Page 73 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Sixty-Six

TOLVAR

E ventually, the door opened again. Tolvar waited for Jordain to thrust him into renewed suffering.

A tray of bread and broth was placed on the floor next to Tolvar’s feet. He did not turn from his side. He’d already attempted to befriend, bribe, bully, and beg the servants who brought the trays and emptied the chamber pot.

“Fact o’matter, it reeks in here somethin’ fierce.”

Tolvar breathed. It couldn’t be.

He dared turn and gaze behind him. Standing there, dressed in servants’ garb—although ’twas not so different than what he normally wore—was Alvie.

“Hiya,” Alvie said more quietly. “Right, then. You ready to leave?”

Tolvar sat. “I’m uncertain if I can stand. ’Tis been awhile.”

Alvie unlocked Tolvar’s chains and assisted him to his feet. “Wait ’til this story hits the pubs. Alvie the August saving the Wolf.”

“Alvie the August?”

“’Tis a long story. I’ll tell it later.”

“What’s the plan?” Tolvar asked, as Alvie helped him out the door. Foolishness slugged at him. The Wolf propped up on a man half his size with a peg leg. But truly, Tolvar had ne’er been so happy to see anyone before. If it had to be Alvie, he thanked his lucky stars.

“Hux and me, and a few of the Order, have been disguised as servants for the last fortnight. Blendin’ in, you know? Not too many. The earl or duke or whoever lives here left and took a bunch o’servants with him so we was lucky they had positions to fill. But we had to do it real sly-like.”

He seemed all too excited about emptying chamber pots and cleaning out hearths.

“A fortnight?”

“Had to get the layout of this place. And, like I said, couldn’t all show up at once, you know.”

Tolvar nodded as they climbed the stairs.

“Ghlee is waitin’ outside the walls. He didn’t want Crevan to accidentally recognize him, course.”

“What about Hux?”

“He said that if Crevan noticed him, he’d pay me five gold coins.”

Stars.

’Twas too quiet. Where were the guards?

As if reading his thoughts, Alvie supplied, “We took care of most the guards on duty. Took out three myself, I did, even though I don’t have my club no more. Gave it to the StarSeers.”

At least one detail had gone to plan.

They reached the top of the stairs; Tolvar’s legs were coming back to life.

He cursed himself for having ceased his small exercises in his cell.

Even if Alvie handed him a weapon, he doubted he’d have the strength to lift it.

Alvie went first—the disguise of a servant making him virtually invisible—and scanned the large corridor.

It was a well-ornamented hall. Unmistakably, the house of a noble.

Swiftly, rounding the corner, came Hux. He sprinted toward them, yelling, “Run!”

Alvie took to the direction in which Hux was headed, lugging Tolvar alongside him. Amazement ne’er ceased that Alvie was so nimble on that peg leg of his. Tolvar shuffled as best he could, his weak body screaming against any movement.

Hux caught up with them and hoisted Tolvar under his arm, helping him gain speed.

They rounded another corner, where a group of five servants stood armed with crossbows. Tolvar gasped in alarm, but Hux and Alvie drove him past them.

“They’s with us!” Alvie said. “Order knights.”

Yelling and clanging steel followed.

Through another corridor, they dashed, footsteps thudding behind them.

They were close to the entrance door when Tolvar spotted Joss and Barrett along with, he assumed, four Order knights all dressed in tawny brown garrison uniforms, combatting others who either wore the same uniform or a few in black like the Brones wore.

Tolvar deduced they must be somewhere in Norwell.

“How did you all get in here undetected?”

“Let’s just say there’s a lot goin’ on ‘round here,” Alvie said.

“’Twas simple when you make friends as easily as I do,” Hux said, withdrawing swords hidden behind a large marble statue. He handed one each to Alvie and Tolvar.

“Now, let us bid our adieus and bolt from his horrid place. I do not think my hands can scrub anymore.”

Tolvar gripped the sword, despite his doubts he’d be of any use with it. His knight’s training took over as much as it could, and with Alvie and Hux on either side of him, they’d downed the guards who fought Joss and the others within a few moments’ time.

“We cannot leave!” Tolvar said, as Joss opened the door. “We need to retrieve the Edan Stone!”

“Tolvar!” Crevan’s voice came from the other end of the corridor. “You think to leave here?”

“M’lord! We must think on that later! We must leave.” Joss grabbed his arm. “M’lord, I implore you. This is our chance.”

“Tolvar!” Crevan sprinted toward them, flanked by a half-dozen guards .

“We can take them,” Tolvar said.

“Nay, m’lord. For once, listen!” Joss tugged harder on his arm. Hux led the other arm.

“Lord Wolf, come now and fight another day.”

A shriek made everyone halt. In the doorway of a side door stood Jordain. Merely having her in his sights caused him to wince. “Go you nowhere!”

Tolvar did not need anyone else’s prodding.

He charged through the door with the others to find the first group of Order knights they’d encountered, dressed as servants, in the outer courtyard.

A score of Norwell’s guards stood on the ready, but the Wolf’s adrenaline kicked in.

Fueled by its intensity and the fact that a dozen people had risked their lives to rescue him from Crevan’s clutches, Tolvar fought his way to the gate, suffering only a few blows.

The witch’s shriek rushed him along. He longed to be as far away from that creature as possible. He did not glance back, even though he knew Crevan fought to reach him and gained moment by moment.

Finally, they fled through the gate, finding Ghlee waiting for them. He led other knights on horseback. Tolvar threw himself onto Valko, an arrow narrowly missing him and his steed, and kicked the horse into action.

Tolvar galloped away from the fortress with a dozen riders by his side.

Away from Crevan. Away from the witch. In another time, mayhap he might have felt cowardly for fleeing, for not doubling back to reclaim the Edan Stone before saving his own hide, but the fact that he breathed fresh air was all that mattered in this moment.

He’d held on. He’d not broken.

And most importantly, he realized as he gazed at the last traces of the purple dusk, he’d found and kept his faith.