The sun was dipping into late afternoon angles. She shifted her heavy braids away from her steaming neck. This trip always took ages, but today it took even longer with Benjamin. It took time to let people figure things out for themselves. Sometimes too long. She paused to check on Benjamin and was surprised to see him watching her. He glanced at the sun to mark their time and drank from his waterskin.
She was going to have to start dinner when they got back, but she didn’t have the energy to think about it. She fanned her face as she caught her breath. She had to admit, she preferred thinking of him as Benjamin over “Patch” or “Hey You.” It felt real. I need more real in my life.
“Benjamin, do you cook at all?” She rubbed her arm over her forehead, pressing loose strands of hair out of her face.
“I can boil water,” he said, blushing.
She nodded at this. “That’s where all cooking starts.”
That was what the Lieutenant had said when he first handed the cooking over to her.
SEVEN
As they neared the hideout, Rebecca raised a hand to slow Benjamin down. The Lieutenant always had her stop and approach with caution. “The places where you feel safest are where you are the most vulnerable,” he often said.
Benjamin began to scan the area around them. Rebecca traced the outline of the prickly bushes that framed their hideout. Nothing moved. Her eyes fell on the empty woodblock. Benjamin had been chopping wood. Had he forgotten to put the axe back in the block?
Rebecca turned to make eye contact with Benjamin. “Where did you leave the axe?”
He glanced around, took her arm, and dragged her behind a prickly bush. “The axe is gone. I left it in the wood block,” he said as he glanced around the edge of the bush toward the shack. “The back door is open too.”
The Lieutenant could be testing them. He did that sort of thing. Rebecca peered over the bush. The door was ajar. The lamp was not lit, but it wasn’t quite dark yet. They could wait to see if the Lieutenant came out to light it. Maybe he forgot something.
“Let’s wait a minute. This isn’t quite right.” Rebecca glanced at Benjamin, who had already started crawling closer to the woodpile.
When she caught up to him, he was peering over the pile and scrutinizing the area outside the hideout.
“I don’t see any signs of a struggle out here,” Benjamin said. “Was the Lieutenant planning on going out? Did he follow us?”
They both checked behind them. She didn’t think so, but who knew with the Lieutenant? She suspected that while he didn’t really like Rebecca out wandering by herself, he’d wanted some time alone. Was that why he’d sent both of them to check the drop box?
“No, he was planning on staying here.” She twisted the end of her braid around her finger. “He would have put the bucket out on the back porch to let me know.”
Benjamin rubbed his chin with the back of his finger as he listened. “What are the procedures for something like this?”
“We should treat it like it’s real, even if we suspect it’s a test. We would meet—”
A squat man shoved the back door open with the missing axe. His thick silhouette blocked their view inside the dark house. They heard glass crashing inside as the stranger walked over to the woodpile and slammed the axe down, jamming it into a log just above Benjamin’s head. Rebecca pressed both hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.
“Told you no one was out here,” the thickset stranger called to the door. “No one’s coming. Let’s get out of here.”
“Well, Mouthrot said there was some kid with old One-Eye. Keep looking.” A tall, thin man stepped out the door. He took off his grimy cap, wiped his forehead, and ducked back inside.
Benjamin tugged on Rebecca’s skirt as he crawled toward the bushes. She grimaced as she watched the man pull out a knife and grudgingly patrol around the house. She clenched her jaw as she followed Benjamin’s lead. She felt something between a sob and scream building in her throat. What if she cracked?
The Lieutenant’s voice pierced through her swarming panic: Focus on your breathing. People forget to breathe when they’re scared. She leaned back and inhaled.
There was a loud clatter, and then the tall man stepped outside again. His eyebrows gathered low over his eyes. His patience with this task was running out. Rebecca met Benjamin’s eyes as he beckoned her to leave. Shadows were growing around them.
She turned from Benjamin to watch the tall man hunt after his companion. She closed her eyes and took another breath to clear her swarming thoughts. In many ways, the Lieutenant had been her prison guard, but he’d also been her guardian and sole companion over the years. She would not consider the option that he was dead. Rebecca pressed her locket against her chest. She knew how many close calls the Lieutenant had survived, but Benjamin didn’t know. The Lieutenant is alive, she reassured herself. She knew he was alive. Right?
A yank on Rebecca’s skirt jerked her back into the moment. Benjamin watched her, waiting for her to take the lead. They needed to get out of there to regroup so the Lieutenant could find them. Rebecca gripped her head between her cold hands. Once the tall man rounded the corner, she ran. She then burrowed into the tall grass, waiting until she could think clearly. Benjamin was close behind her. She grabbed Benjamin’s hand as she found her feet and sprinted again. Benjamin gripped her hand without a word, following her. He must have believed she knew where she was going. Too bad for him.
EIGHT
Rebecca ran blindly as branches and blades of grass whipped across her face and her arms. Please, not again. She was certain she smelled smoke as she pulled Benjamin behind her. She glanced behind her but didn't see any smoke or flames. Rebecca and Benjamin’s shared panting faded under the remembered sounds of crackling fire, screams, and the clanging of swords from a time long ago. On that panicked night, she’d run for her life into a black forest with her nurse. She swallowed a scream. Without the Lieutenant, what did she have? Was she on her own now? No, I have the boy. She felt the shadows of memories darken her thoughts.
“Shhh, shhh.” She drew comfort from the memory of her nurse whimpering in her ear. “We can’t let them find us.” Before, so long ago, she had run through a cursed forest to escape. This time, however, she was running through dry grass.
Rebecca tried not to think of the Lieutenant, who could be possibly unconscious and bleeding right now. Her stomach recoiled at the thought. He is not dead. No one could kill him. Maybe he escaped. The Lieutenant knew a thousand ways to escape ropes and chains, and he'd shown her some of them. He’d also taught her how to use a knife. He could take down two large men with or without a weapon. She believed the few stories that he’d told. He didn’t need to embellish anything. He had lived hidden among the king’s greatest enemies for years. If anything, he had understated the danger and left the ugliest parts out.
Mouthrot could not defeat him. No one could. It was impossible. Impossible. But Mouthrot had come back from the dead. That was one impossibility. That scum villain certainly wasn’t going to get two impossibilities. Not in this borrowed second life; not even if he bartered all of his new gold teeth.
Rebecca scowled at the grass to keep her tears from falling as she ran through the growing darkness. Benjamin’s hand slipped from hers to grab a fistful of skirt, but still he followed her. She pressed her now-empty hand to her chest to calm her panicking heart. Dark pressed in without mercy as they stumbled along.
Benjamin tugged on Rebecca’s skirt as he hissed, “Stop!”
As she turned to face him, Rebecca set her face into a glare to hide her fear from him.
“Do you know where we are?” Benjamin leaned in closer than she would have liked. “We’re going to need to find somewhere to hide.”
“We have a safe house, but it’s north. We ran south,” she panted. “I think.”
Rebecca couldn’t make out Benjamin’s exact expression, but she guessed by the way he fingered his sleeve that he wasn’t happy.
; “Well, we shouldn’t sleep on top of a hill for all the world to see.” He kicked into the dirt. “We need a low spot or someplace hidden. Bushes would be nice.”
Rebecca scanned the area around them. They were standing on a hill. Out this far, there was only yellowed grass and rocks just big enough to trip over: no place offered shelter. They were going to have to sleep in the open, under the stars, and in a bed of dust.
Benjamin sighed. “Down here, before we lose the light.” He grabbed her arm and towed her behind him.
+ + +
Rebecca woke up stiff and exhausted, the gifts of too much hiking and sleeping on hard dirt. Benjamin moaned as he rolled over to drink from his half-empty waterskin. She threw an arm over her eyes and rolled onto her back. The pain in her hips screamed almost as loudly as the pain in her throat. As she reached for her own waterskin, it felt as if someone was stabbing her calf.
“Cramp! Cramp!” she yelled, rubbing her leg.
Benjamin scrambled over to her. “Straighten it out. Where is it?”
“My calf! This one!”
“Stand up and straighten it out.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him to support her weight. She glanced down at him, but he was focused on her leg.
“Too much walking and not enough water.”
The pain dulled as they walked, but her calf was still stiff and tender.
“I thought you said I’d walked too much.” Rebecca tried to hide her wince. She didn’t want him to think she couldn’t keep up because she was a girl. She could be tough.
“C’mon.” He stepped slowly, waiting for her as she limped along.
“I thought we were under attack when I heard you scream,” he said, yawning.
“Sorry. There wasn’t someone here to cut my throat,” she said through gritted teeth. “I really need some water.”
Benjamin nodded and helped her sit on a stump. “I’ll get it.” He shook his head as he retrieved her waterskin from her pack. He handed it to her and stared in the general direction of the hideout.
Rebecca felt a moment of gratitude that Benjamin was with her. Rebecca wasn’t sure if she would have been able to get up by herself. She drank greedily. It was hard not to. They needed to get more water; her waterskin was nearly empty. She watched the brittle grass bobbing in the morning breeze.
“What now?” Benjamin asked. “Do you think they’re watching the house?”
She shrugged as she took a last sip. She closed her eyes and stretched her calf out, unable to think of anything beyond her fatigue and pain.
“I would,” he said as he sat beside her and scanned the area around him.
“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lieutenant found us by lunchtime,” she said, pounding the stopper back into her waterskin.
Even as Rebecca said it, she felt an uneasy fluttering in her stomach. However, she refused to give up completely on the idea that the Lieutenant was safe. He was the type to defy all odds. She fiddled with her waterskin and looked at Benjamin, who was pressing a knuckle against his lip in thought.
“You think he escaped?” Benjamin asked.
“You think he was kidnapped?” She glared.
“Yes, I do—and I think Mouthrot left those two behind to search the place.”
She clenched her fist and hit her waterskin. The Lieutenant was fine. He had to be fine.
“I suppose it’s possible he escaped, though unlikely. Mouthrot probably oversaw his capture personally.” Benjamin frowned and shook his head.
“We need to get down there.” She stood up to pick up her pack.
“What for? Just to get caught? You think the Lieutenant would go back?”
“We’ve got to do something!” The words burned through her throat. “What if he’s injured? What if they left him for dead?”
Her fingers fumbled numbly as she tried to shove her waterskin back into her pack. Frustrated when she couldn’t work the tie on her pack, she flung it down, a tear escaping down her cheek. She rubbed it away and then picked up her pack again with a glare.
“We need more food and water,” he said. “Your leg is stiff right now. Could you run if you needed to?”
She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes closed. Great Wolves! He’s right. We can’t go back. She shook her head. She could hear Benjamin walk toward her.
“Is there anywhere else we can go? Anyone you know who would help us?”
She opened her eyes, causing Benjamin to take two steps back. Something clicked in Rebecca’s head. A calm washed over her. Here was a boy who knew how villains thought, probably as well as the Lieutenant did.
“That depends.” She took a moment to catch her breath. “Will you help me rescue him…if he needs to be rescued?”
Benjamin’s eyebrows shot up. He took another step back. He rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing. She watched as he pushed ideas through his head. She wouldn’t let the Lieutenant die. Benjamin would help her. He had to.
“We need to take care of ourselves first.”
She smiled. I’ll take that as a yes.
“We can go to Denny’s. He and his brothers have worked with us for years. It’s not far from Shreb’s, and the Lieutenant might go there.”
Benjamin nodded at this as he rifled through his pack. He pulled out his knife and an apple, cutting it in half. He handed Rebecca half and bit into his. The juices cooled her parched throat. Yes, she was glad Benjamin was here.
She rebraided her hair, smoothing it down in the back as much as possible, while Benjamin sucked on his apple core. He was flipping through a small book, scribbling and crossing things out. He closed it and slid it into his jacket pocket with a sigh. She stretched her sore leg and rubbed it before shrugging her pack on and limping ahead. At first, her calf complained, but after a few minutes, it relaxed. It felt better to be moving, to be doing something. Anything. Much better than sitting idle, waiting for someone to tell her what was going on.
NINE
His hands and knees raw and scratched, Benjamin crawled behind Rebecca. As they approached Denny’s farm, fatigue gutted him. All he wanted was food and a bed, but the ground was looking more welcoming all the time.
“Are you purposely picking the worst possible way to go?” Benjamin stopped to pull a sticker out of his hand.
“You’re the one who said that Denny’s place is probably being watched, right? And didn’t you suggest that we watch them before we contact them?” She turned to scowl at him. He remained silent. “And you don’t want them to hear us, right?”
Benjamin rolled his eyes. He hated it when she was right. He would just have to put up with the thousand cuts, slices, and thorns ravishing his flesh. He’d never really worked in tandem with anyone before, especially not a girl, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
They came to a halt on the fringe of undergrowth. From their vantage point, they could see a squat building with a patchy roof and a large but slightly crooked barn. A broken cart sat propped against the barn, and a goat slept under it. Between the two buildings was an open space of compacted dirt with a covered well.
Rebecca smiled. “That’s probably why we haven’t seen them for a while.” She pointed to the broken wheel on the cart.
Obediently, Benjamin looked over and shrugged, trying to keep his skepticism in check. He moved next to her to get a better look at the yard. Nothing but the goat was visible, but a rumble in the barn drew their attention. A giant youth, a few years older than Benjamin and with short, mousy hair, came out of the barn carrying a few items bent at odd angles. He sat down next to the goat in the shade. The youth reached behind the goat and pulled out a box of tools. He then proceeded to straighten and untangle several pieces of metal. Benjamin raised an eyebrow at Rebecca.
“He’s one of Denny’s brothers,” she whispered. “Odie.”
“One?”
“He has two brothers, Odie and Baldo. Odie can fix anything and is an excellent fighter. He’s beaten the Lieutenant at swo
rds a few times. Baldo is a clever little guy. Always planning something. You remind me of him, now that I think about it.”
Benjamin frowned. Rebecca obviously underestimated him. He was the valedictorian of his class. “Are they all that big?”
“No, just Odie.” She smiled. “Baldo is tiny. Denny is tall, but not nearly as large as Odie. Denny does all the talking.”
A lean stripling stepped out of the house, and his golden hair gleamed in the sun. “Dinner’s ready!” he yelled.
The smell of root vegetables and meat wafted toward them.
“I never thought Denny’s rabbit stew could smell so good,” Rebecca said, leaning forward.
Benjamin salivated and rested a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder. She leaned back. The goat stood while the larger brother worked on silently. Denny watched with a wry smile as the goat trotted over to him and bleated.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he said, patting the goat on the head and leading it to the barn. “Odie, you’ve spoiled this goat. Rina thinks she’s a pet—or a person. I doubt she knows she's a goat.”
Odie didn’t acknowledge his brother as he untwisted the metal strips as if they were mere wire. Denny tapped his brother on the head, and Odie jumped. Denny motioned to the house, and they both went inside.
“So how long do we have to sit here and watch before we decide to talk to him?” Rebecca whispered.
Benjamin thought about that for a minute. It was tempting to think that perhaps they could just knock on the door and get some stew and a good place to sleep. The brothers seemed innocent enough. But then they needed to remember who they were dealing with. Someone must have told Mouthrot where to find the Lieutenant. The goat bleated from inside the barn.
“What if they’re being watched?”
She rolled her eyes. “But they’re just kids, hardly a threat to Mouthrot or Shreb. That’s why the Lieutenant used them.”
Villain's Assistant Page 4