Page 11 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Confused, Maude looked over Herrick’s shoulder to see Gunnar pointing to the bookcase against the far wall of the small living space. Moving out from the space between Herrick and the door, Maude went to the bookcase and inspected the side of it. Small hinges that allowed the case to swing into the room lined the edge. She pulled on the shelves a bit, and the whole case swung wide, a dark passageway extending before her.

What kind of house was this?

Herrick stood by the door, watching Maude be fascinated with the bookcase hiding the underground passage he and his friends had so often used. He still felt shaken from when he had helped her pull herself from her anxiety attack. Her reaction to him revealing that they knew she wasvitkihad been intense. Many feared being discovered, but she had been downright panicked. Helping her sort through her terror had been the most natural thing for him to do at that moment, but he was unsettled when he walked away.

The way Maude had described the spot in the oasis that she had been drawn to the most rattled something inside him that then sat up, curious.

This woman was the most stubborn, angry, and difficult person he’d ever had to work with, but then she spoke of the oasis, and he heard the solemn voice of a woman with deep trauma and feeling. Just as quickly as that woman had appeared, Maude flipped back to the impatient and angry pit fighter he found. He was exhausted just keeping up with her refusing to speak with him and her absolute contrary position to anything he had to say. He could declare that the sun set in the west, and she would argue with him just for the sake of disagreeing with him oneverything. It drove him mad, and he loved every second of it.

When she had walked to the front door and intended to leave, his own terror surfaced, and he grabbed her elbow to stop Maude from leaving. Of course she swung on him for being so undeservingly possessive. Herrick knew she was going to retrieve her belongings, but he couldn’t help but feel like she was a shadow, and if he let go, she’d slip through his fingers forever.

They had stood so close together that Herrick could swear her eyes were as green as the forest moss in Veter, but when her black hair fell a bit and framed her features, they were their normal pitch black. The damned hood she wore covered too much of her face, but he saw how she had looked right back into his own eyes. He knew she had felt whatever had tugged between them.

Hakon came to stand next to him, though Herrick still had no words in him after whatever had just transpired between him and Maude.

“This one is interesting,” Hakon said to him before he winked at Herrick and walked to clear the plates from the table with Liv.

This woman was aggravating. She would help them find the rumored weapon that could kill Helvig, and then he would have to return to his duty.

Herrick recited those two sentences repeatedly, reminding himself of his sworn duty that came before all else that had nothing to do with a fierywoman who drove him to insanity. Finding his legs again, Herrick moved toward Maude and the dark tunnel that led to The Broken Bones Pub and its underground fighting pits.

Fighting the urge to touch her again, Herrick said to Maude as he walked by, “Let’s go.”

Maude ignored him, not unexpectedly. She blew past him and into the tunnel, darkness swallowing her curvy frame whole.

“Have fun,” called Gunnar with a laugh.

Herrick followed Maude into the tunnel and allowed the darkness to swallow him as well.

The black tunnel was soothing in a way the dark streets of Logi never were for Maude. She found that the heat from the day permeated the buildings around her, and the cooling bliss of night never touched her when she was outside in the late hours. But here, in this tunnel, she found cool and calm waiting for her. Herrick had been uncharacteristically mute during their trek, and his jaw clenched tight as he stared straight ahead.

“You are unusually quiet, Herrick.”

“And you are unusually chatty, Maude.”

“Mmm.” She made a noncommittal sound and ignored what her name on his tongue felt like. Between the full meal, bath, and now this dark tunnel she was in, Maude felt… settled. Her emotions had curled up like a cat on a blanket, content to snooze and leave her in control of hergalder.

“Where does this lead to?” Maude asked, breaking the silence once more.

“Directly into the underground pits. We’ll come up to the entrance shortly,” Herrick bit out. A few more beats of silence passed before she saw the small sliver of torchlight through a crack in the wall ahead of them.

Maude increased her pace and would’ve slammed through the door if Herrick hadn’t reached out and stopped her. Through the dim light, she saw him put a finger to his lips to motion for quiet while they listened for any movement inside the underground hall. Silence greeted them and Herrick reached for the door to swing it open. He poked his head out and then motioned for Maude to step through. Once she entered the space, however, she had to stop and turn around to face the passageway again.

Just beyond the threshold of the hidden walkway they had just exited was the pile of her weapons. They’d walked right by them. She picked them up and then closed the door, realizing the door was the small break in the wood paneling that surrounded the bar where she always hid her weapons. She had chosen this dark corner and broken panel in the wall because she figured no one would notice it was there. Had she pulled the entire panel open, she might have realized it was a door, but she never needed to. Maude had stumbled upon a secret passage without even knowing it.

She chuckled to herself and started buckling her weapons back into place. Maude checked that her dagger was still on her thigh and then pulled on the belt that held her short sword on her left side and her axe on the right. She preferred to fight with her sword but always carried her axe. Her mother’s and sister’s initials were carved in the handle, a constant reminder and promise. Lastly, Maude slung her unstrung bow and quiver over her shoulder so it rested on her back.

Feeling less vulnerable now that she had her weapons back, she turned to Herrick, who was standing in the middle of the cavernous hall. Maude pulled her hood down and surveyed the room. Dried blood painted the surfaces, and scorch marks were on the ceiling from where the soldiers had blasted their fire. Behind the bar, the barrels of ale and liquors had been stolen by the soldiers, and any food was either crushed in the dirt floor or taken for themselves. Flashes of the chaos that had enveloped the fightingpits tore through Maude’s mind, the sounds of dying screams and weapons clashing ringing in her ears again.

“I didn’t help them. I just ran,” Herrick said quietly, almost to himself.

Maude shook the memory that had been cut short when she was knocked out by Flame Soldiers.

“There was nothing you could have done to help them. They understood the risks when they came into this hall for the night,” Maude said to him, her voice softer than it usually was, though she couldn’t understand why.

“I didn’t help. I let my friends rush me to the hidden tunnel. I watched as innocents were slaughtered,” he said a bit more forcefully and then looked at her. “I watched as that soldier snuck up behind you and hit you in the head. And I could do nothing to stop it.”

Oh.

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