Defender of Walls

Chapter 1

The rain fell hard, blinding Blake as she dashed between fat sequoia trunks. No birds took flight. They knew better than to inhabit trees that side of the wall.

She stopped in the tall shadows at the edge of the borough, gaze sweeping the length of the wall. Any closer and the defenders would see her. Her eyes fell to the mud separating forest and stone. It had once been covered in grass, before the rain had arrived and never left.

Catching her breath, she eyed the defender strolling atop the wall, bow slung over his shoulder. A corpse hung beneath him—a warning to the merchants.

She needed to find Kingsley before the dogs arrived.

Her feet were soundless as she made her way through the trees towards the shaft, praying her brother was still inside the borough. Ears straining, she could hear nothing over the thudding of her heart. While she knew every inch of the merchant forest, the tunnels that ran beneath it were another matter.

A shift in the breeze made her turn, and she glimpsed Kingsley crouched ten yards away. She checked her surroundings before making her way over to him. He had removed the shaft cover and was preparing to enter the tunnel. His eyes snapped to her as she stepped into sight, hand going to the knife concealed beneath his shirt.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he whispered, looking around.

Blake closed the remaining distance between them, tucking wet hair behind her ears. ‘Saving your life. There are dogs in the borough. We need to go—now.’

Kingsley glanced in the direction of the village. ‘I’d rather be mauled by a sniffer dog than slowly starve to death.’

When he went to move, Blake grabbed a hold of his arm. ‘You don’t know what’s waiting at the other end.’

‘Food. Food awaits me.’ He tapped her nose like she was ten years old instead of twenty. ‘Now piss off home before the dogs find you.’

She peered into the narrow shaft, barely wide enough to fit his frame. Every time he entered the tunnels, she wondered if it would be the last.

‘One lamb will feed us for a month,’ he said, reading her expression.

Blake could not ignore the twist of hunger in her belly at the mention of meat. ‘When the rain stops, we’ll be able to buy everything we need.’

‘You sound like Father.’

‘Good. One of us should.’

Kingsley’s mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘Tell me another way to feed my family and I’ll stay.’

‘You could fish.’

‘Fish?’ He raked a hand through his unkempt hair. ‘I can stand on that beach all day alongside every other desperate merchant, but I’ll return home with nothing to show for my efforts. Get me a boat, and then we’ll talk about fish.’ He lowered himself into the shaft and looked up at her. ‘Go help Mother with dinner.’

There was no food for dinner, but saying that would only prove his point, so she kept quiet.

He exhaled when she did not move. ‘Do you know how hard it is watching you shake dust from the barley bag into the soup pot? Adding a carrot doesn’t make it a meal.’

He went down onto hands and knees. The tunnel was half his height, so he would need to crawl the entire way.

‘Be careful,’ she said.

‘Replace the cover, and don’t linger.’

Then he was gone from sight, leaving her staring into empty darkness.

Blake did as she was told, covering the entrance with dirt and leaves. The network of tunnels, built and maintained by the merchants, connected the borough with both the noble and farming boroughs. While many knew of their existence, only a handful were brave enough to enter them. The consequences of being caught were displayed on every wall, making even the most desperate of men think twice.

‘What are you doing?’ came a male voice.

Blake shot to her feet and found a stern-faced defender standing five feet away. She reprimanded herself for not hearing him approach. His eyes were on the ground she had just covered, hand wrapping the hilt of his sword.

‘Mushrooms,’ she said, hoping to divert his attention. ‘I was hunting for mushrooms.’

Hazel eyes travelled up to meet hers, pupils rimmed with gold that shone as bright as the sun she barely remembered. The man’s hand slackened around his weapon.

‘Optimistic,’ he said, looking around.

‘And subsequently disappointed.’ She took in his tall frame and covering of lean muscle, wondering if she could outrun him. Defenders were notoriously fit.

He let go of his sword. ‘Not a good time to be wandering around the forest by yourself.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘There are dogs in the borough.’

‘How are they at finding mushrooms?’ She had no idea why she said that. Everyone knew defenders were stripped of their sense of humour within the first few months of training.

‘My men are looking for tunnel shafts. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?’

His men? Her eyes moved over the expensive uniform, pausing on his gold cloak pin.

He was a commander.

Her eyes shot up to his. She was fairly certain she was standing before the warden’s son—Commander Wright. ‘I know nothing of the tunnels.’ She was a superb liar when she needed to be.

He looked down at her mud-soaked skirt. ‘When was the last time you ate?’

‘This morning,’ she lied. If he thought her starving, he might think her desperate enough to brave the tunnels.

His face suggested he did not believe her. ‘What did you have?’

‘Fish.’ It was feasible for those with enough coin and the patience to wait at the port all night for the boat to come in.

The commander let out a resigned breath, like he had just lost a battle with himself. ‘Follow me.’ He stepped past her.

‘Where?’

He glanced over his shoulder. ‘When a defender tells you to follow, you follow.’

‘Am I under arrest?’ She bit the inside of her cheek.

‘Tempting,’ he said under his breath before walking on.

Blake brushed a hand over the weapon concealed beneath her skirt. She was not a violent person by nature, but every woman in the borough had to be able to protect themselves if needed. She glanced a final time at the shaft before following him.

They had only gone ten yards when the commander stopped and crouched in front of a tree, foraging around its roots. Blake stood a safe distance away, watching him.

‘Come here,’ he said, drawing his dagger.

Blake’s hand went into the pocket of her skirt, where the seam opened, providing access to her own weapon. ‘Why?’

He looked up, gaze falling to the pocket where her hand was hidden. ‘Because I want to show you something. And hands where I can see them.’

She withdrew it, squinting against the rain as it fell heavy once more. ‘If I’m not under arrest, I’d like to go home.’

His attention remained on the tree. ‘See these wood shavings?’ He picked some up and sprinkled them to show her. ‘That’s how you know where to find them.’

‘Them?’

‘Aureate grubs. Few people realise you can eat them.’

Her eyebrows rose. ‘That’s what you wanted to show me?’

He traced a finger up to the hole in the trunk and began carving into it, revealing a fat grub the size of her small finger. He pulled it out and rose to show her. It wriggled in his open hand. ‘You can eat them raw.’ He held it out to her.

She laughed because she did not know what else to do. ‘I’m not eating that.’

‘Maybe not today, but you will when you’re hungry enough.’

What did he know of hunger? The defenders might have been the lowest form of nobility, but they were still nobility. ‘I’d quite like to see you eat it though.’

She expected to be reprimanded for the smug suggestion. Instead, the commander returned his dagger to its sheath, then met her gaze as he tossed the grub into his mouth, chewing as if it were the most normal thing in the world to eat food meant for lizards. Swallowing, he said, ‘They’re a good meat replacement.’

‘So are eggs and milk, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a chicken in the borough.’

‘That’s what happens when you eat all your laying hens.’

‘So that’s where we went wrong.’ She knew better than to argue with a defender. ‘I’ll be sure to mention that to our local hen thief next time.’

Nothing changed on his face. ‘Did you report the thief to a defender? We’re not mind readers.’

‘If I knew who took them, I would have dealt with the matter myself.’

He crossed his arms. ‘And done what exactly?’

Nothing legal came to mind. ‘Requested the hens be returned.’

Amusement passed over his face. ‘Next time report it. Consequences serve as valuable lessons for future thieves.’

Blake nodded, knowing she would do no such thing. As much as she despised thieves, she did not wish anyone to lose a limb over a chicken. That was why merchants preferred to deal with such matters themselves. A broken nose would heal; a severed hand would not.

The commander looked like every other defender from a distance. They all had similar physiques, cropped hair, and neatly trimmed beards. But up close, she noted distinct features: generous lips, high cheekbones, and thick eyebrows that made his expression appear even more serious, if that were possible. There was colour in his face despite the absence of sun. He was definitely getting meat from somewhere.

‘You should go,’ he said.

She really should have. ‘If you shut the tunnels, they’ll just dig new ones. You know that, right?’

He watched her.

‘No one is going to stand by while their family slowly starves,’ she went on. ‘Not when there’s meat on the other side of that wall.’

He did not appear moved by her little speech.

‘How do you know there’s anything left on the other side of that wall?’ he asked.

‘Because you’re clearly getting food from somewhere.’

His eyebrows rose with the smallest hint of surprise. ‘What’s your name?’

Why had she not left when she had the chance? Now he wanted a name. ‘It’s merchant if your kind need something and boor if you don’t.’

He stared at her for the longest time before speaking. ‘Name.’

She swallowed. ‘Blake.’ No chance she was willingly handing over her family name. Luckily, he did not push for it.

‘And what does your father do?’

‘My father’s dead.’ If she was expecting any form of sympathy from him, she did not get it. ‘My brother runs the business,’ she continued. ‘He imports cloth.’ It was a family effort, but the success and spoils of businesses always belonged to the head of the household. With her father gone, that was Kingsley. Never mind the fact that most of their income came from the private clothier work her mother did.

He finally looked away. ‘Go home, boor, while the dogs are still leashed.’

That time she listened. But as she turned away, the ground shifted, making them both look down. It trembled for a few seconds.

‘What was that?’ Blake could not keep the fear out of her voice as she looked in the direction of the shaft. A long ditch now ran between the trees, reaching all the way to the wall. It took her a few seconds to realise what it was.

The tunnel had collapsed.

Kingsley.

Her feet were moving then, pounding the earth as she ran towards the hole where the shaft had been moments earlier. ‘Kingsley!’ Collapsing to her knees, she began clawing at the mud, dragging up enormous handfuls of debris and clay and throwing it aside. ‘Kingsley!’

A large hand clamped around her arm, pulling her to her feet and away from the ditch.

‘You need to leave.’ The commander spoke the words calmly but firmly into her ear.

She struggled against his grip. ‘My brother’s down there.’ It was a dangerous confession, but a part of her hoped he might help.

The commander spun her around, forcing her to look at him. ‘My men are coming. If you stay, they’ll hang you alongside him.’

Every second they stood there talking was another second her brother was without air. Panicked, Blake reached into her pocket for her knife, but the commander caught her wrist in a vice-like grip, dipping his head so he was eye level with her.

‘You can’t help him. Go home to your family. They’re going to need you.’

Her breaths came fast as she tried to process the words being spoken at her. Yes, her sisters would need her. Her mother needed her.

The sound of dogs barking made Blake jump. She glimpsed them through the trees.

‘Run,’ growled the commander, releasing her with a hard shove.

Blake staggered backwards, struggling to draw breath as the dogs tugged against their restraints, closer now. Regaining her balance, she took off at a run towards the village.