Chapter 71 (B2.7)
“… down to…”
“… innkeeper…”
“… our body…”
The voices were muffled and distant as Cale came to, gasping for air and feeling cloth suddenly suck into his mouth. His vision was obscured by what he immediately identified as a pillowcase, the same one he’d stabbed. He could smell the blood from his dagger that had seeped into the cloth of the half-torn casing.
There was a pause as the voices went silent, then resumed more quietly, only heard as faint murmuring nearby. This gave him a chance to assess his situation, flexing his aching arms and legs. His hands were bound behind him, his ankles as well, and another rope linked the two so that he was curled in an uncomfortable position on the floor.
Cale quickly considered the knots. He was good enough that he could probably get out of them, but it would take a little time… and doing it while being watched by an unknown number of people was far too risky. He’d been caught well enough that he wasn’t sure trying to escape right now would be a good idea. It was likely to make the situation worse.
He stayed silent, though he knew that the people in the room knew he was awake. Instead of worrying about it, he took the time to steady his breathing and try to get his headache to go away. Between the near-suffocation and the knock to the floor, that was a lot more work than he’d have liked.
The movements he heard didn’t make sense, but he was pretty sure some of them eventually started to leave. One by one, and then… the last one left. Not a word to stay still, nothing to indicate she knew he was awake. The last girl just… walked out of the room.
He was alone.
Cale twisted and tugged at his wrist, flexing after he’d determined the tightness of the ropes. Whoever had tied him had been thorough but amateur. It wasn’t a bad knot, but he could get out of it. He stilled to listen for anyone nearby before he started his escape.
Unfortunately, he heard footsteps coming toward the room.
Cale was good, but he wasn’t quite good enough to get out of a hogtie that quickly while he was injured. He’d only had a few minutes, and had barely identified the likely weaknesses before the steps approached.
He knew he should have taken the Escape Artist Perk at more than one rank.
The door opened again, and someone was sat down beside him. Two others were in the room, and one yanked the pillowcase off his head. He flinched as the sunlight from the window—now open—lanced through his eyes and forced a few blinks into them before he could see who was in the room with him.
The innkeeper was there, staring down at the floor where the first girl Cale had killed still lay there, covered by a sheet. The redheaded girl that was supposedly his target was also there, though dressed and glowering at him. She held his dagger in one hand, fidgeting with it as she sat on the bed that was now stripped of sheets.
Beside him sat a terrified Tabitha. The dark-haired girl was one of Cale’s people, and worked at the inn. She was the one who had covered for him, but he rarely used this asset. Used too much, such a resource would lose its efficacy. He squinted at her nervous expression, but it wasn’t surprising to him that she was terrified of what was going on.
Of the other girl Cale had killed, he could see no trace beyond a few spots of blood on the floor.
“So I don’t think he intended to kill my sister when he came in here, but I’m pretty sure someone put him up to this,” the redhead said. She passed the dagger from one hand to the other again, and Cale noticed she held it properly. She’d had training in holding a blade suitable for combat, though her motions were unpracticed and hesitant. This matched the amateur moves of the girls he’d fought.
“I’m very sorry, miss. This really is a stain upon the good name of our establishment,” the innkeeper hastily assured.
She cut him off before he could continue the apology, her lips tight. “Let’s just find out what we can. I want to know why my sister and I were targets. Then we can figure out what to do about the authorities getting involved. You should watch the inn while I figure out what happened. I won’t hurt your girl, don’t worry.”
Cale couldn’t help but notice she was much calmer than someone whose sibling had just been murdered should be. She had the overtones of being upset, but the pragmatism was unsettling. He also noticed she lied.
Sitting up, Cale took another breath while he put together what had happened. The room had been empty, he was sure of that. Then there had been two. He’d killed both, and then there had been more. A very easy sequence of events to follow.
He wasn’t an educated man, but Cale was far from stupid. The first two had appeared about the time the commotion started outside, and more had appeared when he killed them. Therefore… the first two had been a result of the target’s death.
It was a bizarre power or spell he’d never heard of, but it was the only thing that made sense.
The innkeeper hesitated to leave for a moment, but he was also experienced. A strange woman involved in something dangerous, with a man who had clearly been willing to kill. He’d been given a polite request to step out, now that he’d seen that an incident had occurred. Nobody does business for that long without realizing when they’re in over their head, so Cale wasn’t surprised when the man nodded and hurried out… closing the door on his way out.
Turning toward him, the girl—he now thought of her as “Red”—tapped the dagger she was holding on her thigh and smiled at him and Tabitha.
“By now, my sisters should be hunting down the one who did the first murder,” she noted. “If you’d like to volunteer information, now is the time.”
Cale still hadn’t spoken, but he was doing some quick calculation in his head. This girl was strange, and he knew little about her, but the way the group had fought him pointed to a general lack of experience with violence, or just a low level. That meant he had to make himself look good and trustworthy… after killing her “sister” earlier. Tough to do… but he had some advantages.
“Tabitha doesn’t know anything,” he said softly. “I just pay her to look the other way when we have to slip into a room for something. A room that was supposed to be empty. She wasn’t signing up for a murder.”
Cale knew he wasn’t a good person. If he thought he could get away with it, he’d throw Tabitha to the wolves to save his own skin. That wasn’t an option, but she could still be useful. Everything he said was the truth, and it made him look better in the eyes of “Red” if he asked for leniency for a subordinate.
At least, he hoped that was the case.
Red tapped the dagger on her thigh again, the flat of the blade making a light patting noise. She looked at the trembling, silent Tabitha again, and how the girl’s eyes were locked on the corpse and the bloodstain around it. Cale knew the tremor wasn’t an act.
After a few moments of thought, Red rose from the bed and walked to the door. The dagger was tossed from her right hand to her left with a carelessness that surprised Cale, considering the amateur way she had been holding it earlier. It was a smooth motion that ended with the handle caught easily in the left hand. It was almost like it had been practiced.
“Go on then,” Red ordered, motioning with the dagger after opening the door. “Go downstairs, but don’t leave the inn. My sisters will find you if you do. Or maybe I will. I haven’t decided yet.”
Tabitha mumbled a thanks as she scrambled forward, taking a wide path away from the body and hurrying through the door. Red shut it behind her with a firm press… and latched it.
“Now we can talk a little more freely,” the girl muttered. “I don’t have to pretend this was the only murder you’re responsible for.”
Cale took a breath… and held it. Now Red’s right hand held the dagger once more, and the motion to switch had been so fluid that he’d almost missed it. His first glimpse of her, and his experience when fighting her, had told him she was clumsy in a fight. Now she looked practiced and with the muscle memory to handle the blade properly. Perhaps not on his skill level, but with him bound and unarmed that wouldn’t matter much.
“So, given the timing, you knew my sister would be occupied,” Red began. She squatted down across from him and let her fingers twirl the dagger about. “I doubt you would do that if you knew who I was, so you’re either a very stupid criminal whose buddies found a mark and were willing to murder, or someone hired you.”
His mouth dry, Cale squirmed to put his back up against the wall. He wasn’t sure if she was really that intimidating, or if some Perk were making her seem that way, but he didn’t like this one bit. His initial assessment of her on the street had evaluated her as being friendly, intelligent, but probably a little innocent. She didn’t come across as innocent at all now.
“I’m starting to think it’s both,” he admitted… and he was honest about it. The vaguely threatening statement about who she was could have been a bluff… but he’d just seen her turn from one to several—probably four—no more than half an hour ago. He was sure he hadn’t been out more than ten or fifteen minutes, so it hadn’t been that long. “What are you?”
A pained look flashed across Red’s face, but Cale couldn’t tell if it was performative or real. “Rude,” she mumbled. “I’m human as you are, as far as I know. And I really don’t want to hurt anyone. You just murdered two people yourself, and your friends killed a third. So no matter what, you’re going to be turned into the constable. I don’t want a murderer free on the streets.”
She smiled. “But… we can make a deal. You tell me what you know about who hired you, and depending on how much useful information I get, we figure out if you’re locked up for assault and robbery, or multiple murders. Because I really can’t think of who would want to kill me instead of just trying to buy me out, and I doubt my sister would be willing to come down here and sniff out the real culprit herself.”
Cale doubted this girl could kill him herself. In self-defense, maybe, but she didn’t have the air of a murderer. He didn’t want to test that, though… she’d already surprised him several times. Her threat about the constable was probably true, he decided. She really could make his incarceration miserable, and he could be put to death.
Meanwhile, the person who had hired him had most certainly left something out. Whether they knew he’d fail was uncertain, but the whole job now had a bit of a stink attached to it that he couldn’t deny. He could make up something, but his client had put him and his boys in way over their head.
He didn’t owe them anything, did he?
Cale inhaled deeply.
“I’ll tell you what I can, but I don’t know how much it will help.”
She smiled.
“Let me decide that.”