Deny (The Blades of Acktar Book 2)

by Tricia Mingerink

  Of course he did. He simply hadn’t bothered dragging them from the juniper in the dark when he knew he had them trapped.

  “And I know you’re the ladies Rennelda and Brandiline.”

  Brandi’s eyes widened. She pushed into a sitting position.

  What were they going to do? Renna scrunched her fingers into the ragged end of her blouse. If they tried to make a break for it, the Blade would catch them.

  “Now why don’t you come out and save us all a bit of hassle.” The Blade’s voice was closer now. His boots ground against the pebbles a few feet from the junipers.

  Brandi leaned close to Renna’s ear. “He doesn’t want to go into here.”

  Renna nodded. Her own hands and face prickled with the juniper’s sharp needles. She swallowed her pounding heartbeat.

  “We need to convince him to come into here after us.” Brandi hissed. Her breath tickled the inside of Renna’s ear. “While he’s busy shoving his way in, we dash out the other side and run for the horses.”

  Renna’s gaze flicked toward the row of saddles on the ground. “We’d have to ride bareback.”

  “We’ll manage.”

  Maybe Brandi could, but Renna couldn’t. She wasn’t the best horsewoman with a saddle. She’d fall off at the first jump without one. But she wasn’t going to tell Brandi. They had one chance, and they had to take it.

  Brandi straightened her shoulders. “We aren’t coming out. You’re going to have to come in after us.”

  “Or I could wait until thirst drives you out.” The Blade’s voice flattened as if he couldn’t care less.

  Renna grimaced. He could do it. All he’d have to do is sit there until she and Brandi grew desperate enough that turning themselves in to a Blade sounded like a good idea.

  Brandi’s nose wrinkled. Apparently that hadn’t been part of her plan. She rose to a crouch and tugged Renna with her. “Get ready.”

  Renna tightened her grip on the knife in her free hand. She’d go along with whatever Brandi was planning.

  Brandi shoved at the juniper on the opposite side of the Blade. Renna hopped to keep up as they pushed through the first few branches.

  The Blade outside their hideout cursed. His footsteps thumped in a wide circle around the juniper stand. When he was nearly to the far side, Brandi halted, whirled, and shoved into Renna. Renna stumbled. Brandi jerked her back the way they’d come.

  A warmth curled and burst in Renna’s stomach. Her sneaky sister. She’d tricked the Blade into running to the far side, leaving their way clear to the horses.

  Brandi broke from the bush, and Renna fell out after her. Scrambling back to her feet, she hopped as quickly as she could. Not fast enough. She tried to put weight on her leg, but the bolt of pain collapsed her leg beneath her. Only Brandi’s grip under her shoulders kept her upright.

  Two yards to go. One yard.

  Renna grabbed the lead rope for the nearest horse. Her hands shook so much she struggled to untie the knot that held the horse to the picket line. Her heart roared in her ears. Faster. Faster.

  Brandi had Sunshine untied. She gripped the leadrope. “Hurry.”

  Renna glanced over her shoulder. The Blade dashed around the junipers.

  They weren’t going to make it. She didn’t have time to untie the rope for both her horse and the other two horses, nor did she have time to have Brandi help her onto her horse’s back.

  Both of them couldn’t escape. Renna slowed Brandi down too much. She shoved Brandi towards Sunshine. “Go. I’ll catch up. Go.”

  Perhaps if Renna delayed the Blade long enough, he wouldn’t be able to catch Brandi. She choked on a sob. She’d have to face the Blade alone, but at least Brandi would be safe.

  Brandi shook her head. Her jaw thrust forward. “Not without you.”

  Couldn’t Brandi see both of them couldn’t escape? “Leave me here. Go. You have to escape.”

  Brandi crossed her arms. “No.”

  “Please, Brandi!” Tears seared the corners of her eyes.

  Brandi’s eyes flicked to something behind Renna. She dropped Sunshine’s leadrope and swatted the horse’s rump. Sunshine jumped and bolted down the gravel slope.

  A twig snapped. Renna whirled and stabbed at the black figure reaching for her. The Blade jumped out of the knife’s path. He grabbed her wrist and twisted, hard. Her wrist burned. Pain shot to her shoulder.

  Her fingers opened. The knife fell, slowly spinning, and clunked hilt-first to the ground.

  Drawing his own knife, he placed it against Renna’s throat. The metal rested on the tender skin below her chin, cold as an unwanted touch.

  She shivered. She was going to die. The Blade would slit her throat and drop her dying body to do the same to Brandi. Her pulse pummeled her ears in a painful roar.

  “Come here, girl.” The Blade beckoned to Brandi.

  Renna met Brandi’s eyes. She squirmed away from the knife and scratched at the Blade’s arm. “Don’t listen to him. Run.”

  Her voice choked as he pressed the flat of his knife against her throat. The pressure built. Yellow and black spots burst across her eyes. She clawed at his arm, but he wouldn’t release her. Wouldn’t budge.

  Breathe. She needed to breathe. A gag spasmed in her chest but couldn’t release past her throat.

  “Come here or I’ll kill your sister.” The Blade’s harsh voice cut through the tumult in her ears.

  No. Renna couldn’t force the word out. Blackness chomped at her vision. Run.

  The Blade released her. She crumpled, gagging and sobbing. Her cheek pressed against the dirt. She dragged in a breath and choked on her tears.

  She cracked her eyes open. Brandi trembled but didn’t run as the Blade tied her hands together. Her eyes focused on Renna.

  The Blade tied Brandi’s hands to the picket line and approached Renna. He knelt and picked up her knife. His eyes widened, then hardened. He gripped her upper arm and dragged her towards him. “Where’d you get this?”

  His fingers squeezed her muscles against her bone. Renna sucked in a sob and squirmed. She spotted the initials LT carved into the hilt of the knife Leith had given her.

  Leith’s initials. She’d forgotten that detail. She met the Blade’s cold, brown eyes. He knew this was Leith’s knife. Her stomach dropped into her toes. She’d given Leith away, and he didn’t even know it. What would happen when he returned to Nalgar Castle? Would he ride into a trap?

  Could she make something up? Was there some way she could explain the knife away?

  The Blade shook her so hard her teeth clacked. He held the knife a few inches from her face. “Where did you get this?”

  She hesitated, and the Blade’s face tightened. She bit her lip. Another mistake. If she had nothing to hide, she would’ve answered him by now.

  “The First Blade gave it to Renna.” Brandi tugged on the picket line. The horses’ heads shot up and swiveled towards her.

  The Blade’s gaze snapped to Brandi. “The former First Blade?”

  What was Brandi doing? Renna held her breath.

  “I don’t know his name.” Brandi somehow managed a huff and eyeroll. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “When?” The Blade’s eyes narrowed.

  “Over a month ago.”

  The Blade released Renna’s arm. She collapsed on the sand. Her upper arm throbbed in time with her leg.

  He raked a hand through his hair and stared at the knife. But at least he didn’t look so suspicious. Even though Brandi had told the truth, she’d implied that former First Blade Vane had given it to Renna. They’d let the Blade figure out how that came about. The less they said, the better.

  But the knife wasn’t the only problem. She and Brandi weren’t supposed to be here. They were supposed to be dead. How were they going to explain why Leith hadn’t killed them?

  “So what’s your name?” Brandi’s gaze flicked to Renna. “And what do you plan to do to us?”

  Renna nodded back. If they distracte
d the Blade, maybe he’d forget to ask why they were alive. A faint hope, but they had to try.

  The Blade weighed Leith’s knife for several more minutes before he drew one of the knives from his boot. He stabbed the knife into the sand and put Leith’s knife in his sheath instead. He turned to Renna. “I’m Third Blade Martyn Hamish.”

  Martyn. Renna sucked in a breath. The Blade that used to be Leith’s best friend. But Renna wasn’t supposed to know that. She shouldn’t even recognize his name.

  He grabbed her arms and dragged her to her feet. She cried out and sagged in his grip. He huffed and dropped Renna next to the saddles. “I’m taking you to King Respen. I’m sure he’ll be very interested in why you’re both still alive.”

  29

  Leith stabbed his shovel into the ground once again. The blister on the inside of his thumb rubbed and broke. Pain flared across his skin. Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. Pausing, he swiped his forehead against his sleeve, leaving a greasy splotch on the cloth.

  Behind him, Shad directed the men razing the back flower garden. All the carefully arranged plants were being cleared, though some of the hedges remained in place. Stacks of wood and stone lay beneath each of Walden Manor’s first-story windows. In a few weeks, they’d board up the windows to slits.

  Men stacked more wood and stone into a makeshift barrier running a few yards inside the dirt mound and ditch. Once Respen’s army breached the ditch and the dirt wall, the defenders could fall back to this second line of defenses before retreating into the manor itself. It wouldn’t hold off an army the size of Respen’s, but these defenses would make Respen’s army pay for every yard.

  Lydia trudged towards him, a bucket of water in each of her hands. Dirt streaked her skirt and blouse, and sweat dampened the hair wisping from the braid coiled on her head. She set the buckets down and held out a tin cup. “Water?”

  He gulped three cupfuls. “Thank-you.” He handed the cup back to her.

  She took it but didn’t move on to the next man. Instead, she cocked her head and eyed him.

  He shifted and tugged at his sleeves, checking that the rolled ends hadn’t ridden up his elbows and exposed the marks on his right arm. “Was there something you wanted?”

  “Did you like Renna?” Lydia frowned at him. “Because if you did, you’re taking her death really well.”

  Leith glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot. “I know she’s not dead.”

  “Shad told you.” Lydia snapped her fingers as if that explained everything.

  Leith let her go on thinking it. He’d stood in the shadows that night, so she didn’t recognize him as the Blade who’d helped fake Renna’s and Brandi’s deaths.

  “So did you like her?”

  What would it matter if he admitted the truth to Lydia now? Though, Lydia would probably tell Renna exactly what he said when they saw each other at Eagle Heights. He opened his mouth but couldn’t get out anything more intelligent than an empty hiss of air.

  Lydia’s eyes gleamed. She grinned. “I see.” Picking up the buckets, she tromped down the ditch towards the next man.

  Leith grabbed his shovel. Great. That could’ve gone better.

  As he stomped his shovel into the dirt, a commotion outside the circle of sharpened logs drew Leith’s attention. He straightened and raised his hand to block the sunlight.

  A man walked from the direction of the Sheered Rock Hills, leading a horse. A palomino.

  Sunshine. Brandi’s horse.

  He dashed to the stables as the man reached the knot of people. Everyone babbled at once. As Leith shouldered his way through, Lord Alistair and Shad joined the crowd. Shad halted next to the palomino and ran his hand over its back.

  Leith stumbled and fell against the stable wall. Renna. Brandi. What had happened? Were they hurt? Or—he pressed his arm across his stomach—dead.

  No. He wouldn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe that.

  He pushed his way into the stables. He didn’t need to hear what had happened. He could already guess most of it, and, in the end, it didn’t matter. He grabbed his saddle from its rack and headed for the stall that held Blizzard.

  He’d failed. And now he had to fix it.

  Shad stepped into the stable and leaned against the post next to Leith. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Going after them.” Leith slung the saddle blanket, then the saddle onto Blizzard’s back. “They’re in trouble.”

  “You don’t know that for sure. The horse might’ve simply run off.”

  Leith shook his head and tightened the saddle’s girth. “This is Brandi we’re talking about. She wouldn’t let Sunshine out of her sight unless something bad happened.”

  Shad frowned. “There wasn’t any blood. That’s a good thing.”

  “No, it’s not.” Leith eased the bridle into Blizzard’s mouth. His chest tightened. “If Brandi had been knocked off her horse due to a wild animal or because the horse spooked or something accidental like that, the horse would still be wearing its bridle and saddle. Sunshine is unsaddled. They were attacked at night, after they’d stopped.”

  “So they were probably attacked by a Blade.”

  Leith blew out a breath. “Yes.”

  Shad rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going with you.”

  Jamie stepped from the shadows, his horse’s bridle slung over his shoulder. “Me too.”

  Leith nodded. Whatever they’d find in the Hills, he’d be able to face it with Shad and Jamie at his side.

  30

  Renna curled on the ground and rested her head against the seat of a saddle. Her hands remained bound to the horn. If she wanted to escape, she’d have to drag the saddle along with her. An impossible task even without her broken leg shooting agony into her chest.

  She curled tighter, as if that could cure the pain. Two days of hard travel hadn’t helped her leg any.

  A breeze whispered across her skin with the chill of descending night. She shivered and pressed her arms against her body to stay warm. Frogs burbled and chirped around the nearby creek, and somewhere in the distance, an owl cooed a haunting note.

  A few feet away, Brandi tugged on her hands, tied in a similar fashion to her saddle. Beyond her, the three horses grazed on a small stretch of grass next to the creek. Renna pressed her face against her arms. Had Sunshine run back to Walden like Brandi believed? How long would it take the horse to find its way home? Would Leith be able to track them?

  Her chest ached. Would Leith get here in time? He had to. They didn’t have any other option. Either he rescued them, or they died at Nalgar Castle. King Respen had no reason to leave them alive and many to want them dead.

  Worse, Martyn would show him Leith’s knife. King Respen would know Leith neglected to kill Renna and Brandi. And if King Respen guessed Leith was the traitor, he’d be as dead as they were.

  She prayed for rescue. Prayed for it so hard her stomach clenched with the force of her silent words. If God loved them, surely He wouldn’t let them be taken to Nalgar Castle.

  Martyn crouched next to her and untied her hands. She scooched upright and rubbed her wrists. Her leg throbbed with the movement.

  He held out a steaming tin cup. “Here.”

  She grabbed the cup. Willow bark tea. He’d made some for her each morning and evening. Small kindness. It hardly made up for the hours jolting in the saddle, especially the afternoons once the painkiller wore off. Still, she wasn’t going to refuse when he offered it to her.

  He returned to the fire and placed a few strips of dried meat into the rest of the boiling water. Brandi wrinkled her nose. “More boiled meat? Don’t you Blades ever eat anything else?”

  Martyn glanced at her. The firelight shone against his blond hair in the gathering dusk. “If I didn’t have to make tea for your sister, you’d be eating dried meat instead.”

  Brandi’s grimace deepened. “It’s still chewy and icky.”

  “We’ll reach Nalgar Castle to
morrow.” Martyn poked at the meat in the pot. “You might be grateful for it then.”

  Tomorrow. Renna sipped at her tea to hide her intake of breath. So soon. Would Leith have time to rescue them?

  She studied the set of Martyn’s jaw. “Why are you doing this? You could’ve let us escape. You could still turn us loose. King Respen wouldn’t know the difference.”

  Martyn’s eyes met hers across the fire. A hard gaze, but was that a hint of something else buried in his deep, brown eyes? “I’m the King’s Third Blade. It’s my duty.”

  “You know he’s going to kill us. He might even order you to do it.” Renna gripped the tin cup tighter. Its warmth seeped into her fingers as the night chilled around them. “Surely you don’t want to do that.”

  Martyn shrugged and speared a piece of meat with his knife. “Doesn’t matter what I want. I’m loyal. I follow orders.” He placed the meat on a plate, then pointed at her with the knife. “Don’t mistake my kindness for sympathy. I give you painkiller and food because I need you alive and well enough to answer the king’s questions. Nothing more. If he gives the order, I will kill you without hesitation.”

  She dropped her gaze back to the cup in her hands and took another sip. He was so hopeless, so hard. The same way Leith had been when she’d first met him. She drew in a deep breath and tried the same words she’d told Leith. “You’re a slave to him.”

  “So? What difference does that make?” Martyn stood and handed her a plate. “You’re a slave to your faith. You have to obey or face punishment, same as me.”

  “It’s not like that.” Renna bit her lip and glanced at Brandi.

  Brandi struggled to sit up. “We obey because God loves us, and we love God. Not because we’re forced or anything. He doesn’t punish us.”

  Martyn raised his eyebrows at her. “Really? Then what do you call this?” He waved at Brandi’s bound hands and Renna’s broken leg. “I might be a slave to King Respen, but at least if I obey him, I’m not punished. You’re hurt, captured, and might be killed even when you serve your God faithfully. You tell me whose slavery is worse.”