“We need to keep moving,” Hunlok said. He took Debir by the arm and guided him to get him walking again.
“Where are we going?” Debir asked.
“Up ahead a couple of blocks is the city watch tower. We’re going to report what we saw.”
Debir struggled to catch his breath as they kept moving. He looked over his shoulder every few seconds, sure they would see the men pursuing them, but so far there was nothing. “Nice work back there,” Debir was finally able to say when he had caught his breath.
“Don’t mention it.” The large boy kept them moving forward, still turning every couple of blocks to hide their tracks. By the time they were getting near to the city guard tower, Debir was feeling fully recovered until they came out into the street in front of the city guard.
The two large men from the office were talking with a guardsman. They turned and pointed at Debir and Hunlok “There they are!”
Debir froze in place, trying to process everything that was happening. He was being framed for robbery and murder. What if he stayed and talked with the guards? Surely they would see reason, right? One of the large men had a wicked grin on his face and he moved his hand across his throat then pointed at Debir. Hunlok grabbed his arm and pulled him back the way they had come. They were running again this time with a city guardsman on their heels. There was no way to lose him in the streets or out run him. Debir kept moving, trying to keep up with Hunlok. Just then, his friend ducked around the corner of a building, reached out, and grabbed Debir.
“What,” Debir tried to catch his breath. “What are you doing?”
“This.” Hunlok hauled his large arm back and swung it around, clotheslining the guard who followed close behind him. The guard’s feet flew out from under him and he landed flat on his back in the mud. While the guard was gasping for air, trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of him, Hunlok spun him over so his face was in the dirt. “If you come after us, you’ll regret it!” Hunlok whispered into his ear. The larger boy then pulled back his arm and punched the soldier in the side, making him cry out in pain.
Debir stood transfixed, shocked at what was happening. There was no way for them to look innocent after that move. Hunlok grabbed his arm and pulled them to a run again. This time they turned only a couple of times and instead kept a straight-line, running right for Liden’s house.
****
“Six months. Six months. Six months.” Liden continued to mutter to himself as he thought through the plans he had to solidify if they were going to actually go to Zulholm for the festival next year. The main plans were already in his head, but there were a couple of loose ends that he’d need to figure out, and a lot of work that needed to be done. The biggest expense was getting passage on the ship to Astyr. From there they could work for a while in the larger city, then leave to walk cross country. Earning and saving the money would be fine, but he knew their biggest concern was getting caught without any kind of travel charter. That was something he couldn’t fake, and he doubted Debir could either. They just needed to travel without being caught. But how?
Just then, Hunlok and Debir barged in through the front door, completely out of breath. “Liden!”
He rushed out of his room to the small entry space. “What’s going on? You look terrible!”
“Basement,” Debir whispered. His eyes subtly shifted to Liden’s parents who were both standing with arms crossed, clearly not happy with his friends barging in.
Liden motioned with his head for them to follow him downstairs. It was more of a cramped crawlspace, but it served as a meeting place that was safe from any unwanted listeners. Although it was a short room, it spanned the length of the entire house, and if they kept the door open, Debir didn’t complain too much about the cramped space. Hunlok kept his head ducked slightly as they walked over to the throw rug where they usually sat to have their meetings. “What is going on?”
Despite having some privacy, Debir responded in a whisper. “Someone robbed the office.”
Liden leaned forward expectantly, waiting for more of an explanation. “Why would anyone steal from there?”
“I don’t know why they did it. All I know is that they were there when we showed up and I think they killed Sergeant Avatol.”
“We need to tell the city guards,” Liden practically jumped to his feet before he remembered where he was. He didn’t know Sergeant Avatol very well, but knew he was the one in charge of the military offices and Debir’s boss.
“We tried that,” Hunlok’s usually calm voice had an edge of frustration. “The thugs chased us, then when we were hiding, they told the city guards we robbed the place and killed Sergeant Avatol. They’re after us, Liden. We need to hide.”
He didn’t know why, but probably because of having spent the last hour focusing on the trip out east, his first thoughts were about how this would change their travel plans. After pushing that thought away, he tried to wrap his head around this new problem. A hammering from the front door drew their attention.
“How did they find us here?” Debir asked.
“Hide over there,” Liden pointed behind some food barrels.
Footsteps crossed the house to the front door. A muffled conversation was happening at the front door. Liden threw a blanket over the two boys who were now crouched in the back corner. “Don’t move.” He could hear a slight moan from Debir who was not at all comfortable with the confined space.
“Liden,” his father called. “There’s someone here for you and your friends.”
He crawled up out of the small space and circled around through the kitchen to reach the front door. Before he saw anyone he called out. “They just le…” He stopped talking and exhaled a sigh of relief. It was Knell. “I’m glad to see you.” He quickly changed what he was saying, though the disapproving looks on his parents’ faces were clear. She looked a lot better than she had when he last left her. Her hand was wrapped in a small bandage, but otherwise she looked like everything was fine. He grabbed her good hand and pulled her to the back of the house and down into the crawlspace.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Guys, it’s only Knell,” Liden called to the back of the space.
“Only Knell?” she repeated. “Who were you expecting?”
Hunlok and Debir climbed out from behind the food storage and came into sight. Knell looked from them back to Liden. Finally Debir spoke. “The city guards are after us.”
Knell laughed at him and shook her head. “You’re going to have to do better than that to fool me today. So what’s really going on here?” She sat down and raised an eyebrow, waiting for one of them to crack. Liden realized that if it was some kind of joke, he had completely fallen for it and they really could just be messing with him. He quickly dismissed the idea. If they were going to pull some kind of trick, they would have asked him to be part of it, if they’d even thought of something this clever in the first place. These kind of practical jokes were usually his idea. But the brief flash of hope died quickly as Liden took in the wretched looks on his friends’ faces. Hunlok wasn’t usually able to keep a straight face, but he hadn’t cracked yet.
“He’s telling the truth,” Hunlok said. “We saw two men rob the accounting office and kill Sergeant Avatol. They framed us for it. We need to hide.”
She looked at each of them, staring an extra long time into Liden’s eyes. He knew she would be looking for his usual mischievous smile to tip her off. He nodded. “I think it’s obvious what we need to do,” she said simply. “We have a couple of hours before the entire city is on the lookout for the two of you. You’ve been talking about leaving for years. Now is your chance. We need to pack our things and get out before they realize we’re gone.” She reached her hand up to her chin and looked at Liden. “Or we could wait a little and turn them in for a reward.”
*****
It was still about one hour before the sun set when they had their supplies gathered and were waiting behind a pub tha
t lined the boardwalk to the docks. It had taken some convincing, and some major adjustments to his plan, but eventually Liden and the others had to agree that Knell was right. Liden wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of an expedited departure, but he couldn’t see any other way around it. Leaving now was the only chance for them to make this trip together, and it was the only way to keep Debir and Hunlok safe. They were all dressed in baggy miner’s clothing and had coal dust rubbed on their faces and in their hair. It was the easiest way to make them fit in the crowd and quickly disguise their appearance. He was a little surprised that Knell didn’t put up a fight about leaving Sarta behind, but it was the best way to keep her safe. This wasn’t going to be a leisurely trip. “You know where you need to be,” Liden said to Knell and Hunlok. They nodded. Hunlok looked a little nervous about what they were about to try, and Knell looked like she’d just had her first pony ride at the fair. That girl was strange.
Liden tried to look confident as he walked out into the street with Debir. The shorter boy pointed in the window of the pub as they crossed in front of it. Liden was happy to see that there were still a few shipyard workers dressed in worn, sweat-stained clothing. “Perfect!” he commented with a smile. “We haven’t missed our chance.”
Liden scrutinized the ground as two city guardsmen passed by. He didn’t know why he looked down; he wasn’t wanted for anything. Yet. He crossed the boardwalk and started surveying the ships that were in port. He needed to find one that was looking for work, would be heading north to Astyr, and was large enough to support Debir’s invention. He knew it was a risk, but it seemed the only way to get them to Astyr was to make themselves indispensable and get a job on a ship. He just hoped Debir’s invention worked. Otherwise they basically had no hope. “Right there,” Debir pointed at a large, bare chested man with tattoos covering his back and arms. “That man with the tattoos, calling out orders to the dock workers. He’s probably the cargo master. He’ll be in charge of the cargo and crew.”
They walked up behind the cargo master. “Need some help?” Liden asked.
“Sure, just grab some boxes and…” he looked down at the pair for the first time. “What’re yeh kids doin’ here? Skat before yeh hurt yeselfs.”
Debir turned a quick scowl up at the man. “I have an offer for you.”
“I don’t have time fer playin’ with children’s toys. Be off with yeh.”
“I wasn’t intending for you to play with children,” Debir replied. “It’s a challenge.” The man scoffed and turned to go back to his work.
Debir looked at Liden with some desperation in his eyes. This was their chance to get out of here and it was quickly fading away. Liden tapped the man on the shoulder. “With four ‘children’ as you say, we can do the work of ten of your men.”
The cargo master scratched the stubble on his face. “Thar be only two of ye.”
“We’ll have,” he looked around as if searching for something. “Those two over there.” He pointed at Knell and Hunlok who were sitting on a bench not far away. He waved them over and they stood up and came to join with them.
“You lookin’ for work?” he asked Hunlok and Knell. They nodded and the man turned an apprehensive look down at Liden. He stuck his index finger on the side of one nostril and blew a wad of snot out the other, then wiped his hand across his face to clean it off. Liden thought he was going to be sick. “Care t’ make a wager?”
Liden stepped up, “If we win, passage to Astyr, and a working wage.”
“When ya lose, I don’t pay ya a copper, and ya git along home to yer momma.”
Liden shot out his hand and the man took it. “Wait,” Debir cautioned a moment too late.
“The race be on!”
Debir scowled at Liden. “Look what you did! That pile of crates will be gone in thirty minutes. It’ll take me fifteen minutes just to get the pulleys set up. You’d better start doing something!” Debir pulled his pack close to his body and ran ahead of one pair of workers, up the gangplank, and disappeared onto the ship to get his invention set up.
Knell grabbed Hunlok’s hand and ran to the pile of crates while Liden tried to take in the situation he’d gotten them into. There were about fifty crates left in the pile. Two men grabbed each crate and walked it across the dock to the gangplank that strained under the burden of them. Because of the size of the load and the narrow board, they could only go across one pair at a time. Liden’s first instinct was to run over and kick down the gangplank, or block it, but he was sure that wouldn’t help their cause. From his vantage on the dock, he couldn’t see up over the edge of the ship to watch Debir’s preparations, but the other boy had tried to explain it to him earlier. It was a pulley system. Meant to bring the crates up to the height of the ship deck. He had an idea.
By the time he had reached the pile of crates, Knell and Hunlok were in the line of workers bringing the crates to the gangplank. Hunlok had his arms wrapped around the sides of the crate, practically carrying all the weight of it, while Knell basically balanced the other end. Although they hadn’t meant to do it, they were getting in the other workers’ way and effectively slowing them down to a crawl for a short time, almost as good as kicking down the gangplank. It’s like they can read my mind.
Liden stepped up to a crate that was on the ground that had rope tied around it. He grabbed onto the rope and began dragging it. As soon as he started pulling, he realized why it had the rope in addition to the nails that most of the crates had. This one was much heavier. He heaved and pulled, dragging it two or three yards until he had moved it the length of the dock, bringing it up next to the tall ship. He left the crate where it was, then went back for another one.
Hunlok and Knell were still blocking traffic on the gangplank, and the large, shirtless man was walking toward them, yelling for them to get moving. Liden pulled another crate with a rope around it over to the side of the place where the first stood. He looked up onto the ship and saw Debir fastening some pulleys and running some rope. He wasn’t sure how this contraption was supposed to work, but he trusted his friend. Liden ran back to the large pile of crates and this time chose one that didn’t have the rope tied to it and the difference in weight was drastic.
When he got to his group of three crates, Debir was at the bulwark with another pulley. “Just a couple more minutes,” he called down.
Liden gave the thumbs up. “Make sure it’s fastened tight; these crates are not light!”
By the time he was back at the pile of crates, pulling another over to the ship, he saw that Hunlok and Knell were now stuck on the ship for who knew how long. The line of men hauling crates up the gangplank was going to block them from getting back down onto the docks. This was not looking good. By the smile on the dock master’s face, Liden could tell he was also realizing the same thing.
Not giving up, Liden pulled even harder, bringing his crate next to the others. He was quickly adding to the pile, and he hoped Debir would be ready for him as soon as Hunlok and Knell could get down there to help with the next step.
A rope came dropping over the side of the ship, smacking down on the crate that was right next to Liden’s arm. “Tie it up!” Debir called.
Liden fastened the crate and gave the rope a couple of quick tugs. “Ready.” He stepped back as the ropes went taught. A creaking sound emanated from somewhere along Debir’s pulley system, though the exact location was impossible to know. He could see ropes going taught up over the edge of the ship. After some complaint from the ropes and pulleys, the crate began lifting off the ground. It was much slower than he had originally thought, but it was working. One end of the rope was coming down off the ship while the crate lifted off the ground.
Hunlok and Knell stopped trying to get through the line of men on the gangplank and ran to Debir. “I bet this will help!” Knell called out as she grabbed the slack end of the rope and jumped off the ship. She swung down to the ground and the crate shot up into the air.
Debir shouted out
in shock. “Not so fast!” The wood where the pulleys were attached groaned loudly as the crate ascended and came to a stop right at the height of the ship. Hunlok pulled it in and Knell slowly released her end of the rope, lowering the crate down. “Never mind,” Debir said.
By the time Liden had another crate back, Debir, Hunlok and Knell had two more up on the main deck of the ship, and Debir was actually holding the rope coming down to the deck as one crate flew upwards. “This is going to be very close,” Debir said. He ran to the pile of crates and started hauling one of the lighter boxes.
By the time they had ten crates on the deck, Knell and Hunlok had a system going where the person on the main deck jumped down and the person on the deck went up with the crate. Debir’s pulley system held up against the extra weight and the four youth were easily working circles around the other men on the dock. But would it be enough to outwork ten men? “Just a couple more left.” Liden said through gasps of breath.
He ran back to the pile of crates and stopped. The last crate was being held by the bare-chested man who had made the bet with them. It was one of the crates with a rope around it, and the man had hefted it up onto his shoulder like it weighed nothing. “Me thinks you’ll be needin’ this un to beat my men, yes?”
“Yes,” Liden replied in a defeated tone. “But, if you take it, that’s eleven men, not ten.”
“Hush up!” the man replied. He walked over to the rope that was hanging just above the dock. “First, me men were putting the crates over thar where they belong,” he pointed to the far side of the ship, “not just throwin’ them in a mess on ‘th deck. Second, they’ve been workin’ for hours, you lot just arrived, third it be clear as a summer sky that the four of ye had this planned, ‘n fourth, I’m not thinkin’ your mums’ll be happy if’n I load you on this ship.”
“But you made the deal!” Knell protested. “We won ….”
Wren and the Ravens Page 5