He drifted in complete bliss for a long moment before quick movement from her sent his inner voice screaming. His eyes flashed open in time to see her arm plunging downward, the faint glint of metal in her hand. “Damn, lady I warned you it was my first time!” he gasped as he caught the hand just before the dagger grazed his ribs. “What the hell?” he demanded, locking his gaze with hers.
“It’s nothing personal,” she assured him and brought her knee up hard between his legs. On reflex his body tried to curl against the pain and she used his moment of shock to wrench her hand free. With an icy expression locked on her beautiful face, she brought her hand sweeping down again this time aimed at his throat. Frantically he raised a hand to intercept as best he could and felt sharp pain as the dagger stabbed through his palm.
“Oh, I don’t like you right now,” he hissed and brought his free hand around to knock her off of him.
Snarling, she sank her teeth into his arm as she tried to wrench the dagger out of his other hand. Her leg twisted again, trying to strike once more and he twisted away from it at the last moment. With a muffled curse, he cast the first spell that came to mind and stared down in shock at the small stone resting on his stomach. Breathing raggedly, he looked away from the storage stone to his mangled hand and then back to the stone. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was safe to use that spell on living creatures but he hadn’t exactly been focused on her well-being when he cast it.
“That’s it. I’m done with Immortal women,” he gasped and watched his wounded hand slowly healing. Shaking his head, he tried to get his breathing back under control as he stood. While it hadn’t registered in his mind at the time of the fight, the coloring of the dagger was firmly in his mind now. It had been black with sigils down the blade and a shining stone in the hilt, exactly the same as the Nightblades carried. He couldn’t think of anyone that would be dumb enough to impersonate a Nightblade, which meant he needed to get out of town as soon as possible.
With a muffled curse, he pulled his clothes on as quick as possible and dropped the stone into his jacket pocket. He needed to get to the smith’s shop in a hurry and get what parts the man had finished. It was doubtful that he had finished it all, but some was better than none. Fortunately, Charm had been staying on the spell hawk since they had arrived, so there would be no trouble locating his partner. With a final glance around the room, he grabbed what remained of his bottle and headed down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
*
“Shade, what the hell are you doing?” Charm demanded in a sleepy voice as he stepped down from the ship.
“Getting us ready to go tonight,” Shade replied and continued pounding the lead supports into place along the nose of the ship.
“Why?” Charm asked, sounding somewhat bewildered.
“Couldn’t sleep. Figured, what the hell, I might as well work on the ship in a near blind panic for a while,” Shade replied with sarcasm dripping from his words. Standing, he fished the stone out of his pocket and tossed it to Charm. “Happy Name day. Enjoy, but don’t open it anywhere near me.”
“What is it?” Charm asked, staring down at the storage stone with suspicion.
“A very angry naked woman armed with a sharp knife,” Shade replied as he lifted the first of the Barllen strips and began to attach it to the lead supports.
“This is going to require more explanation,” Charm said dryly and examined the stone closer. “You do realize this spell isn’t intended to be used on living creatures, right?” he asked, looking back to Shade with disapproval.
Shade paused, stood straight again, and wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. “Well, Charm, her knee was lodged in my balls and her dagger was through my hand so I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly or sparing much consideration for her well-being,” he explained.
“What did you do to her to piss her off that much?” Charm demanded.
Shade stared at him blankly for a moment and then returned to setting the Barllen. “I don’t think I even want to dignify that with a response, but I probably should. I think all I simply had to do was exist. She was a Nightblade. Apparently the wrong people know I’m here so we need to go as soon as possible. You can either stand there and insult me and this can take half the night, or you can help and we can get out of here before her friends show up. Your choice.”
“Someone in the town sold you out,” Charm concluded and moved to help.
Shade paused and looked across at Charm, locking gazes with the older rogue. “Charm, if someone in this town sold me out why did it take seven days for a Nightblade to show up?” he asked quietly.
“How else would they have found you?” Charm asked quietly. “Could they trace the ship? I thought you removed all location devices from it.”
“I did remove all location devices,” Shade muttered and shook his head at Charm. “You’ve been making reports to the Fionaveir rather steadily. Did you happen to tell them which town exactly we were in?” he asked.
“The Fionaveir have nothing to do with the Nightblades,” Charm objected, his tone indignant.
“Would you bet your life on that? Because, I don’t think I’ll bet mine on it again,” Shade replied and turned his attention back to the ship’s modifications. “Especially if anyone of them figures out what I’ve done here,” he added, motioning toward the ship.
“I don’t think there is anyone else foolish enough to attach Barllen to a magic based ship, Shade, I wouldn’t worry,” Charm assured him dryly.