Siobhan felt her knees give way and she had to lock them to keep her feet. What Denney had done was huge. In all the four continents, only a handful of laws were universally obeyed, but the hunter’s law was one of them. No man could claim another’s prey if a hunter’s marks were found there. A man was not considered to be a whole man until he had his own marks to lay claim with. Siobhan had named Rune but hadn’t thought it wise to push getting him marks as well, all things considered.
Seeing that look on his face, his expression of open wonder, made her realize she was a fool for not doing so.
Rune swallowed hard before he finally raised his other hand and took the knife from Denney with both hands. In a gesture of utmost respect, he drew the knife from its sheath and looked it over carefully. Denney hadn’t spared any expense—the metal shone brightly under the light, the etching near the hilt fine and detailed. Three flat lines with two circles were engraved into the dark wood of the hilt, and that, too, gleamed. A hunting knife was the traditional method of gifting a hunter’s marks to a boy and Denney had chosen a very fine weapon to do it with.
He just as carefully sheathed it before saying hoarsely, “It’s a good gifti’n. I thank ya for it.”
Denney beamed at him. “No, Rune. Thank you.”
Conli added in a gentle tone, “She told me what you did, and how you’ve stepped in several times and warned people off on her behalf. It’s made you many enemies in a place where you had few allies to begin with. Because of that, I feel like we owe you something more.”
“What?” Rune’s head jerked back in instinctive protest. “No, sir, that’s not—”
“Whatever your agreement with Siobhan,” Conli cut in kindly, “you are clearly doing more than she expected. That dumbfounded expression on her face tells me that much.” Conli turned and winked at her before adding, “Because of that, I give you one more gift of thanks.” He snagged Rune’s hand and raised it up.
Before Siobhan’s—the entire guild’s—astonished eyes, Conli took his bejeweled bridge ring off his own hand and slipped it onto Rune’s middle finger.
“This is a bridge ring,” Conli explained. “Do you know of it? No? It’ll let whoever wears it travel through Island Pass without any questions asked. You can also search the records there, and request help or information from any inhabitant on that island. With this, you do not need to be bound to any place but can travel freely across the bridges as you wish to.”
Rune’s mouth opened and closed like a beached fish. He finally shook his head roughly. “I don’t deserve this.”
“Rune,” Conli chided gently. “You protected someone precious to me. Multiple times. I know that you will continue to do so in the future, and that because of your actions, you will draw anger and malice to you. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t help offset that by giving you a means to escape if you need it? We will, of course, protect you and safeguard you as you have us, but I do not intend to leave you trapped here unnecessarily.”
“We thought the best gift we could give you was the freedom to go and make any future you wish,” Denney added. “The marks and ring are for that purpose. Accept them, please.”
Rune’s eyes traveled from one face to another, mouth searching for words, but none were coming out. He clearly looked overwhelmed by this outpouring of gratitude and kindness and had no idea how to accept it.
Siobhan’s patience snapped with an almost audible twang. “I can’t take it anymore. Rune! What happened? What did you do? I’ve rarely seen them act like this before.”
Denney turned and gave her an odd look. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell. Me. What,” Siobhan gritted out.
“The reason why he was in that fight with the Iron Dragain men this morning,” Denney responded as if the answer was obvious. “The whole fight started because of me.”
“What?!” several voices yelled at once.
Siobhan took in a deep breath. “Denney. From the beginning, please.”
“Right.” She half turned so she could look at the whole room. “I’d come back from the baths, heading for my room, when those idiots cornered me. They…well, it was the usual thing. They thought I was a prostitute or something and were hassling me. I wasn’t sure what