CHAPTER 5

The ground rushed up to meet them. In those few instants before colliding, Vax and the hooded man clung to each other, tumbled over each other, and both tried to get the upper hand, though it was far more chance than skill. The world and the starry sky traded places and traded places again. Pieces of roof and ledge slammed into the street first with a clattering loud enough to wake those asleep in the adjacent houses.

A heartbeat later, they both crashed into the stones. The hooded man first, arms and back smashing into the cobblestones. Vax immediately after, landing askew across his quarry while he cracked one shoulder against the stones. Breath whooshed out of him, and the edges of his vision blurred. His ears were ringing. It felt like the world was still twisting and turning, and briefly he wondered if they were still falling.

Bit by bit, his senses settled. The tangy taste of metal filled his mouth, and he smelled muck and mud. He spat on the ground and cursed. Sharp pain spread through his leg, from his outer thigh to his knee, and a dull ache throbbed within his right shoulder.

One of his daggers had fallen out of his grasp and lay a few yards away from him. Vax tried to push himself upright with one hand on the hooded figure’s chest. The man grunted but didn’t fight him off.

When Vax’s vision sharpened, he realized his other dagger was still sticking in the man’s shoulder. Vax grabbed it and used it to propel himself forward to the fallen blade. His adversary screamed.

A few houses away, someone slammed open a window, the shutters bouncing against the outer wall. “Sod off if you can’t be quiet! People are trying to sleep here!” The shutters and window closed again with force. On the street below, vermin squeaked and scattered.

Vax groaned. He had to fight to keep himself steady and semi-upright, especially when underneath him the silver-eyed man writhed and tried ineffectively to push him away. Vax let the momentum carry him forward and reached for the dagger. He could feel the grip underneath his fingertips. He managed to curl his fingers around the cross guard, and pulled it closer. When he had the familiar weapon safely in his hand again, he took stock of the situation.

A needlelike dart stuck in his leg. The area around it grew numb, but the discomfort didn’t spread. His right arm tingled but was usable.

He still held the man who’d attacked his sister pinned to the ground with his body weight, but reaching for the dagger had allowed for a bit of wiggle room. The man was muttering curses while trying to twist free, though he held himself precariously and one of his arms bent at an odd angle.

They were, for the moment at least, alone in the street, and Vax’s anger could keep him going.

“What the fuck do you want with my sister?”

The silver eyes settled on him, and his assailant clamped his mouth shut.

Vax wrapped his fingers around the dart in his thigh, clenched his teeth, and pulled the weapon free. The wound immediately began to bleed, the faintness from a moment ago returning. He tossed the blackened dart out of reach and shifted so that he sat across his adversary’s chest again. With one foot, he pinned the man’s good arm to the ground. He struggled and tried to break free, while Vax used his dagger to cut off a piece of cloth from his shirt, and tied it around his leg.

When no answer came, Vax reached back and rattled the dagger still stuck in his assailant’s shoulder. “What the fuck do you want with my sister?”

“Shit,” the man groaned, shifting and arching back from the blade. He breathed hard. “No one told me there were two of you. This was supposed to be easy.”

Vax reached out and pulled the hood and mask away, showing a disgruntled young man whose skin had gone pale. Harsh silver eyes flicked back and forth, and drops of sweat formed on his brow. A thin scar ran from just below his right eye to his chin.

Vax leaned in closer, hand curling around the dagger. “Don’t make me ask you again.”

“There’s a contract on her,” the other man said through clenched teeth.

Vax shifted his weight, everything inside him growing cold. “What kind of contract? Who hired you?”

“Can’t say.” The man’s breathing was labored. He kept glancing to Vax’s hand and the dagger, but he set his jaw in a foolish attempt at courage or stubbornness. “If you don’t let me go, others will come.”

“That’s not the wisest threat right now, friend.” The ache from the dart and the fall left Vax impatient, and if others were trailing Vex—or worse, if they found their way to the inn … The night was still young and too full of dangerous opportunities. He casually flashed his other dagger, turning it around in his hand, but he never took his attention off his foe. “I’m not interested in games when my sister’s life is at stake, so you should consider your next words very carefully.”

The man blanched further and shook his head. Underneath Vax’s foot, he twisted his hand. “I was bluffing. I’m sorry.” He sounded winded, and beads of sweat pearled on his forehead. He kept glancing down the street, no doubt looking for a way out. Vax knew the type. He was the slippery sort, as much of an escape artist in conversation as he was on the rooftops. Presumably he would say whatever he thought Vax wanted to hear. “Contract was to bring her in. Alive, if that makes you feel any better.”

It didn’t. “Whose contract is it? Who’s after her?”

“I don’t know. I never saw the details. It was only an assignment.”

“An assignment from whom, precisely?” Vax pushed his foot down harder, and the man’s nostrils flared.

“I can’t tell you!” he insisted. “I can’t break my bond. It’s my skin if I do.” His voice trembled, and his hair clung in strands to his face, but underneath the layer of fear he remained watchful, following Vax’s every movement.

“It’s your skin if you don’t too.” Vax changed his position slightly, and as soon as he did, the silver-eyed man underneath him twisted. He pulled his arm free and in the same motion grabbed a dart from a leather cuff and jammed it through Vax’s boot into his ankle. He shoved Vax off him and rolled away, scrambling to his feet as soon as he could.

Vax cursed. While the second needle wasn’t deep enough to harm, he was beginning to feel bruised and annoyed. He dug it out and clambered to his feet too.

The man was half a dozen steps ahead of Vax, swaying heavily. He held one arm close to his chest and with the other he weakly grabbed at the dagger still buried in his shoulder.

Vax’s footing felt unsteady, the floor rolling underneath his feet, but he followed. He would if it meant doing so by sheer willpower. He would not let his sister’s stalker get away. He didn’t even plan to let him get far.

Once the other man reached the corner where Vex had disappeared into the night, he was swaying heavily. He nearly collided with the wall, and he reached out an arm to steady himself. A rat ran out of the shadows and scuttled away.

Vax weighed his dagger in his hand, took aim during that sliver of hesitation, and threw.

The second dagger buried itself in the back of the man’s arm, below his other shoulder, and the force of the impact—and his own precarious balance—sent him to his knees with a soft cry.

Vax covered the distance between them and yanked the dagger out. Before the other man could so much as cry out, Vax placed the blade along his jawline, breaking skin and pressing down hard enough for blood to trickle down the folds of the hood. “A word of advice: you need to get a healer to look at those cuts.” He struggled to keep his voice calm, when worry and anger burned cold inside him. “And I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who put a contract out on my sister.” If it had been that creep she met in the marketplace, he’d track him down next. With Vex by his side if she wanted.

The man swallowed against the blade and his shoulders dropped, the fight draining away. “I told you, it was only an assignment.”

“Then take me to someone who can tell me,” Vax growled. “The person who gave you the assignment. The person who negotiated the details. There must be someone.”

The man didn’t answer for what seemed like forever. He arched back, resting his head against the wall and considering his remaining options. When Vax leaned in, he breathed out hard and shook his head. “Patch me up and I’ll take you to the spireling who gave me the assignment.” He sounded younger when he spoke the truth. He turned his head slightly to face Vax. The calculation had made way for feverish despondency, and he was still growing paler and weaker.

Vax considered the words. “Spireling?”

The young man groaned. “You’re not from around here, are you? Gods. Why couldn’t one of those hapless halfling brothers have taken this contract? Spireling Gideor is the one in charge. The one who agreed to the contract. He’s also the only one with the power to break it. So maybe you can convince him. For your sister’s sake.”

“For your sake, you better be right,” Vax said. “And you better not try to run again.”

“So you can poke more holes in me?” He wheezed. “No thank you. They might just kill me anyway, if you can’t convince them why they should listen to you. Not—not fulfilling a contract is one thing, but this—this is signing my own death warrant.”

“You’ll die out here too.” It was clear the other man was slipping now, in more pain than he tried to show. Vax eased up on the pressure. “So take me to your spireling.” He picked up the edge of the hooded cloak and tore off another sizable chunk of fabric, using his dagger to cut it into strips that he tied around the man’s arm wound. With the same efficiency as before, he knotted the bandages around the weirdly angled arm, careful not to jostle it too much.

He spun his new friend around, pushing him against the wall, and stuffed some of the bandages into his mouth.

“This is going to hurt,” he said, by way of warning, and he pulled the other dagger out. The blade snagged on bone, and the young man looked as if he might faint, his head lolling backward. With one steady hand, Vax kept him pushed up against the stone. With the other, he cleaned the dagger on his shirt and sheathed it before pressing a bundle of fabric against the gaping hole the weapon left.

Vax tied the bundle tight against the wound, and he felt the blood seep through and stain his fingers. He cursed. He needed to keep the man alive for now. He needed to know exactly who or what was after Vex and why. “I don’t know how long this’ll last.”

He took a step back and gestured for the other to take the lead. “Let’s go.” There was too much night left, and too many opportunities for this to still go wrong.

The young man reached out a hand and curled his fingers around Vax’s wrist. He looked at him with a feverish glow that made his silver eyes even paler. His sharp nails dug into Vax’s skin. “I warn you: oath breaking doesn’t come cheap in this town. You are playing a dangerous game mingling with the Clasp, and you’ll need solid arguments to convince Gideor to renege on a bond. I hope you’re prepared for that. Because if you’re not, they’ll kill us both.” With that, he turned around and with unsteady step began walking back to where he came from.

Vax straightened his shoulders and kept his daggers ready. He followed. He’d had his answer ready from the moment he’d considered leaping from the highest rooftops on top of the hooded figure to protect his sister. And many such times over many years before that. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”