Venture stared at Earnest, stunned. This kind of garbage was not what he’d thought he was agreeing to listen to.
“But you can be just as good. Even better. I have a plan.”
Venture raised his eyebrows. “Why didn’t you tell me about this plan of yours before?”
“It’s a big change. I didn’t think you were ready to hear it. And, I thought I should wait.” He nodded at Venture’s swollen elbow. “To see if it was really necessary.”
“And?”
“And obviously it is. Even if you could heal all the way, I’ve got a better chance of retraining you to fight than getting you to give that arm a long enough rest.”
“I told you, I’ll—”
“You’ll be willing to miss the next Championship, if that’s what it takes?”
“What?”
“I didn’t think so. And I don’t think you’ll have to, if you’re willing to make some changes. Get cleaned up, Vent, and we’ll talk about it while we eat.”
Venture got up and gave Chance’s shoulder a squeeze. He didn’t look Chance in the face because the kid was still trying not to cry. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Chance muttered, “I don’t like you hurt.”
Venture pulled him against his side. “You were right. I screwed up. I need you looking out for me, Chance.”
“I know.” Chance looked up at him with reddened eyes, but his mouth turned up in a smirk—the first hint of cockiness Venture had ever seen in him.
Were he and Dasher rubbing off on the kid, or was it, maybe, a glimpse of the boy he’d been, before terror and death had brought him here? Before others had taken advantage of the little refugee who’d come to Richland hoping to escape the cruelty of men, asking for nothing more than a safe bed and a full stomach?
Venture laughed and tousled Chance’s hair. “Let’s get some lunch. And then I’m going to talk to Beamer about getting you some training of your own.”
“Me?”
“Sure. I told you, I need you looking out for me.”
Chapter Six
Venture didn’t get to follow through with his plans for Chance. The next day, he, Chance, and Earnest packed up and said their good-byes. He’d promised Earnest at least one more month of rest for his arm before they started working on Earnest’s plan to change his fighting style—right foot forward, striking like a lefty, but throwing like a righty. Venture would mix in his favorite left inside leg reap every now and then, whether Earnest liked him switching his feet or not.
Earnest had come up with a brilliant plan to work around his injured right arm, but it really was a big change. One that was going to take countless hours of repetition in order to become second nature. Venture had decided to get himself away from the mat, from the allure of training, to make sure he kept his word to rest his arm before they got to work. For the first time, he was heading out of Twin Rivers with Earnest—not to train, but to work on the rest of his life.
Jade wasn’t happy about Venture leaving, of course, but if things went as planned, he’d have good news for her when he came back, and maybe even a little less resistance from her father. Part of Grant’s concern about the two of them was that Venture was too young, not settled. If Grant still wanted to believe Venture’s devotion to Jade would wane, there was nothing he could do about that. But if he was going to be involved in a courtship with a lady like Jade, he needed a home. He needed to show Grant that he could manage his affairs. And that was hard to show when there were no such affairs to manage.
Venture, Earnest, and Chance met up with Dasher at Regal’s and they had the small, private celebration Dasher had wanted for him after the Championship. Venture felt much more like celebrating now that he was away from Twin Rivers, back in the capital, but without the confusion surrounding the Championship. Making plans. He felt like he could work through this, like his future really was about to unfold.
Venture pushed his empty plate aside. “Let’s get down to business. Dash?”
“Sure. I’ve got the list you wanted.” Dasher laid a neatly folded sheet of paper on the table. “There are some nice properties for sale.”
Venture unfolded the paper and took a look. “Is there anything outside Springriver County?”
Next to Venture, Earnest raised his eyebrows. Dasher frowned, but produced another list.
“What are you thinking, Champ?”
Venture shrugged.
“You want to start over,” Earnest said, “as a free man?”
“I don’t know if I can. All Richland knows who I am. Everyone knows my history. But . . .”
“There’s a lot of love and admiration for you in Twin Rivers, Champ. It’s a big deal, moving away from your family.”
“I know. And I love Twin Rivers.” How could he explain how exhausting it was renegotiating every relationship he’d had since he was six years old?
“It’s hard not to feel like a boy instead of a man there,” Earnest offered.
Venture nodded. Like a respectable man of means instead of a rowdy bondsman.
Earnest sat back in their booth and groaned. He pushed his empty mug to the edge of the table so the maid would refill it the next time she came around. “You shouldn’t be worrying about this stuff. You need to focus on your career. If you want to train somewhere else, fine. But settle down when you’re ready to think about retirement.”
“It’s not that simple for me, and you know it.”
“It could be. Forget Grant Fieldstone. Forget all of them. Who cares what they think? You’re the Champion of All Richland. That ought to be enough.”
“And what about Jade?”
“She’ll wait for you.”
“Just how long, exactly, do you think that would be fair?” Dasher said.
Earnest scowled at Dasher, then grumbled to Venture, “Fine. Make your plans. Buy your house. Have a bunch of squalling babies. Let me know where you decide you’re going to live, so I can come visit.”
“You’re going to have to do more than visit. I’m going to have my own training room, built right into the house. All I’ll need is for you to bring me some fresh training partners now and then—”
“Right in the house? Like a Crested?” Earnest brightened. He gave a defiant laugh.
“Absolutely,” Dasher said with a grin.
Venture shrugged and nodded to the maid as she refilled their mugs. “It’s only practical.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Earnest mused, “finding men willing to train with the reigning champion.”
Venture slid Earnest’s refilled mug back to him. Earnest took a swig, then tapped his fingers against the glass, staring at nothing, no doubt busy making a mental list of up-and-coming and past-prime fighters he might invite to train with them.
Dasher said, “It takes time to build a house, and to put it in order. I know you don’t want anything extravagant, but you want it done right. And in the meantime, wouldn’t it be nice to have a place to live and train? A place away from Twin Rivers, where you can be your own man.”
“What are you getting at, Dash?” Venture said.
“Why don’t you stay at Earthsong until you’re ready to move on?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Earnest said.
Venture smiled. Now there was a story he wouldn’t mind making the Crier. “Not bad at all.”
#
Venture thought of Jade as he made his way down the steps of Regal’s, his bag packed and slung over his shoulder. Her father would have authority over her for another year. Jade said Grant had been corresponding quite a bit with a woman named Felicity Fairbanks, from Founders Rock. Jade hoped that her father was falling in love after all these years, and that the experience might soften him. But Venture would be ready with or without Grant’s blessing.
We’ll see what belongs to me, Grant Fieldstone. We’ll see. He patted his sword, remembering the look on Jade’s face when she gave it to him. But no sooner had the rebellious thought crossed his mind than the g
uilt and the longing to do this right, to do the right thing, hit him again.
And would he be ready? Ready for what exactly? Moving away was what he needed to do in order to move on, he knew that. But there was only one way for Jade to move on with him, out of her father’s household and into his—marriage. He’d been ready to commit to her for a long time. He’d always known she was the one, even before he knew what that meant. But a wife . . . a family . . . Grant was wrong about him changing his mind, not knowing who he wanted, but was he right about him not knowing what he wanted with her?
“You’re a hard man to find, Venture Delving,” a familiar voice cut through his thoughts. Colt, once his teammate at Beamer’s.
Venture blinked into the morning sunshine. Ahead of him, Dasher, Earnest, and Chance stopped.
Colt was well-built and strong, as always. Still taller than Venture. And beside him was Nick. The government crest was emblazoned on the carriage behind them, along with a family crest. His former teammates from Beamer’s were working under a Crested official, and not just any Crested official—one of the Longlakes. Venture was all too familiar with their crest.
He’d heard Nick had burned out on training to be a prize fighter and left Warrior’s Way, but he never guessed he’d resort to being a government crony instead. He shouldn’t be so surprised; Nick had never been one to think much for himself, and Colt and Border had always been willing to step into that gap for him.
“Yes, very hard to find indeed. One might even think you had something to hide.”
Hunter Longlake. He strode around the carriage as he spoke, his speech different, slightly lispy. Due to false teeth? Hunter smiled without showing them. Had he come all the way to Founders Rock looking for Venture, the man who’d cost him his perfect smile?
“My friends always know where I am, Mr. Longlake.”
Longlake had always viewed himself as too far above a mere bondsman to look Venture in the eye. Now his eyes bored directly into Venture, on fire with the hope of revenge.
“I come on behalf of the Governor of the Western Quarter, and of the people of Springriver County,” Longlake said.
They sent a Crested man to find me? For what? Venture stepped forward, and his friends parted to let him through, their jaws set in anger, their eyes alight with the desire to speak up for him. He gave his head a half-shake to tell them, No, I’ll handle it.
Venture handed his bag to Chance casually, as though he had nothing to fear, as though his insides weren’t twisted in knots or his thoughts swirling with the list of all the ways he’d bent and broken the law over the years. He had no fear of what Longlake could do to him physically, especially right here in front of Regal’s, with Earnest and Dasher to back him up. But Longlake hadn’t come for a brawl. He’d come as the law, and the law would not be on Venture Delving’s side.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Venture said mockingly to Colt and Nick.
“Merely my assistants.” Longlake waved his hand dismissively.
Colt chafed at that, and Venture almost laughed. Almost.
“Pleasure to see you, Mr. Longlake’s assistants.” Venture extended a hand.
Though he hadn’t expected either of them to shake it, Nick accepted it with a grateful, cautious smile. Had Nick been expecting a fight from Venture? Should Venture be ready for one? Nick noticed the look on his superior’s face, grimaced, and withdrew his hand hastily, halfway through the shake. He always was a little slow.
Hunter Longlake said, “I am here to inform you officially of a complaint brought against you.”
“By who?”
“The county.”
“In whose name?”
“Mine,” Hunter hissed.
“Yours?” Earnest blurted. “You came to deliver your own complaint in the county’s name? That’s not a conflict of interest?”
Longlake ignored him. “I must ask you, Mr. Delving, to relinquish all weapons to me at once.”
“Right now?” For the first time, Venture faltered. He was a free man. This was hardly normal procedure.
“You can’t—” Dasher began.
“I can,” Longlake said sharply. He nodded at Colt, and Colt withdrew a piece of paper from the leather folder under his arm. With a flick of the wrist, Longlake snatched the document from Colt and flapped it in front of Venture’s face.
Behind Venture, the two bags Earnest had been holding thunked onto the cobblestone. Venture heard the subtle rattle of his trainer’s sword in its sheath as he gripped it tighter, the faint back and forth metallic sliding sound as he toyed with drawing it out. Venture handed the paper straight to Earnest without reading it, to busy Earnest’s hands as well as his mind.
There was no more time to hesitate, to consider resisting. Every moment he waited, he risked one of his friends doing something foolish—and possibly deadly—for him. Venture produced his dagger from under his pant leg, then volunteered his sheathed sword. His muscles tensed. He swallowed hard. My beautiful sword. My beautiful knife. Such fine blades. He loved to feel them in his hands and think of Jade. And now this weasel of a man, who’d once had his paws on Jade, had them on the weapons she’d had crafted specifically for him.
Yet there were no lawmen present. No one to carry Venture away. Did that mean there was some doubt as to Longlake’s story, that he hadn’t been able to press for an immediate arrest? Or was he simply not ready to make a scene over the fact that a bondsman had bested him in a fight? He had to know the humiliation would come eventually. Anything that happened to Venture Delving was news now.
Then it hit him. Perhaps it wasn’t so embarrassing, now that he was Champion of All Richland, and now that everyone knew a Crested had coached him. It would be much easier to scare the public with the thought that bondsmen weren’t incapable—they were disreputable. Dangerous. Sharing Crested knowledge with Venture Delving had proven nearly deadly.
Longlake pushed another piece of paper at Venture.
“Your weapons may be entrusted to a respectable person of your choice, who does not reside with you. Given your lifestyle, that would exclude Mr. Glen and Mr. Goodview, as well as your family in Twin Rivers. Alternatively, they may be placed in the keep of the Representative of Springriver County.”
Right. The Representative of Springriver County, Grover Wisecarver. No way. Venture didn’t bother trying to argue that he no longer lived with his brother. He had other ideas about who to give his weapons to. He took the paper and scrawled defiantly on the line, Entrusted to Miss Jade Fieldstone. He pushed it back to Longlake.
Longlake’s jaw clenched and his hand twitched at his sword.
“She’ll need them, with rogues like you roaming around Spring River County,” Venture said. “Why are my rights being revoked before I even have my hearing? Don’t I have the right to be heard before I’m punished?”
“Be grateful you’re not being locked up immediately. The slightest misstep, and I’ll see that you are.”
So, that was what Longlake had tried for. Perhaps not all was lost. Some doubted Longlake’s story, brought forward so many months after the crime.
“You will be heard,” Longlake said disdainfully. “But until then, precautions must be taken to ensure public safety. After all, you have a history of violent and dangerous behavior. And that violence,” Longlake said, flicking a glance at Dasher, “has been facilitated by foolish and shortsighted members of my own class.”
“Foolish? You call me a fool?”
Venture caught Dasher’s arm just in time. Hunter Longlake was smarter than he’d thought. Portraying Dauntless of the Glen as unscrupulous would have been a mistake. All of Richland loved Dasher, and the Crested opposition to Venture Delving must have calculated that. How much easier—and how much more maddening it would be for Dasher—to portray him as naive, and his mentoring Venture as proof that good intentions toward the bonded class were wasted at best, dangerous at worst.
Colt drew his sword, and Nick followed.
“No,” Lon
glake said. “That will not be necessary. The Glens are a respected, law abiding family. Young Dauntless here will surely not do anything to shame them further.”
“Young Dauntless” was the same age as Hunter Longlake. Venture gripped Dasher’s arm tighter, and he felt the shudder in the breath Dasher took to calm himself.
“Yes, my family is well respected. I am the son of Star of the Glen. That still means something as long as men like you argue for Crested superiority. And I will give my word against yours. I will vouch for Venture Delving’s character.”
Longlake smiled condescendingly. “Ah, the wayward son of Star of the Glen. Come back into Society. I am sure that once you are away from such influences, in time you will return to your senses.”
“Such influences! No one has done more to influence me for the better than Venture Delving!”
“What do you say of your father then, Dasher Starson?”
“Star of the Glen is a good man, but he is not a better one than Venture Delving. I surrender my sword, my right to be armed, in protest!” Dasher’s fingers worked at the fasteners attaching his sheath to its leather strap.
“Dasher, no! Don’t leave Earnest to defend both of us by himself.” Venture shot a furious glare at Longlake, Colt, and Nick. “If this is what the law’s come to in Richland, I’m going to need you, and your sword.” Dasher’s eyes flashed over to Earnest, whose hand was on his own sword, though not to disarm himself of it. “Please, Dash.”
“I suggest you listen to the bondsman,” Longlake said. “Stay out of this. Stay out of other affairs you are not prepared to be involved in. I am sure that at some later date, when you remember what it is to be a Crested man, you will make a fine representative.”
He leaned closer to Dasher. Dangerously close. Venture prayed silently, fervently, that Dasher wouldn’t kill him.
“Do you even know what he did to me?” Longlake said. “He didn’t tell you, did he? He is a sneaky one. Full of secrets.”
“I don’t know what happened,” Dasher said, “but I know Venture Delving.”
“I am not the only one with a complaint. A certain Baker family, once employed as servants in the same household with Delving, has come forward, saying that he threatened them, that they left the Fieldstones’ employment in fear for their lives. In addition, a very reluctant healer, who claims to be Delving’s friend, concedes that he admitted to nearly killing me, while still a bondsman.”
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