The Runaway King (Ascendance 2)

“You think someone like me is gonna have more than one name?”

Erick smiled. “I’m surprised anyone even bothered to give you a name at all.”

My expression mirrored his. “They didn’t. I gave myself this name.”

And that was the end of the smiling. With introductions out of the way, Erick got down to the business of having abducted me.

“Why were you asking Fink about the priest?”

“I have some sins to confess,” I said. “For ruining the life of the last man to kidnap me.”

His second slap was less kind. “Fink said you’re trying to find Devlin.”

“I’m trying to find the pirates. I have a job and need their help.”

“I’ve worked with them for years, boy. Pirates don’t help anyone but themselves.”

“This job will help them plenty.”

He frowned, then refastened the gag around my mouth. “Spit this out again and I’ll carve out your tongue. Got it?” He didn’t wait for an answer before the canvas bag went back over my head.

They left me that way and soon everything went quiet. Once I was certain they were asleep, I undid the knots that tied my hands, then removed the gag and the canvas bag. After untying the rope around my feet, I lay down to sleep as well, using the bag as a thin layer of padding between my head and my arm.

owned. “What’s your name?”

“You don’t need it.”

The bartender took offense at that. “I’m doin’ you a favor, boy. You could be more friendly about things.” He passed a drink across the counter to me. “Here.”

The drink was dark brown and frothy and smelled like a stable floor. I pushed it back to him. “Not for me.”

“Just a sip. I’m sure you’re thirsty. Besides, it’s a new batch and I want to know if it’s any good.”

“I can tell you from here that it’s not.” And if this place was what I suspected, the drink also contained the same powder I’d used to put Mott to sleep, or worse. I turned around. “Where’s the room?”

He nodded to a flight of stairs. “First door on the right. Sleep as long as you want and maybe you’ll work for me later on.”

No, I wouldn’t.

Room eleven was unmarked as such, and the furnishings inside were simple, with nothing but a mattress stuffed with pine needles and moss. It was flat on the floor and had a thin blanket for a covering. I didn’t care. I sank onto the mattress, ignored the ends of the needles that pricked through the fabric, and fell asleep immediately.

Some time later, something creaked in the hallway and my eyes flipped open. The room was very dark, but I remembered seeing a candle in the corner. I started to roll toward it, then froze, certain I heard footsteps on the stairs.

My initial thought was that the tavern owner was finally going to bed, which signaled the time for me to have a good look around before deciding whether to stay, as Fink had suggested. But as I listened, it clearly wasn’t the owner, who was a large man and would have heavier, less cautious footsteps.

And more than one was out there. I lay still on the floor. My hand was inches away from my knife, but I didn’t reach for it.

In the hallway, I heard the hiss of the tavern owner, saying, “Yeah, that room. But be quiet. He didn’t take the drink.”

Everything fell silent. Waiting there, knowing what was coming, was torturous. But it had to happen.

The door creaked open, letting in only a sliver of light from the hallway. I could feel them around me, like snakes slithering into a room. One was near my head, and I wasn’t sure how many were behind me, maybe four or five.

I’m not sure what the signal was, but they moved on me in unison. I grunted as one stuffed a gag in my mouth. As soon as it was tied, a canvas bag went over my head, then a drawstring pulled tight at the end of it. Another bound my wrists behind me, and it took two of them to clamp down my legs to tie them. Someone took the knife at my waist and placed it at my neck.

“Give me a reason to use this and I will,” a man growled, his face near mine.

I nodded, very slowly, then a large man picked me up and threw me over his shoulder to haul me out of the tavern.