Sly

Begrudgingly, I helped secure the unconscious boy to Davery's back.

Without the adrenaline I had earlier, he was just too heavy for me to carry like I carried him out of the square. Davery may not be a strong fighter, but he was strong enough for this and he didn't need his hand to be dexterous to hold up the weight.

Orchid and Panther were both occupied elsewhere with their duties to their goddess Bliss, but River helped to see us off. Our patient must have been exhausted because he stirred some but pretty much went right back to sleep for the afternoon.

But as the sun dipped below the highest buildings at the edge of Unays, the lamplighters came out to light the candles in the street lanterns of Green district. I watched in the doorway at the back of the yard as the last one passed the house.

"Let us know if he makes it," River whispered. "I want to know what happened."

"So do we," Davery replied, slipping his hood down low on his forehead to cover his face in shadow. "We'll figure it out, don't worry, River. And tell Panther thank you for us."

"And Orchid," I added, adjusting my own hood. "I'll bring the fee for her personal time tomorrow."

River waved her hand in dismissal. "Panther won't ask you to pay. Not for this."

"She'll bring it tomorrow," Davery insisted. "Sly, how's the street?"

"Almost clear," I said. "And... go!"

Davery and I ducked out of the yard. The creak of the gate closing behind us grated in my ears. Every sound we made, every groan or grunt from the boy Davery carried, sent my heart racing as I was sure it would get us caught. 

My eyes darted left to right in front of us, and even onto the surrounding rooftops. Most folk didn't use the rooftops for travel outside of the flooding season, but we couldn't count rule out the possibility. I saw no one and gave Davery the hand signal to follow me to a corner alley in the shadows. 

We slid from spot to spot, avoiding eyes where we could and watching for city guards. The pace was agonizingly slow, but it would have to do. We were just about to step out from behind a shop when I heard a light but distinct tapping of fingertips on wood. There just wasn't that much wood in Unays, and I searched for the source of it hoping not to find one of those damn beaters.

But sure enough, just coming onto the street was a guard, tapping on her beat stick.

"Get back!" I hissed. "There's a mongrel over there."

Davery raised an eyebrow but ducked back into the alleyway. Moments later, a white tabard could be seen on a patrolling guardswoman as she passed our hiding spot. She stomped through the streets with arrogant purpose. 

I jerked my head further into the alley and led Davery and his burden down a dark path. It wasn't the fastest route, but it was the safest. My eyes crawled over every surface, looking for movement until my sight could adjust to the dark. It had been a few hours since the last rain, hopefully the alleyway mud wasn't so bad right now.

"I've not been through here," Davery said. "I trust you know where you're going?"

I grunted, trying to keep quiet and concentrate on keeping my loudmouth brother alive. We crept down the alley, and into another, and into another. When I started to hear Davery's labored breathing, I knew he was reaching his limits carrying his burden.

"Almost there," I promised. 

At the end of the path was a wide road, one that was frequently traveled and there were still people on it. Another two guards walked the street, and I kept us ducked in the shadow of the alley, Davery standing farther back. When the mongrels eventually passed and turned out of sight, I waved to my brother and stepped forward.

"Quickly," I hissed and he nodded. The blond head on his shoulder lolling to the side.

Davery followed me forward onto the hard clay bricks, but the road seemed to take an eternity to cross. My heart pounded in my ears, making it harder to hear, but no one glanced our way.

"Is this the path behind Marak's house?" Davery whispered. I nodded. Good, Davery was in familiar territory and could run if he needed to.

We continued until the moonlight shone on a humble clay path. The sun was now fully gone, leaving only the silver light from above to illuminate an ancient tavern with chipping green paint that ate up the end of the road. Light reflected off bits of colorful stone and glass that had been pressed around the doorway and windows when the clay was fresh and new, but much of it had long since fallen out leaving dark holes in their stead. Candles and sound roared inside. The Snoring Dragon was as lively as ever.

"Get food. I'll take him downstairs," Davery said and disappeared around the corner to the gated side yard of the tavern.

I watched him go, then my eyes flicked behind me to ensure no one was watching. Then, I slipped up to the door that proved the only barrier between the peaceful street and the assaulting noise inside. I slipped off my hood and tucked it away before pulling on the heavy door and entering the warm tvern.

The room was full tonight. The better off of Swamp district and the poorer of the others came to the Snoring Dragon for watered down ale and cheap food. My nose was greeted by the smell of roasting vegetables and my stomach growled. A fire crackled wildly in the large corner hearth and the clink of mugs enveloped the bar. 

"Out of the way!" A dockworker shoved me aside as he opened the door I had just been standing in front of. Another dockworker, a friend of his probably, ran after him and spilled the contents of his belly onto the street. 

I sighed and slid into the kitchen, dodging the wandering hands and flying arms of the drunken patrons as I went.

Shelves lined the wall, and a large counter in the middle of the room was covered in dough. The fire licked at a pot that smelled of broth and a rack hung over that of pastries.

"Oy, is Marak home safe?" A little gray woman wiped flour-coated hands on an apron and looked up from her dough, hands on her hips.

"He should be, Addah. We ran into some other trouble after we got him out of the cages though."  I pulled a copper coin from my belt and slid it onto her counter. "Can I get three bowls from the fire?"

"Hm, is that so?" Addah looked behind her to the stew pot and pulled three bowls off a shelf. "I heard about the guard in the square. I assume it was you?"

"Maybe," I said, rubbing an arm and watching Addah fill our bowls from the pot. "Can't say for sure."

Addah huffed a dark laugh. "Did the boy live at least?"

"So far," I admitted.

"And are you the one that did the mongrel in?" Addah asked, sliding the bowls on a tray and setting it in front of me.

My breath caught in my throat. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "By the time the crowd was done with him he had a slit throat and anything he was carrying was gone."

"No," I murmured. "We left before... before that happened."

I bit my lower lip. This was going to end very badly when the guards came asking what happened.

Addah turned back to her counter, taking up her kneeding again. "Watch your back out there."

"Thanks, Addah," I murmured and took the tray from the counter. The door to the back of the kitchen was open to let in the cool night air and fight off the heat from the fires. I slipped out the open door and into the yard.

 A small stable, if you can call a lean-to a stable, took up the north wall of the yard. Across from it was the privies, and just to the left of the kitchen door was a raised cellar entryway, the door left open.

I went down the steps, setting the tray down long enough to pull the door shut over my head. I blinked away the dim light until I could see better. I picked the tray back up, taking in the familiar scent of earth and smoke. Preserved meat hung from the ceiling. Crates and barrels lined the wall to the left and grain sacks stacked as tall as me warped a shelf by the stairs. In the back of the cellar, lanterns danced and lit an open room separate from the tavern's stores by a ragged old blanket. I brought the tray inside and drew the makeshift curtain in the doorway closed.

"How is he?" I asked and placed the tray on our small wooden table. I sat in one of the two chairs and looked down at my brother sitting on the dirt floor by a straw mattress. He had laid the boy out on it and covered him with a blanket.

"Same as before." Davery rubbed his temples. "Hand me one of those. If our patient here doesn't wake up soon, I'll eat his too. I haven't eaten since noon."

"Neither have I," I snorted. "You can be such a child when you're hungry." 

I handed him his bowl and took one for myself. My stomach was in pain from running around the city all day with no food, but you didn't hear me complaining about it.

"You're no better," he said, tipping his bowl back and drinking most of the broth before he took a spoon to his vegetables.

"Am too." I stuck my tongue out at him.

I took a delicate bite with the good side of my jaw, trying not to split open the cut from earlier in the day.

"I'm going back out. I need to see if Marak made it home safe." Davery shoved half of the vegitables from his bowl into his mouth at once.

"You better chew that." I glared at him, tossing him a water skin from the shelf by the door. "And you're not going back out. I am."

"The hells you're going out. You're the face those guards are looking for, if the crowd decided to snitch on us." Davery growled around a mouthful of food.

I swallowed my bite and gave Davery a grave look. "Addah says the guard was killed after we left. Unless someone snitched on us, they won't know me from any other girl in Swamp."

Davery's face paled. "That's not good. The mongrels are going to tear this district apart until someone fesses up. I need to tell Jexa and Dirk right away."

Davery stood and pulled his cloak around his shoulders.

"No!" I protested. "I'm not staying here, I'm the one more likely to slip away unnoticed! I'm going out, you're staying here."

"Sly," Davery sighed. "I said no and that's final. My baby sister doesn't need to get into any more trouble than she already has today, or did you forget who stuck her nose in someone else's business and saddled us with this one?"

Davery jerked his head down at the boy on the straw mat.

"At least I can take care of myself!" I snapped. 

His face fell, and in the moment so did my heart. I looked down at his stiff hand by his side. "Davery..."

"No, don't take it back. You've never been able to lie to me anyway." He stared at me with tired green eyes. Too tired for his years. He took his boots off and sat on the other chair at the table with a sigh. "And... and I suppose it's somewhat true. Gods, Sly, when did you grow up?" 

"Davery," I started. "I worry-"

"And I don't?" Davery cut me off. His mossy eyes bore into mine with stubborn fire. "I changed your damned diapers. I kept food in your belly. I have five years on you. But here you are, doing the protecting."

"So what do you want me to do, Davery? You can't replace Da. We either watch out for each other, or for ourselves, but you can't do it all."

"You-" He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, then threw his good hand open before him as if the right words would fall from the sky. "Why are you so gods damned hard to talk to?"

"I get it from you," I said, taking a spoonful of stew.

He rolled his eyes. "You do not."

"Bloody shut up and let a man sleep." 

My head whipped to the straw mattress and in an instant, Davery was on the ground over their patient, his empty bowl discarded on the table.

"You're awake, are you in any pain?" Davery asked, checking his bandages.

"No, I'm comfortable as a fat palace cat by the hearth." He tried to sit up and started coughing.

"You're mouth then." Davery grimaced. I handed Davery a filled water skin.

"What about my mouth?" The boy asked.

"That's what got you a beating, isn't it? Your mouth." Davery turned him on his side, not too gently, to check if his back had bled through.

"Ouch! Oh." He let his blue eyes roam the room, taking in their few belongings and the two people who now hovered over him. He had a stubborn chin, and freckles spattered his high cheekbones. His corn silk hair moved at the slightest huff of air. "Right, the guard."

"Do we at least get your name?" I asked.

"Do I get yours?" He stared at me. I frowned and didn't say anything.

"Friendly sort." Davery pushed him onto his stomach and peeled back a bandage at his hip. "We're going to need to change these."

"The hells you are, I have to go." He tried to get up and it took almost nothing for Davery to push him down flat.

"I doubt you'd make it. There are guards crawling through Swamp as though we'd buried gold under the mud." Davery handed him the water skin and let him drink. We watched him drink it all in one go as though he hadn't had a drink in days. When he was done, the boy opened his mouth to argue, but I spoke first.

"The guard that beat you is dead," I said flatly.

That caught him off guard.

"What?" He stared at me, really looking at more than my face for the first time. His eyes drifted down to my belt. My knife. Then to the lean muscle of my bronze arms. My eyes were sharp on him as he drew his conclusions. "You were in the square."

I snorted a laugh. All that thought, just to come up with such a simple answer.

"She was," Davery said. "And if it weren't for her your beating would have continued."

"Why save me?" he asked with suspicion. Maybe he was from Swamp after all. I dropped my eyes from his, then glanced at my brother's hand.

"She, doesn't like the beat sticks," Davery supplied. "She got you out of there, but the crowd took care of the guard. I don't know what the morning is going to bring of it, but it won't be good."

"I took you to some friends at a Muse house. They patched you up and we brought you home. I didn't know where else to take you," I said.

"You took me to a brothel?" he asked.

"No." My eyes flashed at him. "I took you to a temple house of Bliss, to Muses who have earned the Mother's blessing. Clearly you didn't deserve their mercy."

"Sly," Davery warned. "He's not from here, he doesn't know our gods."

"But!"

"Go check on Marak," Davery snapped. "Make sure he made it home safe."

I glared at Davery. He just wanted me out of the way. As usual, taking the lead.

"Fine." I stood and made a show of expertly flicking my dagger out, pointing it at the boy, then sliding it back into my belt sheath. A warning. Then I threw the curtain open dramatically and stalked out. 

The dirt floor of the cellars made walking slient, and it was easy to stop by the shelves of grain. Davery either didn't hear me, or maybe he did and didn't care. Either way, I heard his next words start in low murmurs.

"She can be protective, but she means well," He said.

"I owe her my life, I guess," the stranger mumbled.

"Yes, you do. And let me tell you how you can start repaying that debt..." Davery said in that tone that meant you were about to be talked into something whether you wanted to or not. He was persuasive like that.

I quietly eased open the cellar door and set it down without a sound. My brother would be better at getting the boy to talk than I would. Maybe he was right to send me out, I seem to have as much of a temper as the boy we'd saved. 

I crept carefully through the alley to Marak's house, my stomach growling. My only regret was that I didn't scarf down the rest of my bowl like Davery did his.