Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3)

by Honor Raconteur

  “I don’t know and don’t care.”

  “You had a bet with someone, didn’t you.”

  “Grae,” Tran admitted shamelessly. “We renew it every six months. I won.”

  “Just Grae?”

  “No, Sylvie too. But she won that one.”

  Rune considered that. “Does Sylvie ever lose a bet?” He’d never seen it.

  “Very rarely.” Chortling, Tran rubbed his hands together briskly. “We’ll tease them about this later. For now, we have a guildmaster to torment.”

  Right. They best get back to that. Even as Rune shifted, heading toward the ground, he stole one more glance at the new couple. His cheeks hurt, he was smiling so widely. It made him happy, in a way he couldn’t readily explain, to know that their hearts were finally in sync with each other.

  Thinking of ways he could tease them about this later, Rune lightly landed on the street, his focus already switching to the job at hand. So far, he and Tran had made the usual knocking noises that people linked with ghosts, Tran had sung that very creepy song, and they’d played phantom between the buildings. Alexander was crying, and sometimes begging, for someone to come rescue him.

  According to Conli, that was what they’d been waiting on.

  Tran sneaked up to a second story window, placing himself just below the windowsill, and breathed out in a hoarse, unearthly voice, “Rescue?”

  Alexander had both arms around himself, head swiveling back and forth as he tried to pin the source of the voice. Rune could see it from where he had hid himself around the corner of the building. Even though Tran was on the other side of the wall where he was squatting, Rune’s instincts were sending up flares because of that voice. The man had an amazing range.

  “Rescue?” Tran repeated. They had no script pre-written, so Tran was going with the flow and making things up as he went along. “We prayed for rescue. Like you are now. We prayed for rescue. No one came.”

  Alexander did not look reassured that the ‘ghost’ was sentient enough to have a conversation with him. In fact, he pedaled backwards on his hands until he slammed into a building, and kept going, as if he were trying to press himself through the wall.

  “No one came. We prayed. And fought. And no one came.”

  In a very low murmur, Rune warned, “Tran, you might want to ease up.”

  “Too much?”

  “Maybe a tad. He’s spooked out of his mind right now.”

  Neither man spoke for several minutes. They kept an eye on Alexander but he didn’t move from his new spot, just continued to rock himself, and cry. Rune was surprised the kid had any tears left. Seemed like all he had done for the past three days was cry. Or yell.

  A long time passed, perhaps an hour, and the crying stopped. Rune waited for him to move, but he didn’t. Instead, he sank all the way to the ground, knees folded and tucked against his chest, head resting on his kneecaps. He stayed slumped over like that as if he hadn’t the slightest inclination to stand and face the ‘ghosts’ haunting him.

  Rune frowned. This was not the reaction he was expecting. “Tran?”

  “He’s not moving.”

  “Strange, right?”

  “I’d be moving,” Tran said fervently. “For the nearest city gate.”

  “I would too.” Thinking about it, he rubbed his jaw before offering, “Maybe we should do the footsteps now?”

  “You or me?”

  “You sound louder.”

  “That’s because you can’t break your habit of sneaking everywhere you go.”

  True. Rune didn’t see a need to break that habit, either. Scaring people on a daily basis was one of his pleasures in life.

  He tracked it by ear as Tran left the building and came out onto the street. To make it simple, he just went one street over from where Alexander was hunkered down, then ran full speed down the length of it. In this absolute stillness, the sound of his boots striking pavement was raucously loud.

  Alexander didn’t jump to his feet and start running, as Rune predicted. He just lifted his head, listening, then dropped it again when Tran stopped.

  Straaaaange. Very strange.

  Deciding he was too far away to gauge the situation properly, Rune heaved himself onto the nearest roof and skittered his way across until he was just above Alexander’s head. It was only then that he heard the litany that Alexander was saying to himself.

  “This is my fault,” the child guildmaster was saying to himself in a steady monotone, voice shaking. “This is all my fault. This is my fault. Mine. My fault. Myfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfault—”

  Yup. They had probably pushed the kid too far. Rune eased back and regrouped with Tran on the other side of the street. Tran had eased one eye around the corner, not that he could see much of Alexander at that angle. “He’s saying something?” he asked Rune as the former assassin landed next to him.

  “He’s saying it’s his fault. Over and over.”

  “Ahhh. Then I’d say our work here is done. We got the message across.”

  Rune gave a grunt of acknowledgment. “Should we maybe get Siobhan now?”

  “If you’re willing to interrupt them, be my guest,” Tran invited in dark amusement. “I won’t help you when Wolf comes after your hide, though.”

  Good point. Excellent point, actually. Rune valued his own life over Alexander’s sanity. He was staying right here until dawn.

  The kid was on his own.

  Sometime in the early hours of the morning, the noises died down. Siobhan didn’t see a trace of either Tran or Rune, so she could only assume that Alexander had been scared enough. She probably should have gotten up and checked on the situation herself but two things stopped her: one, she was no longer sure where Alexander was in the city and was afraid that she would stumble across him in the dark, and two, Wolf was entirely too comfortable. The grip he had on her also told her that Wolf had absolutely no intention of letting her go that night. He had waited ten long years for this to happen, and now that it had, she was not going anywhere.

  All of that was fine by her. Siobhan did not relish the idea of stumbling around in a dark, potentially haunted, city. No, much better to snuggle with her new lover instead.

  Neither of them felt comfortable enough to actually sleep, but they curled up together and fell into a light doze until dawn broke.

  As the sky lightened a hand came up over the edge of the roof waving a white handkerchief. “Don’t kill me,” Rune requested. He was half joking, but half serious too.

  Ah, Rune must have caught sight of them at some point during the night. Otherwise he would not be so cautious in approaching them this morning. Amused, Siobhan called out a reassurance. “It’s safe, come up.”

  “No offense, Siobhan, but it’s not you I’m worried about.”

  Wolf’s chest rumbled in a silent laugh. “Come up, kiō.”

  Only then did Rune’s head pop into view. He was streaked in dirt and ash, and Siobhan was not sure if that was deliberate or because of all of the sneaking he had done that night, but he had a satisfied smile on his face. “Can I say congratulations?”

  “You can,” Wolf told him with a very smug grin.

  Rune’s expression said it all. It was filled with joy on their behalf.

  Siobhan did not ask because that face made it obvious that he had caught a glimpse of them together sometime during the night. Her mind was already switching to more practical matters. “If you are here this early, I take it that things went well?”

  “We actually stopped about three hours ago. The kid is just sitting there muttering to himself.”

  Uh-oh. That was not a good sign. Siobhan scrambled to her feet, demanding, “Why didn’t you get me earlier?”

  “Because I’m not suicidal.”

  Wolf poorly disguised a laugh by pretending he was coughing. Siobhan was not fooled and gave him a Look even as she headed for the street. “Lead me to him.”

  It turned out that she was not very far, only two streets over from
where Alexander was hunkered down. The sun was just barely strong enough to light the streets and after spending a night in darkness it was more than sufficient to pick a path with.

  Alexander was scrunched in on himself like a turtle without a shell. When she was close enough she could tell there was a fine tremor shaking him from head to toe. Siobhan did not try to disguise her footsteps, but even though he could clearly hear her approach he did not look up.

  Siobhan came to him the same way that she would a wounded animal. She stopped two feet away, sinking onto her haunches, and spoke in a soft tone. “Alexander.”

  He did not lift his head but spoke to his knees. “I did this. This is my fault.”

  She did not try to soften the truth for him. “Yes, you are responsible for this. You understand now what it means to start a war.”

  He peeked up at her through his bangs, his eyes red rimmed. “That’s why you brought me here isn’t it.”

  “Yes,” she verified without apology. “Before, you did not understand what it meant when you gave an order to loot a city. I had to teach you why this was wrong and the only way I knew of doing it was to give you a taste of what it’s like.”

  He turned that over in his mind for several long minutes before speaking again. “Was it this scary for them too?”

  “For the people in the city, you mean?” Siobhan clarified. “It was terrifying.”

  Wolf, standing behind her, added, “They had people out for their blood all night long. You just had ghosts to deal with.”

  Seeing that he did not know how to respond to that, Siobhan took one of Alexander’s hands and pulled him to his feet. “Now that you understand, you need to take responsibility for it.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “For now you will help rebuild. You can start on our guildhall.”

  Tran drifted in from a side street. “I hope we get breakfast first though.”

  “I think some good food is in order,” Siobhan agreed.

  ӜӜӜ

  The group returned to Goldschmidt, victorious in more ways than one. All of them were tired after the events of last night, but satisfied at the outcome. Siobhan ordered a hearty breakfast for them at the Rose and Crown, and they tucked in with gusto.

  All except one.

  Alexander ate mechanically, taking no pleasure in the first hot meal he’d had since yesterday. Siobhan watched him in worry. It might be partially fatigue, after all he wasn’t used to such, but she didn’t think it was just that which had robbed his appetite. His eyes had looked haunted when they returned to Goldschmidt and even now, he looked around him with a new understanding of what he was seeing.

  If he was thinking, she was perfectly willing to let him think.

  With breakfast over, they all stood and went to the guildhall. The building party was already at work, and they could hear saws biting into wood and hammers striking nails before they even got into the yard. Denney pounced on Rune as soon as he came in, which amused Siobhan and made Conli sigh in resignation.

  In the day they had been gone, definite progress had been made. The walls were up on the southern side, and partially on the eastern side. They still had the rest of the outer walls to do, and the floors, and the interior walls, and a myriad of other details, but it did Siobhan’s heart good seeing the building taking shape.

  “Beirly!” she called in greeting as she strode inside.

  “Siobhan, back I see.” Beirly straightened from where he had been sawing at a board. "Things go well?”

  “They did. You made wonderful progress while we were out.”

  “We did,” Beirly agreed cheerfully, almost boastfully. He looked around him with open satisfaction. “We’ll get this done faster than I thought we would. What’s your plan with the boy today?”

  “I think he needs to help us build. You got tasks he can handle?”

  “Sure, sure.” Beirly laid the saw aside so he could put both hands on his knees and bend down to where he was more eye level with Alexander. “I don’t suppose you have much experience in the way of building things.”

  Alexander slowly raised his eyes to look back at the man in front of him. He looked drained after the previous night, skin pale, every movement on his part speaking of effort to do the slightest thing. “You want me to help you build here.”

  “Right.”

  “Why?” His voice shook but there was no sign of tears in his eyes. Perhaps he had cried himself out on a physical level. “I’m responsible for it being destroyed.”

  Beirly stayed bent over and they just stared at each other for a long moment. Siobhan was sure Beirly was working out what to say and how to say it. She held her breath, waiting to see how he would respond.

  “Alexander,” he finally stated, “a boy’s got the right to make mistakes growing up. I grant you, most don’t mess up on this level, but then most don’t have the power you do. Mistakes are part of life, no getting around that. We can all forgive that. What I can’t forgive is if you don’t learn from them, and you don’t try to make up for them.”

  Alexander turned in place, looking all around him. Siobhan had the sense that he wasn’t just seeing the half-constructed guildhall but also the city itself. “Helping you build will make up for it?”

  “It’s a start.” Beirly waited for Alexander to face him again before jerking a thumb at the sawhorses behind him. “I could use someone to hold that board steady while I saw.”

  Alexander gave him a very serious nod. “I can do that.”

  “Good. This way, then.” Alexander fell into step with Beirly as they went back to work. “Now, you didn’t answer my question before. You got experience building things? No? Not right for a boy your age to have never picked up a tool. Well, no matter, we’ll teach you as we go. First off, those saws are sharp, so don’t be putting a hand in front of it. Alright?”

  Siobhan had no qualms leaving Alexander with Beirly. The man had taught multiple people how to craft and build things through the years, herself included, and no one had lost a hand yet.

  With them in motion, she grabbed a tool pouch from nearby and belted it around her waist before picking up a hammer. “Wolf, shall we start on the east side?”

  “I hold the boards up, you hammer?” he guessed, already moving for the stack of pre-cut boards on the ground.

  “It was a good system last time.”

  “It was,” he agreed, hefting several boards into his hands. “Are you sure you want to work on this now, though? Shouldn’t you talk to Darrens?”

  “The man will find me when he wants an update. I have no idea where he is and I don’t want to waste most of the day chasing him down.” She climbed up on the scaffold, bending long enough to get the boards from Wolf and bring them up so he had a free hand to climb with. He stole a hug as he came up, which made her smile. Wolf was proving to be very physically affectionate.

  She was not complaining.

  Fei was above them, on a taller scaffold, and he did not miss this exchange. Ducking down, he put his head through the side bars and asked, “Did something happen last night?”

  Wolf pointed to the top of her head. “Mine.”

  A rare smile lit across his face. “Really?” Fei asked in delight, then his expression changed into one of aggravation. “That means I lost the bet with Sylvie.”

  Siobhan burst out laughing. “What was the bet?”

  “That the guildhall would have to be completely built before something happened between you two.” Fei huffed out a breath, looking peeved. “How does she know these things?”

  “Do not underestimate a woman’s instincts,” Siobhan advised. “Sylvie’s especially.”

  Despite Fei’s grumbling, he was clearly pleased with the development. Siobhan had worried at one point during the night that not everyone in the guild would be accepting of the change. It was sometimes a delicate balancing act, dealing with all of these personalities, and she couldn’t always predict how people would react. So far, however, she’d only
been met with open delight, and it made her worries of the night before seem silly and groundless.

  Fei peeked downwards before asking in a loud whisper, “Did the plan work?”

  “It did,” Wolf assured him in the same pitch. “The boy’s openly remorseful. He’s now helping Beirly.”

  Shifting positions, Fei let his legs dangle over the sides, arms crossed over the bar as he settled in more comfortably. “I’m glad. Siobhan-ajie, I had a thought while you were gone.”

  Siobhan perked up with true interest. Fei’s thoughts were usually good ones. “Which is?”

  “Teaching Alexander-gui is all well and good, but it will not change things in the long run. He is surrounded by bad advisors in Fallen Ward. Would it not be better to send him good advisors when he returns home?”

  Actually, it would be. “Darrens was hoping that someone from Saoleord would do that.”

  Fei gave a nod. “Yes, that is what we are trained to do. It was why my people preserved history all of this time and so readily agreed to send help when I asked. That is not quite what I meant.” He slicked a hand over his hair. “What I meant was, would it not be better to start the relationship now, between him and his advisor? Having an advisor one cannot trust is useless.”

  Siobhan blinked at him. “Well, certainly, it’d be better if that person was working with him right now, but we don’t have anyone like that, do we?”

  “Cha Ji An-zhi,” Fei said simply.

  Wolf gave a wordless rumble of approval. “Yes, she would be a good choice. She’s spent her entire time here learning how things work and making connections with people. And she told me she has no interest in returning home. I bet if we asked, she’d readily agree to help Alexander.”

  This was all news to Siobhan, but she barely saw Cha Ji An in passing. They tended to be on different schedules, somehow. “Does Darrens know this?”

  “I believe he does. He asked me several questions regarding her and even had me take a message to her with Grae-ren at one point.”