‘Sorry,’ was all she could think to say. Not that it was her fault, but part of her still felt responsible. She should have tried to get him out of here when she had the chance. But then how could she have?
‘Ain’t your fault,’ he said.
‘I should have tried to help you.’
Nobul shook his head. ‘This is nothing to do with you, lass. Why would you risk yourself for me?’
She moved closer. ‘It’s me, Rag. Don’t you recognise me?’
He looked at her, his eyes tracing the features of her face. ‘Don’t reckon I do. Should I?’
‘Few weeks back you got me out of the shit. Bloke was gonna kill me and you came along with your Greencoat pals and did for him.’
As she spoke she saw recognition dawn on his face. His eyes widened, then he smiled again like they were old friends meeting up after a long time apart.
‘You’re the girl that disappeared. Took that fella’s head with you too, if there’s any truth to the rumour.’
Rag was hit with a sudden bite of shame. Yes, she’d taken that head — it was her ticket into the Guild. How different would things have been if she’d just left it there?
‘I … There were reasons for that. It weren’t as strange as it might have seemed.’
‘Well,’ said Nobul. ‘I reckon you did what you did because you had to. And it wasn’t like that bastard didn’t deserve it.’
‘Yeah, he did. But this has all turned to shit. I’m not one of them,’ she gestured back up the cellar door, hoping Nobul would get the gist of who she meant. ‘I don’t even want to be here.’
‘You and me both,’ said Nobul. ‘But we can’t always get what we want. Take my advice, lass, and run away. Far away. As far as you can get and don’t look back.’
That was always an option. But then, where would she run? She’d just be on the streets again, only in a city she didn’t know.
‘I can’t go. There’s things I have to do here first. People I have to see about. Responsibilities.’
But was there? Yes, she’d made a pact with that woman Kaira, saying she’d bring Friedrik to her. Then again, she didn’t owe that woman nothing.
There was other people, though — Chirpy, Migs, Tidge — people she cared about, people she was liable for. They had to be looked after and she’d promised herself she would.
‘Nothing wrong with responsibility,’ Nobul said. ‘You just got to pick the right people to be responsible for. Those people worth it?’
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘They are.’
‘You gotta think about yourself as well though, lass. You’re a survivor and no mistake, but sooner or later you’re gonna have to look out for yourself.’
She nodded at that. He was right: she did have to look out for herself. And she might have to do some more pretty shameful things to survive. But she had to live with herself too, and that would always be the hardest part.
Rag had done some things she struggled to live with. From now on she was gonna try to make sure she made it easy for herself.
She moved to the post Nobul was leaning up against and checked the chains that bound him. His wrists were manacled. There had to be a key somewhere.
‘I’ll be back soon,’ she said, standing up and heading back to the stairs, leaving the candles beside him.
She climbed out, squinting in the light. In the tavern the fire was burning bright, one of the lads must have chucked a load of logs on it while she was down in the cellar.
There were still a dozen of Friedrik’s ‘guests’ lounging around, and Yarrick and Essen were busy tidying, with Shirl and Harkas looking on.
Rag walked up and grabbed the broom from Essen’s hand. ‘You lads might as well get off,’ she said. ‘I’ll finish up here, no point us all hanging round, is there?’
Yarrick looked at Essen, then back at Rag. ‘But Friedrik said-’
‘Friedrik told me to look after this lot, not you. It’s all right. Not much left to do round here.’ The lads looked at each other like they wanted to go, but thought they might take a beating like Shirl had got. ‘What? You lot not got places to be?’
Again Yarrick looked to Essen and this time they both shrugged at one another.
‘Cheers, Rag,’ said Essen. ‘Owe you one.’
With a wink they set off for the door. Seeing them leave, Shirl struggled to his feet and followed. Only Harkas remained.
Rag tried to ignore him, carrying on with the sweeping like he wasn’t there, but she could see he was staring at her while she worked. Did he know that she was up to no good?
She stopped and looked up at him. Despite his grim expression, she smiled. ‘You can go as well you know. Not gonna be any trouble now is there? Look at them.’ She gestured around at the bodies heaped around the tavern in various states of undress.
Harkas kept staring at her, and for all her fear she stared back, that smile still on her face. For a moment, it looked like Harkas was going to speak, but then, without a word, he walked out of the tavern.
Rag let out a sigh as the door closed behind him, then she propped the broom up against the bar.
Now where’s this bloody key?
If Friedrik had it on him, and there was every chance he did, she’d have no chance of getting Nobul out. But maybe he’d left it with one of this lot.
Rag padded quietly around the room. Most of the bodies lying in the shadows she didn’t recognise. Men and women were tangled together in a mass of flesh, the stink of sex and booze wafting off them. Some of the searching was easy, since there was clothes discarded all over the place, but no matter how many pairs of britches she rifled though, there was still no key. Just when she was starting to think she’d have to search through every slumbering body she saw a face she recognised.
He was lying in the corner, a wine bottle in his hand. She remembered him from when they’d first brought Nobul into the tavern. His mouth was shut, but Rag knew inside that snoring gob of his the front teeth were missing. It was this one that had chained Nobul up in the first place. Her heart started to beat a bit faster.
She knelt beside him, taking a quick look around the room to make sure no one was watching, then reached for his belt. He was breathing even enough, snoring heavily, and from the look of the half empty bottle of wine beside him he wasn’t gonna wake any time soon. There was a knife at his belt and beside it a pouch for coins. Deftly Rag unbuckled the pouch and fished inside. She let the few coppers in there slip through her fingers until she found what she was looking for. When she pulled the key out she almost shouted with glee.
As she stood, the bloke snorted in his sleep, the bottle slipping from his grasp and clattering to the floorboards. It rolled along, spilling its load as it went, and Rag froze where she stood, waiting for everyone to leap up and catch her in the act.
No one moved.
Rag made her way back to the cellar as quiet as she could, her heart cracking along at a gallop. Something was telling her this was madness. That she’d given her loyalty to the Guild. That this was betrayal, plain and simple, and she’d suffer for it in the end. But Rag had already betrayed Friedrik. What difference would this make?
When she made her way down into the cellar, one of the candles had gone out. By the light of the remaining one she moved behind Nobul and slid the key into the lock of his manacles. There was a satisfying click as they opened up.
The chains fell to the floor and Rag moved round to the front. Nobul was still sitting there, head lolling.
‘You need to run now,’ he whispered, before she could give him a shake to see if he was conscious.
‘I need to run?’ she said. ‘Think you’re the one should be doing the running, mate.’
‘No,’ Nobul said, using the post to pull himself to his feet, lifting his big bulk from the ground like a mountain rising up from the earth. ‘You need to run. Because when I get myself together, I’m gonna go up those stairs and kill every fucker in this building.’ He turned to her then, and fixed her with a look she’d remember till her last breath. ‘If you’re still here, you’ll probably end up dead with them.’