he admitted with a slight shrug, mouth quirked in amusement. “What, ya haven’t heard of me? I’m rather famous in certain circles.”
“I’m from Robarge,” she explained. “And I’m not associated with the darker guilds. Sorry, your name won’t ring any bells with me.”
“Ahh, Robarge.” He nodded understanding. “Although that doesn’t explain ya toweri’n Resken guard dog there.”
“I adopted him several years ago,” she answered half-truthfully, and smirked when Wolf choked behind her. Her bantering answer was calculated to see how the assassin would respond. So far, he seemed to have a rather dry sense of humor, which she hadn’t at all expected.
“Siobhan…” Wolf growled out in warning.
Ignoring him, she went to the task at hand, all the while studying Bloodless carefully. “The people here don’t know what to do with you. They want to be rid of you but aren’t sure if killing you outright will be a wise idea. They’re afraid that if they do so, your guild will come and exact revenge. But they’re wrong, aren’t they? No one will come to rescue you. No one cares if you’re alive.”
“That’s right,” he confirmed.
There’s nothing in his eyes. A chill went up her spine as realization hit. His eyes were empty. Completely void of fear, caution, curiosity…all emotion. His mouth smiled, he reacted as if he were truly engaged in the conversation, but in truth his heart failed to feel anything at all. If he were older than twenty, she’d shave her head. Just what had been done to him that he couldn’t feel anything even in the face of his own death?
Without taking her eyes from him, she asked Wolf, “What would you call sending a lone assassin into a Wynngaardian village with the assignment he had?”
“A suicide mission,” Wolf answered bluntly. “You send a squad of ten or more to do what he was sent to do. Less won’t cut it. I bet he ticked someone off, or made the wrong man his enemy; that’s why he was sent out here alone.”
It fit with what she knew of the dark guilds. “So in truth, I can kill you right here and there’s nothing that will happen to me.”
“Will ya?” he leaned in a little closer and said in a confidential tone, “I prefer ta die at the hand of a beautiful woman like yerself.”
“Oh? But I have a different idea in mind.” Ah, that had gotten his attention. “How well do you know Sateren?”
“Born ‘n raised there,” he responded swiftly. “I know it better than the back of my hand.”
“I want to send a message to Iron Dragain without raising any flags of where we are or that we even exist. Can you do that?”
He kept his voice carefully level as he responded, “Yes.”
“I need a guide to bring us through the city and safely deliver us into Iron Dragain’s main building. Can you do that?” she asked in the same tone he used.
“Ya’d have ta move very, very fast ta manage that, but yes, I know several routes ta take ya there.” He lifted his bound hands and gave the chain a rattle. “What are ya offeri’n for my knowledge and help? Freedom from these?”
“I can do you one better.” She sank down to her haunches so that she could be at eye level with him, eyes locked onto his. “If you promise to help us—truly help us, guide us, guard us, even when I don’t know the right command to give you—then I’ll do more than free you. I’ll take you from here and right through Island Pass. When we reach there, you can go any direction you please and I will not stop you.”
He didn’t react, but that lifeless quality drained from his eyes. “Ya’d have ta act like I was a guildmember to do that. No one willi’n lets a member of a dark guild travel anywhere.”
“I know. But it won’t be an act. For the foreseeable future, at least until we’re able to leave for Robarge, you’d be a member of Deepwoods. I won’t be able to convince the villagers here to release you unless you agree to be in my custody.”
Wolf let out a hiss and snarled a few choice words under his breath. She steadfastly ignored him.
“Yer guard dog doesn’t like this idea,” Bloodless informed her with sadistic cheer.
“He doesn’t like a lot of things. It hasn’t killed him yet.”
“What if I betray ya?”
“We’ll kill you.” She said it matter-of-factly, but inside she knew it wouldn’t come to that. She