Chapter 16
16
RUNE
“ W hat in fate’s name was that about?” were the first words out of Lilia’s mouth when I’d collected myself enough to step through the door. The scent of stew filled the room, but my appetite was shot now. I couldn’t eat when I knew the guild had finally sent someone for me—someone I’d wanted to believe was too good to be one of them.
I heaved a tired sigh, thundered over to the table, and collapsed into an open chair. It was just so fucking disappointing. Frida’s sweet smile, the light in her eyes when she gazed upon the world with pure delight. All of it was fake. Assassins didn’t look at anything that way.
“You remember the Assassin’s Guild?” I asked Ragnar.
His face instantly clouded over. “How could I forget? They used to be in league with the Mercenaries Guild. When I first visited the Isles a few decades ago, they chased me here and tried to make me pay my brother’s debts. Why? What does that have to do with Frida?”
“I was in the guild before I came here.”
“That’s right. I always forget you were a member,” Lilia said, frowning. “Sorry Rune. You’re just nothing like the others I’ve met.”
“Neither is Frida,” I said quietly.
Ragnar straightened. “That sweet elven lass we just met? Surely she can’t be.”
I held up the ball of parchment she’d tossed to the ground, then passed it over to Ragnar. I’d read the words outside while she’d been collecting her pack from the cottage. It corroborated what she’d told me. This was her first assignment, and she’d originally come here thinking she had to steal a dragon.
I was more relieved than I should have been. When I’d caught her out there with a messenger owl, I’d braced myself for a fictionalized tale good enough for a Silva Sweetwater novel. And at first, that was all it had seemed to be. A sad story about her family provided a good excuse.
But then she’d gone to ground, and I’d read the note she’d left behind, and a part of me wanted to believe every word that came out of that pretty mouth.
Ragnar quickly read the message and loosed a low whistle. Grimacing, he passed it to Lilia. “Looks like they finally figured out a way to get around the island’s magic.”
I nodded. “If they send someone who doesn’t know why they’re coming here, it’s the perfect trick. Of course, it’s not easy to replicate. They needed someone who was new to the guild and didn’t know better. Also someone willing to go on a nonsensical assignment. Who in their right mind thinks they can steal a bloody dragon?”
Lilia pursed her lips. “Do you think Frida believed she’d be successful?”
“From what she told me, it didn’t matter. She was desperate enough to try.”
“Why?” Lilia asked.
I ran a hand along the top of my head, sighing. “Her father is Erik’s right-hand man. She’s a Rurik. They’re all guild members and always have been.”
Lilia looked to Ragnar, who nodded. “They’ve been a part of the guild for a very long time. I’m surprised Frida is joining so late. Family members tend to join young. Too young, if you ask me.”
I quickly filled them in on the rest of Frida’s story. And as I recounted her words, an image of her tear-stained face flashed in my mind. My stomach twisted. Either she was an excellent actress, or she truly regretted ever considering a life in the guild.
After I’d told them what I knew, Ragnar frowned. “Rune, surely you don’t mean for her to return to the guild empty-handed. We both know what they’re like and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to get what they want.”
“What are you trying to say?” Lilia asked, alarmed.
“If this is Frida’s induction assignment, that means she’s not an official member of the guild yet, which means she lives outside the bounds of their protection.”
I shook my head. “Her father would never let Erik punish her in that way.”
“You might be right,” Ragnar conceded. “But I wouldn’t be willing to stake gold on that. Would you?”
“You should tell her to stay here,” Lilia said. “They won’t let her join if she doesn’t complete the assignment, so she has no reason to go back to Vilmar.”
“They’ll send someone else if she never returns,” Ragnar said.
“That might be a long time from now. Like you said, they need a certain type of person to pull it off,” she argued.
“They can’t send someone with the intention of targeting Rune, but they could certainly send someone to search for a missing daughter. And that person might be a lot more difficult to deal with than Frida.” Ragnar cocked his brow. “But I have an idea. You probably won’t like it, though, darling.”
“Oh, lovely. I always enjoy when you say things like that.” Lilia shot him a flat stare.
Ragnar grinned, motioning both of us closer. “What if we simply use Erik’s tricks against him?”
A fter Lilia and Ragnar returned to the inn for the night, I settled into my rocking chair with Moira curled in my lap. I absentmindedly stroked her fur, my mind spinning. Ragnar’s plan was…well, it was fucking ridiculous. There was no other way to say it. It was as likely to succeed as I was to invite a hundred people into my house to make a mess of it.
A gust of wind barrelled against the house. It slipped through the cracks, bringing a chill to the air, despite the hearth-fire. Frowning, I stood, lifted Moira into my arms, and moved over to the window. The world outside had vanished, replaced by an impenetrable black wall.
My gut churned. The Elding was coming back, and Frida was out there in the thick of it.
I owed her nothing. Even if she hadn’t realized it when she’d boarded that ship, she’d come here to kill me. And if Erik hadn’t lied to her, she likely would have shot an arrow at my head on that very first night. She only hesitated now because I was no longer a faceless mark to her. She’d gotten to know me. She’d helped me save a woman’s life.
Clenching my jaw, I grabbed my cloak from the hook beside the door and took off into the night. The temperature had dropped, and the harsh wind tunnelled through my garden. A fallen branch scraped along the ground, its leaves shuddering with a desperation to break free.
Stumbling forward, I hunted down the path I’d watched Frida take earlier and broke out into a run. The world was so dark, I struggled forward, but I knew these woods so well that I managed to stick to the path.
I had a feeling I knew where I’d find Frida. By this point, she’d have realized the storm was returning, and she would have sought the only shelter of which she was aware. That tree hollow might seem like a decent enough protection against a storm, but the Elding was no normal storm. The persistent wind and rain would force their way inside until it stole all her breath away.
“Frida!” I called out when I thought I was near enough to the tree for her to hear me. Everything was so dark. Only the vague shape of trunks and wild brush surrounded me, the darkness smudging everything else. “FRIDA!”
With the wind howling around me, I held myself still and listened for any sound that might indicate her direction. But would she even answer if she heard my voice? If I were her, I likely wouldn’t.
If I were her, I’d be afraid of me.
I was an orc and a former member of a guild full of murderous assholes. I’d caught her in a lie, and she’d fled to get away from me. And now I was stalking around the woods, shouting for her with an axe strapped to my back. She’d probably think I’d come out here to stop her from returning to the guild.
The wind rustled the leaves by my feet, bringing with it a soft sound. “Rune?”
I whirled toward her voice and felt my way down the path. My outstretched hands met the rough bark of a redwood tree. Fingers wrapped around my ankle, tugging me down.
I knelt. Frida’s hand slid up my side until it paused on my shoulder. “Rune, why are you here?”
“The storm’s coming back,” I said gruffly. “Didn’t you realize?”
“Well, yes. That’s why I’m inside the tree.”
“It’s not safe enough. I’m taking you back to the cottage.”
A long moment of silence stretched between us, then she said, “You want me to come back?”
“I know you probably think I’m mad, but I can’t let you stay out here during the storm. It’s not right, no matter why you came here,” I said.
Her hand stiffened on my shoulder. “I came here to steal your dragon. The other thing is inconsequential.”
“Inconsequential?” I barked a laugh. “I daresay Erik won’t agree when you return without my head.”
“It’s about time Erik learned he can’t always have what he wants,” she snapped.
A blast of wind hit me in the back, nearly knocking me into the tree. Bracing myself, I reached inside the hollow and found Frida’s other hand. “We’ll argue about this later. Right now, I need you to come with me.”
“Rune,” she whispered, tugging her hand away from me.
“Don’t be so stubborn, Frida. If you stay out here, you could—”
“You shouldn’t be helping me,” she said, her voice a little louder—a little stronger — now. “I’m your enemy. My people, the guild—”
“The guild members aren’t your people,” I said firmly.
“Of course they are! I was born into it. The guild’s ways run in my blood.”
I shook my head. The bloody elf was more stubborn than I was.
Heavy droplets of rain tore through the canopy. A few landed on my arms, and pain lashed through me. Cursing beneath my breath, I leaned into the trunk and wound my arms around Frida’s body. Then, despite knowing how much she would hate me for this, I tossed her over my shoulder.
A cry of alarm tore from her throat, but I ignored it. With her body tucked tightly against mine, I took off down the path, swatting stray branches aside. Wind and rain beat against me. The moments felt agonizingly long, like we’d been trapped fleeing this storm for hours. Eventually, the pale light from my cottage shone through the darkness. I stumbled toward it, clenching my jaw against the pain.
Just a little further. A few more steps, and we’d be out of the rain. But as I thundered toward my cottage, a numbness filled my head. It was too much. Far too much. I’d only been caught out like this a handful of times, but each one had brought me to my knees.
The world around me seemed to blur, my vision darkening at the edges.
We reached the door, and I kicked it open, stumbling into the safety of my cottage. Angry heat tore through me. Streaks of yellow filled my eyes, transforming the room into nothing more than a meaningless blob of light.
Gritting my teeth, I tried to be gentle when I lowered Frida, but my knees buckled. My leg thundered into the floor, jolting me. Frida’s weight vanished from my shoulder. And then everything went black.