Shadows & Lace (Spellbound Prequel)

Chapter 6: Knives Out

Braithe pulled at the itching bindings wound tightly around her chest as she listened to Evrei animatedly telling her of the successful raid of a couple of nights ago. Everything had gone well, fortunately, and they had made off with a nice chunk of coins.

"And then when we left, Jowan saluted them as if he was one of them!" Evrei finished with a guffaw.

Jowan demonstrated the salute of the Breoch soldiers, making the men laugh again. Not finding it quite as amusing, Braithe was grateful for the piece of cloth covering most of her face.

"And there were no casualties?" she asked when their chuckles died down.

"None," Jowan confirmed, almost proudly. "Just the way you like it, boss."

"Don't call me boss," she said automatically, but she was glad they respected her wishes on this. Most of the soldiers were good men only doing their jobs, following orders. They didn't deserve to be killed or seriously injured.

"You've such a bleedin' heart, boss," Evrei grinned.

"Well, he's only young," Steffan chuckled.

Wanting to deflect the attention, she motioned towards the five dozen or so coin purses on the table. "Split them up, and we'll hand them out to people over the next few days. Don't be too obvious about it. Well, you know the drill."

The three men all nodded and Steffan began divvying up the purses. "What's our next step, boss?" he asked as he pushed a pile across the table towards her.

"I have an idea where I might find out where the prisoners are being held, I will look into that tonight. If we're lucky and get a location, that will be our next target." Braithe chucked the purses into a little sack which she carried on her back, held up by a strap across her chest, similar to how one would wear a quiver.

"Apparently there's some important man from Messina here," Jowan said, scratching his big, bushy beard.

Braithe's movements stilled, she hadn't realised that Aurelian's presence had been so widely known outside of the castle.

"What d'you think he's here for?" Evrei asked.

Jowan shrugged. "Who knows? But boss, I was thinking we could eh... snatch him. I bet the High King would pay a nice ol' sum for someone like that."

"No." She shook her head. "Definitely not."

"But boss," Jowan whined, his eyes pleading. "The High King must have over-filled coffers. I'm sure he'd be happy to bring his man back safely."

"It's too risky," Braithe tried hard to keep her voice low and steady, even if she wanted to yell. "We don't want to bring the High King's attention to what we're doing."

"Bah, I guess that makes sense," Jowan grumbled. "It was a good idea though, right?"

"Right," Braithe said, non-committed, happy to have steered their thoughts away from the notion. It wasn't even that she wanted to keep Aurelian safe - she didn't care about him - but doing something so foolhardy would be to invite the High King's wrath. He could stop their little acts of rebellion before they had even properly begun. She felt fairly certain that the High King would not take lightly to someone kidnapping one of his King's Guard knights.

"When will we see you next?" Steffan asked as they were getting ready to leave.

"I will try to make it to Nowhere in a few days." After the ball. She nearly shuddered at the thought. A ball, while the kingdom starved. It must be like a slap in the face to the struggling citizens.

*****

A little later Braithe carefully pried open one of the upper windows in the Sheriff's two-story building. After some discussions with Baudwin, they had concluded that the Sheriff ought to have records of where the citizens unable to pay their taxes were brought. Slipping in through the window she moved quietly across the floors towards a backroom where Baudwin said they kept all of their records. He had been to the Sheriff's office a few times on official business and had been able to give her the layout.