Ten Arrows

Chapter 27

At some point in time later I found myself carrying a tray of food while navigating my way down the hallway leading to my exercise hall.

I'd informed Mosond of my wishes concerning the food I wanted, and when I was done he'd grudgingly supplied me with everything I'd asked for, more or less. The tray I was holding was laden with several different types of breads, meats, cheeses, greens, and a garlic-mustard aioli that had been whipped up in a small glass bowl and given a sprinkle of parsley.

Mosond never assembles any of the sandwiches I ask him to make for me, probably because he feels that actually putting together peasant fare such as that is beneath him. He made no secret of his disdain for any meal that didn't live up to his lofty standards, and the mere act of asking him for something as mundane as a sandwich, or some flatbread and spread, was usually enough to make him grumpy for the rest of the day. If he didn't become so amusingly infuriated by requests of that nature, I'd probably do it less often.

But sometimes, despite having a well-trained kitchen staff at your beck and call and access to a myriad of succulent dishes, all you really want is a sandwich.

My conversation with Talia had left me feeling elated, despite my weariness. I'd honestly spent the whole carriage ride back to Tucat Keep worrying about what I would say to her, feeling trepidation that my tired brain would convince me to say precisely the wrong thing, or wondering if I might be returning home only to find that she'd already packed her things and left before giving me a chance to explain. And despite everything she'd seen and heard, despite all of the things that were telling her to do otherwise, she'd opted to put her faith in me when it had mattered. I'd explained what had happened and why, and in the end she'd been receptive to it. More than that, really... she told me she understood. And it felt like she did. The whole experience very much reminded me of our encounter in her room yesterday, when we both-

Yesterday. Ye gods, that seemed like an eternity ago. So much had happened since then; a veritable whirlwind of activity that saw me breaking into a fellow lord's keep, staging a murder, infiltrating the August Foyer, getting tossed inside of Gallow's Path, and then being put on trial for murder in the highest court of Harael, all within the span of about a day. A very memorable day, to be certain.

And now things were finally reaching their conclusion, and the last few errant threads of my plan were slowly weaving themselves into place. Despite the unexpected attack from Borshank in the Executioner's Hall, everything I considered critical to my success had seemed to go more or less as planned. It had been a lot of hard work and quick thinking to see this whole thing through to the very end, but now, at last, we were almost there. If I weren't so bloody tired, I would have danced a jig.

Things were most likely going to be calming down now, which would be a refreshing change. If I was extremely lucky, and once I'd eaten my fill from the tray I was holding, I might even be able to hunker down on my leather couch and catch a quick nap like Talia had recommended. The whole prospect of stretching out someplace comfortable and closing my eyes for a few minutes seemed like one of the greatest things in the world just then.

I tiredly stepped over the pressure plates and trip-wires strewn about the hallway, humming tunelessly as I did. Right at that moment, summoning an actual tune to hum just seemed like too much work.

Hmm-hmm-hmmmm, clop, hmmmmmm-mmm, careful step-step-hop, mmm-hmmm-hmm, step-clop-hop....

Clang!

Clang?

I became fully awake and alert at the unexpected noise, my mind hastily reviewing all of the traps that were positioned nearest me and what they did. None of them made a 'clang', from what I could recall.