“What was that thing?” Aria asked the ranger, following in his wake. “And what was it about to cast?”

  “No idea,” said Kaelen, over his shoulder. “And nothing good. Keep up.”

  Aria did not need to be told twice. A quick glance back towards the door showed the hooded figure’s hand growing, reforming from the insect swarms crawling under its tattered robes and cloth.

  Kaelen drove forward, pushing aside panic-stricken or fear-paralyzed tavern customers out of his way. The bat-like creature swiped one clawed wing at the Scarlet Blade, but she nimbly ducked under the attack, pivoted, and slashed downward with one of her steel-tipped fans, ripping a bloody line down the backside of the wing. Her other fan severed the tendon behind the back of its leg, dropping it to a knee.

  “Go,” she said. Her voice was soft yet brooked no argument. “I will cover your retreat.”

  “It’s not a retreat,” Kaelen growled. “It’s a tactical withdrawal.”

  “And a withdrawal is a glorified term for retreat,” she said, spinning back into a defensive position, as the bat-creature struggled to stand.

  Kaelen growled and shoved a husky, bearded man, out of his way.

  “Move!”

  “A tactical retreat?” Aria offered, hoping to bridge the debate.

  Kaelen kicked the door to the kitchen open strode straight for the back wall.

  “Close and latch that door, if you would, Princess,” Kaelen said, sheathing his sword and putting his shoulder into a large cupboard against the wall.

  “But what about her?” Aria asked, peeking back into the common room.

  The Scarlet Blade had cut two more lines across the bat-creature and moved back, out of wing range. The creature stood, fell, then leaned forward, trying to pull itself towards the assassin, leaking bluish-black blood from multiple wounds.

  “Her?” Kaelen asked, grunting as he heaved the cupboard sideways. “She’s dangerous. Probably more dangerous than those things out there. Shut the door. She’ll be fine and we don’t need her.” He heaved the cupboard sideways a few more feet. “We’d be safer sitting in a barrel of Spitfang snakes than letting her anywhere near us.”

  The Scarlet Blade turned and walked briskly towards the kitchen door.

  Aria smiled. No running. Just a confident, brisk walk. This girl had moxie, that was for sure. And the way she handled those fans? Contrary to Kaelen’s belief, Aria thought, we definitely need her. Aria waited for her to pass through the door before closing it and sliding the heavy bolt into place.

  Kaelen turned around, having finished moving the cupboard a good six or seven feet.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “There,” he said, wiping his hands together and turning around. “This leads to – what is she doing here? I thought I said we didn’t need her! Have you any idea what she’s capable of?”

  “Kaelen Draeven,” said Aria, straightening her back. “I am not unschooled in the workings of The Scarlet Dominion, or their agents . . . the Scarlet Blades being one of them. If she had wanted to kill either one of us, I think we’d already be dead.”

  “You would,” said The Scarlet Blade.

  “Not likely,” Kaelen huffed.

  “And as far as “not needing her”, I think you are most assuredly wrong,” said Aria. “She’s precisely what we need, especially for what lies ahead.”

  “Wait, what?” asked Kaelen. “What lies ahead? Princess, I’m just saving your royal skin so that you don’t die a horrific, messy death, in a dockside tavern. After that, your business is your business, and mine is mine. And she-“ he waved in The Scarlet Blade’s direction, “can piss off to wherever she wants to go, as long as it isn’t within sword or fan blade of me.”

  “I’m afraid my business is your business,” said Aria. “Unless you wish to take that up with Archmage Merris?”

  “Merris is behind this?” Kaelen asked.

  “She bade me seek you out,” said Aria. “So . . . yes.”

  Something heavy banged on the opposite side of the door and it rattled in its hinges, the bolt slightly bending under the pressure.

  Kaelen spit on the floor and turned back to the wall. He pressed his hand against a knot on the wooden beam and a section of the wall swung inward. Stale, damp air wafted inward with a bit of a cool breeze. It smelled like the harbor, and old fish, and stale air pulled through salt and sewage.

  “Go,” Kaelen said, waving them towards the door. “That door has about two more hits before whatever is on the other side breaks through. “And I want her in front of me, not behind.”

  Aria eyed the door, and then Kaelen and his secret passage.

  “Come,” said Aria, to The Scarlet Blade. “Please. And what may we call you?”

  “Velara,” she said. “And you may fear no harm from me, Princess Aria.”

  Aria nodded and strode for the secret passage, with Velara on her heels.

  With her eyes fixed on the passage ahead, Aria did not see the steely stare of Kaelen meet the cold gaze of Velara as she passed by the ranger. There might as well have been a block of ice between them.

  Kaelen went in last, pulling the door closed behind him and locking it.

  “That will buy us some time,” he said, producing a piece of flint and a small steel strip from his pouch. He took a torch down from a bracket on the wall and brought it to life with a couple of strikes.

  The torch cast eerie shadows in the darkness, crackling and popping and choking the air with cloying smoke. They were in a downward sloping tunnel. The floor was slick, wet river stones and the walls were hard packed earth, veined with roots and brambles and braced with solid timbers.

  “Where are we?” Aria asked.

  “A tunnel,” said Kaelen, holding the torch and drawing a hand axe from a loop in his belt.

  “Thank you for clearing that up,” said Aria. “And where does said tunnel go?”

  “Runs along the dock wall. There are a few spots we might exit and I think the one that puts the most distance between us and this place is the answer. So, let’s get moving, watch your step, the ground is slippery, and keep an eye out for low ceiling beams and large rats.”

  “Rats?” Velara asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

  “Big ones,” said Kaelen, holding his full hands a few feet apart. “And that’s just the average size.”

  Velara produced her fans in an instant.

  “Wait…are you – rats?” Kaelen chucked. “You’re afraid of rats.”

  “I fear nothing,” Velara snapped. “I just don’t like them.”

  Kaelan bit his lip and nodded.

  “Watch it, sentinel,” Velara said, narrowing her eyes under her porcelain mask.

  Aria was already several steps ahead.

  “Well?” she asked. “What are you waiting for? We’ve a kingdom to save.”