Page 157 of The King's Menagerie

But a man trained to kill would never be better than one raised since childhood to stop those killers at all costs.

When Mazin was at last disarmed, Ramsay finally took hold and snapped his neck. He let the body drop, then put fingers to his lips and whistled high and long. Then he turned and headed for the house as quickly as he could while bloodpoured and dripped from several wounds. Thankfully, while annoying and possibly a problem if left neglected too long, none of them were immediately dangerous.

Nadir sat in front of the stove, pale-faced and bloody but definitely alive. "He left me for dead, eager to get to the prince. He did not bother to make certain of it," he said with a weak smile. "I suspect I left you the bulk of the work. I am sorry."

Ramsay went to his bed and fetched a chest that held the medical supplies he had bought shortly after arriving and settling into his new home. Returning to Nadir, he set them down. "One moment, I must fetch His Highness, then we will patch the both of us up."

"I'll be fine," Nadir said. "Your wounds are far more concerning."

"I'll be all right for a few minutes yet. Be right back." Ramsay went outside just as his horse returned to the clearing. "Are you all right, Kajan?"

"Uh-uh-huh," Kajan managed. "Why did papa's man try to take me?" He clung tight to Ramsay once he was freed from the horse, shaking and crying.

"I do not know," Ramsay said quietly. "But he will not hurt you anymore, all right? Come on, let's go help poor Nadir, who tried to stop him."

Inside, Kajan sniffled and sat curled up against Nadir's good side while Ramsay patched up his wounded one. Once that was done, Nadir stitched up the worst of Ramsay's wounds and then bandaged all of them. "It's a miracle you were not hurt worse."

"It is," Ramsay replied. "You have skills of your own, to have not been killed. That wound barely missed hitting something vital."

"I had my own adventures before I joined Shafiq's harem, and since then have received extensive training. Still nowherenear your skill level," Nadir said, envy clear in his voice. "Knife fights usually leave everyone dead."

Ramsay shrugged the praise aside. "It is what I have been trained to do since I was a boy. If men like that could mark me so easily, I would not be fit to be a Holy Protector. It is a very sacred duty in my homeland."

"Sacred usually means lonely," Nadir said softly.

Ramsay did not reply. Instead he said only, "You need rest."

"So do you, but we need to get home more," Nadir argued. "Mazin is dead, but the rest of his family is still about, and who knows what else is waiting for us between here and the capital."

"Nothing," Ramsay said flatly. "They would not dare risk it, not when Mazin was right here in the thick of it and seven men were following us. The rest of their resources are waiting in the city or the palace. With so much at stake, they would not put themselves at risk until absolutely necessary. What I do not know is why."

Nadir grimaced as Ramsay helped him to his feet. "Have you a spare change of clothes? As to Mazin, I can answer the why—corruption. Tavamara has always had a smuggling problem, and right alongside it a human trafficking problem. No matter what we do, how hard the battle is fought, new rats who trade in human lives crop up. Many changes are coming to how various systems work, including most importantly how goods are handled at the warehouses. Import, export, it's all changing, to counter illegal goods, bribery, and more.

"Mazin's family is amongst the most heavily corrupt. Several of them were recently arrested on a host of charges, nearly all tied to taking advantage of the current system. Not just his family stands to lose fortunes as their cheap and easy ways of making absurd amounts of money of smuggling and traffickingare cut off." He sighed. "At least until they devise new work arounds, but in the meantime it will still be many lives saved."

Ramsay nodded. "I see. They thought to kidnap the prince to force the king not to go through with the change in the system."

"Yes," Nadir replied. "It goes for final voting and the king's signature in four days. If we had not been able to locate Kajan by then, the king would have been forced not to sign, and Mazin's family—along with others—would have continued to flourish at the cost of others."

"That is why they were especially frantic to get the boy back," Ramsay said, nodding. "They dared not take further action, until they heard—or did not hear— from Mazin."

Nadir stripped off his torn and bloody clothes and accepted the ones Ramsay had pulled out for him. They did not really fit well, but the loose pants and robes were slightly too big for Ramsay, having been bought used, and so fit Nadir better than they might have otherwise. "Shafiq suspected, but we hoped we were wrong…"

Ramsay nodded and motioned to Kajan. "Come along, it is time to go home for real this time, Kajan. I promise. In two days, you will see your papa."

Outside, he grimaced at the mess and made certain Kajan did not look upon it. He was not looking forward to his return in a few days, when he would have to clean up the bodies, especially since they would have been sitting out for all that time. Disgusting work.

But delaying their departure to tend the matter now would not do. They had to get the prince home sooner rather than later. So he simply took anything useful the bodies contained, which amusingly included money enough he'd not struggle for quite some time. Thankfully, they found a coupleof horses not too far away. Mounted, the prince well-covered against being recognized, they rode off.

They reached the palace in record time, if half dead and hungry enough to eat their horses. Kajan, poor thing, had not been able to stay awake. They had abandoned his horse at the first rest stop, to a group delighted to have her, and Kajan had ridden with Ramsay the rest of the way to the palace.

They arrived late at night. Nadir rode on ahead to arrange everything, leaving instructions for Ramsay to follow in order to get to the king unobserved. The instructions took him around the palace to the far southeast corner. Given his limited knowledge of the palace, and the more obvious prince in his arms, he surmised he was being directed to yet another secret entrance to the king's private wing.

As promised, Jankin waited just outside the wall, right at the corner. He smiled as he saw them and motioned them forward. Reaching him, Ramsay carefully dismounted. Then, with Jankin's help, he pulled the prince down and bundled him close. Throughout, Kajan remained fast asleep.

"Stay," he whispered softly to Feather. "I will be back soon."

Kajan secured, Jankin pulled a key from a hidden pocket in his pants and used it on an equally hidden keyhole in the wall. In the dark, Ramsay could not properly make note of it, and thought tiredly that he would have to find another way out later.

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