Rise of the Living Forge

Rodrick wove through the darkening alleyways of Milten until he was absolutely certain nobody unwanted was tailing him. He came to a stop in the shadow of a roof protruding above several old barrels and rested the huge blade he’d stolen against the wall before starting to strip out of the armor.

He set the metal down in a large pile. The Ardent guild probably wasn’t going to be getting this particular armor back. Then again, if they’d wanted it back, they shouldn’t have left it on someone who was easily lured from their post and into a dark, sketchy alley.

Gentle footfalls echoed through the street behind Rodrick. He glanced over his shoulder as a woman clothed in black garb slipped around the corner. She reached up and worked the cloth covering her face free, pulling the hood back.

“Have I ever mentioned that you look great in black?” Rodrick asked.

“Just about every time I wear it,” Anna replied as she pulled her hair out of a bun and let it fall across her shoulders. She peeled the cloth off herself, revealing her normal clothes beneath it, and kicked the bundle to the side of the street. “The sentiment is just as appreciated as it was the first time.”

“You do realize that could be either a good or a bad thing, right?” Rodrick stepped out of the sabatons and slid them over to the rest of his armor.

“Oh, I’m more than aware. I like to keep you on your toes.”

“I’m on my toes more than enough already,” Rodrick grumbled. He gave Anna a small nod and they started down the street, distancing themselves from the gear they’d stolen. Rodrick kept his enhanced hearing peeled for anyone in the area, but it seemed like they’d made it out without any undue attention.

Suppose I’ve got the Falling Blades to thank for that. They did such a great job of clearing out the area and making sure nobody would witness anything they shouldn’t have that they saved me from having to deal with it. Heck, I don’t think I could have done all that on my own if I’d wanted to.

Anna let out a small sigh, pulling Rodrick from his thoughts. He glanced back at her, drawing to a stop at the edge of another alley.

“Something wrong?”

“Wrong? No. It’s just been a while,” Anna said. She ran her hands through her hair to straighten it out, then pulled out a thin band and tied it into a ponytail.

“You had some damn good aim for being so out of practice.” Rodrick nudged Anna in the shoulder and gave her an encouraging grin. “It was almost as if not a day had passed. I’m glad for it. It really would have ruined the whole thing if you brained me with that dagger instead of the Falling Blade.”

Anna let out a small laugh, but it was clear her heart wasn’t in it. She leaned against Rodrick and let her head thump against his shoulder. “I wish it had been longer, Rodrick.”

The smile slipped off Rodrick’s features and he let out a sigh, wrapping an arm around Anna’s shoulders and pulling closer to his chest. “I know. I do too, but this was necessary. It would have been such a shame if all the effort everyone put into saving Melissa was wasted. Arwin made the right call to keep our guild out of it, but they still would have been crushed if she died.”

“Rodrick?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not looking for a solution here, hon. I just want to complain. I knew what I was doing when I picked up the daggers again. Not a single part of me regrets helping Melissa. She deserves to have a chance to take her family back. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish we could have taken a different path.”

“This would be where I’d point out we possibly could have asked some others for help. Despite what Arwin said, I’m sure he and Lillia both would have been more than willing to come with us. We didn’t have to make up the whole thing about needing to use the bathroom together after we saw one of the blokes I paid off waving to us in the window. Bit contrived, actually. I think they might have wondered what we were off to, especially given how long we’ve been gone.”

Anna pulled her head back and glared up at him. Rodrick coughed into his fist and hurriedly amended his prior words.

“Of course, the bathroom thing was my idea, so you’re not at fault there. And I wouldn’t actually say any of the above, as you did just mention that you weren’t looking for a solution. Just thinking out loud.”

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Anna let out something between a sigh and a laugh. She let her head thunk back against his shoulder, then wiped her nose off on his shirt sleeve before pulling back and grabbing his wrist.

“You’re an idiot. And if we had done any of the things that you thought aloud, the Menagerie would have been involved in this. Not a single one of them is particularly discreet. I mean, take a look at the lot. Arwin is a rampaging bull. Lillia sticks out like — well, a demon. Olive only has one damn hand. Every single thief and cutthroat in the city knows and hates Reya. Madiv is Madiv, and what would Esmerelda do? Try to sell the Falling Blade on some low-quality magic item? No. This was something we had to do alone. It required the one thing the rest of the guild doesn’t have.”

“A great body and a better sense of humor?”

“Proper discretion.” Anna rolled her eyes, then let a small smile pull at her lips. “But that too.”

Rodrick gave Anna’s hand a squeeze. “I know how distasteful you find this kind of thing. But — strictly thinking out loud, mind you — there’s no way those bastards would have pulled back if we hadn’t taken care of the ones lurking around. The Blades don’t consider retreat until only 3 are left. I couldn’t have dealt with them on my own. You had to clean up some scum, but it bought someone their life. Melissa would have been dead if you hadn’t helped.”

“You knew we had to get them to exactly 3?” Anna’s eyes narrowed slightly and they both paused for a moment as they moved from the alleys to a larger street. There weren’t any people around them, and Rodrick gave Anna a faint nod to indicate it was still safe to speak. She started back up without missing a beat. “When did you learn so much about the Falling Blades? Were you intentionally holding back information from when they first attacked us?”

“No, of course not. I don’t have a reason to hold that back. I only keep the details out of the way to avoid people getting caught up in worthless shit,” Rodrick said with a shake of his head. “I found a source.”

“In Milten?” A shred of incredulousness entered Anna’s voice.

“Crazy, right? But not just Milten. Closer than that.”

“Closer? How?”

“The white-bearded bloke with the spooky blue eyes,” Rodrick said. “Ran into him at the edge of the street when I was heading out to dig for information about the Falling Blades a few days ago. He knew fucking everything. If he’d told me he knew how many times they breathed during the day, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

“Him? Seriously?” Anna blinked in surprise. “How? And how did you know the information was good?”

“Spent some time verifying it, of course. I never base plans entirely on untested information. Everything he told me was true.”

“That’s… unsettling. Do you think he’s a retired member?”

“He said the Falling Blades don’t let you retire. Not when you’re alive. I asked the same thing,” Rodrick said with a shake of his head. “I don’t know what he was. That was part of the deal we had. He gave me info, but I couldn’t probe too deep on where it came from. I think that’s a fair request, given our own histories. We’ve hardly been fully outright with everything.”

Anna winced and averted her gaze. “You have. I’m the one who’s hiding the truth.”

“You aren’t. You’re a healer. That’s who you are.”

“Healer is only my class. Nothing more,” Anna muttered.

“I disagree. You’re a healer in more than just class,” Rodrick insisted. “You care about people. Always trying to fix them. It isn’t just the magic you’ve got. It’s who you are.”

Anna gave him a sidelong glance and they turned another street. It wouldn’t be too long until they arrived back at the Devil’s Den.

“You know as well as I do that I’ve probably hurt just as many people as I’ve helped. I was never meant to be a healer,” Anna said softly.

“And yet a healer you became. You just took a slightly roundabout way of getting around to it.”

“Rodrick, I did the exact opposite of healing people.”

“Hey, have to know how to break them to fix them,” Rodrick said slyly. Anna let out a mixture between a choke, a snort, and a laugh. She elbowed Rodrick lightly in the arm and he stumbled to the side with an expression twisted with exaggerated pain before dropping it to give her a pointed look. “See? Proof. Now you need to help me recover.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “If I knew what I was getting into when I married you… well, I wouldn’t have changed anything, but maybe I’d have been more prepared for it.”

“You really think you could have prepared for all this?”

There was a second of hesitation. Then Anna snorted. “No. Not a chance.”

“Good. I strive to be unpredictable.” Rodrick gave her a satisfied nod and they resumed their walk in silence for the next several minutes. Then Rodrick cleared his throat. “You never said if you were going to help me feel better after that brutal assault. I might need a kiss to help me recover my will to keep going.”

“Rodrick, we just killed several people.”

“People that were trying to kill someone else. Purging those that prey on the weak is just doing the world a favor, love. But I swear I’ll regain more of my strength so you don’t have to dirty your hands again. I know how you feel about killing.”

“You’re letting your former profession shine through again, Rodrick.” Anna sent him a small smile. “And you don’t have to apologize. I don’t enjoy killing other humans, but I already said I don’t regret what we did. And it’s not like you aren’t doing everything you can. After what you’ve sacrificed—”

“I have gained far more than I have lost. I’d do it a thousand times over, even if the cost doubled each go around.”

Anna’s cheeks reddened and she tore her gaze away from his.

“We’ll have to tell them the truth, Rodrick. I don’t think can keep hiding it forever.”

Rodrick let out a small sigh. “Yeah. I know.”

The Devil’s Den came into view at the end of the street, illuminated by the gentle silver light crawling across the surface of Milten at the behest of the moon. She jerked her chin toward the inn. “Go take a bath. We can see if I’m going to need to do any emergency treatment when we get back to our room.”