Page 74 of Paladin's Faith

“Well, there’s that,” said Marguerite. She believed him, strangely enough. Davith, for all his many flaws and deceptions, was neither bloodthirsty nor malicious. “Of course, now you’re in almost as much trouble as we are, since the Sail undoubtedly saw you coming here.”

Davith leaned back in the chair with a sudden grin. “Ah, but that fine shiner your bodyguard laid onto me will help enormously. And when you give me the information about where Maltrevor’s pet artificer is holed up, that’ll help even more.”

Marguerite snorted. “And why exactly would I do that?”

“Gratitude, obviously.” Davith spread his hands. “It’s not like you can do anything with it now. We already know where Magnus is staying, we just don’t know where exactly she is, and you know what these highland clans are like. You can’t bribe them and you can’t charm them and if you try to fight one, all his fifty cousins turn on you. The Sail’s on their way there already, it’ll just take them ages to search the place. Those hills have more holes than a good cheese. But you’ve got that information, don’t you?”

Marguerite laughed. “How did you know?”

“Pfff, half the court knows that your bodyguard here carried you back from Maltrevor’s rooms. The only reason you’d go to his bed is to get that information. Not, alas, a feat I can replicate.” He clasped his hands together. “You give it to me, I give it to the Sail, they’re so pleased with me that they overlook my possible indiscretion, you sneak out of the fortress and I take home a sack of coin.”

“Brilliant,” said Marguerite admiringly. “Really quite a fine plan. I salute you. There’s just one tiny problem.”

His good eye narrowed. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“Not a chance.”

Davith sounded more resigned than upset. “You could be putting me in a very precarious situation.”

“My heart bleeds,” muttered Wren, not quite under her breath.

Marguerite’s heart did bleed a little, mostly for Wren. She wasn’t going to like this either. “We’re running,” she said. “But we’re headed into the highlands. And you can either come with us, or we can leave you here.”

“Hog-tied,” added Shane.

Davith snorted. “My days of being tied up by attractive men are long past, knight.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “What do I get out of this, again?”

Marguerite shrugged. “Your skin. Without that information, how charitable do you think Fenella is likely to be?”

Davith’s scowl was all the answer she needed. “You’re completely mad,” he said. “Maybe you can sneak out of the fortress, but once you’re on the road, they’ll be hunting you clear to Cambraith.”

Cambraith. Marguerite exulted internally. He’d just handed her the only piece of information she needed. She saw the flicker in Shane’s eyes as he registered the name too. “Well, we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it,” she said lightly. “Right now, we need to get out of here. Fast.”

Nobody said anything for a moment. Davith groaned and rolled his eyes. “Really? You’re going to make me suggest the best way to kidnap myself?”

Shane’s growl was so low as to be almost subterranean, but Davith was not a fool, no matter how often he acted like one. He held up his hands. “Right. I was just saying. So, there’s two ways out. We either try to brazen our way through taking a lift, and risk them cutting the rope, or we go down to ground level through the cellars.”

“Cellars,” said Wren instantly.

“What, you don’t favor being splattered across the landscape?” asked Davith.

Wren flushed. “The cellars it is,” Marguerite said hastily. “Then we’ll take a ship across the lake into the highlands.”

Davith scowled. “Dodging the Sail’s people, as I said, the whole way to Cambraith.”

“Then think of all the chances you’ll have to escape,” said Marguerite lightly.

“I’m thinking of all the chances I’ll have to catch a stray arrow, thank you very much.”

“Do we go now?” asked Shane. “Will it be suspicious if we have full packs?”

“I think we can probably assume that we’ll be observed leaving the room,” said Marguerite. “They may attempt to stop us.”

“They’re welcome to try,” the paladin said coolly.

Marguerite sighed. “And that will turn into unlicensed violence within the fortress, which will lead to both the Sail and the Court guards trying to stop us. And once we’re in a jail cell, I don’t see us all getting out alive again. I might be able to bribe or blackmail one of us loose, but probably not all three.”

(“Oh, I see how it is,” muttered Davith.)