Prisoner of Fate (23 page)

S
he was glad to move on from the smell of male urine. She had no idea of the time above ground, whether it was daylight or night, but she felt refreshed enough to push on along the tunnel, with Chase leading. If her grandfather said they had to travel for three days, beginning to return, then she felt they had to be close to the tunnel’s end. She wondered how Lin was coping. The shipment concluded a major agreement between the parties and the prince would have to negotiate new terms for the next agreement. If her shipment pleased him, she had excellent reason to secure a more lucrative contract for future shipments. She stopped Hunter to get food and drink from his rucksack. Following the bodyguard in the wake of the dim lantern held by the thief, the tunnel walls seemed endless to her, until the light revealed a wood-and-metal door blocking the tunnel. ‘Is this it?’ she asked hopefully.

Chase held up the lantern and studied the wall to the right of the door. ‘Mrs Merchant, I need your kangaroo tooth necklace.’ He gave the lantern to Hunter.

Crystal squeezed by Hunter and unclipped her necklace. The opal kangaroo tooth glittered in the
lantern light as she passed it to Chase who took the tooth and pressed it into a recess in the wall. ‘Nothing happened,’ Crystal said.

‘I’ll try the door,’ Hunter offered, and leaned his shoulder against it.

‘No,’ Chase warned. ‘Don’t push the door. It could be a trap. Push the wall here with me.’ Hunter passed the lantern to Crystal and joined Chase who was leaning against the wall by the kangaroo tooth. Together, they pressed and the wall slid back, revealing an alcove and a step. Chase took the lantern from Crystal and peered into the new area. ‘It’s like a staircase,’ he announced. He unhitched his backpack to squeeze through the opening and entered.

The thin tunnel climbed sharply as it curved away to the left, barely wide enough to walk along. Moving cautiously by habit, brushing aside thick, sticky cobwebs, rising step by step, he reached a rusty green metal door with a narrow landing. Two thick wooden beams barred it. When Hunter caught up, Chase passed the lantern to him and wrestled the first bar off its lugs. Despite their weight, he unhitched both bars and leaned them against the wall. Then he turned the handle and pressed against the door. It refused to budge. He grunted and pulled the handle with all of his strength until it screeched and reluctantly swung open.

The light exposed a new chamber, a natural cave, and the scent of ocean air teased Chase’s nose. Leaving the backpacks in the tunnel, he stepped in, Hunter and Crystal trailing with the lantern. ‘Look,’ Crystal said, pointing. Chase turned to a rocky ledge in the chamber where a small golden casket sat, glittering with inlaid gems. He moved towards it and studied it in the lantern light. ‘Well?’ Crystal asked.

‘Well, what?’Chase said.

‘Open it,’ she urged.

‘It’s not what Sunlight said would be in here,’ he murmured. He surveyed the chamber, noting how the door through which they entered was camouflaged to appear part of the cavern rock. Another entrance opened several paces up and to the right, through which sea air flowed. ‘Look for shelves or hiding places.’

‘What about these?’ Hunter asked, bending forward. He lifted up a pair of well-worn, nondescript sandals.

Chase and Crystal leaned closer to inspect the find. ‘This is what he wanted me to get?’ Crystal asked suspiciously, as she took the lantern from Hunter’s grasp to inspect the sandals.

‘No. There has to be—’ Chase stopped. Two sword-bearing men were emerging from the tunnel they’d just come out of. A third man behind them held a lantern and more figures lurked in the shadows.

‘Who are you?’ Crystal demanded.

One man nodded to the other and they lunged. Hunter met the first attacker, caught his sword arm and smashed him hard against the wall, winding him. Then Hunter wrenched his thundermaker from its holster and shot the second man, dropped the weapon, wrenched his sword from its scabbard and blocked the swing of a third attacker. With a deft left-hand punch, he sent the man reeling, clutching his broken nose, and then stabbed down on his first attacker who was struggling to his feet. The second man couldn’t move quickly enough to defend himself from Hunter’s killing thrust.

Chase ducked the sword sweep of a man who came at him, and retreated, circling for the door. His attacker lunged again and again, but Chase was quick to dodge the threatening blade as he edged closer to the door. Then a new swordsman blocked his path. Hunter charged across the cavern and hit the man on Chase’s
right with his full body weight, smashing him against the rock-camouflaged door, slamming it shut. Chase’s antagonist stared in amazement at his colleague’s fate, enough of a distraction to give Chase the chance to lash out with his foot and kick the swordsman solidly under the jaw. ‘Here!’ Hunter yelled, and threw Chase his sword, before he leaned his full weight and strength against the door.

Chase dropped the weapon, but scooped it up and held it clumsily as the swordsman clambered to his feet. The attacker stabbed, but Chase dodged the probing blade and slashed ineffectually. ‘I don’t know how to use one of these things!’ he yelled.

‘Then learn!’ Hunter grunted as the door started to open and he heaved it shut again.

The swordsman made a sharp sweep at Chase’s head, but Chase ducked and stumbled to his left, stabbing at his opponent. To his amazement, Crystal swung the lantern in a full arc and smashed it against the swordsman’s head. Glass and flame enveloped the victim’s scalp as he toppled sideways, writhing and kicking and screaming. ‘Finish him off!’ Hunter yelled. ‘I can’t hold this much longer.’

Crystal glared at Chase. ‘Kill him!’ she ordered. Chase edged toward the thrashing victim, the sword trembling in his hand. ‘Hurry up!’ Crystal yelled. When Chase still hesitated, she snatched the sword from him and thrust it into the victim’s side.

‘Run!’ Hunter urged. The flames flickering on the dying man’s head and shoulders rapidly diminished as Crystal stumbled up the slope to the opening from where the breeze came, Chase trailing her. They charged into the darkness, barking knees and shins against hidden rock and blundering into the walls as they climbed, while behind them yellow lantern light spread grotesque shadows.

The tunnel ahead lightened and Chase heard the wash of ocean waves. Several paces on, Crystal plunged into moonlight ahead of Chase and screamed. He instinctively grabbed at her falling figure, catching her belt, only to have her wrench him forward. Terrified, he frantically counterbalanced her weight and swung her to the left, feeling the crunch as she thudded against rock and swore. ‘Hang on!’ he yelled. Hunter pushed beside him, wrenching at his arms and at Crystal’s dangling figure, and together they heaved her over the cliff lip. ‘Up here,’ Hunter said, and he helped Crystal onto a rocky ledge high to the right of the cave opening, Chase scrambling up after her.

Light grew in the tunnel. Running boots crunched on the rock. Hunter clambered up beside them onto the cramped ledge, just as the lantern light spilled out of the cave. Looking down, Chase saw a sword blade shine as a man burst out of the tunnel. The swordsman gasped as he realised that he’d run off the lip of a cliff, twisted desperately in midair, and screamed as he plunged into the night’s emptiness. ‘Stop!’ someone shouted.

Three heads and a lantern appeared in the opening. ‘Shit!’ a voice muttered. The arm holding the lantern extended over the edge of the cliff and the light revealed rocks and churning white water.

‘See anything?’

‘No.’

‘Hefty wouldn’t have survived that.’

‘Then where did they go?’

‘Look at the marks in the dirt. Straight over too.’

‘Where else?’

Don’t look up
, Chase wished desperately on the ledge above the men.

‘Job’s done for us, then. Easy.’

‘Five dead for three ain’t exactly an easy job, Lance.’

‘More money for the rest of us, mate. Grab their bags and let’s go.’ The voices transformed into echoes as the light withdrew.

Moonlit silhouettes huddling on the thin ledge, clutching each other’s arms for stability, Crystal, Chase and Hunter waited until they were certain their assailants were gone before they climbed down from their perch. Hunter and Chase peered into cave entrance darkness, listening. ‘Thank you for saving my life,’ Crystal whispered to Chase. ‘I would’ve fallen.’

‘Lucky you went first,’ Chase replied.

‘Don’t thank him,’ Hunter snarled. ‘He set this up.’

‘What?’ Chase asked.

Hunter grabbed Chase’s arm. ‘No one else knew we were in this place except him.’

‘I didn’t tell anyone,’ Chase replied, trying to break Hunter’s brutal hold.

‘Then how did anyone know we were here?’

‘I was going to ask you the same question,’ Chase replied angrily.

‘You
knew
who they were.’

‘Me?’ Chase retorted. ‘I didn’t know any of them.’

‘Then why didn’t you fight?’ Hunter asked accusingly.

‘I’m not a soldier. I’ve never used a sword. I can use my fists and my feet and a knife if I have to. Street fighting. No one’s ever taken a sword to me before.’

‘Bullshit!’ Hunter spat, and shook Chase’s arm. ‘You set this up and it backfired on you.’ He pulled Chase to the cliff edge.

‘Hunter!’ Crystal yelled. ‘Let him go.’

‘He’s lying,’ Hunter argued. ‘Let me fix this lying little bastard up right now.’

‘Let him go,’ Crystal repeated, her tone determined.

Chase felt the pressure on his arm tighten and braced to fight for his life. Then Hunter released him and
swore under his breath. ‘Was this a set-up?’ Crystal asked.

‘No,’ Chase denied emphatically. ‘I don’t work for anyone, all right? How many times do I have to tell you that? I brought you here because of your grandfather’s request. That’s all. If I’d known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have got involved.’

‘Whoever sent them knew we were down here,’ Crystal said calmly. ‘Apart from us, only Lin knew. And she wouldn’t tell anyone.’

‘That leaves you,’ Hunter declared.

‘And you,’ Chase retorted.

‘There’s no point arguing,’ Crystal intervened. ‘We have to get back out of here.’

‘We don’t have a light,’ Hunter reminded her.

‘Then we’ll have to walk slowly and carefully,’ Crystal said.

‘I’ll check if it’s safe yet,’ Chase volunteered.

‘As if we’re going to trust you,’ said Hunter.

‘Go,’ Crystal instructed. ‘We’ll wait.’ Chase disappeared into the cave.

‘I can’t believe you still trust him after that,’ Hunter said. ‘He’s the only one who could’ve told anyone else where we were going.’

‘Perhaps,’ she conceded, ‘but he looked more scared than us when we were attacked.’

‘It’s an act. Thieves like him know how to fight. I’ve seen them. He’s faking it about not being able to use a sword.’

‘We’ll see,’ she murmured. ‘I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.’ She crossed her arms to keep the cold breeze from her chest. The adventure had become very unpleasant and she felt more exposed to danger than she’d felt for a long time. The attackers were definitely mercenaries hired to kill her, but she had no idea who of her enemies could have sent them or how they knew
where she was. The thief’s complicity in the attempted assassination, if he was lying to her, was increasingly more complex, but then whoever hired the mercenaries may simply have arranged for the thief to be killed as well, eliminating any need to reward him for her death. That practice was very common. Yet still she was nagged by her inner sense of trust in Chase, a feeling that defied her logic.

‘It’s sealed.’

Chase’s unwanted news as he emerged from the pitch dark of the cave angered Crystal. ‘Now what?’ she snapped, shivering.

‘We find a way down or up the cliff when morning comes,’ said Chase. Looking up, beyond the ledge onto which they’d climbed to escape, he estimated the distance to the top was short. ‘I’ll climb up to see where we are, if you want,’ he offered.

‘I’m getting out of this wind,’ Crystal replied. ‘Climb it if you want.’ She entered the cave. Hunter glared at Chase before he followed her.

The climb was easier than he anticipated and quite short, no more than a dozen spans up the rocky cliff face. When he hauled himself over the lip and stood, the sea breeze chilly on his back, the moonlight revealed rocks and shadowy trees. To what he assumed was the south, he saw lights twinkling, the lights of the city. Their cave apparently opened in a small promontory overlooking the ocean. He checked for signs of nearby human habitation, but the immediate night was empty of fire and lantern light and the close undergrowth suggested this isolated area was rarely visited.

The wind was picking up pace. He listened to the roar of the waves on the rocks and the sound transported him to the night he spent trapped at the ocean’s edge below the Royal Gaol and the Bog Pit. Fortune had given him a life when he should have lost
it. Perhaps he was held in the hand of Jarudha, as others suggested. He understood how easy it could be to believe that a person’s life was guided by a greater force or by a god. He just couldn’t believe it. For every event that seemed to be predestined, there were countless random events that made no sense at all. If Jarudha was the guiding hand behind everything, then Jarudha was mad.

He shivered, suddenly aware of the chill in the salty air. It was time to rejoin the others and tell them what he’d found. The woman he could tolerate. Her fault was her wealth. She was too used to getting whatever she wanted. The bodyguard was another matter. He had to be very careful around the bodyguard. Hunter would kill him, given any opportunity. He couldn’t afford to be caught alone with the man. He began to climb down as a moon shadow passed over the cliff face.

C
rystal sat up, rubbing her eyes, adjusting to the dull light in the cave entrance. Hunter was sitting on a rock. ‘Where’s Chase?’ she asked.

‘I’m here,’ he answered.

She turned and found the thief squatting against the wall, studying a beige canvas bag. ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

‘About the only thing I could find in the room down there,’ Chase replied.

‘It’s an old bag,’ Hunter muttered. ‘Open it.’

‘It has an impressive lock,’ Chase said, and he turned the bag to show Hunter the big, scarred metal padlock. ‘And the damage suggests others have tried to force it open.’

‘What’s meant to be in it?’ Crystal asked, approaching him.

‘A weapon,’ Chase said, glancing at Hunter as if he wished the bodyguard wasn’t present. ‘Your grandfather insisted that it be given to Prince Inheritor.’

‘Why?’

‘To help him fight the Seers or the Demon Horsemen or something. He said the prince would know.’

Crystal held out a hand for the bag and she was surprised by its weight when Chase passed it to her. She felt the thick canvas casing and studied the heavy, battered lock. ‘What kind of weapon could be in this?’ she murmured.

‘If you press around the outline it’s in the shape of a cross with knobbly bits, like a sword handle,’ Chase explained, ‘but it’s obviously not a whole sword.’

‘Obviously,’ Crystal repeated and smiled tartly. ‘And this is all you could find?’

‘That’s all there is,’ Chase said.

‘And you can’t open it?’

‘No.’

She smiled. ‘I thought you were a thief.’

‘I’m not a locksmith,’ Chase replied.

‘I thought good thieves could open anything,’ Hunter sarcastically posed.

‘Shows you don’t know much, then,’ Chase told him.

‘Give me that,’ Crystal ordered and took the bag from Chase’s hands. She carried the beige bag to Hunter and said, ‘Open it.’

‘Should you do that?’ Chase asked, but the precise glare from Crystal answered his question. Hunter fiddled with the lock and drew his dagger to poke at it.

‘And there’s no way back into the tunnel?’ Crystal inquired while Hunter explored the bag.

‘As best as I can tell, in the dark, there’s no other way except to climb out,’ Chase confirmed.

Hunter swore. ‘No luck?’ Crystal asked.

‘Watch this,’ Hunter said. He stabbed repeatedly at the canvas with his dagger, but the point failed to make an impression.

Crystal and Chase approached for a closer look. ‘That’s weird,’ Crystal remarked and lifted the bag to check where the dagger had been thrust. There were no
visible distress marks. ‘What kind of canvas is this?’ She looked at Chase. ‘No key at all?’

‘I couldn’t find one in the dark,’ he said. ‘I felt around thoroughly.’

‘Then how will the prince open this?’ Crystal asked. Chase shrugged.

‘I say we get going,’ Hunter said irritably. ‘I’m thirsty.’

Crystal handed the bag back to Hunter and brushed down her blouse and trousers and shook out her hair. ‘I’m ready,’ she announced. ‘Did you bring the casket?’

‘It’s gone. They must have taken it,’ Chase informed her.

‘What if that was the weapon your grandfather wanted?’ Hunter muttered.

Crystal looked at Chase for an answer. Again, he shrugged. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair, saying, ‘Let’s get out of here then. I don’t like what’s happened. I have a bad feeling about things back home. We need to hurry.’

In daylight, standing on top of the cliff, he realised what he had missed at night. They weren’t on a promontory. They were separated from the mainland by churning sea. Silently cursing himself for not reconnoitring thoroughly the previous night, he walked between the trees and bushes until he reached the mainland side of the rock and stared down the cliff at the watery gap. At a guess, the swimming distance was less than thirty paces, but then they had to negotiate a winding path up the opposing cliff face.

He surveyed the mainland geography to the north and south, hoping to spy a gentler slope or a beach. The closest was to the north, more than a hundred paces of swimming distance. ‘Now where?’ Crystal asked, standing beside him.

‘First, we’ll have to swim a bit,’ Chase replied, and pointed north. ‘There’s a beach a little way up there.’

‘I can’t swim,’ she announced.

He met her gaze. ‘Hunter and I can help you to get across,’ he suggested.

‘Hunter can’t swim either,’ she told him.

‘Great,’ he muttered. He stepped back from the cliff and walked several paces away. ‘Now what?’ He scuffed the dirt with his boot, ran his hand through his hair and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds. The breeze was still coming from the west, across the vast ocean expanse, and rain felt imminent. When he turned, he saw Hunter studying him and sensed the young man’s dislike as palpably as he smelt the salt in the air. He returned to Crystal, noting how the wind lifted her dark hair and spread it like a mantle, and said, ‘I’ll swim up to the beach, and climb to the top. There’s got to be a village or a fisherman somewhere along this part of the coast. We’re barely a day’s walk from the city. I’ll get a boat and come back for you.’

‘A boat? How?’ she asked.

‘I’ll ask a local to help. If I can’t get a fisherman to come, I’ll help myself.’

‘Don’t let him go,’ Hunter said, coming between the pair and glaring at Chase. ‘It’s a trick. The assassins didn’t kill us so he’s going to leave us stranded out here.’ Crystal looked at Hunter and then back at Chase, the question clear in her expression.

‘Good plan,’ Chase said and shook his head. ‘Of course the problem with it is that I’d have to hope you were too dumb to figure out what I was doing.’

His sarcasm wasn’t lost on Crystal, who grinned faintly, but Hunter’s face hardened. ‘You’ve got a smart mouth,’ he snarled.

‘Okay, so I don’t swim over. Now what’s your plan?’ Chase asked, meeting Hunter’s eyes. The silence
between the two young men bristled with enmity as it had in the tunnel and the cave.

‘I say you go and fetch help,’ Crystal said, ignoring Hunter’s protest.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ Chase promised. ‘The weather doesn’t look good. When I come back, if it’s rough, I’ll expect you to be sheltering in the cave.’

‘That’s where we’ll be,’ Crystal agreed.

‘Good,’ he concluded. He removed his boots and handed them to Crystal. ‘They’re a good reason to come back,’ he said, grinning. ‘I only have that pair of boots to my name.’ He glanced at Hunter and descended the steep slope, clambering nimbly over the rocks to the water level.

At the base, he paused to gauge his bearings for the northward swim. The swell was strong, waves foaming and tumbling over the rocks. He smiled wryly. It seemed that every aspect of this strange adventure on old Sunlight’s behalf was destined to end with him swimming in the ocean. Mrs Merchant and her bodyguard ought to be grateful that he knew how to swim. Without him, they would perish from thirst on their rocky prison. He waited for the rising swell and dived into the ocean, relishing the soothing wash of salt water over his skin.

‘If he isn’t involved, then how did the assassins know where we were?’ Hunter asked.

‘I don’t have an answer, Hunter. We’ve been over all of the possibilities.’

‘Then he has to be the key. He won’t be coming back. You know we’re stranded here.’

‘If he’s the key, then he’s a very clever young man and an even better actor,’ Crystal replied. ‘Or he’s been set up and betrayed by whoever paid him in the first place. I think you’re wrong about him. He’s a simpler
man than that.’ She wanted to add that, for a thief, she thought that he was considerably honest, but she knew her young bodyguard lacked the sensibility to understand subtlety in an ironic observation. Instead, she turned her attention to a wall of rain drifting across the grey ocean and watched silent lightning flash in the distant cloudbank. The day was running out of light. Soon they’d have to retreat to the cave to sleep another cold night away from home. Yet she was not dismayed. For the first time in several years, she was released of all the daily responsibilities of running her company and the feeling was good. Imprisoned as they were on the tiny finger of isolated rock, she appreciated the temporary insulation from the city world and routine intrigue of business.

Sighing, she turned back from the wider ocean to see what else was happening closer to shore, and noticed Hunter staring silently at the water. A small fishing boat with a single green sail curved by the offshore wind was beating towards their rocky perch. Three figures rode it across the waves, tacking to make headway against the freshening sea breeze, racing the approaching rain. ‘Seems you underestimated our thief,’ she said. Hunter just stared silently at the boat.

Swift knocked gently. A shadow crossed the lantern light within and a voice whispered from behind the door, ‘Who is it?’

‘Swift,’ she whispered in reply. ‘I’ve come to see Runner, Passion.’ The door opened and Passion stood framed in the lantern light. Behind her long skirt a small face peered out. ‘Hello, Jon,’ Swift said. The little face vanished.

‘Come in,’ Passion urged. She shut and bolted the door after Swift entered. Little Jon retreated into his bedroom. Passion turned and said, ‘Sit down. Hungry?’

‘I can’t stay long,’ Swift said. ‘Where’s Runner?’

Passion turned aside, biting her lip momentarily. Then she met Swift’s gaze and said, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in several days.’

‘Did Nail come to see him?’

‘Nail sailed on the ships with the army,’ Passion said. ‘Didn’t he tell you?’

Swift stared in disbelief. ‘Nail joined the army?’

‘They dragged in conscripts from all over the Foundry Quarter.’

‘He was forced to go?’

Passion hesitated, and said, ‘He volunteered.’

‘They wouldn’t have taken boys, would they? Boys Runner’s age?’

‘They rounded up a lot of young men. Some were boys, but I never saw Runner in any group and no one’s mentioned seeing him to me.’

Swift went to the little window and peered into the dark street. She remained there a while, ignoring Passion’s presence, and when Swift eventually turned back to Passion, her eyes were red. ‘I came for another reason,’ she said. ‘It’s important you don’t tell anyone we’re sisters. It’s dangerous to you.’

‘Why?’

‘I killed Prince Shortear, Passion. They know who I am and they’re already hunting for me. If they know you know me, they’ll come for you and for Chase.’

‘You’re an assassin?’

Seeing the astonishment on her sister’s face, Swift confirmed her question. ‘Yes, I am. And you don’t need to know anything else.’

‘That’s why you left Runner to me. Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Because,’ Swift said and left the statement hanging. ‘You may have to leave this place. I’m sorry if that happens, but don’t hesitate if you get any hint of people
associating you with me. The watch won’t treat you nicely, no matter how little you know. Make sure Chase knows all this too. Where is he?’

‘Working for the Joker.’

Swift’s eyes widened. ‘Why?’

‘A promise he made to her grandfather when he was in the Bog Pit.’

‘Chase was in the Bog Pit? When?’

‘A few days ago. He escaped.’

‘No one escapes from the Bog Pit.’

‘Chase did,’ Passion said proudly.

‘What did he do to get put in there?’

‘They caught him stealing bread from the royal pantry,’ Passion explained.

Swift shook her head in disbelief. ‘Chase got into the palace?’

‘He knows a secret way. He’s been in and out before for food. He was unlucky last time.’

‘Is he a Guild member?’

‘A what?’ Passion asked. Then she remembered the Guild being described by Rose, and said, ‘No.’

‘Is he working?’

‘No. He can’t get a job. No one wants him. That’s why he steals.’

‘So what’s the promise he made to the Joker?’

‘Helping her find something her grandfather said was hidden somewhere. I don’t know the details.’

Swift moved closer to Passion and reached out to stroke her sister’s long red hair. ‘The Joker is a dangerous woman. Tell Chase to keep away from her, and tell him to go see Plug Lager in the Fat Wombat tavern and ask for an introduction to the Guild. They might have something for him that will pay.’ She looked Passion over and said, ‘You’re very beautiful, little sister. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to be a better big sister to you.’

Passion smiled at the compliment and apology. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘I have to go,’ Swift said, taking her hand from Passion’s hair. ‘If anyone asks, you don’t know me. We’re not sisters. If you hear even the slightest mention of anyone connecting you to me, no matter who it is, take little Jon and get out of this place. Make sure you tell Chase everything I’ve told you. Watch out for the guards and the king’s men. Don’t attract their attention.’ She kissed Passion on the cheek quickly. ‘Take care, little sister,’ she said. She opened the door, carefully checked no one was watching, and slipped into the darkness, leaving Passion still touching her cheek where Swift’s kiss lingered.