The day held a promise of fulfillment.
I straightened my helmet. It had a tendency to slip over my brow and blind me. On second thought, I removed the blasted encumbrance. I did not want to miss any of the next fifteen minutes.
“Do you have the orders?” With my helmet tucked underneath my armpit, I held my hand out for the parchment. The guard at my side fumbled around for it. Glancing over my shoulder, I lifted a brow. “Hann, do you have it or not?”
He shoved it in my hand. “Here.”
“Good.”
Matty’s brother was new to the Blayvian Guard. In the year following Kenric’s death, King Esmond culled the elite order and replenished it with men loyal to him. Now, Esmond purged the nobility.
I gestured us forward; us being me, Hann, and a dozen foot soldiers of the Tenth Infantry.
“Play it smooth, as always,” I said.
Hann shook his head. He didn’t like playing the bully. Neither did I, but we didn’t have much choice.
We made a ruckus, marching through the second most lavish neighborhood in Ledonia City. The mansions were smaller here, but no less gaudy in their grandeur. And because the neighborhood rested at the bottom of a hill, the breeze from the ocean did not reach through the streets and a mild smell of rot hung heavy in the air. The midsummer sun pelted me with heat. Sweat formed underneath my armor. I’d be glad when the day was over, so I could strip off the black chain, black tunic, black everything.
I often wondered, why the color black? As we marched toward our next destination, I knew. Servants and slaves scurried out of our way. Petty nobles rushed home, frightened they would be the king’s next target. We were a humbling sight, made menacing all in black. I wished King Blayve, who started the order, would have picked a less sun attracting color. Made of the north, I couldn’t stand the southern heat even without the color black.
Our target came into view. A tiny mansion by most noble standards, it could still easily fit at least three families from the slums and then some. It didn’t even have a gate, only a row of yellow summer flowers leading up to a door. Hardly a threatening den of monsters, most people might wonder, why this one? Well, King Esmond had exhausted the richer houses already, unfortunately for the lesser nobles.
I directed half of the soldiers to the back of the house, to cover any escape routes. Nodding to Hann, I took a deep breath. I didn’t like being a bully, but this time, I’d make an exception. The noble had it coming.
Hann knocked on the door, his gauntlets creating a scraping, pounding clink of doom. If I had been on the other side of the door, I’d have pissed myself. It was going around town, that sound. Nobles whispered of it behind their hands, trembling as they described the moment everything changed for them. Some lost their fortunes. Others, their lives.
I laughed.
Hann glared at me. He wasn’t nearly as fun as his sister. The door opened a crack. A meek little woman peeked around the frame, her knuckles bone white. The wife? Or a slave?
“Lady Mina of House Thistleton?” Hann asked.
She gasped. It was her, then. Mina tried to shut the door, but I pushed it open, inviting myself inside. The lord didn’t even have a butler or steward to answer guests; he had his wife do the menial task. King Esmond picked for wilted fruit with this house. But then again, his orders here were first and foremost for an arrest.
Hann followed me into the drawing room, a pair of soldiers behind us. The rest stayed outside, guarding the door until I stated otherwise. Lady Mina backed away from us, screwing up the top of her dress, as if to stop her heart from jumping out of her chest. She looked at the floor, anything to avoid having to look at us goons. Her knees shook, poking through her dress. She’d fall in another minute.
“You poor little thing,” I said. How anyone could be married to that ox of a toad – it truly baffled me. I really did sympathize with her plight. “Where is your husband?”
Mina’s lips trembled. She stammered out something, too low for me to hear. Sighing, I brushed by her. To her credit, she didn’t fall. But she did cry out while making the warding off sign in my direction. I rolled my eyes. I was the big bad she-wolf, creeping into her house, bringing with me death and destruction. I plopped into a comfy looking chair. The pillows were absolutely divine. One could fall asleep on such softness. I closed my eyes.
“Cadda…” Hann cleared his throat. Always in a rush, that one. He should’ve known by then we always caught our prey.
Best to get it over with. Placing my helmet on my lap, I opened my eyes. I unfolded the parchment and read, in a loud voice. If the lord were hiding in his home, and surely he was, then hearing this would either make him rush into this room and kill me, or more likely, run away. He could try both. Either way, he’d fail.
“It is the order of his grace King Esmond, ruler and protector of Ledonia, that all valuables and riches from House Thistleton be confiscated immediately to compensate the realm for the treason this house has shown. In addition, Lord Noll is to be summarily arrested for said treason and is to be taken to stand trial before the king.”
Mina crumpled to the ground and burst into tears.
Funny, I thought it’d be more satisfying than this to get back at my former lord commander – but, no.
Restless now, I shut out the noise the woman made and focused elsewhere. Shuffling noises from another room, in the back, came to me. I snapped my fingers in that direction. “He is in the back.” The two soldiers left the room.
“What trial?” Mina moaned. “He’ll just be thrown into the dungeon and I’ll never see him again.”
Wouldn’t that be nice? But the woman pulled at her hair, already acting as if her husband were dead. She wasn’t all wrong. Lord Noll would be put into the dungeons without a trial. Esmond never bothered with those. I doubted Noll would survive the prison. I should know, I’d spent a long vacation down there. The darkness was not for the faint of heart. Or for cowards, like Lord Noll.
Hann attempted to pull the sniveling woman off the floor. She pushed him away and crawled to the wall, where she pulled her knees up to her face. I might have felt sorry for her, were I not so restless, frustrated. A she-wolf on a leash. What was taking so long? Noll was an ox, I’d give him that, but it shouldn’t take more than two men to apprehend him. Did I have to go in there myself? Faintly, voices neither Hann nor Mina could hear, drifted to me.
“They have him,” I said. Mina groaned. Hann didn’t question my innate ability to sense things better than anyone. He’d gotten used to it by then, though I knew he was suspicious. He’d been that way ever since I’d met him and his sister, almost two years ago, now. Some things were better left a mystery.
The two soldiers returned, a raging Lord Noll in between them. The moment he spotted me lounging on his soft chair, his face turned a mottled red. He fought against the soldiers, to no avail. His nostrils flared and spittle flew out of his mouth.
“You… woman!” he shouted. “You hussy! You are the bane of my existence!”
Oh, Lord Noll, how I’ve missed your tirades. Standing, I chuckled.
“It is always a pleasure to see you, lord commander.”
He spat on my feet. “You’re a traitor!”
“How can I be a traitor when I was never Ledonian in the first place?”
“You took an oath and you broke it.”
“I took an oath to serve the king. Am I not serving the king?”
Noll roared. He elbowed one soldier and kicked the other, breaking free. Come on, then. I know you want me. I stood where I was, not flinching as he charged toward me. Hann shook his head but made no move. Noll, the raging ox, reached me. I don’t know what he intended to do. Knock me over, perhaps? Then run?
I punched him. He fell back with a crack. A long time coming, that punch. I smirked at him. He held his face, a welt already showing. I flexed my knuckles, gauntleted. A good bonus, these steel capped gloves of mine. I might have broken his cheekbone.
“Would you like to try again?” I asked.
He grumbled incoherently.
“Would you like me to read out my orders one more time? I do believe I read them out loud and clear the first time.”
“Treason?” Noll shook his head. The soldiers, rubbing their injuries, returned to his side. Grabbing hold of him, they hauled him up. He did not resist this time. “If anyone is guilty of treason, it is you, woman, for doing the tyrant’s dirty work.”
I raised a brow. Did he really just call the king a tyrant? Talk about implicating yourself. Stupid oaf. “I am following the king’s orders, like a good soldier.”
“Pfft. You’re a snake, promising the rebellion one thing and then doing another thing. Becoming Lord Baldwyn’s pet and then just as quickly cozying up to the king. Women cannot be trusted.”
The fool should shut his mouth about rebellion. I wasn’t sure about Hann or the soldiers. I massaged my temple. What was to be done? I had looked forward to this moment ever since I’d spotted his name on the king’s list. But now it didn’t feel right. None of what I’d done had felt right. King Esmond might have given me back my mother, but by the Mother Creator, he was a tyrant.
“Hann, take Mina to the back. The rest of you, clear the house.”
“What about him, s-sir?” one of the soldiers asked, a flush on his cheeks. They never knew how to address me.
I smirked. “Leave him to me.”
With a salute, the two soldiers released Noll and went to the door to recruit the others for the work to be done. Stripping the house of valuables. Searching every nook and cranny for hidden treasures and riches. Not the kind of work the Tenth Infantry was used to, but it got them paid, what more could they ask for? I knew some of them pilfered, too. I let them, as long as they kept the good stuff for the king. Happy troops made my job a whole lot easier.
Hann gently coaxed Mina from the floor and led her away to the back. Noll watched this carefully, biting his lips and balling his fists. I went over to the ox and brought his arms in a twist behind him. He was a head taller than me, a whole lot wider than me, and had arms and legs as thick as tree stumps, but he was a helpless child in my grip. I pushed him forward.
“You should be more careful about what you say, in the future,” I said.
“What future?”
“Lord commander, you may think I am out to get you, but I assure you, I am not.”
He laughed, the desperate laughter of a dead man. “And so said the gods before they wiped humanity out with the flood.”
I laughed with him, much to his surprise. He shut up.
Noll’s house stood rather empty. He didn’t seem to have any servants or slaves. They might have run when they caught wind of us. Or they might not have existed at all. His house was plain. Nothing reeked of richness. Still, it remained a step up from the merchant class. Esmond would not be easy to placate. What I had decided would only make it harder.
We caught up to Hann and Mina in the kitchens. Giving Noll one last shove, I released him. “Go,” I said. “The backdoor is unguarded now.”
Hann sent me a puzzling look. Noll creased his brows, as if he thought it was a trick.
“Go,” I said with more force. “Before I change my mind.”
It took his wife to convince him. Little Mina latched onto him, tugging at his shirt sleeves, begging him with her eyes to believe me. She put a lot of trust in me, for all she had warded my evil off earlier. I hoped she would keep her mouth shut. It wouldn’t be good for my reputation to be tarnished by mercy.
“Go!”
Lord Noll eyed me carefully, not exactly grateful, but at least with a little less spite than before. Then, smartly, he turned around and fled through the backdoor with his wife.
“Was that wise?” Hann asked.
“The king wants coin more than he wants another body in the dungeon,” I lied. “He will get that.”
“But he spoke of a rebellion.”
I turned on Hann, warning smoldering in my eyes. “The king only wants to increase his coffers. We will not mention any of this to him. Noll is a fool, always has been, always will be. He would say anything to shift blame away from himself.”
“Then why did you let him go? King Esmond will be angry.”
Stating the obvious, per usual. Shaking my head, I left the kitchens and Hann. The ransacking of Noll’s house was at high tide.
I couldn’t answer Hann because I couldn’t be sure myself. Why did I let Noll go?
The king really would have much preferred to have Noll in hand. He suspected Noll knew things and he was right to suspect. I’d have to lie to the king.
Noll was right; I was a traitor.
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