Page 77 of Of Glass and of Gold

“Where are you taking them?!” she barked, her voice deep and feral like I hadn’t heard before. A woman determined to find answers.

“W-who?!” the man started swatting at her, and the sight sent my trained fighter’s mind into a blinding fury. Before he could blink, my sword pressed below the now bouncing knot in his throat.

“She asked you a question,” I growled, still fuming over his attempts at knocking her off him.

“I-I don’t know who you’re talking about.” He held his hands up in supplication, eyes darting between the glimmering steel and my steady grip.

“The missing people!” she seethed through clenched teeth, the sound partially muffled by the fabric over her mouth.

His lips trembled, words sputtering in fear. “I-I don’t know anything!”

Ella lifted him by the collar, forcing his flesh to bend around my sword. I held it at an angle that pressed into him. If she’d lifted him any further, it would break skin. But she thrust him back against the ground.

“You’re lying. Why else are you out here at this hour?!” Her temper flared, and I worried what fate would befall the man before me if she continued.

“Check his crate,” I said, trying to dampen the tone of command I’d grown used to wielding.

She released her hold on him with vigor, bringing herself to her feet to stalk over to the box. She leaned before it, her fingers caressing the metal lock. In a swift motion, her hands disappeared beneath her hood, then came out to reveal a thin pin that she used to pick the lock.

I almost smiled at her preparedness, but kept a steady watch between her and the man under submission, my boot now anchored in the center of his chest.

“It’s full of weapons,” Ella said. She held up one of the swords. The craftsmanship of the well-formed hilt, the blade that I knew balanced perfectly upon a finger. They were weapons from the castle armory, forged from Highcrest’s mined iron. Cold dread swept over me, turning my stomach leaden.

“How did you get those?” I asked the man, simmering anger weaving through my quiet words.

“I-I-don’t—” he frantically spewed.

“HOW?” My boot sunk into his sternum, the angle of the blade now more precarious against his clammy skin. He groaned, his feet flailing in fear.

Ella strode over, peering down at the man. “Where are you taking them?” she asked. A clever question that I hadn’t thought to ask through the near blinding rage roiling in my gut.

The mask of the man slipped, his taut body melting into a still calm. His words no longer quivered. “I’ll never tell.”

Ella crouched down, elbow resting on her bent knee, an almost too casual pose that increased the threat of unpredictability. I made a mental note to admire it later, when the edges of my vision weren’t clouding with red.

“Well, then tell your boss that the jig is up. My friend and I here, we’re done letting you take what you want and getting away with it. Four of your buddies would vouch for us, but, unfortunately…” She shifted her focus to her gloved hands, assessing her fingers as if she could see her nails. “It ends. Now. And unless you want all of your blood to spill, I suggest you leave my town alone.” Cold venom dripped from the threat.

“Oh yeah? And what are you go—” Before he could finish, her boot met his face with a violent kick.

I took a step back from the man reeling on his side, hands covering his nose as he whined.

“For starters, I’m going to take these weapons,” she said with an air of boredom. “Then, the next time I catch you or any of your crew slinking around, I’m going to take this dagger—” She unsheathed the dagger at her side, toying with it lazily in her grasp. “— and ram it into your hearts.”

He scrambled clumsily to his feet, eyeing us both with a glare that promised unfinished business before sliding his gaze to the crate he’d lost. A moment of hesitation, of considering the risk of claiming it again. I raised my sword, a promise that before he reached his precious cargo, he’d find himself skewered. The gods blessed him with wisdom as he took off running into the night, unsurprisingly headed for the docks.

“Should we go after him? In case he runs into your friends?” I asked.

“Nah,” Ella said. “She’ll see them coming. What should we do with this?” She twisted to face the stolen weapons.

“I think he retrieved it from under the stage. We would have heard his struggled grunting before we saw him otherwise.” A perfect hiding spot, right in plain sight at an easy access point to the unimpeded pier under the cover of nightfall. “We need to move it, fast. If there’s more crew on that ship, they’ll probably band together to come collect.”

“I have an idea.” Ella moved with graceful precision, bending over to grab one end of the crate. “Grab the other end.”

I sheathed my sword, stalking over to assist. “I like when you boss me around,” I quipped.

“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes, but I knew she smirked behind the mask. I grinned in reply.

She led us to the vendor stalls on the far side. I didn’t question when we approached a bakery stand and awkwardly maneuvered the oversized box behind it, tucking it under the lip of the counter.

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