Sly

Two sensations I despised above all others, hot, and itchy. At that moment, I was both.

Most of the night was spent painting little squares of vellum, and the rest of the early hours were spent running them around Swamp. 

And the heat. It didn't help that the Summer months were upon us, the month of Claw nearly here. Soon enough the air itself would feel like it boiled you when you walked into it. 

Then, the itch. When we go out to meet people as Black Daggers, we always cover ourselves head to toe. I have, just like the others, a simple black mask from last Shadow's Night that hid my face, and my cloak was made of cheap flax. An itchy and miserable thing, but it did the job while delivering the vellum and relaying Davery's instructions.

But it was exhausting work, particularly before sunrise when the curfew was still in effect. By the time I got back to our blissfully cool cellar room, I stripped off as many pieces of clothing as I dared and fell onto my straw mattress.

I closed my eyes, willing my sore muscles to relax until Davery came back. He would be here soon enough, probably with more work to do.

I yawned, rolling my face to the other side on my mattress as I slowly faded into sleep.

Sleep.

Peaceful.

Until...

My eyes snapped open. Something was wrong.

 Davery was not back yet, and I couldn't tell how long I had dozed from inside the underground cellar. Rolling onto my feet, I yanked a tunic over my head and shoved my feet in my boots. Nudging open the cellar door I noted the early afternoon sun. I couldn't have slept for more than a few bells, but Davery was still late.

Shuffling into the main room of the tavern, I strained to see every possible place Davery could be. Hardly anyone was there, it being after the noon meal and far too early for the day workers to come drinking. Addah was through the kitchen doorway, cutting carrots and throwing them into the big stew kettle. Looks like a lean meal tonight at the Snoring Dragon.

"Morning, Addah." I slid into the kitchen to watch or offer help, depending on what was left to do.

"Morning she says!" Addah pitched her tone high and teasing. "And here I thought morning was when all them folks were down here for breakfast and to get on their way home." 

I rolled my eyes while Addah chuckled at her own joke, leaning in and kissing the old woman's flour covered cheek.

"I meant afternoon. Has Davery been by here? He was supposed to meet me by now," I asked.

"No, he hasn't been through here but I was upstairs for a time and I might have missed him. I was cleaning out the rooms of them that left today, so it took a while." Addah put down her chopping knife and wiped her hands on her apron. "Husband?" She called to the barroom.

"Aye?" Abe called back.

"Has Davery come in yet that ye've seen?" 

Abe came in from the main room, taking up a spot by Addah as he leaned against the counter.

"No, can't say I've seen him." Abe scratched his chin. "He's like a cat, that one. Comes and goes as he pleases. Hard to keep track of."

"Well,..." I hesitated, not really sure what to do next.

"Don't fret over the likes of your scamp brother, he'll be fine. His kind always is," Addah said warmly. 

"Why don't ya help my old bones carry up a barrel I need out o' the cellar?" Abe was always putting on a grumpy face but anyone who spent much time around him could tell he had a soft spot for Davery and me. I couldn't help but smile. Hard work was his solution to everything, and he wouldn't stop pestering me until he felt my mind was off my worries. 

"Alright, Abe." I stretched my arms over my head and grunted. "Something to do is just what I need."

Abe nodded his approval, and we headed out the kitchen's back door.

We carried up the barrel, then two more after it. Then I found jobs helping with sweeping the main room and wiping down the bar itself. I finished up as the early dinner crowd began to arrive, and after helping Addah dish out the food I began to worry again.

"Addah, I'm going to Jexa's place," I told her.

Addah smiled and nodded over the dough she was kneading. Jexa was supposedly a part of the activity that morning, he might know something. At least, he might know what Davery had been doing.

The sky held a lazy gray promise of evening rain. I wasn't really sure if that was a blessing to cool things down, or a curse of humidity upon the Midlands. Even the lake looked gray as it slopped over its banks, pulling at feet and carts as they dared to pass too close. 

I walked slowly, a casual air to it, but my speed was partially due to not wanting to get there and find that something was actually wrong. Davery was a lot of things. Cunning. Sharp. Whitty. The opposite of my impulsive and hot temperament. But he wasn't stupid enough to get caught up in something.

Right?

Jexa was a dock worker before he hurt his back, but he still lived by the water. His back healed, he can walk, but he'll never haul the heavy loads the way he did when he was younger. Nowadays, he assisted the Dockmaster with organizing the crews and signaling barges in and out of the lake. No small blessing that he was able to keep a job at all with his injury.

Lake district was fairly tidy for being a cheaper part of town to live in. It could be in part because anything left outside would be washed into the lake if it wasn't secured. The living cost cheap mostly due to the fact that the housing was smaller rooms than most in the city. Aside from Swamp district, of course. The buildings were all in neat rows, and any wall with a view of the water had a window.

Jexa's apartments were on the ground floor so he didn't have much of a view, but the sound of the water was present and the breezes over the lake usually cooled this part of the city well enough. The door was one of those split doors so you could open just the top half for fresh air, and Jexa's was open so he must be home.

"Jexa?" I called out. I didn't bother waiting for an answer, I just wanted him to know who it before he took a swing at someone barging into his house. A man his size could do some serious damage. I began to open the other half of the door when Jexa came up and blocked the way.

"Sly." Jexa sighed, running a hand down his face.

Immediately I was suspicious, shooting him a stern look as my shoulders tensed up. He was ragged. It looked as though he had been fighting bears all night instead of sleeping. Which, to be fair, he looked capable of. The skin under his eyes was dark and his whole face drooped in exhaustion. 

"What happened? Davery hasn't come back yet." My voice was rough as I asked, the creeping feeling of dread in my bones that woke me from my nap was coming back again.

"Listen, Sly, he will be back today. I promise. Go home. There isn't anything to be done here." Jexa grumbled and started to close the door entirely.

"Jexa!" I snapped. "What do you know?" 

His whole presence was off. He never was a good liar, but despite some deceit going on, there was still a ring of truth to his words. He knew where Davery was.

"Let her in." My brother's soft words came from the depths of Jexa's rooms.

"Davery?" I pushed past Jexa who was no longer holding his doors closed against me. Davery sat on the bed in just his breaches with bandages wrapped around his torso. His posture was hunched, elbows on his knees and just looked at me like he had been through hell and back.

"What happened to you? Why didn't you come home? " My face paled, my eyes darting all around his bandages, not knowing where to look first. "Was this the mongrels' doing?"

Davery shook his head, seakly waving the thought away with his good hand. "No, it wasn't the guards."

"Our clever lad here took a lashing for breaking curfew. An old farmer came in a bell before dawn for the Swamp district market. Hadn't heard the curfew yet."

I winced, already seeing where this was going.

"So Davery of course hears this and takes the lashes for him," Jexa spat out.

The shock took a moment to sink in.

"You did what?" I whispered, my voice shaking. Angry. My eyes now roamed Davery as I rounded to see his back better. Peeking out around the bandages over his ribs were purple and red edges, telling a tale of the whip's fury. His posture was all wrong, he was still in pain.

"He was lame, Sly," Davery said calmly, but the sweat on his brow betrayed his calm front. "It was a wonder he made it to town, even with his little cart and donkey. He was older, only about my size and has a lame leg. He would never be able to recover from a lashing. I'm still young, and can afford medicine. I can recover from it, so I took it instead."

My fury at his stupid risk subsided to a numbness during the story. My hot temper slipping away as fast as it came on.

"The ol' man wore a big straw hat, and by some mischief of Shadow herself, he was wearin' a black tunic. Being the right size and wearing his same damned black tunic, Davery took his hat when the mongrel's wasn't looking and..." Jexa didn't finish, but he didn't really have to.

I had seen it countless times before. It didn't matter who was getting beaten and Davery was a close enough match. Those guards just needed a body to lash publically. It never mattered who it was.

"Sly..." Davery's mossy green eyes pleaded for my understanding. I knew he'd have it. Me fussing at him over something I'd do myself wasn't going to change anything.

Sweat dampened his messy brown hair. He didn't straighten up, but he did gesture one of his arms open for a hug. 

I sighed, the last trickle of fight draining away from me and I wrapped my arms around him, gently avoiding the bandaged area. A few tears hit Davery's shoulder before I realized they were mine. I wiped them away with the back of my hand. "It was only five, it was very minor."

"You're an idiot," I told him.

"You're a bigger idiot," he shot back.

I pulled away enough to see his face, that twinkle of mischief had found its way through the pain and into his eyes.

"Just don't do that again," I scolded. "What would the Black Daggers do without you? And what would Swamp do without you?"

"Starve," Jexa said. "Probably die off in droves."

Davery shot Jexa a glare.

The big man shrugged. "What? It's true. Yer the glue holding things together right now."

"You give yourselves too little credit," Davery grumbled.

"I could say the same for you," Jexa shot back.

Davery sighed, shaking his head and turning back to me. "Jexa was just patching me up before I came home. I didn't want to cause extra worry to you or Addah."

"Well, you did," I said with a huff. 

I moved to allow Jexa to finish whatever he was doing with Davery's bandages. I watched on anxiously as our big friend dabbed ointment and wrapped bandages as gently as he could. I helped to softly pull the tunic over his head when Jexa was done, but the stubborn expression remained solidly on my face the whole time.

"Let's get back. At this rate I'll barely make curfew myself." Davery put up a pained grin at his own joke as he stood, with help from Jexa and me. He walked a bit stiffly but quickly enough. Even that was probably putting on a good show for my sake though.

"If we're caught being late, I'll shove you in a dark alley and I'll take the lashes," I promised.

"Did you deliver all your vellum squares?" Davery asked, ignoring my threats.

"Yes. Every temple, plus the day-old-bread store on Marsh Way. Oh, and the Smith 'round the corner. They all know what the colors mean. They each promised to signal for their streets." I sighed, supporting my brother's pitiful walking with my arms gently around him.

"I'll pass along what I see tonight, you two." Jexa let us out his door. "But this isn't a solution. What are we supposed to do with this curfew? I'm no sneak at night like Dirk or Sly."

"You're right. It's long overdue the Daggers get ears in the palace." 

Davery glanced over at me with a look in his eye that I didn't like, and grinned. "I want to know when this curfew is supposed to end, and I want to know more about this five crown reward for traitors."

"No, Davery," I grunted.

"And for that matter, with the king and crown prince out of Unays for the war, does the palace even know what's going on in its lowest streets?" Davery went on, ignoring me.

"Davery..." I warned.

"For that matter, who is running things in the palace? The Queen? The younger sons?" Davery went on. "We really should know these things."

"How exactly are we going to get ears in the palace?" I snorted.

"I was hoping to enlist a certain fiery friend of yours, actually." Davery smiled with a wicked, clever gleam in his eyes.

"Shadow help us." I sighed. "What's your plan?"