43 – An Axe Among Many

Their run for the door was cut short when the shopkeeper grabbed a sword from the rack and threw it in their path. The blade lodged itself onto the door, right before their eyes.

Louis shoved Alexandra backward and put himself between her and the Warden.

The man had another sword off the rack before they could do anything. He came forward with the blade low. Not hurried.

“I’m not letting you get away a second time.”

Louis moved forward and grabbed a shield off the low shelf without breaking stride. He threw it.

The shopkeeper batted it aside with his forearm and the shield rang off a rack of daggers. Blades hit the floor. Louis was already moving left, putting a shelving unit between them, and his hand came out of his coat.

He snapped his hand, and wrapped a weighted cord, knotted at both ends, around the shopkeeper’s sword wrist and pulled taut. The man’s next step faltered. Louis yanked, hard, and the sword scraped the edge of a shelf on its way down.

The man didn’t drop it.

The shopkeeper turned the stumble into a shove, drove his shoulder into the shelf, and the whole thing tilted into Louis. Blades and labels off. Louis took the edge of a plank across the back of his shoulder and went down on one knee.

“Louis,” Alexandra said, her hand grasping the handle of her new axe.

“Go,” he said.

She didn’t. Instead, she raised her weapon and took a step toward the man. But Louis raised his hand to block her path. “No. We’re not fighting this.”

The shopkeeper stepped over the fallen shelf and raised the sword. Louis threw himself backward, got a hand on a fallen hatchet, and came up swinging at the man’s knee. The shopkeeper managed to move his leg to the side, only hitting the blunt side of the hatchet. He grimaced but didn’t stop moving.

Louis backed toward the door. He hit a rack of pole weapons and grabbed one behind him without looking. A short spear, maybe four feet, which he raised horizontal between them. The shopkeeper’s next cut skidded along the haft and threw sparks off the iron crossguard.

“You move first,” he said, between his teeth. “I’ll catch up.”

“But…”

“Don’t argue. Do as I say.”

She threw him a look, and nodded. Alexandra ran for the door, leaving the two men locked in their confrontations. As she stepped through the door, she heard the Warden speak.

“It doesn’t matter if she leaves. After I deal with you, we’ll find her easily enough.”

She didn’t wait to hear more.

Louis got this.

And while running away stung, she wasn’t certain that she was ready to kill.

She frowned as she ran through the empty street. Soon, she reached the first intersection. Her steps slowed down. She looked, left, then right. Her first instinct was to make for the hideout, but she didn’t want to lead the Wardens there.

There have to be tracking skills in this world. Especially if we’re talking about the Wardens.

She turned left, her steps quick, but she wasn’t running anymore. Her hood was up, covering her white hair. She took another turn, right this time. Lights filtered from the behind the closed blinds of some buildings.

Two more turns and she spotted a silhouette in front of her. She didn’t look, only looked down and kept walking. They crossed paths. The stranger didn’t say anything.

The main street was always active, even at night. The crowd was a lot sparser than during the day when people went from shop to shop while the dock workers carried crates up and down from the harbor.

She stepped onto the main street and slowed to match everyone’s pace. A Face Among Many settled over her. A weight lifted off her shoulders.

She kept her chin down and walked toward the harbor.

The axe was a problem.

She had it in her right hand, haft down, head up and even with the skill running she could feel it pulling attention she couldn’t redirect.

Hooded woman, at night, with an axe…

It wasn’t a good look.

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Should have bitten the bullet and bought it.

It wasn’t that expensive. If she was going to gather five gold for her cure, she could afford twelve silver for a proper weapon.

The sea down below was quiet, the harbor too. A few people were taking a night stroll, taking advantage of the windless evening.

Two Wardens came off a side street ahead of her and merged with the crowd.

She didn’t stop walking. Stopping was worse than walking. She kept her pace and moved left, putting a knot of sailors between herself and them. Grey cloaks. Both men. One was talking, the other scanning the street.

The axe caught the lamplight from a string of lanterns above a tavern entrance.

She flipped it behind her back and gripped the haft two-handed. Awkward. Both arms behind her.

Fuck. I look so suspicious. Fuck.

The Warden’s gaze moved across the sparse crowd. Across the sailors. Across her.

Moved on.

She breathed.

The Wardens were walking in the same direction she was, a few paces ahead of her, unhurried. She matched their pace, too anxious to go slower. She couldn’t turn around. Too suspicious.