Bard: Chapter 25

Laura shuffled through their few belongings, putting together whatever she wouldn’t like to lose, and packaging up provisions. It was still dark outside, the sky outside their window still dotted with stars. She hadn’t slept. Instead she had spent the night anxiously watching Liam and Trista sleep, and weighing their options. None of them looked good.

She wasn’t sure how much influence the grandmaster had as a whole. Trista seemed worried that he had the power to throw her out of the city at any rate, and if he could do that it shouldn’t be hard to send two others with her. Getting thrown out was on the sunnier side of things too. He might be feeling vindictive enough to get them arrested, charged, and locked away. At least Liam hadn’t gone in armed, although if it came down to their word against the head of the bard college, it probably wouldn’t matter.

Liam groaned and shifted, but didn’t wake. He’d only been asleep for a few hours anyway, same with Trista. It had taken most of the night to repair the damage the grandmaster had left behind. He’d cried through most of it, and Trista had made excuses for him, but Laura knew her brother well enough to know that they were exactly that–excuses.

The grandmaster hadn’t just knotted his mind up like he’d done to Laura, he’d dug around–seen things. Then Trista had seen it all again as she’d carefully picked through the rubble and set him to rights. Things he didn’t want people to know about. Things he especially didn’t want Laura to know about. He’d told her next to nothing since they’d found each other again. The only reason she even knew about Vultan was because of what had happened in Ford.

She nudged him awake. It would be better for him to sleep, but they needed a plan before the sun was up. There was no telling how much time they had at their disposal.

“Hmm?” he grunted and sat up, stretching and rubbing at his eyes. “It’s still dark.”

“Are we running?” she asked quietly. Liam sat with his eyes still closed. He sighed heavily and turned so he was facing her with his back to Trista.

“Do you think we have to?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Laura said. “I hope not.”

“I doubt we’re on good terms with the grandmaster right now.”

“And he was wary of Trista to begin with.” Laura glanced over at Trista, seemingly still asleep. “He knows what she is.”

Liam grimaced, and nodded. He rubbed at his eyes again, and then reached for his hip, as if grasping for his swords, which were on the table. He flexed his fingers and leaned back on his hands.

“If he were going to have any of us arrested or run out of the city, I imagine it would have happened last night,” he said wearily.

“We should be ready though,” Laura said. “Just in case.”

“If anything happens, it’ll probably be soon,” Liam said quietly. “After last night, I don’t see him waiting long.”

“Hmm.” Laura nodded, watching him. He rubbed his eyes again. His face was still puffy from, well, just a few hours ago, really. Laura considered for a moment, then spoke.

“What exactly is it you don’t want me to know?” she asked, and Liam went very still. He kept his eyes on the floor, and for a moment Laura wondered if he hadn’t heard.

“It’s not important,” he said finally.

“If it weren’t important, you wouldn’t care about me finding out.”

“I mean it’s not important to this.” He gestured towards the pack she had started.

“I’m not asking because of this,” Laura said, a little more sharply than she intended. “I’m asking because you’re hiding something from me, and I don’t like it.”

“It’s just…” Liam cleared his throat, keeping his eyes on the ground. “Things that happened when I worked for Vultan–things I did, when I worked for Vultan.”

She raised her eyebrows expectantly, and when he finally looked up, he caught her gaze and his shoulders drooped.

“I’m not a good person, Laura,” he said heavily. “And you’re the last person I want knowing that.”

Laura opened her mouth to protest, but Trista sucked in a breath, sitting bolt upright.

“What happened?” she asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She looked both of them over and scanned the room. “What’s wrong?”

“I only just asked my brother an uncomfortable question,” Laura said coolly. “We’re fine.”

Trista stretched and moved to sit beside Liam, noting the pack forming beside Laura.

“What’s that for?” she asked warily.

“I was getting things ready,” Laura explained, “in case we need to run.”

“You don’t need to run,” Trista said quietly.

“You don’t think he’ll try anything?”

“I’m not sure what he’ll do,” Trista said, “but you won’t have to run. I’ll make sure. Whatever happens.”

“We won’t have to run?” Liam asked. “What about you?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “But I’ll make sure you don’t have to run.”

“If he tries to hurt you, we’re all getting out of here,” Laura told her, and Trista tensed.

“No,” she said firmly. “You two have been happy here, and no one will bother you after I leave.”

Trista hadn’t known them before Ilgrad, and Laura wondered how much it showed exactly, that they’d found a place of safety and comfort. Would it be so obvious to someone who hadn’t seen them before? If anyone could tell it would be Trista, she could sense things about them, even if she didn’t pry.

“We’re family,” Laura said. “We stick together. It’s how we survive.”

“If you go, we go,” Liam confirmed.

Trista blinked at them, looking like she might cry. She might already be, the illusion didn’t translate tears. Laura wished she’d stop wearing the pin at home.

“Hey,” she said, nudging Trista with her foot. “It might not even come to that. We don’t know yet.”

“This shouldn’t have happened at all,” Trista said. “You two shouldn’t have been hurt because of me.”

“It wasn’t you,” Laura said pointedly. “It was because of that prick up at the college.”

“He wouldn’t have bothered you otherwise.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault,” Laura stressed, then nearly leapt out of her skin when there was a knock on the door. “Who in the–” she leaned up to glance out the window. There was just barely light on the horizon. “It’s not even dawn!”

“It’s a child,” Trista said quietly, sounding unsure and worried.

Liam went to the door, opening it enough to see out into the hall. Laura heard someone talking, but couldn’t hear the words clearly, only Liam’s replies.

“She lives here,” he said. Then, after a moment, “She’s sleeping still. I’ll take it.” There was a sound like the person might have protested, but he took a folded paper from them and closed the door without further discussion. He held the paper out to Trista. “It’s for you.”

“Can’t imagine,” Laura scoffed as Trista opened the letter and scanned it. “What does the bastard want?”

“For me to come see him,” Trista replied, closing her eyes and rubbing a hand over her head. “Now.”

“Let me finish packing and we’ll come with you,” Laura said.

“No,” Trista protested.

“We won’t go in,” Liam offered as Laura started wrapping the supplies she’d put together and stuffing them in a travel pack. “We’ll just be nearby, so if you need to leave in a hurry, we’re ready.”

“No,” Trista’s voice cracked and she reached out, taking Laura by the hands to stop her preparations. “You’re not running.”

“We will if we have to,” Laura said firmly. She held onto Trista’s hands, squeezing reassuringly.

“You won’t have to,” Trista said, sucking in a breath. She pushed up from the floor, standing with her shoulders up and her hands flexing like someone who was very uncertain about what they were about to do. “I’m going to make sure.”

She moved for the door and Liam stood. Trista held up her hand, saw it shaking, and put it back down again.

“Stay here, for now. Please,” she said anxiously. “I’ll go see him, again, and…then we’ll see…” she nodded awkwardly, and left. They watched the door close, and Liam rolled his head to look at Laura.

“We’re following her.”

“Obviously.”

“She’ll know,” he pointed out.

“Well…” Laura shrugged as she finished stuffing the pack and hefted it. “That can’t be helped, can it?”