I burst out of the storeroom, my fists clenched together and ready to start swinging just in case there was someone out here after all. A little, vindictive part of me was sad to discover we were alone.
I blinked as my eyes quickly adjusted to the brighter light. I was in a large, low-beamed room that looked like it had once been a barrel room. Giant racks half-full of massive barrels lined the stone walls and stood in rows, dividing the room into a maze of narrow alleys.
A lantern hung on one of the nearby racks, lighting a small area near the storeroom door and casting dark shadows between the barrels. Beneath it, a small table and a pair of chairs were crammed into a corner. A coat hung off the back of one of the chairs, and the tabletop was littered with bottles. Whoever had been here had left in a hurry; a card game was laid out, the hands carelessly tossed onto the surface, and one chairs had been knocked over.
And it was my stuff they were playing for.
I quickly collected everything I could find, searching between the bottles and under old wrappers.
“Are you a princess?”
I paused mid-rifle and looked over to find Lilian staring at me. She looked anywhere between about five and eight, with a mop of dark, wild curls and wearing threadbare clothes.
“Am I... what?” I asked, completely confused.
“A princess. You’re pretty and have really long hair, like in a story. And you have a girl’s name,” she insisted. “Are you?”
I couldn’t decide if I should feel hurt or flattered. “No, I’m not a princess,” I told her with a soft smile.
Although… I wore lacy, frilly clothes… and I had a brother who was a knight, and had until very recently been engaged to a prince…
... Damn it. I was a princess.
My search turned up most of my jewelry and the contents of my pockets, including three of Wren’s little bomb-pouches and my now empty coinpurse. What had failed to turn up was any sort of weapon or the key to the damned handcuffs.
I sighed.
It looked like I had been right about doing this the hard way. At least no one had come running when I’d broken down the door, so it seemed we were in the clear for now. But we couldn’t stay here; someone was going to be coming for us eventually.
With no better options, I motioned for Lilian to stay quiet, and we began looking for an exit.
-------------------------------------------------
I gritted my teeth in frustration. Another blocked path.
Navigating the room should have been simple; it was big, but not that big. But every path seemed to have a stack of barrels, or a smashed and fallen over rack, or even rotted, collapsed parts of the ceiling timbers blocking our way. It was starting to piss me off.
And it was making me paranoid. It felt like we were being funneled.
A creak from one of the racks ahead was my only warning. I grabbed Lilian and ducked just as a bottle smashed into a barrel over our heads and shattered, spraying us with shards of glass and cheap booze. A woman stepped out from behind the rack at the very end and leaned against it, smirking at us and toying with a knife. I stepped back, shielding Lilian behind me, only to glance over my shoulder and find the other end blocked by a tall, scowling man with a badly scarred face. He looked like he started armed bar brawls for fun and instigated mobs for profit.
“I told ya the bastard wasn’t out,” Whiny said to her partner. “We should have tossed him in the hole with the rest of the merchandise and taken our chances instead of fucking around with drugs and shit. Guess I get to fix that after all.” She began stalking towards us. A cruel grin twisted her features.
As did a raccoon mask of bruises around an oddly squished and crooked nose.
She must have been the one I’d kicked while they were dragging me back through the window. I smiled, a terrible idea coming to me. The best way to even the odds was to make them do something stupid, and I knew just where to start.
Summoning every ounce of arrogance I possessed, I tsked. “Might I suggest going easier on the eye-shadow? You’ve missed ‘menacing and edgy’ and fell rather hard into ‘unable to dress yourself.’ Subtlety is key, darling.”
Whiny’s grin fell into an angry snarl. “You little bastard!” She spat, her face mottled with rage.
“Although, I suppose it is an improvement over your attempts at ‘constipated vulture’ from earlier this evening,” I added dismissively, making a show of examining her face. “I could offer you pointers, if you would like?” I added. There had been enough shiny crap on the table to confirm my own makeup was still flawless. Louise was neurotic about it, to say the least.
Gruff sniggered, hiding the laugh behind a cough.
Whiny’s last thread of control snapped. She charged me, telegraphing a punch straight at my face. I smoothly stepped into her attack, pushed the punch aside with both arms, and kneed her in the stomach as hard as I could. She let out a choked grunt, eyes going wide as she doubled over. I finished her off with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Unnecessarily showy, but I was sick of this bullshit.
There was loud cursing and a high-pitched scream from behind me.
Lilian.
I snarled and spun, ready to come to her aid. Except the tall guy had already dropped her and was folding silently to the floor. Behind him stood a panting, frantic looking guy, a year or so older than me, wielding a rotting chunk of timber like a baseball bat. He threw it aside and dropped to his knees, wrapping Lilian in a fierce hug.
“Saint’s balls, Lily. You’re okay.” He muttered, his voice tight with worry. “Don’t scare me like that.”
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Her brother, then, although there was little resemblance. He was about half a head taller than me, with bright blue dyed hair pulled back in a short ponytail. A few strands had escaped to frame his handsome, vulpine face.
I turned away to give them a few moments of privacy and checked that Whiny still had a pulse. Then, I began to search her pockets.
“What you looking for?”
I glanced up to find blue-hair guy looking curiously over my shoulder. “I was hoping she might have a key for these,” I replied, holding up my wrists to show off my fancy bracelets. “No luck, though.” I sighed.
He looked from my bound wrists down at the very unconscious Whiny, brows climbing in surprise. “Vicious little guy, aren’tcha. Here, I can take care of those. Hold this.” He pulled a small roll of leather out of his coat, unrolled it, and handed it to me as he kneeled to examine the cuffs. I watched with interest as he selected a long, thin tool and started to carefully pick the locks.
“Name’s Cael. Thanks, by the way,” he said, his brow furrowed in concentration. “For watching out for Lily.”
“Violet. And you’re welcome.” I watched anxiously as he cursed and swapped tools. “Can you get them off?” I asked, concerned. The longer we stayed here, the higher our odds were of getting caught again.
Cael grunted. “Give me a minute. Someone paid good money for these, and they got what they paid for. Who’d you piss off? The fucking king?… Hah! Got it.” One of the cuffs snapped open, and he immediately began working on the other one, teasing the lock open in a few seconds.
I handed the roll back to him and gingerly rubbed my wrists. Dark bruises ringed them, nearly black against my porcelain skin.
Cael took my hands, his brows raised in concern.
I blushed. “I bruise easily,” I explained, unable to meet his amused grin.
“Course you do, Princess.”
Lilian jumped beside us in excitement. “I said he was a princess! He told me he wasn’t!” She glared at me accusingly.
“Y’know what Lily?” He said, examining my wrists, “I think you’re right.” Cael stilled, his eyes wide as he stared at me, amusement falling away. “Wait. It’s you, isn’t it?”
“What is?” I asked, confused.
He scooped Lilian into his arms and grabbed my hand, pulling me back the way we had come. He carefully peered around the corner before he turned, leading me down a narrow passage we hadn’t tried yet.
“The wharfside’s crawling with Watch, and everyone’s freaking the fuck out,” he explained quietly, his head on a swivel. “I even saw a Royal Knight running around, and those guys don’t come down here unless it’s serious.”
Autumn. He cared after all. “One of my brothers is a Royal Knight.”
Cael snorted. “Wonder what moron thought taking you was a good idea.” He slowed, collapsing against a barrel and running his fingers through his hair. “So much for just sneaking out. Had to wander through half this fucking hideout just to find you two.”
I pointed at the barrel he was leaning against. It was huge, and taller than he was. “Those. There’s no way anyone carried something that big down here by hand. There should be a ramp and a door somewhere for carts to get in. Could we get out that way?”
He perked up, looking around appraisingly. “Maybe? The place is falling apart, but we might get lucky.”
--------------------------------------------------
We did get lucky. Sort of.
The old wooden ramp was long gone and the large delivery door appeared to have been sealed shut years ago. However, beside the remains of the ramp, we discovered an old coal bin with a chute in the wall above it.
Cael regarded the opening critically. “Hate to break it to you, Princess, but we’re not going to fit through there.”
I slumped. “Is that really what you’re going to call me from now on?” I asked plaintively.
He grinned. “It suits you. Get used to it, Princess.”
I sighed and turned my attention back to the chute, unwilling to abandon the idea. “Even if we can’t fit, do you think we can use it to get Lilian out?” I asked speculatively.
“Maybe?" He looked at me curiously. "What are you thinking?”
“You said the Watch is searching the area, right?”
He nodded.
“If Lilian can escape, she can lead them straight to us.”
Cael peered up the chute to where a thin sliver of light marked a hatch. With a boost from Cael and myself, she should just be able to reach it.
“Worth a try.” He began clearing us some space.
I knelt in front of Lilian and took her hand, sliding one of my rings around her thumb. It was an ancient, twisted band of tarnished metal that looked like junk and was probably the single most valuable piece I owned.
“This is my signet ring,” I explained, ignoring Cael’s sharply indrawn breath. “Find a Watchman and tell them you need to see Sir Autumn or Lord Tempest Dusk. Either of them will recognize it. Got it?”
She nodded sombrely.
Getting her out proved to be more complicated than I had thought. The hatch had rusted shut and needed to be forced open. In the end, I had to climb on to Cael’s shoulders and jam it open with an old shovel before we could fit Lilian through. It seemed the opening was a bit above ground level because she fell with a surprised shriek. Cael and I waited anxiously until her head reappeared. She waved at us to show she was all right, then gave us a thumbs-up and vanished.
I slid down the wall and leaned next to Cael with a sigh.
“What’s the plan now, milord?” He asked tersely. All hints of his previously teasing tone were gone.
I looked over in concern. “Are you all right?”
“Fine, milord.”
“What happened ‘Princess?’” I teased gently. “I was just starting to get used to it.”
He looked away uncomfortably. “I’ve heard of House Dusk. People like me don’t survive mouthing off to high nobles.”
I observed him out of the corner of my eye. His shoulders were hunched and tight, his eyes downcast. The exuberant guy I’d just met was gone.
I snorted with all the derision I could muster.
“Like that matters right now.” I looked over and met Cael’s shocked expression. “If you hadn’t shown up, that giant asshole was going to take Lilian hostage and beat the crap out of me. Or –“ I held up a hand to stop him from protesting, “– I would still be in those godsbedamned manacles, wandering around lost and easy prey for whoever stumbled across us.” I huffed. “If anyone has the right to call me by whatever stupid nickname they want, it’s you.”
Cael laughed, his smile crooked. He was handsome before, but that smile was pure charisma: roguish and carefree with just a hint of danger. “You’re a weird little guy, Princess.”
“That I am,” I agreed when a cheerful grin.
He sighed in amused resignation. “All right. What’s the plan then, Princess? Smuggle ourselves out in a barrel?”
“We find the others,” I told him.
“The…” Cael’s grin fell, his gaze sharpening. “What others?’
“How much of our exchange did you overhear?”
He shrugged. “I got there while you were busy mouthing off.”
I drummed my fingers on my thigh, trying to remember. “Before that, the woman said something about tossing me in with the rest of the ‘merchandise.’ I think they have other captives they’re planning to sell as slaves.”
Cael stilled. “… Shit. I thought you were kidnapped. Like for a ransom or something.”
I shook my head. “No. They have a buyer lined up for me already. I assume they had something similar set up for Lilian.”
He slumped, holding his head and digging his fingers into his scalp. “Slavers. Of course they are,” he moaned. “This is so messed up.”
“It is,” I agreed. “But if we can figure out where they are being held, then we can lead the Watch—“
“We’ve got no time for that shit.” Cael interrupted. He pushed away from the wall, his face grim. “Shit’s gone bad, and they know it; I think they’re gonna cut their losses and run. You and Lily were probably their last sales, which means everyone else they’ve got is dead weight.” He swallowed. “Literally.”
“Hells.” I felt sick to my stomach. “We have to find them. Do you have any idea where to start looking?”
“I might,” he said slowly, “but first, we’ve got to get out of here.”
He pointed at a massive barrel hiding us from the rest of the room. It sat snugly on its side in a low rack, the top of it a foot and a half below the rafters. “Think you’ll fit up there? Can you check if the coast is clear?”
I eyed the space critically. “I think so. Can you give me a boost?”
Cael linked his hands together for me to step in, and I squirmed into the tight space. From up here, I had an unobstructed view of most of the area. “It looks clear,” I whisper-shouted. “I don’t see any moving shadows or lamps at least.” I turned carefully and squirmed back to Cael.
He tucked something back into his coat pocket and grinned up at me. “Then get your tiny ass back down here and let’s go be fucking heroes.”
