All The King's-Men (The Yellow Hoods, #3) (26 page)

“He’s not here, sir,” said Grimes.

Snapping his fingers, the captain pointed. “The window’s open, you lunker. He went out the window,” he said, shoving Grimes at it.

Abeland scrambled to the top of the inn’s peaked roof, and scouted about. He watched as Richy, Bakon, and Egelina-Marie were brought out of the inn and led towards a red-hooded woman on horseback. She had a dozen soldiers on horses, and another dozen on foot, spread out around the small inn. They’d come prepared.

“Freeze!” yelled Grimes, climbing onto the roof. He was hunched over, clearly terrified.

The sudden boost of adrenaline made Abeland feel more sure-footed than he’d been in a while. “Not in this weather. I’m fine, actually. How about you?” he asked the nervous, pistol-holding soldier.

Grimes was confused. “What? I’m… I’m fine,” he replied, stumbling. “But that’s not what I meant.”

Like a cat leaping upon a mouse, Abeland tackled him, sending the man screaming and rolling to the edge of the roof. Abeland quickly picked up the pistol and watched the lantern roll off and shatter below. “It’s not that far of a drop. You’ll be fine-ish.”

“Abeland,” came a booming female voice, surprising him. “I know you’re up there.”

“Help!” yelled Grimes.

“Please, we’re trying to have a conversation. How can I hear the woman if you’re interrupting like that?” said Abeland, scowling at Grimes. “You’ve got at least two minutes before your arms give out. Come on, man, buck up.”

Grimes nodded, not sure what he was expected to do.

Abeland walked over to the west edge of the roof. “So, it’s the red-hooded woman,” he said to himself, seeing her raise a speaking-trumpet to her lips, its bronze shining in all the lantern-light.

“I will have my men shoot your friends if you are not down in a minute, starting with this one,” she said, pointing at Bakon.

Abeland studied the pistol in his possession for a moment. “Hey, Dangler! What’s the reliable range on this?”

“Are you seriously asking me?” said Grimes.

“Sorry, did it sound humorous? I was being serious,” he replied.

“About fifty yards. Why am I answering you?”

“I was afraid of that,” said Abeland, staring at the pistol. He sighed with disappointment as he determined the distance to be too great. “And you’re answering because,”—Abeland reached down and offered a hand—“good behavior is often rewarded.”

“Thank you,” said Grimes, grabbing Abeland’s hand.

“Not this time, though,” he added, smacking Grimes in the head with the pistol.

Immediately, several soldiers ran to try to catch their colleague. 

Abeland quickly climbed down, returning to his room. Just then, he heard a sound he was all too familiar with, as the bottom floor whooshed ablaze. He bolted down the stairs and jumped out a window.

By the time he got to his feet, the red-hooded woman and her entourage were upon him.

“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure,” said Abeland, brushing himself off and handing over the pistol to the soldier stepping forward for it.

“Oh, we have, actually,” said the hooded woman. “Mind you, it doesn’t matter. I really should thank you, on behalf of your father and all your collective work, for laying all the groundwork for our grand return.”

Abeland furrowed his eyebrows. There was something distinct and familiar about her voice. He studied the gold embroidery on the edges of her cloak. “Fair enough, I suppose?”

“Hmm, funny,” she replied with sharp disdain. “You know, I was prepared for your antics, though to be honest, I’m surprised you’re still doing them at
your
age. Now, to the business of shooting your friends and bringing you for a very public trial. See, I remember how you like an audience.”

Abeland waved for her to stop talking, surprising everyone with his audacity. “They’re not my friends, and to be more specific, you wouldn’t want to shoot the one you’re pointing at.”

The woman cocked her head to the side. “Now why would that be?”

Abeland smiled. “Because, Cat, he’s your son.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Despite a good morning workout together, things remained awkward between Elly and Tee. Elly resisted the urge to bombard Tee with questions, but found herself unable to simply accept things as they were; she needed answers. Part of her feared that Tee wouldn’t give them to her, and that the gulf between them would remain forever. Elly was also wracked with guilt for having made Tee tell her what she had.

Tee’s mind was clouded with the implications of the decision she’d made. Had she done it for Elly or for herself? Had she done the right thing, or had she taken the easy route? 

“Shall we stop for a bit?” asked Elly.

Tee nodded.

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I want to explore around a bit. You two rest,” said Franklin.

Once he was out of sight, Tee took out the map and asked Elly to come over.

“Are we lost again?” asked Elly, concerned. “Because Franklin’s going to have a field day if we are.”

“No, we’re fine. I wanted to show you something,” said Tee, her gut twisting with apprehension for what she was about to do.

Elly plunked herself down on the forest floor beside the yellow-hooded Tee. “Hello, crazy map.”

Tee made a funny, scrunched up face at her. “Hello, Elly,” she said in a funny voice.

“Hi, Map!” said Elly, pretending to be an excited little kid.

“I have a secret to tell you,” said Tee, shaking the map back and forth as if it was dancing.

“Really, Mister Map? What is it?” said Elly.

Tee paused for a moment. Elly glanced at her, wondering what she was thinking. Tee said, in her regular voice, “You can read it.”

Elly was about to respond, but stopped as she noticed Tee wasn’t joking.

Tee dropped her hands and nodded. “You can read this.”

Elly picked up the map and shook her head. “I can’t make any sense of this. It’s just mumble jumble.”

“Well, you don’t read it that way,” said Tee.

“What are you talking about?” asked Elly, studying it again.

Tee took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. “Read it like it’s in a mirror.”

Shaking her head, Elly shrugged. “It still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Pretend you’re looking in a mirror, and think of the Yoyo code we’ve been using since we were little.”

Elly gave Tee a serious stare, as Tee sighed and stared at the ground. Elly was scared to look at the map now. Her sense of guilt mounted as she forced her eyes on it. Elly mouthed the letters as she translated each character. “That… why?” she said, unable to get a clear thought out as she realized she could read the words, though very slowly.

Tee choked up. “I… ah… I couldn’t leave you behind.”

“But this goes back—”

“To when we were little, I know.”

“But we still use this,” said Elly. She stared at the ground, holding on to her emotions. “But…” she wasn’t able to complete the thought.

“Enough gabbing, ladies, let’s get a move on!” yelled Franklin. “There’s a shortcut to Herve from here.”

Tee had never been in the forests near the northern coast of Freland. The leafy canopy was even higher than in the Red Forest, and there were some tree species she’d only ever heard about from her mother. The part of Tee that would have normally been curious to examine them didn’t even hint at being present. 

Today, everything seemed to remind her of her parents, and she kept imagining different versions of the discussion that would one day happen regarding what she’d revealed to Elly. Tee went up to the widest tree she could find and gave it a knock, carrying on a Baker family superstition that the vibrations would make their way to her parents to let them know she was okay.

“This seems as good a place as any for a break,” said Franklin as they entered a sunken clearing. It looked as if a giant had scooped up some land with both hands, leaving brush all around it.

Elly frowned at the circle of stones making a fire pit in the middle of the clearing. “That’s convenient.”

“It happens. Though,” said Tee, scanning around, “I haven’t seen one in a sunken area before.” There was something about it that bothered her.

Remembering one of the important lessons Pierre de Montagne had given them, Elly went and checked the ashes. She pushed them around with a stick, then felt some with her hand. “There’s dampness. No one’s been here in a couple of days, I think.”

“See,” said Franklin, smiling, “we’re safe. Anyway, I’m hungry.” Franklin opened the small sack holding his food and sat down by the fire pit. 

Elly followed suit. “Tee?” she asked, hesitating to take her first bite.

Tee gradually brought her eyes to focus on Elly. “I’m just… I’m just tired, I guess,” she said, walking over and joining them. 

Franklin finished first, having devoured his sandwich, and stood up excitedly. “Elly, let’s get some fresh water. There’s a creek just about two minutes from here.”

Elly was only halfway through her sandwich. “In a minute.”

“No, come on. You can finish it as we go,” urged Franklin.

Concerned, Elly looked at Tee for her approval.

Tee shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

“Come on, Elly,” said Franklin, gesturing. “It’ll give Miss Gloomy Gus here a moment to herself.”

Unable to find a reason why not, Elly wrapped her sandwich back up. “I’m not that hungry, anyway. I don’t know about you, Tee, but I’m going through my water faster than I’d thought.”

“It’s okay,” said Tee, “go. I could use the rest.”

“Okay,” said Elly hesitantly. “We’ll be back in five minutes, tops.”

“Tops,” repeated Franklin, showing a hint of a grin.

After Elly and Franklin left, Tee went to grab an apple from her backpack when she noticed the two pairs of shock-sticks still in there. Tee kicked herself for forgetting to give Elly hers.

 Tee paced around the stones, the two sets of shock-sticks in her hands, trying to figure out which way they’d gone. Giving up, she put the shock-sticks into the secret pouches in her cloak, figuring that they’d be back soon enough. She closed up her backpack and picked up the apple she’d dropped.

Just as Tee was about to take a bite of her apple, something in the brush caught her eye. Tee pulled down her hood and crouched, closing her cloak around her arms.

“It’s been far too long, Mademoiselle Tee, or should I call you ‘The Little Yellow Hood’?” said the smooth and hauntingly familiar voice. “Your cloak must be new. I don’t remember it shining in the light like that.”

Tee’s eyes darted around the brush line as she heard branches snapping all around. “Care to reveal yourself?”

“Oh, I will. Give me a moment, I don’t move as well as I used to. Mind you, I have you to thank for that, now don’t I?”

A chill ran through Tee. “LeLoup?”

Two rough-looking bandits stepped out of the brush, pistols pointing at Tee. They started slowly walking down the edges of the bowl-shaped clearing towards her.

With his men in place, LeLoup stepped out of the brush. It took Tee a moment to recognize him, given he was well-dressed with a three-barreled pistol resting against his shoulder. “Ah, you know, it is so nice to be remembered,” he said, grinning sinisterly from ear to ear.

“You’ve got some new clothes,” said Tee awkwardly.

LeLoup gave her a disapproving look. “Really?” He gestured to his men. “That’s not the retort I expected. I was expecting something more like…” LeLoup started to pace a bit, staying more than five yards from Tee. “Like ‘Oh, LeLoup, I almost killed you last time and this time I’ll finish the job.’ Or maybe something like...” He tapped his pistol to his lips. “I don’t know, I can’t think of everything. I’ve been looking forward to this so much. But
that
line? You’re already ruining it.”

Shaking his head at Tee, he sighed and continued. “I’d like to introduce you to the Liar. That’s the name of this little toy of mine. Remember me telling you how I wanted to introduce you to it? Well, here it is. State of the art in modern firearms. It’ll kill you very well—very well indeed.”

“Franklin,” said Tee, with defeat in her voice.

LeLoup frowned at her. “That was rude. I was introducing you to the Liar, and you changed the subject.”

“Franklin did this,” said Tee, frustrated.

“Who?” asked LeLoup, frowning at his men playfully. “Oh, the Watt boy. The one who is going to give me the steam engine plans that I will take to Simon St. Malo and complete the mission I was originally given? That boy has a real future. He might even be better than Klaus ever was, who knows? But what am I saying. I have no idea who you’re talking about,” said LeLoup, chuckling menacingly.

Tee glanced at the two henchmen standing a yard behind her, one on each side.

“Now, mademoiselle, if you’d be so kind as to stand up and drop those sticks that I know are in your hands. I don’t care if Franklin said that you don’t have any. I know you’re more resourceful than that.” LeLoup pointed his pistol at Tee. “This,” —he waved the gun at Tee—“this feels like old times, doesn’t it?”

Tee stood, but did nothing else.

LeLoup growled. “You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you? Allow me to show you what the Liar can do.” He pointed it at a tree and blew a huge chunk out of it. He then pointed at another tree and blew a chunk out of it. “Repeating pistol, rotating its barrels. Two shots per barrel. Lovely little thing. Has a bit of a kick, but when you have a temper like that, what can you expect?”