injured ankle. “Artemis,” said Kate, pushing away from the window and making a sudden run for the door, all fear of the wardens forgotten.
“Kate! Look out!”
Something sharp and silver cut through the air, narrowly missing Kate’s arm, and Edgar ran to her, fleeing from a face that had appeared on the other side of the bar.
The old man from the tunnels looked even more terrifying in the sunlight. Everything about him looked pointed and vicious. His nose was short and sharp, his cheekbones jutted out, and his mouth looked more like a beak, with a pointed top lip spiking down over a thin scar where the lower lip used to be. He crept forward and drew a second dagger from his rat-eaten belt, a smile squirming across his lips.
“Gotcha now, girly.” He raised his hand to throw another blade, and the bright glint of metal flashed again.
Kate ducked. The dagger flew over her head and thrummed into the door. Then Kalen was in front of her. He reached out and clamped his cold hands around her neck, pinning her back hard against the door handle.
“Such a pretty girl.” He grinned, breathing out a cloud of stinking breath. “I’ll teach ya to go pokin’ around in other people’s business.”
Kate kicked out, stamping hard on the man’s ragged feet.
“Arrrgh!” he snarled and tightened his grip.
Kate stamped again and scratched his arms with her fingernails, fighting him off so she could catch a breath.
“Let go of her!” There was a loud crack. Kalen’s eyes bulged, his knees buckled, and Edgar stood behind him with one of the bar stools raised high, ready to hit him again.
Kate clutched at her throat, coughing her lungs back into life as the old man arched an arm across his face for protection. Only he didn’t look afraid. He was smiling.
“J-just leave us alone!” said Edgar, switching his gaze nervously between Kate and the old man, and in that moment, Kate saw something odd in her friend’s eyes. There was fear there, but there was anger too. Deep anger that she had never seen in Edgar before. It looked like he wanted to hurt that man. Really hurt him. And he was more than ready to do it.
“Edgar,” she said carefully. “Don’t.”
The atmosphere in the inn bristled. Edgar’s fingers clasped tightly around the leg of the stool and his hands shook a little, betraying the uncertainty behind his rage. He bit his lip and forced his muscles to relax.
“Leave. Us. Alone,” he said, lowering the stool. “We haven’t done anything to you.”
Kalen glared back at him and shook his head. “What’re ya doin’?” he bellowed, spraying globs of brown spittle into the air. “You know better than that. Don’t ya, boy? Never yield to an enemy. Never give ’em a chance. Do it, why don’t ya? Finish me off!”
Edgar faltered under Kalen’s stare, and the old man laughed.
“You won’t last five heartbeats out there,” he said. “The world is changin’. You know what’s happenin’. You know what that little wench is. You’ve seen ’er kind before. Nothin’ but trouble. Just hand ’er over an’ maybe I’ll forget I saw you ’ere, eh? You know what Silas’ll do if ’e catches up with ya.”
“Shut up!” said Edgar.
“There’s those who’d pay fine gold to ’ave this little bird locked up, good and tight. What’s she worth to a fine young man like yerself? Bet you could do with a few coins in yer pocket. And ’oo knows? Hand ’er over quick and the council might even be willin’ to forget a few things. Make yer life a bit simpler, wouldn’t it?” Kalen smiled deviously. “Every man ’as ’is plan,” he said. “What’s yours, eh? How’s it goin’ so far? What’s that little voice inside yer ’ead tellin’ ya to do next?”
“Edgar? What’s going on?” asked Kate.
“Nothing. The stupid old guy’s crazy, that’s all.”
“Not so crazy that I forget a face, boy. And I’ve seen yours before. If you ’ad any sense, you’d let me do it. You’d let me snap that girl’s sweet little neck right ’ere and save Silas the trouble. Or maybe ya want to do it yerself? Please, be my guest. I won’t stand in yer way.”
Edgar’s foot kicked out and slammed hard into Kalen’s chest, sending him sprawling back. “I said, shut up!”
“That’s better! Ha! Much better,” coughed Kalen, wheezing and chuckling on the floor. “Makin’ it look real. Wouldn’t want ’er to know what you really are, now would we? Careful, boy. Think! The life