Chapter 9

Ask Questions Later

He awoke to pain and confusion.

Priorities! Assess the situation!

Yes, but..?

Where am I? No! 

Who am I? That's not usually a question? No!

Count? No!

Danger? Should that not have been the first question? Yes!

Run and ask questions later? Yes!

Raz'Kul opened his eyes then immediately regretted it as his vision blurred and tiny pinpricks of light speared into his skull.

Concussion! 

His vision dimmed at the edges as he felt the darkness closing in, but he resisted and somehow managed to remain conscious.

Focus! 

He knew he was in danger and had to move. He rolled to his right, and a dagger was driven further into his shoulder screaming at him in agony.

Ah so that's why my shoulder hurts so much, knife in back! Noted!

He rolled to the left, praying there wasn't a dagger in that side as well. There wasn't and he stumbled to his feet groggily putting his hand on the wall for support.

Focus! 

Street! Dark! Which Street? Which City?

Priorities! Assess the situation!

Raz'Kul patted himself down and noted the missing dagger. 

Flash bomb missing? Where's my other dagger?

Assassins! Scar! Theanis!

Raz'Kul reached forward to pick up the dagger he'd dropped in the fall, and with some difficulty sheathed it.

How long have I been unconscious? 

The flash bomb would have blinded Scar and those closest for maybe five to six minutes at best? Further away, sixty to ninety seconds? And those outwith line of sight - not at all? He had to move.

Priorities! Wounded. Knife in back. Cracked rib, not broken? Concussion. Bruising down my right side. 

Raz'Kul reached down to the pouch on his belt and pulled out a small glass vial containing a deep blue liquid. However as he withdrew it his fingers failed him and the vial dropped to the cobblestones. 

Incredibly the vial didn't break, and he sighed in relief as he reached down to pick it up.

And Raz'Kul kept on reaching down back into unconsciousness...

-+-

Raz'Kul woke to even more pain and something disgusting being forced down his throat. He tried to spit it out, but a hand was forced over his mouth.

Lacking the strength to resist, he swallowed, and drifted back into unconsciousness once more.

-+-

The pain was now only a buzzing at the back of his mind, and a persistent but dull throbbing in his shoulder. He knew the pain was still screaming at him, but it was for now thankfully muted.

Raz'Kul opened his eyes, though his right eye seemed somewhat reluctant, and a young girls face swam into view. The girl was maybe twelve or thirteen years old, with pale skin where he could see it through the dirt. She had shoulder length brown hair, intelligent brown eyes, and her clothes were as filthy as her face.

Although she was young, something in the way she looked at him spoke of a confidence and authority way beyond her years.

Raz'Kul tried to speak, and thoroughly failed. Noting this another girl with night black hair passed him a battered cup of water. She was a few years older and slightly cleaner, with piercing grey eyes that almost appeared silver in the dim torchlight. Although she looked intelligent and years older, something made him suspect the younger girl was in charge.

Raz'Kul sniffed the water suspiciously then tasted it. Although it tasted terrible it seemed safe enough, and he doubted children dressed in rags could afford a poison he couldn't detect. 

He nodded gratefully to the black haired girl and took a long drink.

In response she said. “I sure as hope you planned to drink that potion before you passed out! Otherwise we just poisoned you, it wasn't the water!” 

“What was it? Was it an invisibility potion?” came another boys excited voice.

“Of course not stupid, we can still see him!” said another.

Raz'Kul closed his eyes as the pain fought back to the front, then after a second reopened them. “Where am I?”

The first girl replied. “You're safe, not sure for how long though. We had to drag you down here, we wasn't strong enough to carry you. They'll probably spot the blood, or figure it out anyway. And they know this place.”

She continued. “You need to go! If they find you here, we'll all be in trouble.”

Raz'Kul looked around to see five dirty children. Two girls and three boys (one who looked like he'd just been badly beaten) were peering back at him with awestruck faces. 

He was in a dark tunnel made of crumbling stonework. It smelled damp, mouldy and worse, and he could see a side tunnel a little further off. It was almost pitch black further away but a lantern carried by one of the boys lit this section. The brick tunnels were circular with a small amount of filthy water collecting at the base.

The sewers. It seems to be one of the maintenance tunnels fortunately.

Raz'Kul slowly came back to focus as the restorative potion took effect. He reached back to his shoulder and winced in pain.

“We took the knife out!” said the first brown haired girl.

One of the boys piped in defiantly. “I took knife out! It's mine. Others were too scaredy. It's mine!”

The young boy had fierce brown eyes and sandy coloured hair. His pale skin and round face were marred only by a scowl. He seemed to be the youngest of the group, yet was big for his age. He couldn't be more than ten years old. 

Raz'Kul nodded thankfully to the boy. “You can keep it with my heartfelt gratitude young man.”

The boy replied angrily. “I'm no young man, and I don't want your heart. I am Brash. I am Street! Knife mine!” 

Raz'Kul smiled in agreement. “Thank you Brash of The Street, the dagger is yours! Be careful however, it is very sharp as I can attest to myself.” 

He winced as he flexed his shoulder and felt blood trickling down his back. They had bandaged it, though he dreaded to think with what. It was not done well and he was bleeding.

It needs to be properly cleaned and stitched, and soon!

Brash grinned. “Brash of The Street. Did you hear that? Raz'Kul named me Brash of The Street!”

Raz'Kul groaned. “Ah, so you know who I am then?”

A voice at the back said. “Of course we now who you are! There are bounty posters everywhere. What did you do to get a bounty of 40 shards?”

“40,000 shards” argued another.

“80,000 shards” piped in another voice.

“Don't be daft, there's no such number as 80,000” claimed yet another.

Raz'Kul decided against clarifying the exact amount. “So as thankful as I am, why didn't you just hand me in for the bounty?”

A chorus chimed in unison. “Rule number one. Never tell!”

The first girl continued. “Besides do you really think they'd give the reward to orphans like us? They'd keep it for themselves.”

“And you're our hero!” said another voice.

A murmur of agreement echoed around the small gathering and Raz'Kul realised there was now at least a dozen children in the group.

“I'm Molly.” said the first girl with brown hair jealously. “Can I have a title too? It's not fair! It was me who said to rescue you. I'm the leader, the rest said not to get involved!”

A chorus chimed in unison. “Rule number two. Stay unseen.”

Brash broke in fiercely. “I'm the leader now! Raz'Kul said so! I am Brash of The Street. I give the orders now!”

Raz'Kul grinned through gritted teeth. “Brash? I may have another option for you?”

Brash looked at Raz'Kul suspiciously.

Raz'Kul queried. “Have you ever heard of a bodyguard?”

Brash thought for a second. “Yes? Like the King has?”

Raz'Kul nodded at the boy. “Exactly! That dagger you hold in your hand? It's the weapon of a bodyguard, not a leader. If you want to be the leader, then you need a bodyguard! So you must give the dagger to your bodyguard.”

“Me” shouted several voices in unison.

“I'll bodyguard!” said another and Raz'Kul realised the number of children was growing, there looked to be at least twenty of them now.

“Mine!” said Brash as he put the dagger defensively behind his back, then yelped as he cut himself. He put his bleeding thumb in his mouth, glaring defiantly at the rest of them.

Raz'Kul noted that despite being one of the youngest, the boy was huge and nobody seemed overly inclined to disagree. Raz'Kul unbuckled the empty sheath that had contained his flash bomb dagger, and held it out to Brash.

He winked at the boy and whispered secretively. “I've always thought the bodyguard was just as important as the leader myself.”

“If you accept this gift, it will not only prevent you cutting yourself, it will mark you as the official bodyguard to Molly, Leader of The Street.”

Brash immediately jumped forward to grab the sheath, but Raz'Kul pulled it back out of his reach.

Brash shouted angrily. “Hey! You said I was bodyguard! Fishal bodyguard!”

Raz'Kul asked in a solemn voice. “Brash of The Street! Do you promise to protect Molly? Do you promise to keep her safe?”

Realising the others were watching Brash blushed and glanced around nervously. Then to Raz'Kul's surprise Brash got down on one knee, then bowed his head holding out his hand.

“I, Brash Of The Street. Fishal bodyguard of The Street! Promise to protect Molly, to protect The Street, and to protect all The New Empire.”

“With my life I swear.”

Raz'Kul was stunned to silence by this statement. Although not entirely correct it was most definitely The Dauntilus Oath, and it brought back a wash of memories. To have the very oath Raz'Kul had once made repeated back to him stirred something. 

Raz'Kul knew that deep down, despite rejecting The Dauntilus and The Shade, and despite his current line of employment - he always stayed true to The Dauntilus Oath.

He knew it was part of the reason he had made his wish, and he knew if he strained hard enough - he would hear the tinkling of chimes laughing in the distance.

As he handed the sheath to Brash Raz'Kul whispered to himself. “Blasted Genie!”

Hearing this a boys voice said excitedly. “I'm Marcus! I met a Genie once.”

Raz'Kul's vision blurred and he blinked as he tried to clear it. “Genie? Sorry I must have knocked my head.”

Raz'Kul touched the side of his right temple and his fingers came away sticky with blood. Raz'Kul could feel the potions effects but knew it wasn't enough as he clambered unsteadily to his feet.

I need to move! Now!

He sighed as the tunnel spun. “Marcus? Sorry you met a Genie? What were your three wishes?”

Marcus said quietly. “Well, it wasn't quite like that!”

A voice shouted. “Shut up about your stupid Genie stupid! He doesn't want to hear about your stupid dream. Stupid!”

A rumble of laughter echoed around the tunnel and Marcus took a step back, looking down miserably.

Raz'Kul tried to focus. “Actually Marcus, I do want to hear about it. Tell me, please?”

Marcus looked around in triumph. “See!” Then he faltered. “So, well it might have been a dream. I didn't get three wishes. I only got one. And, well my wish didn't come true, so it probably was just a dream.”

Raz'Kul was struggling to make sense of anything, but this was sounding very familiar. “What was your wish Marcus?”

Marcus looked up defensively. “I never told anyone that part, and I'm not saying! They'll all just laugh at me, they always laugh at me.”

Raz'Kul replied. “I will not laugh at you, and if a single person here laughs at you, they will no longer be a member of The Street. Isn't that right Molly?”

“That's right!” and Molly's glare as she looked around at the ever growing number of dirty faces was enough to tell Raz'Kul how, despite not being the oldest - she was their leader.

However there was a startling number of children filling the tunnel now.

Raz'Kul queried. “Just how many of you are there anyway?”

Marcus replied instantly. “142!” Then he continued miserably “We lost two last night”.

“143!” shouted an excited voice at the back of the crowd. “We just found a baby girl, abandoned. She's barely weeks old, and she's beautiful.”

That seemed to lift Marcus's mood and he smiled at Raz'Kul. “143. Sorry my mistake.”

Raz'Kul asked in amazement. “143? And you have babies down here?”

“Yes!” Molly snapped defiantly. “Why shouldn't we? What were we supposed to do, just leave her to die?”

Raz'Kul continued incredulously. “But you're all so young!”

Molly glared at Raz'Kul and he sensed she was on the verge of either crying or punching him. “We're old enough, and we're trying our best! We saved your stupid life didn't we?”

Looking around at the ragged children and seeing how thin and dirty they were, Raz'Kul blinked away a tear. 

I must have knocked my head worse than I thought! Or am I just getting sentimental in my old age? What do I care...

Raz'Kul knew the lie before it had the chance to fully form.

-+-

If you want to read chapter 10 and beyond please contact us.

This is an unfinished draft, and the later chapters are being completely rewritten and reformatted with new content added.

WARNING: Later content and books may not be suitable for younger readers! Please read the warning here

This is still a draft. Want to read more? We are offering free digital copies (including Kindle) of Book 1 (and the start of book 2) to a limited number of people. All we ask is for you to write an honest review and provide feedback. If you are interested, please contact us...[later content currently being completely rewritten so you may need to wait until it's in an improved state.]

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