Dare (The Blades of Acktar Book 1)

by Tricia Mingerink

  Renna slid away from him and tossed the linens out. Lachlan gave him a sharp gaze. Leith grimaced. He didn’t have much of a choice.

  He climbed into the basket and curled up as tightly as he could, pain twinging through his gut. Before he could catch a decent breath, Renna and Lachlan piled the fabric on top of him. He heard Lachlan leave the room, though Renna’s footsteps continued to scurry around.

  He huddled in the basket, breathing as quietly as possible. His legs ached as they fell asleep. His spine cramped. His breath hovered in the space around his nose while the fabric smothered him.

  Still, he didn’t move. He closed his eyes. Another cramped space dragged from a corner of his memory. It had been winter then also, the space a woodbox by the kitchen door of Blathe Manor. Lord Respen’s voice boomed in his ears. Stay. Don’t move. He’d stayed, freezing, for five hours. When Lord Respen finally came for him, he’d asked Leith to repeat all the servant gossip he’d overheard while curled in the woodbox.

  The door creaked open. Several sets of feet clumped on the floorboards. Mara’s voice floated somewhere above him. “Renna, dear, thanks for trying, but I fear it’s too late to clean my mess before our visitor sees it.”

  A man laughed. “I’m here to find a Blade, not inspect your house.”

  Leith held his breath. His palms dampened, but he couldn’t move to swipe them dry.

  Lachlan’s footsteps stopped near the door. “I doubt the Blade would hide in here. Perhaps in an unused room, but we’d notice if he were in our bedchamber.”

  “Can’t be too careful with those Blades.” The sheriff’s footsteps pounded further into the room. Leith heard him open the doors to the wardrobe and rifle through the clothes.

  The footsteps scuffed closer. A boot kicked the basket. Leith winced as pain shot up his spine. Was the man going to search the bed sheets?

  Something clumped to the floor. The sheriff spoke on the other side of the woven reeds, “Nothing under the bed.” A grunt, and his boots vibrated the floor.

  Mara’s and Renna’s footsteps left the room. The sheriff’s boots pounded toward the door, but he halted, the door clicking closed.

  “You don’t have to hunt this Blade.” Lachlan’s voice pitched low.

  “Don’t preach to me.” The sheriff growled the words with more menace than Leith would’ve expected. Had Lachlan tried to talk the sheriff out of this before?

  The sheriff’s boots knocked against the floor, as if he’d yanked his arm out of Lachlan’s grasp. “You know what he did to Michelle.”

  “More killing isn’t the answer.”

  “With a Blade it is. It’s the only way to stop them. Or have you forgotten four years ago?”

  Lachlan’s footsteps paced closer to the basket. “You know I haven’t.” His voice wavered. Not with anger. Regret? Sadness? Leith squeezed his eyes shut. He was responsible for the events of four years ago.

  “Good.” The sheriff’s tone announced the matter was settled. When he spoke again, he’d lowered his voice. “Have you decoded the last message from Walden yet?”

  Leith jerked in surprise, then froze as the basket gave a tiny creak. Lord Henry Alistair, suspected to be a leader in the Resistance, was the lord of Walden. If Lachlan received coded messages from Lord Alistair, it could mean only one thing.

  Lachlan was not just a Christian. He was part of the Resistance.

  Lachlan’s voice cut sharply. “Not here. Renna might come back.” Their footsteps pounded out the door. The latch clicked shut.

  Leith released a slow breath, but he couldn’t relax. He should search the room. If Lachlan had a message from Walden, he’d keep it close. It was Leith’s duty to find it.

  Almost he wanted to remain where he was. If he didn’t search, he could pretend Lachlan had nothing to do with the Resistance. But he’d fail King Respen. And Leith never failed.

  Tossing the sheet aside, Leith levered himself upright. His head swam as he tottered to his feet. Painful tingles surged into his toes. He sat on the edge of the bed, fighting to keep his breathing steady as pain engulfed his awakening legs.

  Where would Lachlan hide it? Leith scanned the room. The pile of books on the bedside table was too open, yet Leith searched through them anyways. He didn’t find anything.

  The back of his neck prickled. Someone was bound to return soon. He lowered himself to the floor and felt under the bed. Nothing.

  As he drew his arm back, his elbow bumped something wooden on the underside of the bed. He felt along it and discovered a narrow shelf attached to the bedframe. A heavy book lay on it. He drew the book out and perched on the edge of the bed again. A Bible.

  He flipped the pages until they fell open to reveal a slip of paper. Rows of numbers lined the page. A few of the numbers had words written under them. If you are concerned for the girls’ safety, the Resistance is strong enough to protect them. The Leader is…

  The rest wasn’t decoded. Leith studied the numbers. Why had Lachlan tucked the paper in this particular spot? Random? Or not? Leith found the next set of numbers and counted verses and words on the page. The corresponding letters spelled the next words. …almost ready.

  The Bible was the key to the code. He stared at the pages in front of him. Lachlan was neck deep in the Resistance. King Respen wouldn’t ignore this.

  Renna and Brandi weren’t involved, but the king would order them killed anyway along with their aunt and uncle. He held their death sentence in his hands.

  Maybe he could put it back. Pretend he never saw it.

  But he’d fail King Respen. He’d worked for nine years to earn King Respen’s respect. He couldn’t throw that away now, could he?

  Lachlan’s footsteps plodded into the room. The door clunked shut. Leith didn’t look up from the Bible on his lap. He felt like a little boy again, waiting for his father’s blow after yet another failure.

  “You found it, I see. I suspected you would once Sheriff Allen mentioned it.”

  The disappointment in Lachlan’s voice hurt worse than a blow to the face. Leith tried to gather a measure of defiance. He was a Blade. He shouldn’t feel guilty about doing his duty.

  “At least promise me one thing. When you tell the king, you’ll tell him the girls know nothing of this.”

  It wouldn’t do any good. King Respen would order them killed anyway. The king couldn’t let the Resistance rally behind them.

  But surely Leith could make this one promise, this one tiny resistance. “I promise.”

  He glanced up at Lachlan. Lachlan leaned a shoulder against the door, his head hanging. “Why did you hide me? Again?”

  Leith needed to hear the answer. No one was as good or selfless as these people seemed to be. While they claimed they saved his life out of kindness, there had to be another motive. There always was.

  Lachlan clasped his hands behind his back. “I asked in Stetterly. The witnesses saw one man snatch Michelle Allen. The man’s description matched the body of the other Blade.”

  “I told him to return her. He failed our mission.” Leith gripped the straw mattress. He couldn’t dredge up the anger he’d once felt towards Chimb.

  Lachlan’s face tightened. “I believe you’re telling the truth. Sheriff Allen has his reasons for pursuing vengeance, not just for this latest incident.”

  The sheriff had said something about four years ago. Leith gripped the edge of the mattress. The sheriff had lost someone in the attack on Stetterly Manor.

  “So far you’ve given me no cause to fear for my nieces’ safety, at least not while you’re under this roof.”

  Leith caught the implication. “So why did you hide me? If the sheriff killed me, I would no longer be a danger to you.”

  Lachlan should’ve done it. He should’ve betrayed Leith the moment the sheriff mentioned the Resistance message. Leith had been helpless. It would’ve been easy and would’ve saved Lachlan’s family.

  “You’re a danger to us dead or alive.” Lachlan shifted his clasped hands.
“If you were actively threatening us, I wouldn’t hesitate to allow Sheriff Allen to deal with you. But you came here asking for nothing but healing. It’d be unjust to allow him to kill you for something you haven’t done.”

  Leith couldn’t wrap his mind around Lachlan’s way of thinking. “You talk of justice. Then you know I deserve death. Maybe not for this, but I have killed. You’ve seen my marks.”

  Lachlan had to know whose blood tainted Leith’s hands. Surely Renna had told him Leith’s role in the deaths of his brother- and sister-in-law. If she hadn’t, then he’d probably guessed as much. He had to know Leith killed one of Acktar’s princes. Yet he still protected Leith from death. It didn’t make sense.

  Lachlan paced across the room. “Justice belongs to God. It’s not up to me to wrest it from His hands.” He sighed and shook his head. “But my main reason is Renna. She made the decision to save your life. If I were to have you killed, I’d disrespect her decision. It would appear as if I believed her actions in healing you were wrong. In hiding you, I’m showing her I’m proud of her. I believe she made the right decision, even if the consequences aren’t easy to deal with.”

  Leith turned Lachlan’s words over in his mind. That explanation made sense. Leith didn’t buy Lachlan’s calling on principles, but Lachlan would do it for his niece. Renna had a way of making a person want to protect her. Leith paused. Did he want to protect her?

  No, he couldn't. He was a Blade, and Blades protected no one but the king.

  10

  Leith lay on his back in the upper gallery surrounding what had once been the ballroom. His wound tightened. He tried to keep his gasps for breath as quiet as possible, though he doubted the worshippers could hear him past the thick drapes separating him from the railing and the room below.

  Renna leaned against the wall a few feet away, hugging her knees and looking anywhere but him.

  For some reason, they’d agreed to let him listen to their church service. Though, Lachlan had probably allowed it because whatever Leith learned couldn’t put them in any more danger than they were already in.

  What would a church service be like? Did they preach some kind of sedition against King Respen? It had to be something like that, otherwise why would the king ban them?

  He closed his eyes, listening to the deep hum of people gathering in the room below. Eventually, everyone quieted. Lachlan’s voice boomed across the room.

  Leith pressed his palms against the floor. Not only did they host this underground church but Lachlan was the minister. Yet another thing that would get the entire family killed if Leith told this to King Respen.

  If…when had Leith started thinking in terms of if instead of when? Bile licked at the back of his throat. Did he dare defy King Respen? What would he have to gain through a foolish move like that except death?

  He locked those thoughts away. Right now, he should concentrate on this church service. He might never have another chance to satisfy his curiosity.

  So far he hadn't heard anything that would explain King Respen's laws against church services, but perhaps Lachlan changed things around since he knew Leith was listening.

  The worshippers in the ballroom below sang two songs Leith had never heard before. Then Lachlan announced the Bible passage: Daniel 6. Leith looked at Renna for the first time since the service started. “Daniel?”

  She nodded, her blue eyes focused on the drapes. “Brandi’s suggestion.”

  Leith could only shake his head. That girl and her fascination with Daniel. If it wasn’t for her, he never would’ve gotten curious enough to be here in the first place. Had that been Brandi’s plan all along? Was that what her smug smiles were about?

  In this story, Daniel held a high position under the conquering power. Daniel’s enemies talked the new king into making it illegal to pray to anyone besides the king for the next thirty days. Disobedience to the law would be punished by being thrown to a den filled with lions. All Daniel had to do was change his routine for a few days, and he’d be safe.

  Instead, Daniel prayed as he always did. His enemies, of course, told the king. With reluctance because he liked Daniel, the king ordered Daniel thrown to the lions. But, like the fire in the story about Daniel’s three friends, the lions didn’t hurt him. In the morning, the king went out early to see if Daniel was still alive. The king took him out of the lions’ den, and his enemies were thrown in instead. This time, the lions attacked. Daniel told the king that he was spared because God sent his angels to stop the lions’ mouths.

  A weight crushed Leith’s chest. If the names and situation were changed, that story was the one he lived right now, with Brandi and Renna as Daniel, King Respen as a not-at-all-reluctant king, and Leith’s fellow Blades as the lions.

  All Renna and Brandi had to do was pretend they weren’t Christians for a few weeks. Instead, they'd risked King Respen’s lions rather than hide their faith even for a few days.

  What did that make him? Leith’s hands shook. When he’d listened to Brandi tell these stories, he’d been on Daniel’s side. Now he saw the truth. He was the people he’d hated in those stories.

  He was Daniel’s enemy.

  Renna studied the expressions crossing the Blade’s face as he listened to Uncle Abel’s sermon. His face had gone pale as the snow outside, his eyes squeezed shut. He looked like he might be sick.

  When Uncle Abel’s sermon ended and the congregation in the ballroom below sang the final song, Renna crept closer. “Are you all right?”

  For a moment, she wasn’t sure he’d heard her. When he did speak, he didn’t answer her question. “If King Respen threw you to a den of lions, would you survive the way Daniel did?”

  Renna caught her breath. She could imagine herself and Brandi in a dark pit, hungry lions circling them, springing on Brandi, her screams…Renna shook herself, drew in a deep breath, and pieced her thoughts together. “God doesn’t always work that way anymore. Miracles like that are no longer needed. God works through other ways.”

  “What other ways?”

  She blew out a breath. Why couldn’t the Blade ask Uncle Abel these questions? “God says that all things work together for good for His people. Maybe we don’t see outright miracles, but we can see how every event that has ever happened and will happen is for our good.”

  “Even your parents’ murder?”

  Renna swallowed hard. She believed the truth of the Bible, but for four years she’d struggled to apply it to herself. She could say the right answers out loud, but it was hard to mean them deep in her soul. She cleared her throat again. “Yes.”

  “And King Respen’s rise to power?”

  Renna clenched her fists. “Yes.”

  The Blade opened his eyes. “Even me being here?”

  Renna couldn’t meet his gaze. Why did he have to be the one to remind her of that?

  She stared at the curtain above his head. “God must have some purpose in bringing you here. I don’t know what it is yet, and I’m not good at trusting it will work out for good eventually. But God brought you here. This manor is the only building for miles in this direction. In that blizzard, you couldn’t have been able to see twenty feet. If this was all chance, then chances were you would’ve missed this manor and kept riding until you either froze or plunged into the Spires Canyon.”

  His face paled further, and he shook his head as if he could deny her words. “So, your God wouldn’t protect you if you were thrown in a den of lions?”

  From below, Renna could hear the sounds of the church goers talking as they sat around the tables set up in the ballroom, plates and utensils clinking, ladles clanking on tureens. The noise blended into a nondescript roar.

  She hugged her knees tighter. “God works all things for the good of His people. That good isn’t necessarily what we would call our physical good. God looks at our spiritual good—our trust, faith, and love in and for Him—and works the things in our life toward that good. So maybe God would spare me but maybe not. Either way,
He’d give me the strength and grace I’d need.”

  The Blade looked at her strangely again. She shrugged. She’d explained the best she could.

  Brandi waltzed up the stairs to the upper walk, carrying a tray heaped with food. She set it down on the floor between them. “I brought lunch.” Her voice was subdued but well above a whisper.

  The Blade pushed himself up to a sitting position. He winced but managed by himself. That scared Renna. He grew stronger each day. How long would it be before he was able to ride away, back to King Respen? She could feel her family’s time ticking away.

  Brandi and the Blade wolfed down their meals as if they’d been starving all morning. Renna choked down a few bites. Had Daniel in the Bible ever felt this scared? The Bible never mentioned him nor his friends feeling fear, but Renna had to imagine that they’d felt afraid. Or perhaps they were so exceptionally strong in their faith that they didn’t feel fear.

  When lunch ended, the Blade remained quiet during the second service. Renna tried to concentrate, but her fears bubbled in her brain in a relentless swirl. She’d said all the correct answers to the Blade earlier, but meaning them was a totally different thing.

  Four years later, she didn’t want to believe that her parents’ death had been good. Surely this constant fear, this constant doubt, wasn’t what was best for her.

  She rested her head on her knees. She tried to form a prayer but failed.

  11

  Leith faced the family around the breakfast table. He’d delayed long enough. If he didn’t leave today, he’d never make it to Nalgar Castle in time for the Meeting of the Blades. “I’m leaving today.”

  Brandi’s head jerked up, crumbs stuck to the corners of her mouth. “Today?”

  Nodding, he hunched over his toast. Why did she have to look at him like that?

  While Renna and Brandi cleared the dishes, Lachlan laid Leith’s weapons on the table. Lachlan’s jaw tightened, his eyebrows arching.

  Leith avoided his gaze. He buckled his belt around his waist and looped two more leather straps across his chest. He should’ve felt comfortable. These knives were as bonded to him as his horse and as shaped to him as his saddle. Yet, they now clunked against his body.