The Bounty Hunter

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Six

“You are crazy,” she sighed as Hergun fiddled with the tiny window. “I don’t think we can even fit through there… Well I can but you probably can’t.”

“Be quiet Safita,” he replied as the wavy glass pane swung open, “I’m concentrating.” With this said he lifted one leg over the thick stone windowsill and fumbled around before working the other through. His bulk was squashed tightly into the small square hole and Safita struggled against the urge to laugh as she watched him. “You are most definitely going to get stuck,” she replied, “and how will we get back into this room?”

“There’s an outhouse of some sort beneath us,” he replied.

“You will break the roof.”

“You’re not helping,” he hissed before pushing himself out of the window and falling through the air. Safita couldn’t see where Hergun had disappeared to but she heard the muffled thud as he landed, cursing under his breath. Every noise that they made sounded thousands of times louder than by daylight and she crossed to the window. “We could just ask the woman who runs this place to swap some carpets for some hay,” she whispered, unsure whether her voice would carry down to where Hergun was crouched. “I’m sure these carpets are worth far more than her hay.”

“Too risky,” he mumbled back through the darkness, “what if she told someone about us? We’d be discovered instantly. It’s not exactly a normal request.”

“Bribery, Hergun,” she sighed into the evening breeze as if it was obvious. “Money buys you everything, including silence.”

“I don’t have that much money,” he replied, still stone still and peering around himself as if he expected to be pounced on by armed guards at any moment. “I thought we would be heading away… you know, to the Outlands. Hiding and trying not to be found by the guards who are almost certainly looking for you with orders to kill you on sight.”

“Oh don’t worry Hergun,” she whispered back, as she clambered onto the windowsill after him, “they’ll never expect us to be heading back to the city.”

“Or maybe they will be just because they know that you think they won’t consider that option,” he said. Safita glanced backwards for a moment, running her fingertips along the rough stone beneath them before pushing off and launching herself through the air before landing, both legs bent, on the hard ground below her. “Ouch,” she hissed. “That doesn’t really make sense,” she muttered as she crouched beside him.

“You know it does really,” he replied quietly, “and you’d best hope there aren’t any soldiers waiting for us.”

“Come on then. We’d better do it quickly.” She pressed herself against the wall and sidled along it before peering around the corner and squinting into the night. The uneven surface at her back snagged her clothes as she went and she decided, without consulting Hergun, that speed was of the essence. Setting off through the darkness at a sprint she heard Hergun curse behind her and follow her as she raced towards the barn. Luckily it was still open in case any late travellers arrived and she hoped that the innkeepers were so used to horses snorting and neighing that they would ignore any extra noise coming from her direction.

“Bloody hell Safita,” Hergun hissed behind her as he caught up. She already had her first armful of straw and she merely smiled at him. “We need to be quick yes?”

Hergun shook his head at her and grabbed another armful of straw, following her as she crept across the velvet grass and towards their cart. “We only got out of the city last time because I managed to be quicker than the guards,” he said as they piled it over the carpets, “so we’re going to have to be clever when we get there this morning.”