by Ben Wolf
Roderick raised his hand again, and Luggs shrank away.
“He didn’t attack Luggs,” Lilly blurted. “Not at all. He was trying to protect me.”
Roderick turned his attention to Lilly. For a long moment, he seemed to study her, then he squared his body with Luggs. “Why were you after her?”
Luggs swallowed and gave a nervous chuckle. “Come on, Roderick. You know why.”
“I specifically said she was off-limits. Why do you insist on provoking me?”
Luggs backed up a step so Lilly could no longer see him from her vantage inside the cell. In her arms, Colm wheezed. She didn’t know what else to do for him.
Luggs stammered, “It—it’s just such a waste to not—”
“Come here.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Luggs stepped back into view. Roderick raised his hand, and Luggs flinched.
Finally, justice for Colm, justice for everything Luggs had done to Sharion and Lilly since they’d captured her. With his power, Roderick could kill Luggs in one solid strike. Lilly had seen him do far more impressive things than that, and now Luggs’s reckoning had come.
Instead, Roderick only swatted the back of Luggs’s head.
“Don’t do anything like that again. Stay away from her and the rest of the merchandise until after the auction,” Roderick scolded. “And next time, lay off the drink the night before an auction. Crystal?”
Luggs nodded and rubbed his head. “Yeah, boss. Clear.”
“Now, get out of here. All of you.” Roderick pointed toward the exit.
As the men shuffled out, Lilly gawked at Roderick. Colm had just been stabbed, and all Roderick did was smack Luggs on the back of his head and chew him out?
“As for you—” Roderick pointed his finger at her. “—I don’t want to hear another peep from you, ever. You’ve been more of a problem than any slave I’ve ever transported. If you weren’t so valuable, I’d have let those dogs gnaw the meat from your bones weeks ago.”
Lilly tensed her jaw and glared at him.
“I still might. Try something else, and find out.”
Colm moaned in Lilly’s arms.
Frantic, she asked, “What are you going to do about Colm?”
Roderick stared at him then shrugged. “I’ll send someone to collect the body later.”
Lilly’s eyes widened. “That’s it? You’re just going to let him die?”
“Nothing to be done for him now, Angel.” Roderick smirked. “But knowing him, I’m sure he’s already weaseled his way into a far better afterlife than any other criminal ever could hope for.”
Part of Lilly wanted to lash out and claw his face to shreds with her fingernails, but the other part knew she’d never be able to. She might cut Colm’s life even shorter by trying it. Instead, she scowled at him and swore she’d exact justice for Colm.
Roderick winked at her and shut the cell door, then he locked it with his own set of keys. “Sleep well, Angel.”
The door to the cellblock latched shut, and Lilly looked down at Colm. Even in the miserable light of the cellblock, she could tell he’d gone noticeably more pale.
Regret filled her chest. Before Luggs had stabbed him, Colm had yet again tried to protect her, and that was after she’d chastised him for his past. Now he was dying, and it was her fault.
“Lilly…” Colm motioned for her to lean closer. She bent over him. “Inside the inner lining of my cloak.”
She hurriedly reached into it, expecting to find something she could use to help him. Instead, she pulled out a small knife and a familiar ring of skeleton keys. She couldn’t help but gawk at them. “Where did you get these?”
“Took them off… Luggs when he stabbed me. Almost got his coin purse too, but given the circumstances…” Colm managed a weak smile. “Keep them… Use them to escape.”
Lilly’s heart shattered. Even after he’d been stabbed, Colm’s only thoughts were of protecting her and ensuring her safety. He’d risked his life to protect her, and he’d paid the ransom for her escape with his life.
“Oh, Colm.” Lilly’s voice cracked when she said it. Sorrow flooded her core, and she didn’t restrain her tears. “You can’t die. I’ll be all alone here.”
“Nothing to be done… about it now.” Colm grunted, then coughed. Blood tinged the corners of his mouth. “Besides… you’ll still have Sharion.”
Lilly glanced at Sharion, who still crouched in the corner of the cell farthest from them and clenched handfuls of hair while she rocked back and forth. “Not helpful, Colm.”
“It’s better than… nothing.” Colm wheezed again, and his body shuddered in Lilly’s arms. Somehow he seemed even older and frailer than before. “My time… is near, child.”
“No.” Lilly sobbed. “You can’t go. I—I—”
“I can… and I must, child.” Colm closed his eyes. “When you escape… avoid Roderick at all costs. He… will sell you separately from… the auction. Do not flee… now. Too many… night guards posted. You must… use the distraction… of the auction… to escape.”
“Enough about that. I—I owe you an apology.” Lilly bit her lip.
Colm shook his head. “Don’t want the last words… I hear in this life… to be an apology—from either my lips… or yours.”
Lilly sniffed. She knew what he wanted. At first, the idea had struck her as strange, but now it seemed wrong not to say it. Given everything he had done for her, some simple words to carry him into the afterlife was a small price to pay, and she would pay it gladly.
“I love you, Grandfather.”
Colm’s blue eyes cracked open and welled with tears. He smiled at her, closed his eyes again, and one long exhale later, he was gone.
Lilly pressed her forehead into Colm’s neck and sobbed.
“Quick,” Sharion hissed from behind her. “Hide that stuff before someone comes back.”
As much as Lilly wanted to continue to mourn Colm, Sharion was right. She reached for the keys and the knife and tucked them inside her boots.
“What are you doing? We need to get outta here!” Sharion scratched her head.
“You just told me to hide them.”
“Forget what I said.” Sharion glowered at her. “Aren’t you going to break us out? It’s the middle of the night. Everyone’s asleep. Let’s go.”
“Now’s not the time. Colm said to wait for—”
“I don’t care what Colm said. You’ve got keys and a knife. We’re getting outta here now.”
“Keep your voice down.” Lilly held her hands out. “If you keep talking so loud, they’ll find out. Then we’ll never escape.”
“Gimme the keys.” Sharion held her dirty hand.
Lilly shook her head. “No. Colm said—”
Sharion flung herself at Lilly, and they tumbled into the hay near Colm’s body.
“Get off of me!” Lilly tried to push Sharion off, but she couldn’t. Sharion thrashed and snarled at her, clawing at Lilly’s face. “Sharion, stop!”
“Give ’em to me!”
Enough defending. Lilly couldn’t afford this kind of problem on top of everything else. She balled her fingers into a fist and drove it into Sharion’s chin.
Sharion’s teeth clacked, and she rolled off of Lilly with her hands on her face. She whimpered, and Lilly pushed herself up to her feet.
“I’m sorry, Sharion, but you gave me no choice.” Lilly backed away from her and leaned against the wall of bars opposite of where Sharion had curled into a ball. “When the time is right, I’ll help you escape, but not before then.”
Sharion muttered what Lilly assumed were curses, but she couldn’t make out anything discernible. Lilly just shook her head.
She stared down at Colm. Once she worked up the courage, she stepped over to him, bent down, and covered his face and body with his cloak so only the soles of his boots showed.
Given his status as a slave and previously as a thief, he likely wouldn’t get a prop
er burial according to human customs. Had they been back at Aeropolis, they would’ve burned his body, as was the Windgale way.
He’d been a scoundrel and a liar, but he’d done right by her and deserved better than what Roderick and his men would afford him, even if Lilly couldn’t give it to him.
Lilly stole a glance at Sharion. She now sat huddled against the wall, her gaze vacant but not focused on Lilly. Regardless of what Sharion said or did from then on, Lilly would not sleep for the rest of the night.
She tried not to pay attention to Colm’s sticky blood all over her hands, arms, legs, and torso. Even if she didn’t sleep, she could still rest, so she leaned against the back wall of the cell and exhaled a ragged sigh.
“What’d you say your name was?” Roderick’s voice stirred Lilly from her rest.
So much for not sleeping.
She jerked back to cognition and stared at Sharion, wide-eyed, but the woman hadn’t moved from her spot against the wall.
A second voice started to answer Roderick. “It’s—”
“Never mind. I don’t care,” Roderick interrupted. “You wanna work for me, you gotta prove yourself before I give two fruits what your name is.”
They were definitely in the cellblock.
Lilly patted her boots. The rough metal of the keys pressed against her left ankle, and she felt the smooth knife blade against her right.
“There. That one.” Roderick’s hulking form moved into view beyond the bars. “The cute one, not the ugly one. She’s the one I was telling you about.”
A young man about Lilly’s age with curly black hair stepped into view. Next to Roderick and his brown armor, the young man’s dark-green armor made the two of them look like the beginnings of a metal forest.
“Yeah, I see her.”
“I’m assigning you to watch her from now until the auction. You’ll deliver her to the buyer personally, and watch out, because she’s a tricky one. She’s tried to escape several times since we caught her.”
Lilly sat up and glared at them both.
“Alright.”
“Don’t ‘alright’ me. This is serious. The most serious thing you’ve ever done.”
“Yes, sir,” the other man replied, his voice shaky.
Roderick positioned himself right in front of the new guy and towered over him. “Your references are good—if they’re true—but since I can’t verify anything you’ve told me, you’re gonna have to prove yourself. You make sure she gets to the buyer and that he’s satisfied, and then I’ll learn your name. Crystal?”
The new guy swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Clear. Who’s that under the blanket?”
Roderick craned his head. “Oh, him. He’s dead. I’ll have someone pull him outta there before he starts to stink.”
“I can do it, if you want.”
Roderick grinned at him and folded his arms. “It’s about time someone started to show some initiative around here. I’ll send one of the others to help you. You ever lugged a dead body around before? They’re heavier than they look.”
“I did some butchering back at my last—”
“It was a rhetorical question.”
“Oh,” the new guy said. “Sorry.”
“Anyway, the buyer will be here an hour before the auction starts,” Roderick said. “Meet him where we discussed. Don’t cut corners, and don’t touch her except to get her to him. She needs to be as pristine as possible, or he’ll want a refund, and that’s not gonna happen.”
Roderick turned and winked at Lilly, then he whacked the new guy’s chest. “In the meantime, she’s not going anywhere. Come with me, and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the idiots. You can come back for the body later.”
Roderick walked out with heavy steps. The new guy gave Lilly a sullen half-smile, then he followed Roderick out of the cell.
Sharion groaned, then she glared at Lilly.
“What’s wrong with you?
“You know what’s wrong with me. You know.” Sharion rubbed her chin.
Lilly met her eyes, unfazed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have attacked me.”
Sharion grunted.
A half-hour later, the new guy in the green armor returned with Gammel, and they entered the cell. Sharion shrank into the corner away from them, but Lilly stood her ground. Gammel wouldn’t try anything after his hesitance last night, and the new guy seemed to want to please Roderick. Together, they wrapped Colm in his cloak and picked him up.
“Are you going to bury him?” she asked.
The new guy stared at her with dark eyes and his mouth hung open a bit. “Uh…”
“I don’t know what Roderick’s gonna do with him.” Gammel glanced at the floor where Colm’s blood, now dried and darkening to brown, had pooled. “But I’m not digging a grave for an old thief.”
The new guy glanced between them and shrugged.
“Please bury him. It’s the right thing to do.” Lilly fixed her gaze on the new guy. “Every man deserves at least that, no matter what he did in life.”
“I—I’ll see what I can do.” The new guy looked away.
“Come on. Let’s get ’im outta here,” Gammel said.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Eastern Kanarah
To Calum’s surprise, Kanarah City’s population did not resemble that of the northern region in either numbers or diversity. Then again, with Kanarah City being the only viable access point for crossing the Valley of the Tri-Lakes into Western Kanarah, Calum should’ve expected that more races populated the city.
Saurians roamed freely among the humans. While the humans had the clear majority, the two races frequently walked past each other in the street without so much as a foul look or an extra glance. Quite the contrast to Pike’s Garrison, where Magnus had still gleaned some glares even after they restored the villagers’ wealth.
In addition, Calum saw his first Windgale. He’d swooped down from above, cape and all, and landed in front of their trio in the street. He offered Calum a head of lettuce and a tomato. For sale, of course. Good price. Low price. Cheap price.
All Calum could say was, “You can fly?”
“Tourists,” the Windgale muttered and zoomed away.
Magnus had been right—they really did look just like humans. Humans who could somehow fly, thanks to their capes.
Tall towers and spike-topped walls formed the city’s imposing perimeter, and rows of buildings lined its numerous streets. Soldiers stood guard at regular intervals just inside the city walls, while merchants and shops beckoned travelers with offers of pleasure, luxury, or necessity.
But contrary to Magnus’s fears, no one so much as blinked at them, much less tried to attack or arrest them. Apparently, the sight of two armed men walking through the city with a seven-foot Saurian in gleaming blue armor wasn’t all that unusual.
Calum and Axel had also upgraded their armor by piecing together some of what the Southern Snake Brotherhood had worn, so they no longer looked like they had robbed one of the King’s outposts. Instead, they looked like they couldn’t match armor or colors to save their lives, but Calum liked to think it aided in keeping them anonymous.
“We need to unload as much of our spoils as possible.” Magnus shifted a large sack from one shoulder to the other. “The trip across Trader’s Pass is very long, and there are no animals to hunt or vegetation in the valley, so it is imperative that we plan accordingly.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard. There are dozens of vendors and merchants lining the streets who want to trade.” Axel pointed to a small wooden shop with a weathered sign overhead that read Garon’s Fine Goods, Armory, and Exotic Antiquities in what appeared to be a lousy attempt at a cursive script. “We could try in there.”
Calum nodded. “Looks as good as any of the others.”
“When we get inside, let me do the talking,” Magnus said. “I have done this before. He will proffer a low price, and we will have to negotiate it up from there. You two hold onto your bags since they
contain the soldiers’ weapons and armor. I would rather not risk trying to sell those until we know for sure he is amenable to dealing in that kind of merchandise.”
Inside, they found an older man with black-and-gray hair hunched over a counter. He wore fine white linens and a purple robe. Gold necklaces, gold rings, and a large gold hoop hanging from his left earlobe topped off his attire. At the sound of the bell jingling over the shop door, he looked up.
“Welcome, welcome. Name’s Garon. What can I do for you gentlemen?” His raspy voice filled the small shop as he gestured to the walls lined with shelves of trinkets, weapons, and a variety of other things. “If you need something, I probably have three of it.”
Magnus set his bag on the floor. “Do you purchase goods?”
Garon smiled at him. “I purchase, I trade, I sell, I deal, I beg, I barter. I even give, on occasion, but you fellows don’t meet the criteria for that one.”
Calum glanced at Magnus. “What criteria?”
“I give to the poor and needy, and, on occasion, to very, very beautiful women.” Garon laughed, but it sounded more like he was wheezing. He waved his hand at them. “I’m just joking around. I don’t give to the poor and needy. They’re a bunch of gutter leeches. Alright. Let’s see what you’ve got. Put it on my counter here.”
Magnus dumped the contents of the sack onto the counter.
Garon sorted through it with his fingers, then shrugged. “Ehhh. Nothing special.”
Axel gripped the edge of the counter with his hands. “What do you mean, ‘nothing special?’ That’s high-quality steel and—”
Magnus held up his hand, and Axel went quiet. “What is it worth to you?”
Garon stared at the ceiling and counted his fingertips. “Seventeen gold coins for the whole lot.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Axel folded his arms and exhaled a sharp sigh.
“Axel,” Magnus said. “Let me handle this.”
Calum didn’t show it, but he agreed with Axel. Seventeen gold coins was a pittance for all they’d brought in with them.
“That set of armor alone is worth twenty coins,” Magnus said.