Chapter 17
I woke with a start to Ghis shaking my shoulder. His face was grim. "Time to move."
I groaned, sitting up. My muscles ached from the previous night's events, and my mind was still clouded with exhaustion. Laine was sprawled out nearby, snoring softly. He was hugging his sack of stolen goods and had a smile on his face. The sight further ruined my mood. I gave him a hard shove with my foot.
"Alright, alright," Laine muttered, rubbing his eyes. "You have the bedside manner of a rock, you know that?"
I ignored him and turned to survey the room. We'd been planning to leave Ghis' parents' house soon, so I wanted to get some rest after sleeping in the living room. I looked out the window. It was still dark; dawn had not broken yet.
Erwin was spreading a map on the worn table in the corner of the room. Ghis' parents sat nearby, hugging each other tightly. Ghis moved over to the table and leaned on it as well, listening intently to Erwin.
In the corner of the room was the veiled man, tied up and slumped against the wall.
"He's still not up?" I asked, wondering how hard I'd hit him.
"I put a sleeping spell on him," Ghis replied without turning back.
"Here's the plan," Erwin interrupted, tapping the map. "We'll split up again. Ghis, you, me and your parents will move together. I will head us to a safehouse near the city's main gate. Here, we'll focus on finding people willing to fight, and we'll also need time to gather weapons and support to arm them properly. The goal is to take the castle by force."
"You sure you want to fight against your father?" Ghis asked.
Erwin sighed. "He's no longer the man I knew. I have to put the Duchy and its people first. We'll take over the castle, imprison my father, and put Eris in charge."
"What about me?" I asked, though I already had a bad feeling.
Erwin's eyes met mine. "You will take Laine and our hostage and go to a different safehouse near the docks. You need to gather support as well, but I mostly want you to interrogate the advisor," he said, pointing to the veiled man.
"Interrogate him for what?"
"I told you my father changed when this man appeared. But what I didn't mention was that my older sister, Eris' twin, went missing around that same time. I have my suspicions that the two things are connected. He'll probably have answers. I need to know that Sara's safe before I make any moves."
I crossed my arms. "And you think the Duke's creepy advisor will just spill everything to me?"
"You'll find a way." Erwin handed me a slip of paper. "This is the map to the safehouse. On the back is the password that will let them know you're trustworthy."
I looked at the piece of paper. One side had a roughly drawn map showing the harbor and where we might find the safehouse. On the other side, it read, 'I'm the Fish Inspector.'
I looked up at Erwin, who shrugged his shoulders. I sighed and put the paper in my pocket.
"Great," I muttered, glancing at Laine. "Stuck with you again. Just my luck."
Laine grinned. "You're welcome."
We had a light breakfast while Erwin described the safehouse to me in detail. I left soon after, hoisting the veiled man over my shoulder. Laine followed close behind, carrying his sack.
The streets were shrouded in a thick mist, the damp air clinging to my skin. I navigated through the narrow alleys, the weight of the veiled man on my shoulder feeling heavier with each step. I glanced at Laine, who was humming under his breath.
"You really think Erwin's plan is going to work?" I muttered.
Laine shrugged, his eyes scanning the streets. "It's not the worst idea I've heard. Besides, if it works, I might get rewarded for my part in it."
I was about to respond when the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted us. I quickly pulled Laine to the side, and we both hugged the wall of the narrow alleyway.
After a short while, soldiers marched across the alley's exit, spears in hand.
When they were gone, Laine whispered. "You think they're searching for us?"
I had no intention of sticking around to find out. I signaled at him to follow behind me quietly, and we snuck out.
We crept through the winding alleys, listening intently for any signs of approaching patrols. Footsteps would echo off the stone walls every few minutes, and we would wait before moving on. Laine walked beside me, his steps unnervingly light for someone carrying such an overloaded rucksack. I could feel the weight of the veiled man on my shoulder, his unconscious form shifting slightly with every step.
My grip tightened instinctively as two soldiers passed by the corner ahead, their armor clinking softly in the still morning air.
I held my breath, counting the seconds until their footsteps faded. Laine gave me a sideways glance.
"You know," he whispered, "if we get caught, I say we tell them that I'm your master, and you're holding a very expensive rug."
I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"You should know that if we get caught, I'm going to start throwing your stolen merchandise again."
He hugged his sack tighter and stopped talking.
It took us half an hour longer than anticipated, but we managed to reach the safehouse without incident.
"This doesn't look like a gathering of rebels," I said aloud.
"Maybe that's the point," Laine responded.
Erwin had described it as an abandoned inn named Clover's Rest. I recognized it from the signboard, though it took me a while to read it as the board was hanging by a single nail and swinging in the breeze. Its wooden shutters hung askew, and the brick walls were streaked with soot. A broken lantern swung from a rusted nail beside the entrance; its glass cracked and blackened.
At first, I thought the place was empty, but I soon heard raucous laughter from inside. I stepped forward cautiously, my boots crunching against scattered debris, and knocked.
The laughter died out immediately.
"Who's there?" a gruff voice called out, laced with caution.
I cleared my throat and said, "The Fish Inspector."
No reply came.
I repeated it, louder this time, feeling a growing sense of embarrassment
This time, the only response was a burst of even louder laughter. Something was definitely wrong. My patience wore thin.
I gave a swift kick, and the door flew off its hinges, crashing to the floor.
A wave of stale ale and unwashed bodies hit me like a ton of bricks. Inside, ten scruffy, ragged men stared at me, no longer laughing but still looking amused. They were nothing like the sharp-eyed rebels I had imagined. In fact, they reminded me a little of Laine when he'd first robbed me.
I would have thought we had come to the wrong place had I not read the sign.
One of the men, a wiry figure with a scar running down his cheek, looked up from counting a pile of mismatched coins and smirked.
"Well, well. Looks like we've got company."
"Who are you?" I asked, my indignation spilling out.
The man sighed and walked up to me cooly. "Dead men don't need to know that."
Quick as a blur, he took a knife out from his back and aimed it at my stomach.
There was a clink as the knife shattered on impact.
The man stared down at the empty handle in his hands. Then up at me. Then back down. Then back at me.
He gave me a toothy grin and held his hands wide open as if inviting me for a hug.
"But we always welcome new friends."
I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
"Who are you? We expected to find someone else here."
The man sputtered his words out. "We-We're just thieves and smugglers. We were squatting here. We have nothing to do with the original owners. They ran off a long time ago. Ho-Honest... we just… we just thought this was a safe place to lay low."
I don't know why I expected anything different. Nothing I'd been involved in so far had turned out as expected.
The rest of the men charged at me, screaming with their weapons raised high.
I grabbed the veiled man and the first thief by their feet and began swinging them around. Swinging them around like oversized clubs, I sent a pair of would-be attackers crashing into the rickety furniture, toppling chairs and splintering a table in the process.
The remaining thieves hesitated, wide-eyed, as I spun my human weapons in a wide arc, knocking another one clean off his feet and sending him tumbling into a pile of crates.
The thief screeched in pure terror, but the veiled man remained oddly quiet. Ghis' s sleeping spell was stronger than I'd thought.
I heard Laine laugh. "You look like you're enjoying this Sam."
I didn't respond as I was too busy using my improvised bludgeons to clear the room. He was right, though. I was enjoying myself, mostly because the thieves looked like Laine, and it was easy to imagine taking my frustration out on him.
After a while, all of the thieves were wriggling around on the ground, except the one I'd used as a club. He had fainted midway through the battle.
"Listen," I said, throwing my thief weapon to the side. "If you guys leave now, I'll forget this ever happened."
Wordlessly, the thieves began to get up and leave, supporting their friends who couldn't walk by themselves.
After they'd left, I turned to Laine, "Why would the rebels leave?"
Laine shrugged. "Probably thought they were fighting a losing battle."
That didn't bode well. I hoped Erwin was having better luck.
I dragged the veiled man to the backroom, where I tied him to a rickety chair. Laine brought me a bucket of water to wake the man up, then started walking away, casually mentioning he was going to sell his stolen trinkets.
Alone with the unconscious man, I took a deep breath and pulled off his veil.
His left eye socket was empty, an old scar running down his cheek. Without much fanfare, I tossed a bucket of water over his head.
He spluttered, coughing. When his good eye focused on me, he smirked. "I know you."
I arched a brow. "Do you now?"
"You're the man from the caravan. The one who summoned lightning. The face may be different, but the tracking spell doesn't lie."
My stomach sank. "Tracking spell?"
It was good luck I had split off from Erwin and the others.
"Oh yes," he said smugly. "That letter you opened? Marked you the moment you touched it. The Council knows exactly where you are Loony Lord."
I sighed. I'd hoped to escape that name, but apparently not. "And the Duke? Is he under some spell too?"
The man barked a laugh. "Spells? No, no. Just good old-fashioned blackmail. We have his daughter, Sara, you see. He does what we say, or she suffers. Simple. We forced him to hire me as advisor so I could ensure he wouldn't betray us and secretly search for her."
I blinked. This interrogation thing was easier than I'd thought. He was just smugly giving information away.
The man continued. "You're too late now, hero. We'll remove Eris and his fiancé Jessica shortly. Both of them are the respective heirs to the Duchy and the Maxwell fortune. With Erwin gone, Sara Baramund will become heir. And with Jessica out of the way, her brother takes control of the Maxwell fortune."
I frowned. "How does that help you?"
"Sara Baramund is our captive. Tegris, Jessica's brother, is already working with us."
I nodded. The Council would gain both wealth and power from this method.
"Then," the man grinned, "we kill the Duke and force Sara to marry Tegris. The Council will have full control over the richest merchants and the Duchy itself."
"Why blackmail the Duke in the first place?"
"We needed the public to lose faith in him. Tegris will use his wealth to help the people and gain their favor, making his eventual ascension easier."
The man threw his head back and laughed.
"It's an amazing plan!"
I glared at him.
His grin faltered. "On second thought, it's a terrible plan, really."
I leaned in. "Never mind all that. How do I break the tracking spell?"
"Ha! Good luck with that. You'd need a powerful mage for that. One capable of summoning lightning to—" he trailed off, realization dawning.
I smiled at him and closed my eyes. In my mind, I began repeating the phrase, 'Break the tracking spell, Break the tracking spell.'
Something crackled in the air, and when I opened my eyes again, the advisor was staring in disbelief.
"Guess I broke it, huh?"
He paled. "I'll never betray the Council."
"You literally told me your entire plan," I pointed out dryly. "But where is Sara?"
His lips clamped shut.
I tapped my chin, contemplating torture. But the truth was, I didn't want to ruin the fresh clothes Ghis' mom gave me. Then Laine walked in, whistling a merry tune.
"You'll never believe what just happened Sam."
I groaned. I could tell one of his stories was coming. Listening to him ramble on was practically torture.
'Wait a minute,' I thought to myself.
I looked at Laine. Then, at the advisor.
A slow smile spread across my face.