Sly

"I can't believe you back there," Davery grumbled as we struggled to carry the unconscious young man between us.

"Well what did you want me to do, let him get beaten to death?" I hissed back.

Davery scowled at me, but he didn't argue.

Still wearing our black hoods, we stopped on the doorstep to a small building just inside the Green district. The building was clay and sandstone, much like the rest of Unays, but this one was painted with a faded pink rose above the door which marked it as holy ground for the goddess Bliss. 

I reached out and knocked on the door twice quickly, then once more. While we waited and caught our breath, I looked down at the boy we had rescued. Very light hair and covered in freckles. His skin was pale. Clearly he hadn't spent days in the Unayan sun like me or Davery. His clothes were simple and shared traits with most common clothes across the continent, but the fabric was of a soft flax usually found in the north. 

"Where do you think he comes from?" I asked.

"Lindmead, I'd wager," Davery said grimly. "Though what he's doing all the way down here is anyone's guess."

A shuffling behind the door caused Davery and I to stiffen. A reflex for most of us in the Black Daggers, I suppose.

"Welcome." A small dark-haired woman with a sandstone complexion purred through the decorative iron gate over the door. She wore a sinful red dress that clung to her in the midlands humidity, and her lips were painted to match. Her dark eyes shifted from our dark hoods down to the beaten boy at our feet. She gasped, eyes widening just a hair before she pulled open the door. 

"Get inside," she whispered. "Quickly." 

Davery slid through the doorway first, hauling our knocked-out stranger by the arms while I came in behind with his feet. 

"Thanks, River," Davery said.

"Shh!" she hissed. "Thank me as long as Panther doesn't have my head for this."

"Before Panther asks, we're here to hire Orchid," Davery said.

River eyed us sharply, then looked down at the boy between us. "At least you know the rules. Bliss's charity can only go so far."

"We'll pay for the time," I said.

River nodded. "She's free right now. Come, this way."

Through the entry hall, River went ahead of us and quietly shut doors that may contain prying eyes. The house was a maze of rooms for all kinds of purposes. Rooms for music, rooms for art, rooms for dance, and rooms filled with pillows and bedding for comfort. Lounging and other, more heated, activities.

A door at the end of a wide hallway filled with sunlight and ivy was closed. River hurried to it, knocking twice and swinging the door open. 

"Go, I'll bring some water," she said before she disappeared.

The moment the door finished swinging open, Davery and I made it to the doorway and set down our burden. 

"Who-" Brown eyes met mine, her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Sly?"

A tall beauty with sunset orange hair in another of those deep red dresses stood in the doorway. I was out of breath and exhausted from the fight I just had, but I jerked my head to the unconscious lump in the hallway.

"Get his feet," Davery said, and I went back to help my brother haul the boy inside the room. Orchid began tossing the cushions that lined her room all in one place on the floor, and we set the boy down on them as gently as we could.

"What happened?" Orchid asked. "Who is he?"

"We don't know," Davery grunted, sitting down an falling back into some of the cushions. "Gods, I'm going to skin you alive when we get home, Sly."

"I love you too, Davery," I panted.

"Here." River rushed in with a steaming pitcher, a brown bottle of alcohol, and a wad of linen.

"Should we get Panther?" Orchid asked, and River nodded before leaving once more.

"What can we do?" I asked.

Orchid's warm brown eyes roamed over the mess on her cushioned floor. Gingerly, she tried to lift a bit of his tunic and hissed at the sight of his beaten and bruised skin underneath.

"Help me see what is wound and what is blood. Wet the cloths and pass them to me," she instructed.

Slowly, I helped her peeled the tunic from his body and Orchid drew a sharp breath at the sight. The bruises from the stick would be nasty tomorrow, but he would be lucky if bruises were the only thing he got out of today. He had fair hair, and looked no more than Davery's twenty one years, maybe less. His back was a mess from shoulder to hips, though thankfully the bleeding had slowed.

"Show me." A powerful voice commanded our attention, and all three of us looked in the doorway to see the house's head muse. Panther's sharp eyes were a golden brown and they were livid as they settled on the beaten boy in her house. She flicked her waterfall of small black braids over her shoulder as she walked forward, her movement as fluid as water under her cinched red dress.

She kneeled and inspected what she could, helping Orchid turn him to his stomach. After a moment she ran her fingers along his back, then shone those golden eyes on me.

"He has a cracked rib at least, though perhaps it's just badly bruised. Sly, get out of that tunic before you drip into his wounds or get out. River," she snapped to the small woman with dark hair in the doorway. "She's about my size, run to my wardrobe and find one of my gray tunics."

I looked down at my own tunic. It was definitely bloody from carrying this unfortunate mess, and from my own morning adventures in the mud when I nabbed those silver coins. I pulled the tunic off over my head, taking care not to drag it across the cut on my chin. Orchid and Panther had disregarded the boy's shirt in a corner, so I just tossed mine on top of it. Both shirts were probably going to need to be burned. 

I took one of the damp cloths and wiped my face, my arms, and carefully wiped off my ribs where my black dagger tattoo rested on my side. River returned with a fresh shirt in her hands and I gladly took it.

"Who did this to him?" Orchid breathed as they wiped the last of the blood off of his body. One long welt stretched from his ribs across his back. Another hugged his hip. The third was across his shoulders. All three of them had bled, the worst being the one over his hip other than the fact that his rib was likely broken.

"A mongrel beat him in the square," Davery said. "I'm sorry to have come here, it was much closer than our place. I don't know him, but it was clear enough from the people watching he didn't do a damn thing." 

"We know he can't stay here," I said quietly, holding a rag of alcohol to his hip. "We'll pay for Orchid's time. And yours too, Panther."

"Nonsense," Panther said. "You do for Shadow what we do for Bliss. Simply in a different way. But we can't risk the attention again. You will need to have him out at nightfall before our patrons begin arriving."

"We will," Davery promised. "He should be easy enough to transport if he stays unconscious. I can't imagine it's going to be a comfortable trip."

Davery held the bottle of alcohol, tipping it into one of the cloths and struggling with his stiff hand. Worry hit me instantly, and anger, and every other thing I could feel after the day we'd had.

"Stupid reckless fool," I took the bottle from my brother's hand. "Why didn't you run when I told you to?" 

He smiled and brushed a lock of hair from her furious eyes and draining some of her anger. "Sly, the same could be said about you."

I let her shoulders ease and took in Davery's lazy smile. I kind of wanted to smack it off of his face. Or maybe hug him. Not sure yet. "Just don't scare me like that again."

Davery snorted a laugh. "You must be tired to get that emotional over a little scuffle. And you're the one who got us into the fight in the first place."

Orchid smiled and covered her mouth trying to hide it. I glared at her, then turned back to Davvery.

"How did you see what I was doing so quickly?" I asked. "It was a big help when you jumped in and riled up the crowd."

Davery shrugged. "A lucky guess, I suppose."

"I don't believe you've relied on luck for one moment of your entire life," I grumbled.

"So, any guesses to what all is wrong with our patient, now that we've cleaned him up?" Davery asked.

"I'm not sure on that rib, it's already swelling around there," Orchid said. 

"The rib probably is broken, I'm fairly certain I heard the snap of it. As for what happened, a guard claimed he was conspiring against the king and court. I'd bet my right arm he'd done no such thing." Davery looked at Sly, who glared at his comment. "Sorry, a different arm then. Anyway, my sister here decided she was going to rile the mob and fight the guard on her own."

Orchid scowled and smacked my arm. "Now who's the reckless fool?"

"Once she threw him on the ground and hauled this boy away," Davery jerked his head to the unconscious lump on the floor. "The crowd went wild behind us. I don't know what happened to the guard, but he didn't follow. They made sure of that."

"Bliss, help us," breathed Panther. Orchid put two fingers to her heart, then her brow in the gods' blessing. I watched Davery's calculating face, his mouth a grim line.

"The guard, before I threw him he told me something." I looked down at my hip where I had stashed Davery's dagger. Pulling it free, I handed it back to him. "Apparently his captain is offering five silver crowns for traitors."

"Five silver crowns?" Davery asked.

"Traitors to Unays?" Orchid asked surprised. "Is this about the war in Linmead?"

"I haven't heard a thing about traitors." Panther crossed her arms. "The temples are usually informed first of a problem at court, so we may prepare for the aftermath. The Mother has told us no such thing, though in the King's absence the regents have been keeping many secrets."

"I think, the traitors are the Black Daggers." Davery said after a pause. "We've certainly undermined the city guards' authority lately. I'm sure in their eyes we need to be stomped out. But we can't rule out anyone else they might be looking for either."

"You might be right, and you need to lay low for a while," Panther warned. "I need to prepare for a dinner with a baron. Stay until you can get him out safely, but I can't offer you much protection. This is a temple, and we cannot keep prying eyes out for long without raising questions."

"Thank you, Panther. The Daggers owe you a favor." Davery said. Golden eyes locked on Davery, then me, then the boy on the floor.

"May Bliss watch you," she said, and slid out the door.

I looked over to Orchid. "Do you have anything tonight?"

Orchid looked over to her closet. A flowing dress hung on it with matching slippers on the floor beneath. "I'm performing a mourning blessing tonight in Lights district. I need to get ready soon."

"Then we'll leave you as soon as we can," Davery said. "Can we reach your kitchen easily from here? We're happy to wait where we aren't likely to be seen."

"Oh, and then the back door when dark falls. Good idea," I added.

Orchid nodded. "I'll show you the way. Gods bless the Black Daggers tonight. You're going to need it."