Without a King (Greatest Thief 1, mxm)

Chapter Sixteen

My main job changed over the next few days. Instead of keeping an eye on Kassia, I was told to watch Castin. Even though we liked to argue with each other, I was the only person other than Baisan he'd listen to. Even Stria couldn't get him to stay still; he seemed to get his way whenever we left her in charge.

I was sitting beside him, bored, listening to him complain about not being allowed to leave. He had been up and walking around that morning, even though moving hurt him and aggravated the wound.

"Finn, that's not..." he trailed off with an annoyed sigh. I was poking at the brick floor with my knife, running the tip of the blade along the mortar lines. "You're going to ruin that knife."

"I've done it before," I pointed out. "It's a good knife."

"Right," he crossed his arms and winced a little, though he tried to hide it. "It is. Doesn't mean you should go dragging it through... Stop it."

I grinned mischievously, having just pressed the tip of the blade a little further into the crumbling mortar just to bother him. "Stop what?"

"By the love of Zianesa, Finn..."

"I doubt she'd care," I said. "Tros is the god of war, after all, not her. He'd probably be furious at me."

"He probably decided to ignore you years ago when you proved you're incapable of holding a knife properly."

"Probably, but I still managed to chase Arow off, didn't I? And you managed to... Do what again? Oh yes, get stabbed."

Castin nodded. "Right." He put on a high-pitched voice. "Oh, Finn's so brave, he's a hero! I bet you enjoy that."

"What was that?"

Castin smirked. "You must have noticed that when the girls are around, they like to clump around me as if I'll die when they turn their backs. Sometimes I like the attention, I'll admit it, but sometimes the conversation turns to you and how much of a hero you are."

"I'm not a..." I trailed off uncomfortably. "Who were you mimicking?"

"Oh, they all say that. Mostly Ninavi, though." He grinned at my obvious discomfort. "Are you going to stop torturing me by ruining that knife, or should I tell you about the rest of what they say?"

"I'm done," I said, slipping the knife back into its little sheath.

"Play nicely, boys." Kassia's voice shocked both of us, and we looked towards the door to see her walk in with Baisan.

"They don't have to," Baisan said. "Cast could probably take Finn out, even given his condition. How are you feeling?" he asked, cutting off my protest before it started.

"Better," Castin replied. "When can I start helping out again?

"When you can move without wincing," Baisan replied simply. "Finn, a word."

"All right, speak," I said, without bothering to move. Castin punched my shoulder, not hard enough to hurt, but harder than I'd expected.

"Thank you, Cast." Baisan was smiling.

"The least I can do is help keep his majesty under control." Castin grinned at me.

I didn't rise to the bait, just got to my feet and followed Baisan from the room. I could hear Kassia start asking Castin her usual questions about how his wound felt and if anything had changed. Their voices faded when Baisan and I stepped outside. "Yes?" I asked.

"When were you planning to visit your friend?"

His question surprised me. In the panic surrounding Castin's injury, I had completely forgotten my promise to Tannix. "Soon. I don't know." I glanced at the sky to see that the sun was just starting to disappear behind the Cliffs of Loth. "Now?"