The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 14: Ambush

"Where have you guys been?" Dell demanded, standing up from the table with a resounding crack as her chair fell over. The rest of the rebels swiveled around to face us as we walked over to their table on the ground floor of the inn, all wearing expressions of accusation or anger.

Wes crossed his arms. "Seriously, Morane? Disappearing for an entire day? I know you like to go off and do your own thing and somehow magically come up with a solution, but we're in unfamiliar territory here. You should let someone know where you're going when you run off."

"And you—" Cyrus, the adult Ysmay had sent to supervise us, glared at Joshua. "You should know better than to disappear too. Roman promised you weren't going to cause us any trouble. If you delay this search any longer, our alliance will—"

"Hey, doesn't anyone want to meet Galahad?" I cut in.

Several pairs of eyes settled on Gal, who squirmed uncomfortably, keeping both hands on the sack slung over his shoulder. He'd packed quickly and lightly, a good sign that he knew he was getting into something serious.

"Who's that?" Wes asked, but the tone of his voice said he already knew.

"No," Dell sighed.

I pushed Gal forward. "This is the Black Knight. Gal, wave."

He did actually wave, which was almost adorable.

"No," Dell repeated. "No. You can't disappear for twelve hours and just come back with the Black Knight. We spent all day trying to bribe people to find him."

"Hope you didn't actually spend any money," was all I said before sitting down. "I'm starving. Singlehandedly completing a quest is exhausting."

Joshua made an offended noise. "Singlehandedly? I was there."

I made a face. "Fine. Singlehandedly, with an additional finger." Not seeing any food laid out for me, I pulled Wes's plate over. He was too busy gaping as Gal to notice me taking his food.

Cyrus and Dell exchanged furious whispers as Joshua and I shoveled in some food, then nodded to each other with an air of dignified fatigue.

"You'll have to finish that on the road," Dell told me. "We're leaving now."

"Now, now?" I asked. "It's late."

"There's no reason to stay in the Protectorate now that we have the Knight, especially since we called so much attention to ourselves trying to find him. If the princess's company gets here while we're still in the city, we're dead."

Joshua and I groaned together, the only sentiment we'd shared in ages.

"We have their royal badge," I argued, "that will have slowed them down for days. Can't we afford to wait till the morning at least?"

"We were days behind them to start with. Stealing their badge might have gotten us days ahead of them, or only just far enough ahead that they'll arrive any minute. There's no reason to take the risk."

Gal perked up. "I'm ready to leave whenever."

Of course, he was desperate to leave the Protectorate, I remembered. He had been trapped here for ten years. And seeing the way he looked up at Dell admiringly reminded me that my hold on him was tenuous, bound only by our shared Guardian marks and my exaggerated description of our importance. If I wanted to keep him on my side more than the rebels' side, I had to be the one to keep giving him what he wanted.

So I shrugged loosely. "Well, I don't like leaving simply because you're scared, but this city is boring. Let's leave as soon as possible."

Dell frowned at my sudden change while Joshua rolled his eyes.