Seventy-one

The knock came in the middle of the night. Insistent tapping at Wooden Doll’s door.

Seven Skull Shield came immediately awake. Beside him, Wooden Doll shifted beneath the blankets, calling, “Dawn? See who that is.”

“Yes, Lady.”

“… And tell them it’s the middle of the night. I’ll see them in the morning.”

“Yes, Lady.”

Seven Skull Shield rubbed his eyes and stared up at the dark roof overhead. Charred with soot as it was, it might have been an eternal blackness. Fact was, he’d been cursed lucky to get out of Spotted Wrist’s cage with both of his eyes intact.

He wiggled onto his side, enduring the painful stitch from his barely healed ribs. Pus and blood, it took forever for ribs to heal. His deeper cuts and burns had barely started to mend.

Truth be told? He should have been on his feet days ago. He suspected that Wooden Doll knew it. Knew for a fact that Dawn did. He could see it in the Chickosi girl’s suspicious dark eyes.

Didn’t matter that he’d saved her, brought her here. If the young woman ever trusted a man again, it would take years, and most definitely the right kind of man.

He elevated his head enough to see her waddle to the door and ask, “Who comes?”

“Open the door. I need to see Wooden Doll and her, um, rich Trader. Now! It’s an emergency. Tell them it’s the little man.”

Dawn turned, head cocked quizzically. “You know any little man?”

“Let him in,” Skull said, feeling his hide pull as he sat up.

Dawn unlatched the door, lifting it to the side, peering out into the night and almost missing the dwarf who slipped in below her line of sight.

“Flat Stone Pipe,” Seven Skull Shield greeted.

Wooden Doll forced herself upright, clawing back the thick tangle of her hair and turning her eyes on the dwarf.

“Sorry, but there’s no time,” Flat Stone Pipe said as he strolled over to the fire in his rollicking round-legged gait. “Spotted Wrist is calling up his squadrons. Quietly. Not even Rising Flame knows. He says it’s for drills. But he’s replaced several of his commanders with new people. His people. Cousins from North Star House. They’ve been meeting in his palace for the past two days. My call? They’re moving on us.”

“You sent word to Columella?” Seven Skull Shield asked.

Figuring this was more than a quick call, Dawn tossed wood onto the fire from the pile near the door. Flames began to lick at the pieces.

“Does the sun rise in the east? Of course my lady knows. If Spotted Wrist tries to cross the river, he’ll be in for a surprise.”

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll—”

“If he’s willing to move on Evening Star House, he’s willing to move on Morning Star House as well. That’s Blue Heron and Wind. Maybe he’s doing it with Rising Flame’s approval, or he’s figuring that with Horned Serpent House in his pocket, and War Duck and Round Pot … What are you doing?”

Seven Skull Shield threw off the covers, sliding his legs around Wooden Doll.

“Skull? You’re still hurt. What do you think—”

“I’ve got to get Blue Heron out.”

Wooden Doll protested, “She’s been playing this game since before you were born.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not as tough as she thinks she is.”

“Neither are you,” Wooden Doll snapped as she stepped up to stop him from yanking his breechcloth over his hips. “You’re barely out of Spotted Wrist’s cage, and you’re headed right back to it? He won’t leave you to linger if he catches you again. You understand that, don’t you? You will die. Fast and hard.”

Seven Skull Shield smiled into her eyes. “He has to catch me first.”

He watched her facial muscles work as she sought to control her expression. Her voice dropped. “Don’t. Please. Stay here. With me.”

“She’s my friend.”

“So help me, if you leave here, don’t come back.”

He bent close, ran a finger down the gentle curve of her cheek, saw the panic in her eyes. “You know I love you. See you when I’m sure Blue Heron’s safe.”

He left her standing, looking desolate.

Dawn was giving him the same kind of look she’d give a lunatic, and Flat Stone Pipe had a wizened expression on his face, as if he’d known all along how this would turn out.

“Spit and piss,” Seven Skull Shield muttered as he stepped out into the hot and muggy night. “Where’s Farts when I need him?”

But as he wound his way through the dark workshops and warehouses to reach the Avenue of the Sun, it hit him that maybe Farts was the smarter of the two of them. Maybe the big brindle dog had found a new home, one where he was fed, played with by children, and could live to a great old age.

At least he hoped so, because Seven Skull Shield was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he had just walked away from the woman he longed for … and was headed toward a short and nasty end.