two men dead today.”
“The alley behind the merchant’s store?” Lady Grant asked.
The sheriff nodded.
“Those are the men we’re here to report. Rogue killed them. They were trying to attack my daughter.”
“Rogue? Damn. I’ll have to get some more men. No way am I going to attempt to arrest him myself,” said the sheriff.
Lady Grant slammed her fist down on the desk. “I will say this one more time so you can get it through your thick skull. Those men were trying to murder my daughter. They pushed her into the alley and were trying to kill her.”
The sheriff looked wide-eyed at Lady Grant. He then turned to Jasmin. “This true, Jasmin? They were trying to kill you?”
Jasmin nodded. “They asked me my name, wanted to know if I was the daughter of Gabriel Grant. As soon as Rogue stepped out of the shadows, the second man told his partner to kill me. He came at me with a sword, but Rogue stopped him.”
The sheriff scratched his jaw. “Never thought I’d see the day when Rogue was the hero and not the villain. OK, I will forget about arresting him this time. What can you tell me about these men?”
Jasmin bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing. The sheriff had long talked tough about arresting Rogue, but as soon as her mother started barking at him, he changed his tune quickly. In fact, he seemed very relieved to not have to try arresting Rogue. “I’m afraid that is all I know. The men didn’t say anything else and I’ve never seen them before.”
The sheriff looked nervously at Lady Grant. “Not much I can do then, is there?”
“No,” said Lady Grant. “You can deal with the bodies, and keep an eye out for strangers that don’t belong. It’s possible more will come. We simply don’t know.”
The sheriff stood up. “The bodies are in the back. I’ll go have another look and see if they had any papers on them, any clue as to their identities. And don’t you worry. I’ll make sure no one new enters town without being noticed.”
Jasmin and her mother left the sheriff’s office. His inspection of the bodies gave them no help. No identifying marks, no incriminating papers, nothing. But at least they now had eyes in Riverside watching for strangers. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
8
Rogue
Slipping into the stables, Rogue saddled up both assassins’ horses. Quinton, the crusty stable master was a man of habit, and every night he went to the Wretched Wench for a few drinks. The stables would be empty for another hour or two.
Casually walking the animals out of the stables, Rogue kept to the shadows, avoiding any brightly lit areas where he might be seen. Technically, he was stealing the animals, but as the two assassins had paid for a week, he was stealing from them and Quinton. The distinction was small, but enough. The two animals were fine stock, almost as good as his own hammerhead roan—perhaps even better on a short ride, where speed mattered more than endurance. Aside from gaining two quality animals, Rogue was also getting their saddlebags. The lazy sheriff hadn’t even bothered looking at the stables to see if the assassins rode into town. Relying on the sheriff to investigate would’ve been a complete waste of time.
After retrieving the roan, which seemed none too happy to have him riding a strange horse, Rogue headed into the mountains. First, he headed along the main road towards Vaton, then he switched back and headed northeast. Few people knew where he lived, and he wanted to keep it that way. Anyone trying to follow him would lose his trail on the main road.
As he rode by the light of the moon, Rogue pondered the attempted murder. Of the five kingdoms, Deytar had maintained the same royal family the longest. Seven generations of the Drake family had ruled the kingdom, and by all accounts they were solid rulers. Of course, his own personal experiences with the Drake family were far different from the norm, but in his line of work that was to be expected. Putting his own feelings towards the king aside, Rogue had to admit that King Liam Drake was a good ruler. Deytar was mostly a prosperous land, and when their neighbors weren’t trying to expand their borders into Deytar, a peaceful one.
The kingdoms of Jorra and Vaton were the usual culprits when a war did happen. At one time Havel, the capital of Jorra, had been the capital of a kingdom that spanned the entire continent of Mara. That was ancient history, but the rulers of Jorra thought it was their right to expand their borders at every opportunity.
Vaton was the more dangerous enemy, though, as they had the largest armies in Mara. They were not currently a threat, as they were split into multiple kingdoms. The last great king of Vaton had three heirs, and instead of choosing one, he gave each a portion of land to build their own kingdoms, creating Upper, Middle, and Lower Vaton. It kept the country focused inward, as each brother had to protect his land not only from his neighbors but also from his own brothers. Often the three kingdoms of Vaton were at war with each other.
The most dangerous of the three kingdoms of Vaton was the kingdom of Lower Vaton. They had won wars twice in Northern Chambia and had expanded their borders south. Rumor had it they also had intentions of expanding into Deytar, but so far, they seemed content to fight with the weaker armies of Chambia.
The problem Rogue was having was that there didn’t seem to be any reason for any of the neighboring kingdoms to want to kill Jasmin Grant. She was royalty in name only. Even under the wise eye of Lady Grant, the family’s lands were not that significant. Sure, they had mines and lands rich in lumber, but so did the neighboring estates.
The most logical explanation was that the assassins had come from the capital or one of the other large eastern cities of Deytar. The men hadn’t had the twang of the southern kingdoms, and they didn’t share the fighting style of men from Vaton. They could’ve been from Jorra; he couldn’t discount that possibility, as Jorra and Deytar shared more in common than the other regions of Mara. But even if he discovered where the assassins were from, that didn’t tell him where the one who’d hired them was from. Gold was gold and assassins didn’t care where it came from.
When he arrived at his small ranch, hidden deep in a high mountain valley, Rogue saw a light on in the house. Tying the horses to a post, Rogue entered the house.
“Where the hell you been? I’ve been waiting for hours.”
Rogue closed the door behind him. “Busy. Now quit your complaining, you old goat.”
Zeke chuckled. “I suppose you were spending your time with the ladies at the Wretched Wench again. Not that I blame you. If I were a young man, I’d do the same.”
Rogue shook his head. “I brought two more horses with me tonight. Go tend to them and bring in the saddlebags. I
need to inspect them.”
“Oh, you weren’t diddling, you were stealing. Why didn’t you say so? I hope they aren’t as cantankerous as that roan of yours.”
Rogue ignored the comment. He knew Zeke loved the roan. Zeke loved high quality horses and there were none finer than the roan, despite its borderline evil personality.
While Zeke went to tend to the horses, Rogue went to the kitchen. Zeke, for all his bluster and bile, was a damn good cook.
The venison stew, thick with chunky meat and vegetables, was delicious, and Rogue was on his second bowl when Zeke returned with the saddlebags.
“That is some mighty fine horseflesh out there. The owners will chase you to hell and back to get those animals back.”
Rogue accepted the saddlebags and placed them on the table. “I doubt it. They are both dead.”
“A little murder to go with horse theft. I do admire you, Rogue. You don’t mess around.”
Ignoring the comment, Rogue searched the saddlebags. Dried food, canteens, and a few loose coins. No personal items, no real money to speak of. The assassins had traveled light. The saddlebags were a bust.
Rogue threw the saddlebags towards the door, annoyed by the lack of information. He headed to bed. There was nothing to be gained by staying up all night trying to analyze the attack on Jasmin Grant. There simply wasn’t enough information to go on.
9
Jasmin
Jasmin stared out the side of the carriage as they traveled down the road to Golrog. The road was long and straight. They’d crossed from the hills and mountains of the Hintar mountain range that marked the border between Deytar and Middle Vaton and were now in the plains of Vaton, which stretched across Middle Vaton and into the other two newly formed kingdoms of Vaton. The grasslands started at the mountains in the south and went east as far as the eye could see. Occasionally there were dark spots on the horizon, forests, but this section of road was all plains. It made for speedy travel but uninteresting views, aside from the odd animal that would pop its head up as the carriage went by.
Rogue Page 4