Kid was having a very difficult time keeping his feet under him. His muscles ached, and the wine made it feel like he was walking across the deck of a ship during a storm. Grim held him by the collar, half dragging him through the streets of the inner city. He was probably worried Kid would try to run away, but Kid doubted he could make it more than a block before falling on his face. Walking was difficult enough as it was. And Grim kept a hard pace, his much longer legs eating up ground as Kid stumbled to keep up.

Kid could now see the gate leading to the Outwall. A complement of Greencloaks were pulling the corpses from the crosses by the gates. As they passed, Kid noted that arrows protruded from several of the bodies. The sight made him grimace, but it was better than being left to hang.

Kid grew nervous as they approached the gates. The Greencloaks and the Thorne soldiers faced off in their usual staring competition. There was little foot traffic between the gates after nightfall. Both were sure to take note of their passing.

Sure enough, as they neared the great stone archway, one of the Greencloaks called out. “Hold.”

Grim stopped and watched as a pair of Greencloaks approached them. Kid swallowed and tried to edge himself behind Grim. Both southerners had their hands on their weapons as they approached. Grim scowled at the men.

The Greencloaks stopped several paces away, eyeing Grim nervously until four more of their number came to back them up. Kid could see the pair of Thorne soldiers by the gate edge closer to the scene. “It’s the bastard,” one of the Greencloaks whispered.

The southerner in the lead nodded and asked, “What’s your business in the Outwall?”

Grim jerked Kid in front of him. Kid yelped as the fabric dug into his throat and ripped. “I caught this little shit with his hands in my pockets and now I’m going to take him to his mother’s house and nail his fucking hands to her door. If you have a problem with that then take it up with the Marshal.”

Grim walked toward the gate, brushing past the Greencloak but the soldier put a hand on his chest, stopping him. “Hold on a minute-”

Grim cut him off. “Get your hands off me and get out of my way or I’ll report your whole damn company to the Marshal for insubordination. He doesn’t take kindly to that.” The southerner’s tanned skin paled a shade and he backed away.

Grim shouldered the man as he passed, almost knocking the Greencloak to the ground. The Thorne soldiers released the grip on their weapons as Grim was let by. Both men saluted him fist over heart as he passed. However, they shot Kid quizzical looks as he tried to keep his head down. He hated being scrutinized. In his line of work, if people were looking at you, something had gone terribly wrong. Kid sighed. People were often looking at him.

Grim led him through the warren of dirt roads. Kid was expecting to get ambushed by a group of thugs at every intersection, but he supposed a large man in full armor with a giant axe made for a poor target. They made it to his home street unmolested.

“Wait. Wait,” Kid tried to say but his words were lost on Grim as the man single-mindedly marched to the door of the Dancing Bear. Kid struggled in his grip. He did NOT want to go in there with Grim. He ineffectually tried to pull himself free, but Grim just started to drag him, hardly seeming to notice.

Kid winced as the hinges of the tavern door squealed open and light illuminated them. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the candlelight inside. Kid fought to find his feet. At the very least he could walk to his death rather than be dragged. He swallowed as he caught Hilda’s eyes from the bar. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

Grim marched up to the bar and took a seat, pushing Kid into the stool next to him. Kid sat uneasily. There was no point in trying to run now. At least Hilda was looking at Grim rather than him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Hilda hissed.

“Finding out what you want from me. The letter you sent was hardly endearing. Are you really going to report me for those Greencloaks when they were killed on your own fucking floor?”

Hilda leaned closer to Grim. “Quiet down you dolt.” She glanced around the room. A dozen or so patrons sat at the tables. Most were looking at Grim out of the corner of their eyes. “Are you mad? You walk into my bar looking like you just committed a massacre and have the nerve to demand information from me?”

Grim grimaced, his voice raising. “I did just commit a massacre. Or hasn’t the news arrived yet?”

Hilda glared at Grim but as she opened her mouth to speak, the door to the backroom swung open and James walked out. “What’s going on out here?” he asked. His eyes met Grim’s. “Grim?”

Grim spoke up. “Well I was just asking your wife here-”

Grim was cut off as Hilda slapped him across the face. Kid scrambled away as two men from the tables behind them leapt to their feet and tackled Grim across the bar. Glass shattered as Kid ran from the brawling men and put his back against the far wall. Everyone in the bar was yelling and Kid turned around just in time to see Grim break free from the grip of one man and punch the other across the face. The man stumbled away, ineffectually trying to hold in the blood pouring from his nose.

The unblooded man punched Grim in the kidneys, but he seemed not to notice as he turned and rammed his shoulder into his assailant, driving him across the floor and slamming him onto a table. Its rickety legs snapped and both men fell to the floor, Grim throwing punch after punch into the man below him.

Kid edged his way to the door, but Hilda grabbed him by the arm. “What the hell were you thinking?” she demanded as the man with a broken nose came to his senses and tackled Grim off his friend.

Kid paled but he felt his anger flare. “I almost died a dozen times in there. Were you trying to get me killed?” He winced as more furniture broke. James was screaming at Grim and the two men fighting him.

Hilda tightened her grip on his arm. “Listen here you little bastard. You are shitting all over my personal life right now. And I had nothing to do with what happened to you. Marc was the one who wanted to put you through the ringer.”

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Grim roared as one of the men kicked him in the back of the knee and the two men started forcing him back to the ground. Kid tore his eyes from the scene. “What the hell did I do to piss him off?”

Hilda sneered. “Look at yourself boy. You’re not strong, you’re not fast, you have a face not even a mother could love. If you didn’t have a brain and strength of will, then you’d be no use to him. You survived. Congratulations. But so help me god, I’m going to make your life miserable.”

The two men managed to pin Grim to the floor. Blood from split skin and cuts ran freely from all three of them. Grim writhed beneath them. The man with the broken nose smashed his head into the dirt floor over and over until he stopped struggling.

All the other patrons had fled the bar, leaving a vacuum of silence after the uproarious fighting. “Fucking, god damn bastard put up one hell of a fight,” said broke nose.

The other man drew a serrated knife from his belt. “We ought to do him like he did all those folk today.”

Grim started to struggle beneath the men again. The man with the knife slammed the pommel into the back of his head and Grim stilled. Kid thought he was knocked out until he released a pitiful groan.

James interceded. “I’ll not have you kill this man under my roof. Back off.” He glanced to his wife. “Hilda, what the hell is going on?”

“Fuck off old man. You lost the right to speak when you put down the sword,” Broken nose said.

“You think Marc will want to talk to him?” asked the man with the knife.

Kid winced as Hilda’s grip tightened like a vise on his arm. “Don’t hurt him. You know Marc wants to see him,” she said.

Broken nose shrugged. “Fuck Marc. I saw what the bastard did. He’s no better than the rest of those southern shits. For fuck’s sake, he had a damned green cloak on his shoulders.”

“He-” The hinges of the front door squealed, cutting Hilda off.

Marc was in the doorway, holding Lissa’s hand. Lissa had her free hand on a sweet roll while Marc kept his close to the sword at his waist. “Farth, Gorm get off him.”

“But sir-”

“Now.” Marc walked inside while the two men grumbled. They released Grim and rose to their feet. Grim wheezed and rasped for breath on the floor, the pressure of two grown men finally lifted from his chest.

James cut Marc off as he released Lissa and walked toward Grim. “Who the hell are these men Marc? I told you to keep your damned business out of my house.”

Kid gritted his teeth as Hilda’s grip somehow grew even tighter. The woman had forearms made of steel. She leaned close to Kid. “A living hell Kid.”

Marc raised his hands to James. “James, I-”

Kid’s eyes widened in surprise as James clocked Marc across the face. Marc looked even more surprised than Kid as his ass hit the floor. Kid glanced out of the corner of his eye at Hilda. Her mouth hung wide open, but her grip on him never slackened.

Marc blinked in surprise up at his older brother. He looked away and spat blood on the floor. “So, you do have some fight left in you after all you old fucking coward. And here I thought the southerners took your balls along with your face.”

James roared and kicked his brother in the stomach. Marc retched on the ground, blood staining his teeth red. His retching slowly turned into laughter. “How long have you been waiting to do that eh? Before or after I fucked your wife?”

James turned pale as a sheet, but Kid only had eyes for Lissa as he watched her blinking away fresh tears. His own heart lurched for her. Marc’s men shifted uneasily by the far wall while Grim still struggled to find his feet. Hilda’s grip disappeared from Kid as she walked toward James. Kid began to edge his way toward the door. His steps were still unsteady from the drink, but he was certain he would find it in him to run for his life.

“She waited barely a month after you were gone,” Marc said as he rose to his feet.

“That’s not true,” Hilda said, reaching out to touch her husband.

James smacked her hand away. “Don’t lie to me. I’m sick of it. It’s plain as day to anybody who’s seen you two together for more than a few minutes.” His voice began to raise as he turned to his wife. “And you think I don’t know that you still run around with that damned mask on your face, doing your best to get our family killed? How many times have you told me you would stop?”

Hilda opened her mouth to speak.

“No!” James screamed. “I’m done. Get the hell out of my house. All of you.”

Kid wasted no time following that command and he bolted for the door. A rough hand caught him by the throat and hoisted him into the air by his neck. Kid gagged, kicking his feet wildly as he looked into Marc’s eyes. Marc turned to look at James. “We were just leaving anyways.”

Kid writhed in his grip as Marc turned to the door. Lissa stood in his way. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she managed to speak with authority. “Put. Him. Down.”

Marc paused by the door, staring into his niece’s eyes. He grunted and threw Kid to the ground. Kid gasped for breath on the dirt floor while Lissa rushed over to him.

Marc looked over his shoulder. “Come on Hilda. You heard the man.”

Hilda was shaking as she stared at the hand James struck. Her eyes lifted to look at her husband. “James,” she whispered.

“Go.”

“No, I’m not giving up on you.”

James snorted. “You already did. We’re better off without you.”

Hilda’s face twisted in anger. “You didn’t say that when I was tending to your wounds, when I supported us and our newborn. You didn’t say that when you woke up screaming at night and I held you while you cried.” She shook her head, fighting the tears. “Go to hell James.” She turned away from him.

James’s anger slipped from his face, but he said nothing as she walked away. She shot Kid a hateful look as she walked to Marc. Marc held a hand out to her, but she passed it by and slapped him across the face, brushing past him as she opened the door and slammed it behind her.

Marc held out his hand to Lissa. “Come on dove, a girl shouldn’t be without her mother.”

Lissa knelt on the ground, holding Kid while he tried to find his breath for what felt like the hundredth time today. She released him when Marc spoke and rose to her feet. Indecision creased her tear streaked face as she looked between her father and Marc. James said nothing, seeming unable to meet his daughter’s eyes. She edged toward her father and grasped his hand. A small, sad smile creased James’s lips as he finally met her eyes.

“This is my home,” she said.

Marc frowned at the girl, seeming unsure how to proceed.

“You heard her,” James said, putting himself between Marc and Lissa.

Marc scowled, his finger teasing the hilt of the sword he wore. His face was a rictus of hate and in his eyes, Kid saw darkness.

Kid struggled to his feet, forcing his body to move through sheer force of will. His voice rasped as he spoke, but it did not waver, “I’ll go with you. Just leave her alone,” he said, “please.”

Marc regarded Kid, the hate slipping from his face to be replaced with curiosity. The boy stumbled toward Marc. Marc looked back to his niece who stared at him with fearful eyes from behind her father. His anger melted away and his hand fell from his sword. He looked ashamed and a frown creased his lips as Grim finally managed to rise to his feet. Marc looked to the bastard. “We’ll be in touch Grim.”

Kid winced as Marc grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. Lissa cried after him but her father held her back. The last thing Kid saw was her face as the door slammed shut behind him.