Colin’s mother proved herself quite competent in the dressing of wounds. She seemed unfazed by the conditions in the tunnel, quickly and efficiently laying out what she needed to clean and bind Garon’s bitten leg. Garon had told Kiri that she had been a great help while Kiri was injured, and she could see now how true that was. Remembering her injury brought the dull headache Kiri had been ignoring all day to the front of her mind.

“Did you say there was tea?” Kiri asked Colin, who sat at her elbow while they both watched Colin’s mother tend to Garon.

“Yes, just a moment.” Colin scurried away to fill a cup for her.

“You’ve taken no permanent injury,” Colin’s mother told Garon as she mopped up the last of the blood from his leg and threw the rag in a bowl with the others.

“Except for my trousers,” Garon said regretfully. “Thanks for your help.”

The gratitude was accepted with a simple nod and smile. “I’ll just go get rid of these.” She picked up the bowl and headed toward the entrance of the tunnel. She nodded-and winked!-at Kiri as she left.

Kiri crawled forward and sat down by Garon. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder, briefly, just to reassure herself he was there and well. The memories of those last horrible moments with Gilliam slid back to the part of her mind where she tried to keep them locked up. It had all been brought back by the sight of all the blood on Garon. Now that he was clean, and nearly normal except the trouser cut off above the knee and a white wrap around the calf, a smile came easy to her lips.

“I’ll pay for new trousers, if you like,” she offered.

“You don’t have to. I wanted to come. And I’m sure you couldn’t give me any as fine as the ones Mala gave me. However,” he added thoughtfully. “Those aren’t useful for me anyway. I don’t think I’ll be going to any more balls at the palace. I do only have one useful pair of trousers now, besides these.”

“Speaking of usefulness, I must say you were more useful than I thought you would be.”

“All I did was get attacked.” Garon looked down at his hands. Was he actually feeling ashamed?

“Yes. Usefully freeing me up to take out the other two,” Kiri said with emphasis. “And you did well without any powers at all, just a knife. You kept that beast from killing you. That’s better than a lot of men might do...have done.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Garon admitted. “I had to make do without that amazing power you have. You were…” he trailed off shaking his head, but Kiri could see on his face how he was half in awe while half-disbelieving what he had seen.

Kiri bit her lip. “I’ve, um, been practicing.”

“It shows.” Garon turned his eyes to the ceiling. “Are you ever going to tell me how and when you got those powers?”

“It was when my mother died.” Kiri said. “It’s going to sound like a fairy tale, Eldan magic and everything.”

“We all loved those when we were kids.”

“And then you said you’d outgrown them and only wanted to talk about real people and real wars.”

“Yeah, but real heroes are the best,” Garon said. And he met her eyes in a way that turned her cheeks hot.

“Uh, Firebrand?” It was Colin, standing in front of them with a cup in each hand, looking sheepish.

“Yes, Colin?”

“Thanks, Colin,” Kiri stood to get the cups straight from Colin’s hands, almost jumping away from Garon as if the space between them had gotten too hot.

As soon as his hands were empty Colin’s eyes flicked in the direction his mother had gone. “I uh, I think I’ll go help my mom,” he said. “Enjoy the tea.” He went off nearly at a run.

Garon chuckled. “I think we embarrassed him.”

Kiri didn’t know what to say. She was feeling like she and Garon were standing at the edge of a precipice and if she wasn’t careful she would fall over, and things would happen that she had decided wouldn’t happen, back when she left Westfall.

She gave Garon his tea and sat down beside him, leaving enough space this time that touching wouldn’t happen so easily. They sipped their tea silently, neither speaking nor looking at each other. Kiri wondered if Garon was relaxed, or if his mind, like hers, was swirling with the intensity of possibility.

She was glad to be saved from her thoughts by Colin. He came running back down the passage.

“Tagg’s back,” he called. Unnecessarily, because there was the Outsider leader right behind him, nearly keeping pace with the running boy with his long strides.

“Good to see you, Firebrand,” he said. “Alive. And unhurt, though I see our friend here has taken an injury.”

“I’m doin’ fine,” Garon said.

“Good,” Tagg said. “And the beasts?”

“Not doin’ fine.” Garon grinned.

“I killed them,” Kiri said. “Three of them.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Three is all there was.” Tagg looked between the two of them and Kiri wondered if Colin had been gossiping about them. “Then I will tell you what the Thief Lord’s agent said, and go at once and notify him the beasts are dead.”

“Already taken care of,” Kiri said. “As soon as he checks at the dockmaster’s for messages.” She held up the traveling stone by way of explanation. “What did the Thief Lord’s agent say?”

“Well, not much to be honest,” Tagg said. “He wanted me to remind you of your bargain to return the stone. And he wanted to remind you as well that there are consequences to interfering with the Thief Lord.”

“We’ve already discussed consequences,” Kiri said sharply.

Tagg raised his hands, palm out. “Hey, I’m just the messenger. And I brought dinner.” He sat down on the floor and pulled the pack off his back. Inside were two loaves of hot bread wrapped in cloth, a bottle of wine, and a wax-coated quarter wheel of cheese.

“We have to stay here again?” Colin asked. “I thought we could go home.”

“Just one last night,” Tagg said. “And then there should be a note in the morning replying to the Firebrand, and then we’ll all be free to go. All right?”

Colin nodded and reached for the bread.

“Good man,” Tagg said, and reached out to ruffle Colin’s hair.

A few minutes later they had all settled down to a meal that was almost too nice for their surroundings. The cheese was excellent, the bread fresh and delicious. It was clear from the way Colin and his mother ate that they were not used to such good food. And as for the wine…

“You stole this, didn’t you?” Garon said, swirling the wine in his pottery cup and taking another sip. It may have been better if they had had glass cups, but Garon would be the first to say he wouldn’t know the difference.

“I would have,” Tagg said. “But I didn’t have the time. The Thief Lord’s agent gave it to me. To the Firebrand actually.”

“You didn’t tell me it was mine,” Kiri said, grinning. “All of you, the last glass is mine.” Then she reclined against her pack in a way that made it clear she didn’t really care at all, and certainly wouldn’t enforce the edict.

Garon stopped swirling his wine and looked at it with distaste. “It’s from the Thief Lord’s agent? All of this?”

“The whole feast,” Tagg said. “He thought the Firebrand deserved a reward.”

“How does this count as a reward for risking her life?” Garon said. He set his cup down on the slippery stone floor. It skidded a little before coming to rest.

“Oh, just drink it, Garon,” Kiri said. “We’ve already made our deal with the devil. Might as well get dinner out of it.” But in truth the wine tasted less delicious now that she knew where it had come from. She was just determined to enjoy as much as she could. It was such a relief knowing the beasts were gone, she would not--would NOT--allow her mind to circle around all the many depressing facts that remained. Not tonight.

Soon after the wine was finished, a series of yawns overtook the group.

“You’ve all had a long day,” Tagg said. “How about I take first watch and you all get some sleep?”

Garon glared at him. “Wake us early. I want out of this hole.”

“Thank you very much,” Kiri said, giving Tagg a smile she hoped made up for Garon’s rudeness. “But, um, yeah, before sunrise, if you could, ok?”

One corner of Tagg’s mouth quirked up. He was apparently amused at the contrast between their responses. “I’ll make sure of it.”

~

The light glowed red on Garon’s closed eyelids. He started to turn over and move his face into shadow, then woke up enough to realize that wasn’t what he wanted to do.

“Tagg!” Garon growled as he sat bolt upright. The coat that had been half-covering him tumbled down, and he noticed, annoyed, that the end of the sleeve had gone into the muck at the center of the passage. “Didn’t I say to wake me?” He looked down toward the river. The glow of daylight, bright and clearly well past dawn, fell on Colin and his mother, who had been sleeping, but started to stir at Garon’s growling shouts.

“Wassgoinon?” Colin mumbled.

Garon turned back up the tunnel toward where Kiri had slept-but there was no one there. No one and nothing. Kiri and Tagg and their belongings were both gone. Garon stood up so quickly that he banged his head into the low stone roof. His heart pounded hard. He rubbed his head and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

“Colin,” he said. “Do you know where K-the Firebrand went?”

“She’s not there?” Colin’s voice broke at the end of the sentence and Garon heard the boy scramble up behind him.

“Her or Tagg.”

“Well, the job is done,” Colin said. “Do you think she just...disappeared. To wherever she goes? She does that.”

Garon thought about it. Kiri did disappear when she wanted to. He was in Laed in the first place because he was following her here after she had decided to disappear from Westfall. But it didn’t make sense for her to have run away now. He shook his head. “If she was going to disappear she would have waited until she knew we were safe. She isn’t done until you can go home again.”

“I guess you’re right,” Colin said. “And Tagg’s gone, too. It’s weird. I don’t think they would have run off together. I don’t think the Firebrand likes him very much.”

“I don’t think she does,” Garon agreed. “I don’t like him either.” He looked back toward the tunnel entrance. The sunlight was bright, almost white. He started to walk that direction, and Colin followed him. Colin’s mother was silently gathering up the bedding, but Garon had a feeling she was listening closely. She seemed to be the kind of person who would pay careful attention just to stay alive. She would not interfere unless she or child were in immediate danger, but she would be ready and watching for that moment.

“What time do you think it is?” Garon asked Colin.

“I don’t know,” Colin said. “Morning.”

Garon shook his head, and then they walked out of the tunnel into the sunlight, which was hitting right on top of their heads.

“Midday,” Colin said in surprise. “We slept late.”

Garon squinted up at the sun. “Late. Too late.” He glanced down at Colin. The boy was licking his lips nervously, looking at Garon with a hunger for an explanation that made him nervous, but at the same time, determined. He’d never before had someone looking to him to figure things out, and he wasn’t going to fail. He would figure out what the right thing to do was, best he could, and do it.

“We shouldn’t have slept this long,” Garon said, making his voice as firm and confident as he could. “I think Tagg drugged us.” He gestured for Colin to follow him back into the tunnel.

“Drugged us?” Colin squeaked, hurrying after Garon. “Why would he do that?”

“Maybe not him,” Garon conceded. “It could have been the Thief Lord’s agent. But the reason? I’d say the reason was to abduct the Firebrand.”