Conli watched him go with a resigned look. “Rune’s going to come back from some sort of diabolical training session covered in scrapes and bruises, isn’t he?”
“And probably with his ears ringing from hours of lecturing,” Siobhan confirmed cheerfully. “I am ever so glad that Hyun Woo took him on as a student. Saves me loads of trouble.”
Without glancing behind him, Conli requested, “Wolf, go fetch Alexander back in.”
“Oh, was he trying to sneak out? He was so terrible at it, it was hard to tell.”
“Yes, ten-year-olds aren’t known for their sneaking skills.”
Re-thinking this, Siobhan corrected, “Actually, let him run free for an hour or two. Just don’t lose track of him. This can be the first step of our plan with him.”
Wolf gave a pleased hum and went out the front door, cracking his knuckles on his iron hand as he went.
Conli rubbed at his forehead. “This…will be a long day.”
“We have all of our people back. That automatically makes it better than yesterday.” Still, she appreciated why he felt that way. Taking his elbow, she steered him back toward the table. “Let’s get a hot cup of tea and sit while we plan this out. I don’t know about you, but I could use the break.”
“Sounds heavenly.”
Siobhan and Conli had an idea roughly drawn out, and they were working on the finer details, when Kaye Ruffner burst through the doors. A particularly short woman, she normally looked neat as a pin with her blonde hair curling just at her shoulders. Today she looked more windblown than anything, and her blue eyes snapped with indignation. When she spied Siobhan, she made a beeline straight for her, shaking a fist as she went. “Guildmaster Maley, that man of yours is at it again.”
There were so many possible things the woman could be referring to, and so many people that it could be, that Siobhan had to ask: “Who? Doing what?”
“Fei, of course! He’s been drinking, although heaven knows why he would do so during the middle of the day, and now he’s got a red paint can in his hand and he’s scrawling poetry on the front of my shop!”
Siobhan didn’t even try to look professional. She let her head thunk to the table and let out a loud groan. “On top of everything else, Fei has to get drunk?”
Conli let out a year’s worth of sighs. “I expected this to happen sooner or later. Food is somewhat scarce at the moment and it’s hard for him to find something to eat that does not have sugar in it. He must have eaten something by mistake.”
Kaye did not care about why, she wanted it fixed. “That’s all well and good, but who is going to stop him? I grant you the front of the shop needs a coat of paint, but I did not want it red!”
Siobhan and Conli shared a speaking look. “Which would you rather do, track down Wolf and Alexander, or deal with a drunken Fei?”
“Neither of those options have the least bit of appeal.”
“Do I look thrilled by either prospect to you?”
Conli actually took several seconds to debate the matter with himself before he said in a resigned tone, “I’ll go look for Wolf. Do you want me to get Tran or someone to go with you?”
“Naw, it’s fine. Fei isn’t a violent drunk, just a romantic, poetry-scrawling one.”
Not disagreeing, Conli left her to it. Siobhan pinned a smile on her face and turned to Kaye. “Lead me to him. We’ll work out how to fix this as we walk.”
Satisfied that Siobhan was moving, Kaye led off, her pace brisk. Kaye ran an advertising business in the city, mostly for job hunters, although she did have a corner for general information. Siobhan had visited her store a few times when she went in search of new members for her guild, but it had been several years since her last visit. She saw when she arrived that the store had survived the looting and the ransacking of Goldschmidt fairly well. One of the windows had been knocked out, and the door definitely needed to be replaced, but there was little other damage.
Aside from Fei scrawling poetry in large letters on the wall, that was.
When drunk, Fei always seemed to revert to his native tongue. After her stay in Saoleord, Siobhan could now identify the language and even knew a word or two. But the majority of it was lost on her. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Fei was providing a translation as he wrote in a singsong voice that was badly off tune. At the top of his lungs.
Without any hesitation, Siobhan grabbed the paintbrush from his hand and yanked it away. Fortunately, he was drunk enough that he did not fight back. In fact, he spun about as she pulled, and nearly did a face plant. It took some staggering on his part to keep his balance. He blinked at her several times, weaving where he stood, before squinting in an effort to focus. “You look remarkably like my guildmaster,” he informed her in a serious tone.
Siobhan had to struggle not to laugh. “That’s because I am your guildmaster.”
He nodded somberly. “That would explain it.”
“Fei, Mistress Ruffner does not want poetry on her wall.”
He blinked at her owlishly as if that statement did not compute.
Siobhan went for something that he could understand, drunk or not. “No more painting.”
That seemed incomprehensible to him as well, but he did hand the paint can over to her without any fuss. Siobhan handed the items over to Kaye, before she took a firm grip on Fei’s arm. Addressing the storekeeper, she promised, “When he’s sober, I will send him over here to paint the front of the shop for you.”
Kaye scowled at Fei. “He’d better.”
Deciding that staying would not benefit any of them, Siobhan gave her a friendly nod before towing Fei away from the area as fast as his stumbling feet could manage.
Sadly, she didn’t get far. She never did with Fei. He dug his heels in, drawing her to a stop and grabbed her sloppily by the shoulders.
“Siobhan-ajie,” he said seriously. The attempt was somewhat spoiled by the fact his eyes wouldn’t focus and kept crossing.
“Yes, dearling,” she responded patiently. She knew, as surely as the sun rose in the east, what was coming next.
“I love you.”
“I know, dearling. I love you too,” she said with all of the patience she could muster. “Can we go to a nice place where you can lay down?”
“I’m not drunk,” he assured her earnestly. Then hiccupped. His whole balance became upset by the hiccup, and he had to grab her hard to keep from falling straight to the street. “And I love you. And your hair is red. Amazing. Are you an apple?”
“I am not an apple, and if you try to taste me like you did last time, I will punch you.” Grabbing him by the waist, she spun him back around and frog-marched him forward. “One of these days, you’ll have to explain to me why you are so fascinated by my hair.”
“Siobhan-ajie. I love you,” he said over his shoulder. Because his face wasn’t facing forward, he started going sideways.
“Love you too, dearling, walk please.”
“I love you so much. You shouldn’t walk. It’s wrong.”
She blinked, trying to process this. This tangent was a new one. And it didn’t bode well. None of his tangents panned out well. The apple one especially.
Fei stopped dead in the middle of the street. “I know! I’ll carry you home.” He beamed, pleased at this conclusion.
Despite the fact he was drunk, she couldn’t budge him. Frustrated, Siobhan seriously regretted in that moment going off to fetch Fei alone. Wolf or Tran or Beirly would have come in very handy right in that moment. They had a knack for handling drunken behavior. “Fei. Walk.”
“I’ll carry you,” he insisted, openly pouting. “You’ve got red hair, so I must carry you.”
How that connected, she had no idea. “Fei, you’ve got bad balance right now, you’ll fall. Walk now, you can carry me later?” And by later, she meant never.
Unfortunately, she underestimated his cunning and determination. She was still behind him, trying to push him along, and was in the perfect position for him to bend,
scoop his arms under her legs, and heft her onto his back. Spluttering, Siobhan’s arms wind milled in the air for a moment before she latched onto his neck for support.
“Got you!” he crowed. Straightening, he staggered forward.
Normally, Fei could carry Tran around without being winded. It wasn’t her weight that was making him struggle, just his lack of balance. He managed all of three steps before he sent them right into a wall.
“Oops,” he said, as if he hadn’t the faintest idea how that happened.
Siobhan felt her face flush as the people passing by laughed. Some of them were doing it behind their hands, others were more open about it. She, for one, knew that it would take years to live this down.
“Sorry,” Fei apologized sincerely to the wall. “You’re a nice wall. Very sturdy.”
“All of the walls are nice, dearling,” Siobhan sighed, resigned to the embarrassment. “Let’s not run into them, shall we?”
“Right.” With renewed determination, he started off again, weaving as he went.
Siobhan was just waiting for the right timing to get off his back. Being piggy-backed like this was more than embarrassing considering she was fine and he was the one that was drunk.
Out of nowhere, he started up his poetry sing-song voice again. “The sun has come to our lands once again, touching the head of my fair love’s hair—”
Oh no. Not this one. Siobhan recognized it, it was a favorite of Fei’s, and he always slaughtered it by making up parts of it to fit her description when he was drunk.
“—Bathed in the sun I go, as if walking in a dream, walking through the streets where blue sky and green grass meet, I do not feel as if I have come here on my own; some other force has guided me. I am mesmerized by the sunset hair framing my fair love’s face.”
Fei was mercifully stopped as he tripped over the edge of a stair and smacked his forehead against a post. He kept his balance enough to where they avoided tumbling straight to the ground. Dizzy, he gave a bow to the post. “My apologies, good post.”
The bow was low enough that he almost sent her straight off his back and headfirst toward the cobblestones. Siobhan wanted off his back, yes, but not desperately enough to do so that way. She tightened her grip on him until he sprang back up.
As if he hadn’t even broken his stride, he picked right back up. “The breeze whispers in my ears and sings across my cheeks, the birds behind the clouds are caroling, all a sweet melody to the cataracts of your hair. I feel refreshed and light in the head.”
That last part she had no trouble believing.
This time, he tripped over thin air and landed flat on his face. Siobhan hopped off before she completely flattened him to the ground. “Fei?”
There was a long moment of silence. She frowned down at him, the first spark of concern growing. Had he hurt himself that time? “Are you hurt, dearling?”
“The ground is not as nice,” he proclaimed solemnly, his tone such that one would think he was imparting some great wisdom of the ages.
It was all she could do to just roll her eyes and not laugh or groan. “I agree. Let’s avoid the mean ground. Up we go.”
Fei accepted the arm she put around his waist, cooperating amiably as he got back to his feet. Of course, with them side by side like this, his nose was practically in her hair. “Your hair is red. Like an apple. Can I—”
“No. No, you cannot taste it. Don’t start that, Fei.”
“Just a lick.”
“No. Mercy, why did I think it was safe for me to get you by myself? You always want to eat my hair. Fei, get my hair out of your mouth. This instant. If you don’t, I’ll drop you, and let Mr. Ground deal with you.”
Reluctantly, he dropped the lock of hair, sulking. “I just want to see if it tastes like an apple.”
“It doesn’t. It tastes like hair and soap. Now, be good and walk.”
Since the guildhall was still under construction, Siobhan had no good place to put Fei so that he could sleep this off. She ended up taking him back to the Rose and Crown. As she laid him down on the bed, she murmured to Roskin, the innkeeper, “He’s had more sugar than normal, I think.”
“How bad?”
“I was getting declarations of love and he wanted to eat my hair again.”
She and Roskin had been neighbors for the past decade, so he was well aware of Fei’s bad habits. He winced. “He hasn’t tried that in years.”
“I really want to know what he ate,” she growled. “Anyway, keep an eye on him for me.”
From the bed, even with his eyes closed, Fei loudly proclaimed, “I’m not drunk!”
“Yes, dearling, but you’re tired. Take a nap.” Please take a nap, she internally prayed.
“Siobhan-ajie?”
“Yes, dearling, you love me, right?”
“I love you,” he declared, eyes still firmly closed. “Can I lick your hair? It’s really red.”
“You may not. Sleep.”
Sighing in defeat, he went limp against the mattress in a way that only the truly drunk could manage.
“I’ll keep a close watch on him,” Roskin promised in a whisper. Half the reason he did so was likely because he did not want poetry on his walls. And she did not blame him.
After she got Fei settled, she went back to the worksite, and found that Conli had remarkably beaten her there. Even with all of the trouble that Fei had caused, she still expected to get here first. After all, Conli had a whole city to search first. But Wolf and Alexander were already working on the hall. That was to say, Wolf was working steadily in putting the last of the shingles on the roof, and Alexander was very reluctantly fetching tools and such for the men. The boy moved so slowly, one would think that his feet were mired in quicksand.
Siobhan sidled up next to Conli and asked in a low tone, “How did you convince him to work?”
“I didn’t. Wolf told him that if he did not work we would not feed him.”
“And that worked? Just like that?”
Conli’s eyes crinkled up in amusement. “I don’t think it would have if not for the fact that Wolf brought some treats back with him. Someone in the city is selling doughnuts. Wolf brought back a bag full of them.”
“Let me guess. He gave everyone a doughnut except Alexander, because Alexander had not done any work?”
“Got it in one.” Conli glanced over his shoulder, looking where Wolf was working on the edge of the roof. “He might be better at manipulating children than I gave him credit for.”
He was certainly showing talent that Siobhan had not suspected he had.
“How was Fei?”
“My hair was red again and he was trying to eat it.”
Conli winced. “What did he eat?”
“I have no idea. But he needs to avoid it like the plague. Right now he’s sleeping it off. Roskin is watching him for me.”
“I’ll bring him a hangover cure later.”
“I’m sure he’ll need one. Did you speak with Tran at all about our plan?”
“Not yet. I haven’t been able to yet. And it might be better to wait for Rune anyway. Hyun Woo still has him.”
Siobhan asked uncertainly, “We are going to get him back today, right?”
“That is the question.”
Hyun Woo did finally give Rune back late that night. Siobhan, Conli, and Tran were all sitting up waiting for him. Because Fei was still sleeping off his drunken high, the guild had chosen to remain at the Rose and Crown that night. Rune looked, and smelled, as if he had rolled around in several mud puddles. He was covered in dirt, with new bruises and scratches visible on every patch of bare skin. That must’ve been quite the training session.
When he stopped in front of the table, the stench was overwhelming. Siobhan had to clamp her nose shut and breathe through her mouth to avoid gagging. “Bath. Now.”
Rune was tired and sore enough that he only gave her a grunt before shuffling towards the bathing room.
“I’ll get him some clothes,”
Tran volunteered, standing from the table.
“It looks like Hyun Woo beat the lesson into him,” Conli observed.
“Let’s hope the lesson will stick better that way.” Siobhan, knowing full well that Rune probably did not get to eat anything, went to the kitchen and wrestled up a plate of leftovers.
Rune was not one for sitting in a tub and soaking, and he was usually in and out within a matter of minutes. But this time, he was slower to leave the bathing chambers. When he finally did make it back, he fell upon the plate of food like a ravenous wolf. Siobhan wisely did not try to speak with him until he had finished everything and looked up. “What did we learn today, Rune?”
“Never do anything to tick off either my guildmaster or my master.”
Tran let out a laugh. “Close enough.”
Pushing the plate away from him, Rune relaxed back into his chair and looked at all three of them. “So, do we know what to do with the pipsqueak?”
“We do,” Conli confirmed. “But we will need you and Tran to do something special. In the day that we have had the boy, he has proven to be very stubborn and he does not learn quickly. This arrogance of his is very well ingrained.”
Tran snorted. “You’re telling me. Even with noogies and correcting him, he didn’t seem to learn a thing.”
Rune had that expression on his face that seemed to say ‘Well, why do you think I brought him to you?’ “So what is the plan?”
“First,” Conli outlined, “We will take him to Stott and show him how much damage his decisions have made. We plan to do this tomorrow, and leave him there overnight.”
“He’ll think that we have left him there alone,” Siobhan added.
Making a noise of confusion, Rune asked, “Won’t he try to escape if he thinks he is alone?”
Tran had an evil smirk on his face. “That’s where we come in.”
An unholy grin blossomed on Rune’s face to match Tran’s expression. “This will be fun, won’t it.”
“You better believe it.”
Conli cleared his throat and said dryly, “Yes, well, I’ll let you two plan that part out. But after he has spent the night in Stott, we will take him to various places that have been damaged because of his men, and make him help in the reconstruction. We believe that by working alongside the people that he has hurt, and getting to know them, he will eventually understand just how wrong his decisions were. But that part will likely take some time.”
Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) Page 15