Page 111 of By the Horns
“That’s why you were in that meeting. That’s why Raptor wouldn’t name who it was. Still won’t name who the mancer is. He’s protecting you.”
I hesitate, and then step forward, moving in closer to him. “I promise you that I just want to save Raptor. Please, help me get him out of the tunnels, and you can burn me in the plaza later. Just please, please trust me when I say that he’s very much in danger. Him and the others with him.”
Rooster stares at me long and hard. Then he gestures at the supervisor. “I’m going down with this woman. I want three enforcers to come with me.”
“Best bring all of them, sir,” I say, relieved. “There are a lot of ratlings.”
Kipp pats his sword handle and lifts his fist in the air.
“Yeah, what about us?” Arrod asks. “Kipp and I are ready.”
Rooster points at them. “You two stay here under supervision. If your friend is lying, all of you are going to be locked up for a very long time.”
“It’s not a lie,” I say, antsy. I move closer to the basket, and the enforcers file in, Rooster putting his hand on my elbow and guiding me in after them. With a creak, the door on the basket is shut and we’re lowered a jerky handspan, then another.
The supervisor leans over, as if inspecting our progress downward. “She’s right, you know. It’s not a lie.”
Then he nods at his repeaters, pulling back.
Before we can ask what he means, the basket flies down the shaft, the ropes cut. It swings against the walls and then careens down into the darkness, and I fly up into the air, barely able to grab onto one of the ropes before my head hits something hard and I fall unconscious.
Forty-Eight
Gwenna
“Wake up.”
A hard slap across the face snaps me awake. I jerk, startled, and stare up at Rooster’s round face and his crappy little mustache. He’s got blood trickling down his nose and a cut above his eyebrow, and his clothing is torn. He holds up an oil lamp, looking me over.
“Good,” he says in a flat voice. “You’re alive. Can you sit up?”
I honestly don’t know. I stare up at my surroundings, and a bit of dust drifts into my eyes. It’s dark, but I can see a few dim lights far, far up on the ceiling. It takes me a moment to realize that those are the lights from the drop, and we’re somewhere at the bottom. Then I remember the look on the supervisor’s face, the way the basket we stood in tumbled in free fall, and then…nothing.
My head throbs, but I don’t feel the skin-crawling, gut clenching sensation that tells me that there’s someone newly dead nearby. Just lots of old, old dead, but they aren’t bothering me too much due to the other aches and pains in my body, and I can ignore them at the moment.
I manage to sit up, wincing. “Everyone’s alive.”
“That’s what I’m checking,” Rooster says, and then pauses. “Wait, you mean…”
I nod, pressing my palm to my throbbing temple. “I’d feel it if they were dead.”
He lets out a long breath. “Thank Romus for his mercy, because I can’t get Karref to wake up.” He gestures at one of the enforcers, tumbled on the far side of the basket. “I’ll let him rest, then.”
I glance up again, at the tall, impossibly tall, shaft. “The thieves tried to kill us. How did we live through that?”
“The baskets are padded underneath. Lots of pillows to cushion things in case something broke. Or, you know, was deliberately broken.” Rooster limps over to one of the other men and taps him on the cheek. “Wake up, Jenkins.”
Jenkins groans, but that’s a good sign, I suppose.
I try to get to my feet while Rooster wakes the other enforcers. Leaning on my hand sends a shooting pain up my arm, and I bite back a gasp and roll the other way to avoid using it. When I get to my feet, I’m a little achy all over my back, and my head throbs like I’ve been binge drinking for days, but I’ll survive. My arm is the worst of it, and I cradle it against my chest as I gaze back up at the drop shaft, looking for sunlight. There is none, which means the drop has been closed over.
Mucking bastards. How are they going to explain away this one? I wonder. An accident that just happened to take out the guild leader? Do they have another person they plan to place as the guild leader, then? Or was this just a spur-of-the-moment decision?
One by one, the men are roused, except for Karref, who has taken a nasty hit on the head and won’t awaken. He’s breathing, but it’s clear he needs a medic. Everyone else is a bit shaken but able to move about. Rooster’s still limping, and one of the enforcers had to pop his arm back into its socket.
“What now, sir?” the nearest enforcer asks.
Rooster shakes his head. “I can’t believe they’ve betrayed us like this. Broke the lift deliberately. Did anyone bring a rescue beacon?”
