REPEAT: The Aldonn Chronicles 1x02 "Do you have any Cutlery?"

Part One

1x02 “Do you have any Cutlery?”

Released on http://www.patreon.com/99geek on April 2017

Aldonn knew what corn was. He understood the basic concepts of farming, though he wasn’t sure if he knew enough to actually be able to farm himself. His amnesia was confusing, making it hard for him to even know how much he knew. He knew how babies were made but couldn’t remember ever having a mother. He remembered what a house looked like, could tell what any particular one was made out of, but had the strange sensation like he’d never actually stepped inside one before.

The mother who had taken them in had a house in the center of her land, more of a large sturdy wooden cabin than anything. It had one window in the front that overlooked her cornfields, and it was there that Aldonn stood, watching the sun slowly set behind the horizon.

He knew the window was made out of glass. And he knew that when he placed his hand against it, it would be cool to his touch.

“It’s the only one I got,” the mother whose child they’d saved said from the fireplace where she was checking a large pot. “A blacksmith traded me that window for a dress. Apparently the ingredients were cheap; it’s just a hot enough fire that’s hard to come by.” Aldonn was pretty sure glass was simply super-heated sand, but he had no idea how he knew that.

“This stew is about done,” the mother said, taking a bowl and filling it with a ladle. She brought it over to Aldonn. “Aldonn, did you say your name is? You want to try this and tell me if it’s ready?” She held the bowl out for him.

“I don’t think I would be a good judge,” Aldonn admitted to her. “I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had a real meal before.”

“What?” the mother asked, blinking repeatedly. Aldonn was about to explain his amnesia when Frankie entered the room flanked by the two twins. The wooden cabin seemed to be made up of a large living area with a dining table and an opening to the kitchen. Then there was a hall that led to what Aldonn could only just make out were two bedrooms. The kids had followed Frankie out of their shared room with arms full of stuffed animals.

“And this one’s a bear,” the one boy said, handing a stuffed animal to Frankie who took it reluctantly. “And this one is a horse. And this is a bird.”

“I have a bird too,” the other boy said.

“Wow two birds,” Frankie said with waning interest. “I bet I can get both with one stone.”

Frankie stepped over one twin who tried to move in front of her, and she grabbed the spoon from the bowl the mother had been handing to Aldonn. “Mmm,” Frankie said, slurping back the spoon. “Lady, that soup is amazing.” Frankie put the spoon back in the bowl and did a dance with her arms as the twins circled her.

“My name’s Addy,” the mother said, beckoning the kids to go to the table. “Short for Addison. Come on kids, dinner is ready. Here.” Addy handed the bowl to Aldonn, who took his first taste. It was like pure unfiltered concentrated pleasure dancing up and down his tongue.

“Wha’s in this?” Aldonn asked, his tongue burning but he didn’t care.

“Hey Addy,” Frankie said. “I think he likes it.” She moved to take another sip from Aldonn’s bowl but he pulled it away from her.

“Alright,” she said, “I’ll get my own. You got a bowl around here?” Frankie danced around the table while the kids sat down and were handed bowls by their mom. “Plate? Cup? Spoon? You can just ladle it into my hands if you want.”

Addy laughed. “It’s a little hot,” she said, handing Frankie a bowl, and raising an eyebrow at the way Frankie was dancing.

Frankie stopped and blushed. “Sorry, I just really like soup.”

“We like soup!” one kid yelled.

“We like soup!” the other kid yelled and they both started dancing like Frankie.

“You are a terrible influence aren’t you?” Addy asked Frankie.

Frankie slowly put the spoon in her mouth and sucked on it teasingly. “I’m the worst.” She had a lopsided grin on her face, and looked happier than Aldonn had ever seen her. Not that he had known her very long.

“We like soup!” The kids yelled again in tandem.

“Oh really,” The mother said, sitting down with her hands on her waist. “I remember one day last week the two of you saying you were bored of my stew.”

Frankie gasped. “Blasphemy.”

The kids laughed. “It’s so cool having people over,” one of them said.

“We never have people over,” the other one said. “Can we have people over more often?”

“Not all people are as nice as Aldonn and Frankie,” she said.

“Does it ever get scary?” Aldonn asked, “being out here in isolation? You ever worry about someone showing up and no one being nearby to help?” He made a point of not looking away from the window for too long. A lot of the people he’d helped Frankie release from those cells… he now understood Frankie’s reluctance to let them out.

Everyone around the table got quiet. “That’s how their father died,” Addy said, her eyes focused on lines in the wood of the surface in front of her. Her cabin was largely made of wood, except for a metal enclosure around their fireplace.

“Well done killing the mood,” Frankie said, glaring at Aldonn.

“It’s okay,” one of the twins said.

“Tell them what happened,” the other one begged their mom.

“They were too young to remember anything,” Addy told Frankie. “Now they think the story is cool.”

“Our parents are superheroes,” one kid said.

“Oh yeah?” Frankie asked.

“A bad man came,” the other kid said. “When we were young. And our dad fought him.”

The other kid joined in. “But he was too strong.”

“Yeah,” the first kid said, swallowing a big slurp of stew before continuing. “Too strong. So Daddy distracts him, and sacrifices himself to give Mommy a chance to get behind him and get him with a killing blow!”

“And she saved us,” the second kid said.

The first kid hit his brother. “No dummy,” he said. “They both saved us.”

“I buried an ax in his head,” Addy told them, pointing to a large double headed ax that hung on the wall. “Then a couple other places just to be sure.”

“Though we don’t remember our daddy, we still think he was a hero.” One kid said speaking for both of them.

Addy smiled at Frankie who smiled at the boys. “Sure sounds like he was a hero to me,” Frankie reassured the kids.

“I bet he woulda liked you,” one of the kids told Frankie.

Frankie took a large gulp of her soup. “I bet he would have liked your mommy,” Frankie told the kids.

“Can you two stay forever and be a family with us?” One kid asked.

“Marco!” Addy snapped at her child, thumping her fist against the table.

“I’m Polo,” the kid said. “He’s Marco.”

“I’ll ground you both if you don’t leave them alone.” Both kids groaned.

“Your mommy’s right,” Frankie said. “We’re going to have to leave tonight after dinner. I’ve got business in the capitol.”

“How far away is that?” Aldonn asked Frankie. There were some distant lights through the field somewhere around the entrance to the prison. It looked like fire light. Torches maybe. Aldonn couldn’t tell if they were coming or going.

“We’re on the outskirts,” Addy told them. “About a morning’s ride to the gate if you follow the main roads.” She pointed to something else hanging on her wall that didn’t look remotely like an ax.

It was a map and, getting up, Frankie stretched on her tippy toes to take the framed parchment off the wall.

She laid the map gently on the table so they could see it by the firelight. Aldonn moved from the window to get a better look.

“Can you kids show me where Capsin is?” Frankie asked the two kids, and Marco reached out to touch somewhere on the west side of the map.

“Aww look at that,” Frankie said, looking to Aldonn with her lopsided grin. “The kids are smarter than you.” She pointed to the west coast of the only continent on the map. “There are mountains that extend right down this coast,” she explained, “And they built Capsin Keep right smackdab on the side of a mountain. The western border of the city touches the water with Capsin harbor, and the city sprawls out around the keep. There’s a wall, and then Capsin continues on into the outskirts where most of Capsin’s farmers live.”

Frankie pointed to a red dot on the map marked home. “That’s where we are,” Frankie explained. “There are main roads like one that extends from Capsin, past our sister city of Casio, all the way south east to Yapay and then Tessauren. Caravans travel these roads all the time, usually with patrols of guards to protect from trouble.”

“Why is our country so massive,” Aldonn asked Frankie, “and the only other country on our continent so small?”

“Memroxia just slowly took over everything,” Frankie said honestly. “They say it started with the Orc territories and then just kept going. And the druids let them. The druids weren’t interested in expanding. All they cared about was their precious forest. Bunch of tree hugging hippies if you ask me.”

“We’re gonna wanna stay off the main roads,” Frankie said, seeming pretty happy to change the topic. “The patrols will probably be searching for escaped convicts by morning. And I’m not heading back to prison.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Aldonn told her, with what he hoped was reassurance. Her lingering look implied he had in fact steadied her. He meant it. He wouldn’t let anything happen to his new friends. And he felt that was a promise he could keep.

“If you stay here till then,” Addy said, “Morning, I mean – I can take you to the capitol myself. Hide you in my wagon.” She got up and took their bowls to the sink. “I have business in Capsin tomorrow as it is.”

“What kind of business?” Frankie asked their kind host.

Addy had been about to pour a bucket of water into the sink to soak the dishes, but stopped at Frankie’s question. “You gotta promise not to laugh,” she told them, and turned their attention to a large walk-in wardrobe against one wall. Opening the doors of the wardrobe she stepped back and cringed.

Inside hung easily fifty elaborate ornate dresses with fancy ribbons made of vibrant colours. They were works of art, every one. “I stitch,” Addy admitted to them. “And sew. And knit.” She mimed knitting needles with her hands and Frankie, who had wide eyes completely affixed on the dresses, mimed along with her.

“Why would you think we’d laugh at you?” Aldonn asked Addy.

“I dunno,” Addy said with a blush and a look at Frankie. “She just didn’t seem to be the kind of person to wear a dress.”

“Oh I’m not,” Frankie said with a quick shake of her head. “But all I’m seeing is money.”

Addy closed the wardrobe. The firelight made it easier to see the green of the large unit, but that firelight didn’t come from the fireplace. It came from the window Aldonn had forgotten to keep an eye on.

“Drat,” Aldonn swore, cursing himself for getting distracted. Frankie and Addy joined him at the window, Addy pushing her kids away.  The cabin was surrounded by men, five by Aldonn’s count. By the way they were spread out he figured there could be another one or two around the sides. They all had torches and were standing just in front of Addy’s crops.

They were all inmates from the prison, dirty and missing teeth. Many of them looked like they’d gone more than a few rounds on the ‘wheel’. One man, the one it seemed was leading the group, stepped onto the front porch and knocked loudly on the thick wooden door.

Bang, his fist rapped against it. Bang Bang. The sun had fully set now, but as Aldonn tried to peer around the corner of the window he could just make out the man banging on the door. “I know you’re in there,” the man said loudly through the door.

“That’s the creep from the cell beside us,” Frankie whispered to Aldonn. “I’d recognize his pervy voice anywhere. It’s like he molests you with just his words.” She made a face.

The creep cackled quietly. “We’ve been looking around,” he told them, “Me and my boys. And a lady. We been searching for a place to make our headquarters and we thought this would do us just fine.”

Frankie moved to the door and shouted through it, “Headquarters for what? Stupidity?”

If Frankie was hoping to piss off the creep, it didn’t seem to work. The former inmate only smiled and licked his lips. “It’s you, isn’t it?” He said, his voice coming almost too clearly through the door. “Frankie. You didn’t wanna let me out, Fraaaaankie.” Frankie rubbed her arms and shivered as if her skin was crawling.

The former inmate seemed to skip in place as he stepped back from the door. “This is a treat. I’m gonna have my fun with you, Frankie.” He then turned his back on them and returned to his men at the crop line. “Or maybe I won’t. This offer is a one-time only kinda thing. So you might wanna listen up.” There was a thunk behind Aldonn and he turned to see that Addy had grabbed the ax from off the wall.

“We’re willing to let ya live,” the creep exclaimed to them excitedly, turning back towards the cabin. He nodded and waved his arms for his men to nod along with him. “All ya gotta do is come out and let us in. Then you’ll be free to go, completely unharmed.”

“That’s bullshit,” Frankie muttered, and Addy nodded her agreement. They all huddled closer to the window to get a better look outside. Addy had forgotten all about trying to keep her kids back.

Suddenly a dirty toothless woman jumped in front of the window, tapping on it aggressively. “Boo!” she yelled at them and they all screamed. Not just the kids but Frankie and Addy too. Even Aldonn gasped and stepped back. The woman swung at the window with her club and it shattered. She cackled as she tried to step inside.

Raising her ax, Addy buried the ax in the female inmate’s face, and the disgusting woman fell backward out of the cabin taking the ax with her.

“Well that’s one down,” Addy told them.

“Only about six more to go,” Frankie told her.

The creep was still talking. “If you don’t come out now,” he told them, clearly having all his special little rules planned out. “We’re gonna set fire to your crops.”

“Those bastards,” Addy said, moving to the door but Frankie grabbed her.

“You’ve got one hunnerd seconds,” the creep said loudly from outside. “One. Two. Three.”

Frankie threw Addy back towards her kids, perhaps a little more roughly than she’d intended. “We can’t go out there,” Frankie told everyone else in the cabin. “They are definitely gonna kill us. And probably rape most of us. Except him,” she pointed to Aldonn, then reconsidered. “Eh, the long blond hair doesn’t help.”

“What about my crops?” Addy asked Frankie, tears streaming down her face. “I’ve put months into that food.”

“They’re already gone,” Frankie told the woman coldly. As if to make a point there was a flare up from outside.

“Oops,” the creep yelled toward the cabin. “I should have mentioned I can’t count to a hunnerd.” He cackled, not too unlike the woman who had tried to break in through their window.

Aldonn broke for the door, swinging it open and stepping onto the front stoop.

“Aldonn stop!” Frankie yelled after him. “It’s a trap.”

“I have food saved up,” Addy added. “All I’m losing is a good paycheque I was going to put towards making next year easier.”

“Maybe mention that before your friend runs off on a suicide mission,” Aldonn heard Frankie scorn the woman. The fact was it wouldn’t have stopped him even had he known. Putting out that fire was the right thing to do.

“Whoa big guy,” the creep said with excitement. “You were in there too? That house is so small, how many people you got squeezed in there?”

Aldonn ignored the man’s perverted sense of humour. “I’m putting out that fire,” he told the former inmate, moving for a water trough Addy probably used to give water to her animals.

“And I’d let you of course,” the creep said in a way that told Aldonn he was lying. “But it ain’t up to me. My men don’t seem to want to let you get that far.” Sure enough they were all closing ranks in on him, surrounding him. “But you could always try to convince them.”

One man came at Aldonn, swinging his torch like a club. Aldonn grabbed the torch by its hilt, and pulled the man toward his other hand balled into a fist. Aldonn clocked the man across the jaw, and flipped him to the ground. It was enough time for two more to close the distance on him, however, and these two were armed with actual clubs. One inmate struck him in the ribs while the other one swept his legs and he hit the ground hard. Soon they were all on top of him, clubbing him and beating him into submission. Each hit felt like his bones were going to break.

*

“We have to do something,” Addy said to Frankie who understood the woman’s concern. She didn’t like seeing her friend getting beat up any more than Addy.

“Do you have any cutlery?” Frankie asked, her mind racing. Addy began running around her kitchen, moving at least as fast as Frankie’s mind, and the mother was soon back in front of Frankie with five what looked like butter knives.

“These will have to do,” Frankie said, slipping two in her belt, and a third behind her back in her bra strap.  She grabbed the last two from Addy, taking one in each hand, and with a deep breath she tried to summon all the courage she had left in her. She stormed out the door.

“Grab his leg,” the head creep ordered his men, not even noticing Frankie. “I wanna break his kneecap.”

“I’m gonna need the man without any permanent damage,” Frankie yelled at the men, coming down the front steps. “Please. He’s my protection to the capitol.”

Two men broke from the mob beating on Aldonn and made for Frankie. They both had clubs, though one also had a torch in his spare hand. Frankie threw her knives, one after the other, pegging the first man in the eye and the second man in the forehead. They both dropped dead.

“Damn girl,” the head creep said, paying attention to her now. “How’d you do that so easy?”

“Been wielding knives my entire life,” Frankie said as another man broke from the group. This one seemed to have fetched Addy’s ax from his friend’s corpse, and was swinging it aggressively. Frankie spun her knives in her hands, swinging them around and doing a trick to show the men that she was being serious. She could handle a blade.

“I can do that too,” the much taller man said with a laugh, twirling his ax through the air like it was a quarterstaff, swinging left and then right. Frankie threw a knife at him, hitting his knee and causing him to drop. She slit his throat with her other knife even as she pulled the first knife from his knee and planted it into the side of his skull, granting him a faster death. Some of his blood splashed against her clothes and face but she side-stepped, and effortlessly let the body fall to the floor.

She ran at the other two still beating on Aldonn, slicing the nearest one and jumping up to hook her leg around his neck. She nimbly brought him down, rolling off of him to stab the last guy in the foot. Getting up, she punched the man in the chest a couple times but it was like her hands were punching a wall. Each punch most definitely hurt her more than it hurt him. Roaring at her, the large muscular inmate lifted her up with a grunt, holding her over his head with both arms. Frankie screamed and flailed, but the inmate just threw her into the flames slowly engulfing a patch of the cornfield.

She landed in embers and rolled quickly deeper into the cornfield, burning her arm as she went. Getting up, she found that the man she’d stabbed in the foot had gotten it free and was now running around the maze, trying to spread the fire deeper.

“Stop him!” Aldonn yelled, on his feet again and giving chase. Frankie rolled her eyes, Aldonn being much closer than she was, but she realized even then he wouldn’t catch the man before the former inmate did serious damage to Addy’s crops.

Pulling her last knife from behind her bra, she threw it in one smooth motion and tagged the man in the back. It wasn’t a killing hit but he stumbled enough for Aldonn to tackle him to the ground and beat him unconscious.

Meanwhile the fire was continuing to spread through Addy’s field. Frankie tried kicking dirt at the flames to smother them out, but the flames were already burning too strong for that. Aldonn joined her once he was done with the former inmate, and began pulling out untouched plants that were close to the spreading flames. He was making a space between the fire and the remaining unspoiled crops.

“That’s a better idea,” Frankie said, helping him at what he was doing. It didn’t take long before they were seeing real progress.

“How did you do all that,” Aldonn said, motioning to the dead inmates that littered the grounds.

Frankie just shrugged as they continued to save Addy’s remaining crop. “Any member of the Thieves guild could have taken on those morons,” she assured him.

That was when Frankie remembered someone she’d forgotten.

“What about their leader,” she said out loud, remembering the creepy leader with the molesting voice. “He must have gone for the house.” She said, her mind immediately imagining the worst. “Oh god the kids.”

She broke off into a run, leaving Aldonn to finish the work in the field. Grabbing a knife from the nearest corpse she didn’t even slow down as she barreled up the steps into the cabin, and through the empty living room into the hallway towards the bedroom.

“Nice of you to gather your kids,” the creepy inmate was saying to the mother as the kids cowered in the corner. “Now they can watch.” He shoved the mother onto her bed and was about to stab her hand into the wall to keep her in place. “You’ll have to tell them how it feels.”

“Like this?” Frankie asked, jumping onto the bed behind him and sliding her knife between two of his ribs. He gasped, and spit up blood as her blade penetrated his lung.

“Or this?” she stabbed him again. “This hard enough for you?” She stabbed him a third time as she repeated something someone had once said to her in her youth. “If the hole gets too dry we can always make another.” She stabbed her blade into him again, and he tried to reach for her, but his muscles were spasming and his lungs were filling with blood.

“Come on,” she said, fully lost somewhere between reality and the scars of her childhood. “Tell them how it feels.” She stabbed him again, making very sure to avoid his head or heart. “Tell them.”

“Frankie!” Aldonn yelled from the doorway, a look of horror on his face. Frankie was drenched in blood at this point, the entire bed around her was too, and Addy as well. The kids were still in the corner, watching and frozen in terror. The man’s lifeless corpse fell off the side of the bed and hit the ground with a splat.

“It’s okay,” Addy said, reaching over and embracing Frankie. “Thank you,” she said through her heavy breathing. It seemed she was barely keeping it together, and as they let go there was a sticky splorch sound.

“Is it over?” one of the kids voiced from the corner.

Addy nodded furiously, and swept both her kids into her arms. “It’s over,” she said.

Aldonn was still looking at Frankie, and she couldn’t quite make out his expression. She knew that she’d lost control, but he didn’t know what she had been through. He had no right to judge. Even if maybe she could have done more to keep it away from the kids.

“We’ll bury the bodies tonight,” Addy told them. Still nodding a little too much. “Then stay the night? I’ll take you to Capsin in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Frankie agreed, too tired to argue.

“Aldonn…” Frankie said, looking up at her friend, and worried as to what he’d say.

“You look like crap,” Aldonn said, and she giggled a little. Maybe more from hysteria.

She wanted to say that he did to, but she was surprised that he barely seemed to have a bruise on him. “Aren’t you hurt?” she asked him, wrapping her arm in a torn sheet, the burn throbbing up her side.

Aldonn looked down at his tattered clothes. “I guess I heal fast,” he admitted to her.

Addy seemed just as disbelieving as Frankie. They had both seen Aldonn take the beating of a lifetime. “Nobody heals that fast,” Frankie insisted.

“I think I have an idea for getting past the gate,” Aldonn said as Addy led Frankie to get cleaned up. Frankie was relieved he didn’t say anything about what had just happened in that bedroom.

“Oh no,” Frankie teased Aldonn. “First your ideas got me punched in the gut, then your idea to release the prisoners almost got us all killed. Can I get a break from your ideas for just one night?”

*     *     *

“That’s not fair,” a girl yelled, pushing past Penelope to run down the busy market street after her brother. “Mom told you to share!” Penelope made sure to keep her hood up when walking the streets of Capsin, knowing full well that her face was one of the most recognizable in the whole city.

Every day she was out there was a risk, but she couldn’t help it. She loved it, made a trip of it nearly every day. All the people she grew up around in the castle were shady and always playing some deeper motivations. But the people on street level were genuine, and living out their lives with little concern for what was going on up in the keep.

Also the food in Capsin market was said to be unrivaled around the world. There was one specific stall Penelope stopped at almost every morning, and this day was no different.

“What have you got for me today, Ren?” Penelope asked her old friend, as the grizzled old cook finished with a customer in front of her, arguing with the man over the price.

“Ah sunshine of my life,” Ren said loudly, throwing one last dirty glance at the previous customer. “You always fill my heart with joy every time you come by.”

“That’s only because you know my money’s good,” Penelope said with a grin, and Ren shrugged, not even trying to deny it.

“Today I have something most fine for you, my princess,” Ren said in a hurry, and Penelope wondered not for the first time if he knew she was the Princess of Capsin, daughter of King George. It didn’t matter much to her if he did. He had always been kind to her, and she trusted him with her life.

“Cow on a bun,” Ren told Penelope, handing her his new invention. He always had strange unique ways of serving meat. He handed her a sandwich of cooked ground up cow meat, and she took a big juicy bite.

“Mmm,” she exclaimed, about to compliment him on another delicious meal when she was knocked by a young woman pushing quickly through the crowded streets.  “Rude,” she muttered, almost dropping her sandwich. She supposed some things on the street weren’t so different from her time in the keep. For one thing, a lot of people frequenting the street were too busy to slow down, stop, or be courteous.

“It’s alright sunshine,” Ren told her, pointing to a man who seemed to be pushing through the crowds after the woman. “There’s a different brand of justice on the streets.” Penelope didn’t know why she had been so mad at the women, who had done no real harm to her. But the princess knew she didn’t want the woman to get hurt.

Penelope absentmindedly placed money on Ren’s stall, and made off through the crowd after the man.

“There are some things a princess should not concern herself with,” Ren yelled after her, but it was no use. She was nearly certain this woman needed her help. The woman was pushing past crowds of people, and seemed to turn off into a dead end alley. The man followed right behind her.

Penelope followed right behind them.

“You didn’t have enough last month,” the man was saying to the woman.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. “I can barely pay my rent.” She fell to her knees, her shawl hanging haphazardly around her head. “I don’t even have any money to put food on my table for my kid.” With her shawl sitting more like a hood, Penelope could imagine the woman was her begging the man for mercy, and the thought of it made her stomach turn.

“Why didn’t you just say so, Kimmy?” the disgusting man said. He didn’t look like he’d bathed in days, wearing tough brown leather that looked like it smelled probably worse than the garbage in that alley. “You know I’m always down to work out a deal.” He started unbuttoning his pants.

“I was supposed to take everything in your purse,” he told the woman, pulling out his dick. “But how’s about maybe I’ll just take half and let you work off the rest.”

“Okay,” the woman said after a moment, not seeming nearly as adverse to the idea as Penelope thought she should be.

“Um Ew,” Penelope said, finally able to hold back no longer. “Hows about you bring that thing near either of us and we’ll bite it off.”

The man shoved his dick back into his pants, thankfully, as he startled at noticing her for the first time. “What the fuck?”

“Get out of here!” the woman on her knees yelled. “Run!”

“You should do as she says, little girl,” the disgusting man said, stepping towards Penelope. “How old are you? Sixteen?”

“Eighteen.” She lied.

“I don’t know what you think’s going on here,” The man said, gesturing to the scared woman on her knees in front of him, “but I’m her protection. Who the hell do you think you are?”

Penelope needed a few seconds to think up a witty come back. “I’m her protection,” she said after a moment, repeating what he’d said. Maybe not so witty. But at least her voice was steady. Her heartbeat wasn’t.

“No,” the disgusting man said, with a raise of both his voice and his eyebrows. “That’s me. You even got any weapons under that cloak?” He seemed to look her over, but Penelope wasn’t certain he was looking for weapons.

Penelope raised her arms and planted her feet. “My fists are my weapons,” she said, raising them in front of her head and rolling them like the boxers she saw perform a fight at their keep.

“That’s fun,” the disgusting man said, taking another step towards her and holding out a handle in his right hand. As he squeezed the handle, a small thin blade slid out and into place. “I prefer a knife.” This wasn’t going quite the way she’d imagined in her head.

He came at her, and she quickly grabbed the lid of a nearby garbage to knock his blade away. Using his free hand, he grabbed her lid and pulled her towards him, slashing her across her stomach with his knife.

The pain was searing and, in both surprise and horror, Penelope fell back to hit her head against the alley floor. The man fell with her, and she was only just barely able to get her leg between them before he was on top of her and his disgusting wet breath was all over her face. He smelled like a dog.

Her stomach throbbed, and seemed to be bleeding profusely, but the man didn’t seem to care as her blood got on both of them. He was grabbing at his dick again. “Maybe you can work some of it off for her.”

“You know,” Penelope moaned under him. “I haven’t spent much time on the street, but I’m already getting tired of all the rape.” Penelope kicked out with her leg, giving the move all her strength. At the same time, the other woman (was her name Kimmy?) seemed to have found her courage enough to try to tackle him, and the two women combined were able to throw him off Penelope. He fell back, sliding on a piece of rotten fruit peel and hitting his head against the wall of the alley.

“Is sex all people ever care about?” Penelope asked from the ground, cringing and grabbing at herself as the pain in her stomach returned in waves. The cut had gone deep, enough to leave a scar and require stitches, but she was pretty sure he hadn’t damaged any of the important insides.

“You think he’s dead?” Kimmy asked, giving Penelope a hand and helping her up. Penelope was careful to keep pressure with her arm against her stomach. She leaned down to put her hand in front of the man’s nose and mouth.

“He’s still breathing,” Penelope said. “I think he’s just out.”

“I don’t know which would be worse,” Kimmy said, pacing in the alley. “This is your fault. You should have just left us alone!” she blamed Penelope.

“What?” Penelope asked in shock. “He was going to rape your mouth.” As she said it, she tasted something funky and almost threw up.

“And leave me with enough money to feed my daughter,” Kimmy insisted, tears welling in her eyes as she succumbed to panic. Her breathing was becoming more like wheezing. “Now if he lives he’s just gonna come back and take everything, and still do everything he threatened to do.”

She stopped pacing, and looked down at him, going pale. “And if he dies,” she said slowly. “His people will just come and do worse.”

“If you need money I can give you money,” Penelope tried to reassure the woman.

“They’ll just take that too,” the woman said, pulling away from Penelope as Penelope tried to grab for her arm.

“Kimmy,” Penelope repeated the name she’d heard the man call the woman.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Kimmy asked, retreating to the entrance of the alley. “Just leave me alone!”

The woman disappeared, and Penelope tried to move after her, but the pain in her stomach made her stop and lean heavily against the wall of the alley.

“Wait,” Penelope tried to yell, but it didn’t come out nearly loud enough. She was having a hard time breathing, and her vision was swooning. With one last look at the disgusting man lying only feet from her, it occurred to Penelope that this would be a terrible place to lose consciousness. Summoning every bit of will she had in her, the princess began the first of her many laborious steps that it would take to get back to the keep.

*     *     *

“I’m not going to lie,” Frankie said from her hiding spot beside Aldonn. They were hiding inside Addy’s wardrobe, as deep into the wardrobe as they could get, between two particularly extravagant dresses. “I sort of pictured your next plan ending with us wearing these dresses and trying to sneak past the gates in disguise.”

“You were picturing me in a dress?” Aldonn whispered to his friend, holding her steady as the cart rumbled to a stop. They had been trapped in there together for hours, and Frankie was getting a little sweaty. Aldonn wasn’t sweaty at all, however, much to Frankie’s frustration. Even his breath on her face smelled minty fresh.

“And in my mind your hair would be up, and I’d do your make up,” Frankie told Aldonn quietly, rubbing his cheek with her hand as if she had a rouge brush.

“Do you think about things like that often?” Aldonn asked, with an unjudging raised eyebrow.

“More than I’d like,” Frankie muttered, shutting up so they could hear the conversation outside the wardrobe.

“Addy Addy, bo baddy,” said an old grizzled man’s voice. “I heard there was trouble up in your parts. A battalion left this mornin’ headin on up in your direction. Natter was with them.”

Addy’s voice, from her place driving the cart, rang out. “Stamp, you old dog! I passed them on the road. You’re damn right about the trouble. I lost half my crop. But the boys are unharmed.”

“Oh thank god for that,” the old man said, obviously some kind of guard on the wall. It seemed Addy and him were well acquainted. “I worry about you up there all alone.”

“Two men helped me fight them off, actually.” Both people in the wardrobe tensed as Addy spoke, though Frankie was a little touched Addy had called her a man.

“What happened to those men?” Stamp asked as they heard him circling the cart. They also heard Addy slide off the cart to join him around the back. The two had come to the door of the wardrobe.

“They decided to stay on,” Addy told the guard. “They’re gonna be my protection through the winter.”

“I’ll have to spread the word that Addy is not to be messed with,” Stamp joked, and opened the wardrobe. Aldonn placed his hand over Frankie’s mouth as the two pressed as far behind all the dresses as they could.

“I’ve got some of my most elaborate dresses yet,” Addy told the guard as he peered into the wardrobe. Frankie tried to squirm away from Aldonn’s grasp but he wouldn’t let go. She was perfectly capable of being quiet without his help. As if to make her point, she reached her hand up to put it over his face, but she missed and her fingers slid into his mouth all the way up to her knuckles.

“My granddaughter was hoping I’d bring home something more plain this time,” Stamp admitted. Frankie could see him clearly now, through the gowns. He had a patchy beard of scraggly gray hairs, and his metal helmet sat unfitted atop his head, drooping what must have been uncomfortably over his eyes. “She says the kids make fun of her fancy dresses.”

Stamp reached in and grabbed a plain green dress from near the front of the wardrobe. “This looks nice,” he told Addy. Aldonn and Frankie tried desperately not to make a sound, both trapped in very uncomfortable positions.

“That’s the cheapest in the collection,” Addy told him. “I can pick you out another to go with it if you like.” Frankie finally thought she understood what was going on here. Addy was bribing him not to give her any trouble going through the gate. From the way they had been talking this had probably been going on for a while.

“That’s alright,” Stamp said, closing the wardrobe and letting both Aldonn and Frankie breathe. Frankie pulled her hand out of his mouth. “I’m not trying to take advantage of you,” they heard his voice say through the side. Frankie wondered if Addy felt the same way.

“Bleh,” Aldonn complained quietly. “You taste awful.”

“Yeah?” Frankie asked, still able to taste his hand on her mouth. “Well you taste – kinda sweet actually.” They were moving again, the wardrobe shaking as Addy spurred her horses forward and moved the cart through the gates into the city.

Once they were far enough from the gates, Addy was to knock on the wardrobe and signal them that it was clear to come out. That was exactly what she did, and Frankie climbed out from the wardrobe, and around the side of the cart to join Addy by the horses.

“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done,” Frankie told the woman, as Aldonn joined them from the other side. Addy had given Aldonn some clothes that had belonged to her husband. A tight faded blue tunic and black trousers. She’d also given them cloaks: both to keep them warm at night, and to hide them from patrols. Frankie hated the way the cloak restricted her movement, but she did like the way it billowed in the wind and made her look all cool.

Aldonn was gazing into the sky and seemed to notice the spire of the mage tower. “Is that Capsin Keep?” he asked Frankie.

“That’s the mage tower,” Frankie explained, “center of the Mage Council.” She pointed to the other side of the skyline. “That’s Capsin Keep. There’s nowhere in the city of Capsin you can’t look up and see both towers in the sky above you.”

“You both take care of yourself,” Addy told them, as Frankie tapped her arm to slow down. She recognized the area they were in, and where she needed to go next wasn’t far from there.

“Yeah, yeah,” Frankie said, hopping off the cart. She wasn’t very good at good byes. “Come along big guy.”

“We’ll meet again,” Aldonn promised Addy, before following Frankie off the cart.

“Come on,” Frankie told Aldonn. “We’ll be passing through Capsin Market so stay close to me and watch your pockets. The streets here are loaded with thieves.” She drew her cloak tightly to her and hid her face as they passed a patrol of guards.

“We got you to the capitol like you wanted,” Aldonn said to Frankie, seemingly being careful to stay close to her like she’d warned him to. “Don’t you think it’s time you tell me what happens next?”

“Okay,” Frankie told her friend, deciding that he was being perfectly reasonable. “I gotta make a stop at a bar.”

“Like a pub?” Aldonn asked.

“It’s also a pub.”

“Are we getting drunk?” Aldonn almost bumped into a man walking three dogs, and the man started yelling at him. Aldonn rejoined her and grabbed her hand, much to her surprise.

“Do you want to?” She raised their clenched hands, and said enthusiastically, “We could get drunk together!” She was only half sarcastic.

“I think we have more important things to do,” Aldonn said.

“Yeah well,” she said, “you’re right. I know a guy. That’s why we’re going. He hangs out there a lot.” He had been a friend to her. Once. “He’ll be able to give me some answers. Like who set me up.”

“Someone set you up?” Aldonn asked, something Frankie was sure she’d already mentioned before. Or maybe she hadn’t. “And what do you want me to do while you get your answers?”

“I got you covered, big guy.” Frankie squeezed his hand reassuringly, admitting that as far as hand holding went, holding his wasn’t so bad. “I know the bartender there. You can talk to her.”

“Know her how?” Aldonn asked, struggling to keep up as Frankie danced between two stalls for a shortcut.

“We used to date,” Frankie admitted to her friend as she led him along. “But that’s not the point. She’s a psychic.”

“Like clairvoyant?” Aldonn asked, trying to slow down. Frankie only yanked him to keep moving and he did.

“Like she hears voices and shit,” Frankie explained. “Reads minds or something. Maybe a little clairvoyant. I dunno what that means. I didn’t date her for her abilities. Not those abilities anyway. Here we are.”

They were at a large tavern, with a sign painted over the door. Drunks were coming and going, loud boisterous men who smelled of alcohol and piss. As the door opened to let one man in, the noise from inside was deafening and spilled out into the street. That was their destination.

“Jumping Janice’s Bar and Inn?” Aldonn said the name of the pub aloud.

“I think it’s a metaphor for her—“ Frankie trailed off, but mimed her hands over her bra. She led Aldonn through the door. Inside things were even more rambunctious than they were outside. People were screaming and laughing and yelling at the top of their lungs. Large men were fighting and drinking and singing and laughing. The bar was far beyond its safe occupancy, but who was policing that kind of thing?

And behind the bar was the most beautiful barmaiden Frankie had ever known. Janice. She had long black hair tied up in a hastily tied pony tail, and dark brownish-black skin under a tight corset that accentuated her curves. She was tall and slender but her arms were thick and muscular. And her voice was loud and deep.

“Put him down and drink your damn beer!” Janice yelled across the pub at one patron who had lifted another man over his head. “And you!” she yelled at another man. “Stop stabbing my table with your knife!” As she pointed at the man, her bossom seemed to thrust out at him in an equal amount of anger.

“It was her personality,” Frankie told Aldonn, remembering why she’d dated her. He nodded unconvinced.

“Sure.”

*     *     *

If the princess wasn’t in her bedroom the king would have Roric’s head on a pike. That was all he could think about as the old butler, from a long generation of butlers, put his hand on the handle of Princess Penelope’s bedroom chamber doors. Opening the doors, what awaited him on the other side was beyond his imagination.

Penelope was on the bed with a needle and thread, seemingly trying to stitch closed a long gash in her belly. There was blood all over her sheets and bloody towels all over her chamber floors.

Roric shrieked like a girl and dropped the tray he had been carrying.

“Shh!” Penelope insisted. She tried to get up to calm him, but the pain seemed to stop her in her tracks. “Close the door.”

Roric did as he was told.

“Your father is insisting that you join him for lunch today,” Roric told his princess at what he realized must have been a bad time, rushing to her side to help her with her stitches. She had been doing a shoddy job.

“Oh thank god,” she said, as he took over for her. “You would have no idea how much this hurts. My father is just going to have to dine alone again, Roric.”

“He says he won’t accept any of your excuses this time,” Roric relayed to her the message King George had shouted at him, “said he’ll storm up here himself if you refuse him again. See for himself what you’re doing up here.”

Penelope looked around the room at all the bloody mess. “That can’t happen,” she told him, wincing as he finished with the last pass and tied off the thread.

“Of that we can agree,” her loyal butler whispered affectionately to her.

“Tear up one of my old night gowns,” Penelope ordered, pointing to her closet. “We’ll make it into bandages. Then find me a gown that will hide the blood.”

*     *

“Ah, I see you’ve got all dressed up,” King George said as Penelope stepped into the dining hall. It was a large ornate room with a tall ceiling and paintings along every wall, and down every column.

Penelope was careful not to lean on one of those pillars as she passed, her gut hurting like it would burst open with every step. Her muscles in her legs screamed for her to collapse but she forced herself to stay on her feet. Forced herself to walk forward like nothing was wrong. Her father was eating at the far side of the table with a man in long robes sitting beside him, leaving a good ninety percent of the table completely unused.

“I heard you had guests,” Penelope said, explaining away her red evening gown. “I thought it was appropriate.”

“Oh Manejo is no guest,” King George said, gesturing to his new friend. This mage seemed younger than the one her father had been talking to the other night. Maybe in his thirties, though he could pull off looking even younger. His eyes however held a maturity in them, and a darkness. His robes were red and black.  “He’s going to be the mage assigned as my body guard for the foreseeable future.”

“And what about Edward?” Penelope asked, not forgetting about the guard her father had fired.

“Whoring himself to get money for all I care,” King George told her dismissively.

“It’s only been a day!”

King George pushed his chair back in anger, and got up so that he could slam his fists angrily on the table. “Where was Edward when I needed him most? When Councilman Salem had to step in and save my life.”

“He was with me!” Penelope argued, though she supposed that wasn’t going to help. Reaching the furthest end of the table from her dad, she leaned against it as the pain in her stomach threatened to make her pass out. Sweat was pooling on her brow, she just hoped her father wouldn’t notice.

“The mages are the only ones I can trust,” her father insisted, sitting back down. “If you can’t understand that then just leave.”

Penelope was frustrated, but eager to get out of this family meal. “Has it ever occurred to you,” Penelope said, trying one last time to get through to her dad, “that might be exactly what they want you to think?”

“No,” King George said decisively. “Go to your chambers, and don’t come out for the rest of the day.”

“Gladly,” Penelope said with dripping venom, relieved she wouldn’t have to maintain the illusion of being alright through an entire lunch.

*     *     *

“You shouldn’t be here Frankie,” Janice said as Frankie pulled Aldonn roughly through the crowds of people to the bar. They were words Aldonn imagined Frankie heard a lot. “There are people looking for you.”

Frankie sidled up to the bar and winked at the attractive bar maiden. “And I’m looking for Richter,” she told the woman, unconcerned it seemed for her own safety.

Janice nodded to somewhere in the back of the bar. “He’s in his normal spot.” She gave Frankie a warning glance. “If you start any trouble at all, I’ll tear you to shreds.

Frankie blew her ex-girlfriend a kiss. “Love you,” she said, slapping Aldonn then on the arm. “Have fun.” She seemed to widen her eyes at Aldonn in faux excitement and started making her way through the crowds of people. It wasn’t long before Aldonn lost sight of her.

Seeing no other option, Aldonn took a seat at the bar beside a tall skinny man with greasy black hair and more yellow hued skin. He was wearing soldier armour, but it was so disheveled on him that Aldonn couldn’t imagine the man took too much pride in his job.

“So you’re a friend of Frankie’s,” Janice said, leaning against the bar across from him. “What can I get ya?”

‘Just water,” Aldonn said, not interested in getting drunk like everyone else in this establishment. “I don’t have any money.”

“Yeah,” Janice said, grabbing a glass from under the counter. “You’re definitely one of HER friends.” Janice filled the glass with beer and passed it to Aldonn. “It’s on the house.”

Aldonn took a sip and made a face that made Janice laugh. The beverage tasted awful, but it did sooth a certain stressed out part of his mind. He took a deeper gulp.

“So you want to talk to me?” Janice asked Aldonn, and he wondered how she knew that had been Frankie’s intention when Frankie hadn’t even said anything.

“About what?” Aldonn asked warily.

“You tell me.”

Aldonn took another sip of his drink. “Frankie says you’re a psychic,” he told the barmaid.

“I have my moments,” Janice told him with a sly grin. Aldonn could see how her and Frankie would get along. “Let’s talk about your memory loss.”

*

Frankie found the guy she was looking for, hiding under a hood of his own at a small table towards the back of the bar. His table was in a shadowy corner with nothing but an unlit candle on the table for light.

Frankie sat casually in the seat across from the man, and leaned forward on the table. “I need information Richter,” she said to the man she’d known for over ten years.

“You’ve come to the wrong place, Frankie,” the hooded man said in a dark tone.

“Hold on a sec,” Frankie said, reaching out with a match and lighting the candle between them.

“Hey,” Richter said, pulling back his hood in frustration. “Frankie! I was trying to be intimidating.”

“Yeah well,” Frankie instantly dismissed him, “the act won’t work on me. Did you, or did you not, know I was arrested?”

“I knew,” Richter said, leaning back again in his seat. It seemed he still had cards up his sleeve.  “In fact, I’m surprised to see you out. They said you were sent off-grid.”

“That’s not important,” Frankie told Richter. He didn’t need to know how bad conditions were in that prison. “What’s important is that I was set up.”

“Rumour has it you just lost your edge.”

“I was set up,” Frankie insisted.

Richter seemed to study her for a moment before sighing. “There have been other rumours,” he told her slowly. “Lee is pissed with you. Like kill you on sight pissed.” Lee was the leader of their guild.

“So the betrayal was in house,” Frankie said, not all that surprised.

“Honestly,” Richter admitted, “the idea of you just getting your ass kicked by the city guard was far more appealing.”

“I didn’t do anything to Lee,” Frankie insisted.

“They say you stole from him,” Richter explained with a shake of his head.

“I didn’t steal anything from Lee,” Frankie continued to insist. “I would never steal anything from the head of the Thieves Guild. That’s like suicide.” The only reason Lee would even think she did would be if someone HAD stolen something from Lee and just threw her under the wagon.

“Well he thinks you did,” Richter said with finality. To make his point, he crossed his arms. “And it’s started a lot of bullshit.” Richter took one of three shots he had lined up in front of him. “He’s calling a meeting just before sunset on the last day of the week. Every division. Every member. The whole guild.” The whole guild had never met in one place before.

And for good reason.

*

Janice reached forward across the bar and put her hands on either side of his head, pressing her fingers against his temple.

“This feels a little strange,” Aldonn admitted, taking another sip of his brew.

“Touch gives me a better connection to your mind,” Janice explained, closing her blue eyes in concentration. Something caused her to wince in pain.

“Are you okay?” Aldonn asked. There was no response, she just winced again. “What do you see?”

“You’ve got heavy guards,” Janice muttered with what seemed like effort. A bead of sweat slowly traced its way along her dark skinned brow. “It’s hard to say.”

She winced again, and Aldonn thought he saw a shot glass near them shudder slightly. Neither of them had touched it, had it just been a vibration on the bar?

“It’s like you were only just born,” Janice said, turning her head violently. “You just woke up and before that—“ She groaned in pain. “Before that there was nothing.”

“My mind is empty?” Aldonn asked, concerned for the harm he was causing Frankie’s old friend while she attempted to probe him.

“There’s secrets,” Janice insisted, squinting even harder than before, if that was possible. “They’re hidden. I can’t—“ She cut off and leaned forward suddenly, doubling over in pain. Her fingers were still on his temples, holding on desperately as if Janice’s life depended on it.

The glasses around them were really shaking now, and the bottles on the shelves behind her as well.

“There is more to your mind,” Janice continued, seeming unwilling to give up. “But it’s not like any memories I’ve ever tried to access before. I can’t seem to view them, they’re too—“

Suddenly every glass on the bar, and every bottle behind Janice, shattered into a thousand pieces. Torrents of alcohol poured down the shelves all over the floor and blood traced a path down Janice’s left nostril to rest on her full upper lip.

“I’m sorry,” Janice said, letting go of Aldonn’s head like it was on fire. “Did you not feel anything?”

“That looked serious,” Aldonn said with real concern. “You’re bleeding.”

Janice took a rag from her bar and pressed it against her nose. “I don’t think I can help you,” she told him with concern. “But I might be able to find someone who can.”

“Who?” Aldonn begged, desperate to be told what he had to do next. “Maybe I can help.”

“Not likely,” Janice told him, turning around and surveying the damage behind her. It was enough to make her pause for more than a second. “There is someone you can help though.” She pointed to the drunk soldier beside her.

Aldonn took the man in before leaning in close to whisper to Janice, “This guy?”

“He’s had a rough day,” Janice assured Aldonn. “I get the feeling you can help.”

That was enough for Aldonn. Reaching over, he offered the drunk soldier his hand.

“I’m Aldonn,” he said to the tall slender black haired drunk who seemed to be passed out.

The man raised his head off his arm, and looked Aldonn over quickly. “Yeah?” he said, slurring his words and swaying in his chair.

Aldonn wasn’t quite sure what to say. “I heard you could use some help.”

“Help getting beer maybe,” the man said, turning to the bar and trying to signal Janice who was far too busy cleaning up the large mess that had accumulated behind her.

“I think you could do without that,” Aldonn told his new friend, as a hand grabbed his arm and turned his attention away from the bar. It was Frankie.

“We have a party to crash,” Frankie told Aldonn quickly, pulling on his arm.

“What?” Aldonn said, making sure to stay on his stool. He wasn’t going anywhere until Frankie explained what was going on.

“Turns out something happened last night,” Frankie tried to explain, vaguely. “It’s got the guild leader in a tizzy,” she continued, “He’s scheduled a meeting real soon now, and I think we should be there.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Aldonn asked, unsure what made the risk worth it for them.

“We have to find out what happened yesterday to turn him on me,” Frankie insisted, as if finding out the truth would fix things for her.

“I thought there was honour among thieves,” Aldonn muttered, almost more to himself.

“Me too,” Frankie agreed with him.

“I can tell you what happened yesterday,” the drunk soldier said, peering over at the two of them.

“Who’s this guy?” Frankie asked with what seemed like minimal interest.

Aldonn crossed his arms. “Your girlfriend told me he needed our help,” he told Frankie.

“First of all,” Frankie said with a raise of her finger, “she’s not my girlfriend. Second,” she raised another finger, “all this guy needs is a good night sleep and he’ll be fine.”

“What happened last night?” Aldonn asked the drunk soldier, ignoring Frankie.

“I lost my job,” the drunk man said, taking another swig of his drink.

“Enlightening,” Frankie said with frustration. “Can we go?”

“I was supposed to be on guard duty,” the guard continued to explain. “But instead I was with the princess.”

“Sounds like you deserved to be fired,” Frankie said, crossing her arms. At least she was still paying attention.

“There was an attempted robbery,” the drunk continued, nodding in agreement with what Frankie had just said. “A thief tried to steal something and I wasn’t there to stop him.”

This seemed to catch Frankie’s attention. “What were they trying to steal?” Frankie asked.

“Some kind of amulet,” the soldier said.

Aldonn recognized that Frankie’s mind was churning. “Is that weird?” Aldonn asked his friend.

“That the guild would send one thief on a solo mission into Capsin Keep for an amulet?” Frankie asked rhetorically. “Yeah, a little weird. We had an understanding with them,” she explained to Aldonn. “We didn’t bother them, and they turned a blind eye to some of our more minor operations.”

“We need to be at that meeting to find out,” Frankie told Aldonn.

“Okay,” Aldonn agreed with his friend. “But we’re taking him with us.”

“My name’s Edward,” the man slurred, his head falling onto the bar with a thud.

“We’re taking Edward with us.”

“You’re joking,” Frankie said. “This guy can’t even stand.”

“Sir,” Edward said indignantly, lifting his head off the bar with what seemed like some effort. “I may be drunk, but I’m still a soldier.” He got up off his stool and tried to pull his sword from its holster, but he couldn’t get the blade free and instead fell flat on his face.

“I thought you were fired,” Frankie said down to where he’d landed at her feet.  She looked to Aldonn with pleading eyes. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Let’s just get him some water,” Aldonn pleaded, “and a second to calm down. Then we can go.”

“We actually do have time,” Frankie told him, “the meeting isn’t until the end of the week. But why do you care?”

Aldonn folded his arms even as he stepped closer to her. “Because his name needs clearing as much as ours,” Aldonn pleaded with her. “If our problems are related, why shouldn’t we help each other?”

“Cause thieves and royal guards generally don’t mingle?”

Aldonn wasn’t sure he could turn Frankie around, but he had to try. “You’re an ex-thief,” he reminded her. “And he’s an ex-soldier. And I don’t even know what I am.” Aldonn drew Frankie in towards him. “These aren’t general circumstances, and for the sake of everyone here I think we all just need to get along.”

“With Frankie?” Janice said, from across the bar where she was overhearing them. “Good luck.”