Chapter Fifteen

“Ryland Hauke!”

Turning, Ryland saw a fancy ox-drawn carriage that had passed he and Koamalu moments before going the other direction had now stopped and a man in a grey cap he knew all too well was standing next to it beckoning to him.

“Who’s that?” Koamalu asked.

“Mitchell,” Ryland said, his heart skipping. “Minerva’s father’s man I told you about.” He licked his lips. “You go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”

Koamalu’s lips split into his trademarked grin. “Good luck, uso.”

Ryland gave him an appreciative look, and then fast marched over to where the carriage was parked.

“Mitchell.” He nodded, trying to tamp down the hope flickering in his stomach.

“The young miss wishes to talk with you,” Mitchell gestured at the gauze-covered windows of the carriage. “We are on our way to an afternoon engagement, and she is feeling restless.” Then he paused and gave Ryland a serious look, “We will be there in four blocks. Use your time wisely. It may not come again.”

After that, he opened the carriage door to reveal Minerva, who held out her hand to help Ryland inside. As soon as the door was shut and the two were alone, they embraced tightly, and then both looked at each other and spoke at the same time.

“I’m sorry.”

After another moment of staring at each other in awkward surprise, Ryland spoke.

“Min, what happened is my fault. Those men were after me.” He knew this might make her hate him, but he had to get it out there so she didn’t blame herself for what had happened. “My family’s enemies sent them. You had nothing to do with it.”

But to his surprise, Minerva just shook her head. “I don’t care. It wasn’t your fault, and you did everything you could to protect me.” Then she began to tear up. “I wanted to contact you, but my father said he’d dismiss my maids if I did, and they have families…He was so angry...”

“Min, it’s okay. I know. I know.” He forced a smile. “I tried to see you, but they wouldn’t let me get past the gates to Upper Town.”

Then the two held each other again, for what to Ryland felt like both a brief moment and the warmest and happiest time of his life.

“Min, I made a deal with Eaton.”

“Are you...joining him?”

Ryland shook his head and as quickly and concisely as he could he explained all that had happened since they’d last met. When he got to the part about his need to repay Eaton in triple, she gasped and covered her mouth, and then when he told her about the deal he and Koamalu had just made she turned away.

“So, I’m not going to see you again, am I?”

Ryland made a face. “Hey! I’m coming back. I’m just going away for a while. Just long enough to let your father forget about me.”

Minerva smiled at that. “I think you’ll need to be gone longer than five years.”

“Well, five years is all he’s got.” Ryland replied. “Besides, when I come back to reclaim the writ of company, he’ll have to respect me…And my choice.”

“Your...choice?”

The carriage came to a slow halt as they heard the coachman call out for the oxen to stop.

Knowing the end was about to come, Ryland got down on one knee in the carriage. “Min, will you wait for me? I promise, I’ll write as often as I can.”

She looked at him in surprise, and then tears of joy began to flow down her cheeks as she smiled at him.

“I will.”

They had time for one last hug before the door to the carriage swung open and Mitchell peered in at them.

“It is time.”

Ryland squeezed her hand and started to get off, but then thought of something and ducked back inside to whisper something into Minerva’s ear. She seemed surprised, but then she smiled and nodded and the two shared a wink.

Outside, Ryland paused to look at Mitchell. “Thank you.”

The aide looked at him and gave a kurt nod. “It is the least I can do. Good luck to you in your future endeavours, young master Hauke. I hope your bargain with Mr. Eaton serves you well.”

Ryland was surprised, but then shook his head. In this city, even the best of secrets were hard to keep, he decided.

He watched the carriage depart and turned to walk home with a skip in his step and a determined look on his face.

Naturally, Dunstand Fiske tried to talk the two boys out of joining the Falsefort expedition.

It seemed he had already taken it for granted that the boys would be staying with him, and even had ideas of both joining the Watchdogs for the long haul.

However, even he couldn’t argue with the still healing bruises on Ryland’s face, or the deal that the boy had made with Eaton for the writ of company. Neither their safety or their fortunes were tied to Northport, and in the end he had to accept their choices.

So, with one final goodbye dinner, he bade them both well, gave them what he could, and sent them on their way.

Early in the morning, three weeks after they arrived, Fiske watched Ryland and Koamalu disappear down the street into the fog that rolled in off the Emerald River. The sound of the two of them singing together echoing long after their silhouettes had faded into the future.

Ryland had made one small extra request to Jaxon Rudge.

He had said that he and Koamalu wouldn’t be leaving with the rest of the group of freelancers that Jaxon had hired, but would instead meet them partway at the town of Lakewick, several days to the northeast of Northport. Ryland claimed this was because Koamalu needed to visit relatives and pass on news before they could travel further north.

Having no other choice, Rudge had agreed to it and wished them well.

Of course, this was a lie.

In truth, Ryland was trying to cover their tracks as best they could.

If they went with Jaxon’s party, their enemies might follow as well.

So instead, Ryland and Koamalu boarded a boat headed south along the mighty Emerald River, and then snuck off after several port stops, took a ferry across the river to the other side, and proceeded west along a major trade road for a day. Then, after letting themselves be seen at several drinking taverns, they quietly turned north and did a fast march up a less well traveled route that took them back around Northport.

In the end, they arrived at Lakewick only half a day behind schedule.

Ryland couldn’t keep up the pace, and they’d had to hitch a few rides on farmer’s carts to let him rest while they kept moving. This was the main cause of the delay.

“If you can’t walk like this,” Koamalu had chided him as they rode. “How d’you think you’re going to walk with a convoy, uso?”

“Convoys are much slower than you,” Ryland replied. “You’ll see.”

Asking around, they found the Lakewick inn which Jaxon had suggested meeting at, and their employer seated on the front steps of the inn throwing knucklebones with some other men. He raised a hand to greet them as they approached.

“Hey! Good ta see ya! Yer family doing well, Mos?”

“They’re swimming, boss. Thank you.” Koamalu replied to his assumed name.

“Good ta hear,” Jaxon smiled. “You better get inside and get something to eat. Your friend Cade there looks ready to fall over.”

“I’m fine,” grumbled Ryland. Who did in fact feel like his legs could give out at any moment, but didn’t want to admit it.

This traveler’s inn was a large one, used to hosting whole caravans waiting for the ferries to take them across Lake Winterning to the city of Siltcarden on the other side. Siltcarden was the closest thing that the Northeastern Territories had to a capital, although compared with Northport it would barely qualify for the title.

“We leave tomorrow,” Jaxon yelled at the whole group at dinner that night in the crowded main hall. Then he heaved a wooden mug of ale in Ryand and Koamalu’s direction. “Now that our lost sheep have joined us.”

The rest of the table also raised mugs, and laughed good naturedly at the pair. Ryland, for his part, just raised his cup of bumbleberry juice to Jaxon and gave a weak smile.

“Once we’re in Siltcarden, we’ll pick up supplies, and be there in five day march,” Jaxon continued to the assembled. “So enjoy your beds as you see fit. Tomorrow you’ll be missing them hard!”

The table gave another toast, and then Jaxon settled down next to Ryland.

“Don’t hold back, eat your fill.” Jaxon said, gesturing at the pile of fried mudfish with roasted garlic that sat in front of them. “It’ll put some meat on ya.”

“I’ve...had enough.” Ryland said. In truth, the previous days marching in the sun and some of the food they’d eaten on the road had left his stomach unsettled and eating was the last thing he felt like doing. In fact, he also had a bad headache, but knew he couldn’t miss this dinner, so he came anyway.

Jaxon shook his head. “You should follow your friend’s example and enjoy yourself.”

At the end of the table, Koamalu was having a drinking contest with one of the other freelancers, a portly hillman called Boarsmouth. Both were chugging down pitchers of ale while the people around them cheered.

“Don’t worry, he can enjoy himself anywhere.” Ryland said weakly.

Then, trying to avoid looking at the food, he peered around the room. The long-table they were at seated thirty, and they took up a third of it. In addition to himself and Koamalu, Jaxon had hired seven other freelancers at Northport - six men and one woman. They were typical escort types with abundant scars and muscles that made them look impressive, but Ryland shook his head as his experienced eye saw problems with every one of them.

His first impression had been right, and Jaxon had been hiring anyone who had come along. These people were a collection of misfits that the more reputable agencies wouldn’t touch, and so they too had hired on with whoever would pay them and offer steady work.

They could be useful, if well trained and carefully watched. But…

Koamalu slammed his pitcher down on the table so hard it shattered, finishing before his rival, and a cheer went up from the audience. As he stood up and raised his hands in triumph, Boarsmouth punched Koamalu in the gut and made him spew the newly swallowed ale across the food on the table. Then while the big hillman laughed, Koamalu laid into him, and the two began to brawl.

Ryland looked over at Jaxon, who was now standing and cheering the fight on with the others and sighed.

That would require a capable leader.

Taking his leave, Ryland wandered over to the bar and asked the bartender for, “a cup with a little honey, two splashes of apple cider vinegar, and filled a finger-length from the top with hot water.” Then once he got it, he wandered up the stairs to the balcony which overlooked the main hall on the second level.

He had thought to drink his stomach tonic alone while he watched the people in the hall from a more comfortable distance, but when he got up to the balcony that fronted the entrance to the guest rooms he found he wasn’t alone.

A little dark-cloaked figure sat with its covered legs pressed against its chest, barely visible in the light of the hall’s hanging braziers.

I’d wondered where you were.

Careful not to make any loud noises, he walked over to stand a few feet away from the little figure, then turned and leaned on the railing to sip his drink. They’d added a bit too much strong vinegar, and it stung going down, but he knew from experience it would help him sleep so he bore with it.

He noted that Koamalu and Boarsmouth were now down there drinking again, an arm around each other as they laughed together. That made him smile.

Boys will be boys.

Then he glanced at the unmoving figure.

“You have dinner yet?”