“I’ve never seen him this bad,” Mrs Elthorpe said, “he’s just storming around his office, not settling down.”

“I know,” Erik replied, Shi had exploded into nervous energy the moment Sir Flynn had come running back to headquarters the previous evening saying he couldn’t find Neesh and some revellers had told him about a small knight disappearing down an alley where there had just been a disturbance, “I just don’t know what you expect me to do about it?”

“You’re his…his…,” Mrs Elthorpe struggled for words, “look you’re the lieutenant you sort it out, I’m done for the day.”

“No you’re not Mrs Elthorpe,” Shi’s voice thundered down the corridor.

“Gods preserve me,” the older lady sighed, shooting Erik a nasty glare, before heading back towards Shi’s office.

She was right of course, Erik should be heading to brief Shi, he just currently didn’t have anything useful to brief him with, and when Shi was in this mood that wasn’t a situation Erik wanted to be in. If Mrs Elthorpe couldn’t handle him there was little chance of Erik being able to do so. Mrs Elthorpe was technically one of the servants, the Captain’s Housekeeper to be precise, but really all that title really told you was that titles can be misleading. Mrs Elthorpe was effectively Shi’s other second in command; the person who organised his diary, minuted meetings he held, dealt with the companies interactions with the City Council, managed the Company’s rents and investments, in fact just about anything the company did that wasn’t military business Mrs Elthorpe did it, or organised it to be done. She was a formidable woman, virtually unflappable, fiercely intelligent, observant and, despite going by Mrs, unmarried as far as Erik knew. She had already been a fixture of the company when Shi and Erik were apprentices – there was little about what went on amongst the company she didn’t know and no one who didn’t respect, and if they were honest, fear her. Erik was no exception so he hurried over to the officers’ meeting room where the search was being coordinated trying to get an update.

Even Erik had been surprised when Shi had mobilised the whole company to search for Neesh, even the servants, he liked the boy but this was something else. Shi had been furious, with himself as much as anyone, he’d feared for Sir Flynn, but despite his anger Shi was a just man and the young knight had escaped with just the loss of three months pay, meanwhile Shi had sprang into action. Squads were searching all along the patrol route Neesh and Sir Flynn had been assigned within half an hour of Sir Flynn raising the alarm. By nightfall every tavern and boarding house in the ward was being searched whilst the Company’s servants roamed the streets looking for the young apprentice. Erik had asked Shi that evening why he had taken things this far.

“We forget to easily,” he had said, in a brief calmer moment, “that these are children placed in our care. We cannot shield them from the dangers of being a knight but at the same time I will not leave a child we are responsible to suffer and perhaps die alone, and gods forbid if he is already dead, then I will not accept that his body rots in some cellar whilst there was more we could do to find him.”

It was hard to argue with that Erik felt, probably because as usual the commander had the right of it, not that the knights in the eleventh would agree when they eventually comprehended what Shi was doing. Still, Erik thought, their absence meant they hadn’t yet. The officer’s meeting room, when he got there, was strewn with hastily pinned maps and checklists as the officers and a fair few squad sergeants frantically updated them with the latest reports coming in. At least that’s what it was usually like, currently however, it was quiet, something had shocked the knights in the room, or perplexed them, Erik thought as he took a closer look at their facial expressions.

“Report,” Erik said, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Sir Erik, we just sent a runner to fetch you and the Captain,” Sir Loos said, “we’ve found Neesh and he’s alive.”

“Why that’s excellent news – and you’re sure?”

“As much as we can be, Sir Ingram used his sense ally skill, it only reacts if the ally in question is alive.”

“But how can you be sure it wasn’t identifying a knight or auxiliary?”

“Well two reasons, first the person didn’t move for several hours, indicating someone being held captive, and second, they are somewhere I know none of the militia is currently deployed to.”

“There’s obviously something you’re not telling me,” Erik said, “if we’ve had a lead for hours and not acted on it.”

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“Well, as best as we can tell Neesh is being held in a disused warehouse,” Sir Loos said, “the problem is the warehouse, disused or not, is part of the Parasian Embassy’s compound.”

Fuck, Erik thought, Shi is going to start a war.

-----------------------------

In the end they had decided to risk six of them for the rescue mission, there was: Shi, Erik, Sir Steven, Sir Flynn, Sir Micah and Dr Haskell. The doctor was there in the likelihood of Neesh being injured, the rest of them, to get the boy out and safely back onto Malinese land before anyone could stop them. They had cast aside their Militia uniforms for this, if they were caught they’d probably start a war anyway but at least this way the City and the Militia could disown them if they were caught, that might count for something. The other thing going for them if they were successful was that the Parasians would not be able to admit they kidnapped a Malinese knight, or knight apprentice, they’d certainly know who had rescued him but as long as they got away there would be little the Parasians could do about it, officially at least.

The embassy compound was quite sizeable and luckily the warehouse was built close to the perimeter wall but was guarded by about thirty Parasian knights. Erik had had another squad of knights take some leave earlier in the evening and they had all just so happened to spend the early evening observing the Parasians’ patrol patterns. A few hours wasn’t a great level of intelligence but it was something. As far as they could tell once a wall patrol had passed, the knights patrolled the inside of the perimeter wall, they had fifteen minutes before the patrol came around again. That should be plenty of time to infiltrate the small warehouse and, so long as they found Neesh promptly and he was uninjured, get them all out again. The plan was simple, Sir Micah and Sir Steven would set climbing spikes into the wall, Sir Flynn would scale it and check the coast was clear, Shi and Erik would then come over to lead the assault on the warehouse whilst Sir Steven brought Dr Haskell behind them, in case he was needed, with Sir Micah covering their exits. Exiting would be by grapple lines, speedier but noisier, then they just had to make it back to the wagon they’d left a few streets away and they’d be home and dry. The Parasians almost certainly wouldn’t risk pursuing them into the city proper.

At the agreed moment, Sir Steven and Sir Micah crept towards the permitter wall and began setting the climbing spikes. Each one could be punched into the mortar with a single blow – not silently, but padding was used on the end of each spike to muffle the sound of the hammering – and this was the clever part, the planned was timed to take place as the bell in the Parasian embassy’s main building struck eleven, the ring of each hour masking the two knight’s work. By the time the clock was striking it’s seventh bell the spikes were set and Sir Flynn was already scaling them, peeking over the top of the wall and signalling the all clear. Erik ran just behind Shi, pulling himself up the spikes and vaulting over the wall almost silently. Without needing to check with the other both men set off at a sprint towards the warehouse, it was about twenty yards away in a dimly lit corner of the compound – in fact the only light came from its own ground floor windows. They’d been expecting the building to be occupied and at least this gave them an idea of where the guards were currently. Erik slowed his pace, wanting more time to observe from the cover of darkness, easily achieved by staying out of the area being directly lit by the light coming out of the window.

Erik heard it before his eyes were able to resolve what was going on behind that window, the shouts of alarm, the groan of someone being wounded and then a female voice shouting Neesh’s name as Erik finally could see the boy, bloody sword in hand be felled by three bolts slamming into his chest. Erik could only watch as the boy collapsed to the ground and one of the guards lazily strode over, sword ready to finish the kid off, when he heard Shi roar, all their limited attempts at stealth set aside, as he launched himself feet first through the window – the glass pane exploding into hundreds of fragments. By this point Erik was also barrelling through the shattered window pane rolling as he landed in the small room. He stood up just in time to see Shi decapitate the man who had shot Neesh with a single slash of his sword, the only sound being the whistle of the metal parting the air and the thud of the man’s body hitting the floor. Erik drew his own longsword and brought it down in a swift arc, bisecting another of the guards from shoulder to waist, relying on his skill – Silent Cutter – to ensure his sword passed through the man’s leather armour like it was paper. The final guard made a bolt for the door only to run straight into Sir Flynn’s thrusting sword, he collapsed instantly to the ground as Sir Flynn pulled his sword out of his heart.

“Doctor!”, Shi shouted at Dr Haskell as he hurried into the room, ignoring the gore around him and heading straight to the wounded boy.

“Can we move him?” Erik said, anxious that they had certainly been heard and needed to get out of here now.

“What choice do we have?” Dr Haskell replied, forcing a healing potion into Neesh’s mouth, “Sir Flynn, Sir Steven carry him, I’ll do my best to make sure he doesn’t bleed out.”

“There’s a girl there,” Sir Steven said pointing to a tall but terrified looking young woman holding a dagger stood at the top of steps leading down to a basement.

“Follow us,” Shi barked at her, as he turned to make for the door.

As they entered the courtyard bells were starting to ring, the alarm had been raised. Erik had already sheathed his sword and was preparing his grapple on the run. Sir Micah had already set his grapple and was now covering their retreat with his long bow, even as Erik took this in, Sir Micah loosed his first arrow into somewhere behind them – a dull thud confirming the knight had hit his mark. As they reached the wall, Erik went first, then Dr Haskell and Shi went, hanging over the top as Sir Steven and Sir Flynn passed the wounded boy up to them, for them to swing him over and drop him into Erik’s arms. Neesh grunted in pain as he caught him, that was a good sign, there was still enough life in him to feel pain.

“Get climbing,” Sir Micah shouted, “there’s dozens of them coming now and I’ve only got half that many arrows left.”

Dr Haskell dropped to the ground and immediately poured another healing potion down Neesh’s throat. Shi stayed on the wall to help haul the girl and then Sir Flynn and Sir Steven over.

“Fuck!” Erik heard Sir Micah cry, and he feared the worst, but seconds later Shi reached down and pulled, threw, did something, that saw Sir Micah come sailing over the wall and crashing to the ground.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Sir Micah shouted, an arrow embedded in his calf. Sir Flynn was already helping him to his feet as Shi dropped down and started sprinting away – the rest were all already moving into the shadows of the alleys and towards their wagon by then. The next few minutes of blind panic Erik couldn’t really recall later but before he knew it he was hanging off the side of the wagon as it raced away back to Northgate, Neesh and Sir Micah sprawled on the floor, the mystery girl huddled in one corner, and Dr Haskell cursing like a drunken sailor as he shoved wadding into wounds and yet more healing potions into both men. Somehow, they had done it, really the whole thing had been a mess – the plan thought up on the fly and it all going wrong almost instantly – but somehow they had gotten away with it, they hadn’t been caught and they had the boy back. Now he just had to live and it would make whatever command did to them when they found out about this worth it, probably.