Renegade Heart (4 page)

Dusk had fallen over the Walled City and Alganoor strode through the cadet quarters like a man on a mission. His mood was uncharacteristically dark. Away from the quarters for one afternoon and he returned to find the whole place in chaos and uproar. Alganoor did not need telling who was responsible.

The word was, troopers had been called to break up a mass brawl between the cadets and currently had Wolf locked in a cell. Nobody knew how hard the Cadet Master had tried over the turns to bring the boy into line. Recently, he had dared to believe he was getting through to him and then Wolf went and pulled a stupid stunt like starting a fight in the dining hall.

His expression grim, Alganoor unlocked the cell door. Wolf, one eye swollen and bruised, had the decency to look guilty.

“Come with me.” Alganoor walked away, trusting the boy would follow.

For once Wolf did as he was asked, falling into step beside the Cadet Master. He was confused by Alganoor’s quiet demeanour, wondering why there was no shouting or physical punishment. He was even more puzzled when Alganoor led him directly to the roof of the cadet quarters, which was strictly out of bounds to the cadets, although Wolf had, of course, snuck up there more times than he could count.

“Sit,” Alganoor instructed, indicating the low parapet that edged the flat roof. Wolf folded his arms defiantly and stayed where he was. With a heavy sigh the Cadet Master sat on the low wall himself and regarded the boy with solemn eyes.

During his two turns as a cadet Wolf had grown considerably. The small, skinny, wild child had become a tall, muscular, wild young man. However much Alganoor and his fellow officers tried, they could do nothing to dampen the rebellious nature he possessed, and Alganoor feared what would happen to him once he left the cadets and joined his regiment.

Uncomfortable under the Cadet Master’s silent scrutiny, Wolf asked, “Are you going to beat me now?”

“Do you want me to?” Seeing how the question surprised the boy, Alganoor continued, “How many times have I had to beat you, Wolf? How often were you beaten in the orphanage?”

“I don’t know,” Wolf answered. “Almost every day, I guess.”

“And yet it has achieved nothing. You still only do the things that you want to do.”

Bemused by Alganoor’s strange and sombre mood, Wolf went and sat next to him on the parapet. “I don’t understand.”

“I think,” Alganoor said slowly, “that you have renegade blood flowing through your veins, Wolf. Maybe you would be better suited to life as a rebel than as a soldier.”

Shocked by the Cadet Master’s words, Wolf glanced around to make sure they had not been overheard. They were alone on the roof top of course. It was why Alganoor had chosen that spot to talk to him. The old man had known he was about to commit treason.

“You want me to desert?” Wolf whispered.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Alganoor told him, “this turn’s cadets will be taken to join the King’s Army. I fear, if you are among them, you will not live to see fifteen turns. The soldiers will not come at you with a cane, but with a whip. They will flay the skin from your back and if you still refuse to be tamed…they will execute you.”

Wolf was silent while he digested what Alganoor had said. It was time to grow up and stop fighting everyone around him. The King’s Army would not tolerate his behaviour for long and if they could not break him they would kill him. If he was caught trying to desert they would kill him. If he made it out of the city and found the renegade camp they might well kill him too. It seemed to him, whichever way he turned, he was likely to end up dead.

“What do I do?” he asked eventually.

“I’ll help you,” Alganoor said. “I know of a travelling merchant, Tron. He smuggles things in and out of the city for coin. At midday tomorrow he will be in the market place. He has agreed to hide you aboard his wagon and take you through the gates. After that, you are on your own.”

Wolf knew he should be afraid. He was about to embark on an adventure far bigger and more dangerous than any he had undertaken before, yet all he felt was excitement. Freedom was so close he could almost taste it. His one regret would be to leave without knowing how to find Enola.

A sudden, strangled groan escaped the Alganoor’s lips and Wolf looked at him sharply, concerned to see the man was ashen skinned and sweating heavily.

“Cadet Master?”

“Pain,” gasped Alganoor clutching at his chest. “Can’t breathe.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Wolf said desperately, wishing for the first time in his life, he had paid some attention to his lessons. What if somebody had tried to teach him what to do in a situation like this and he had missed it because he was too damn stubborn to listen to anything he was told?

“Get…healer…” Alganoor’s body was rigid with agony. He grasped Wolf’s wrist and pulled the boy towards him. “Please…help me.”

“I will, I promise.” Wolf prised the Cadet Master’s fingers from his arm and jumped to his feet. “Just hold on. I’ll be back.”

He ran for the staircase, determined to find help for Alganoor. The Cadet Master had been good to him over the turns and Wolf liked him in as much as he was capable of truly liking anyone. He owed it to the man to try and help, especially after Alganoor had just risked everything to aid his escape from the city. In the doorway he glanced back over his shoulder. The parapet was empty and Alganoor had gone.

I
n the courtyard of the cadet quarters, a small group of troopers scattered in horror as Alganoor’s body fell from the sky and hit the ground. One look was enough to tell them he was dead. They looked skywards and, in the fading light, they could see a young boy leaning over the parapet, the shock of dark hair making his identity unmistakeable.

“Murderer!” one of the troopers bellowed.

The others took up the cry, drawing cadets, officers and troopers from their rooms. People began running in all directions until a number of troopers finally had the sense to run into the building and cut off the boy’s escape.

By which time Wolf had already descended the staircase to the first floor. Hearing the troopers stampeding up the stairs towards him, he dove into an empty room and pushed the door closed. His heart pounded frantically as he pressed himself to the wall behind the door, praying he had not been seen.

The troopers kept going, past the door and up the stairs to the roof. As soon as the hallway was clear, Wolf slipped from the room and made his way more cautiously down the next flight of stairs to the ground floor. Rather than heading out into the open courtyard and certain capture, he went deeper into building. From above he could hear the troopers descending from the roof, belatedly searching the rooms on the first floor.

Aware that time was running out, Wolf hurried to the end of the corridor. The last room was Alganoor’s private office and one that Wolf knew well. He twisted the handle, sighing with relief when the door swung open. He closed it behind him and quickly crossed the room. There were troopers on the lower staircase now, voices in the corridor growing ever closer.

Set in the far wall of Alganoor’s office was a narrow window overlooking the street outside the cadet quarters. With the troopers at the door, Wolf slithered through the window and dropped to the cobbled street below. The troopers, too large to fit through the window, were forced to run back through the courtyard. By the time they reached the street, Wolf had already disappeared into the night.

Enola was distracted for a reason she was unable to fathom. The whore house was having a quiet night and the girls were twittering on about a murder at the cadet quarters. Troopers from the quarters, along with the Watchmen, were scouring the city for the killer.

Wishing she could shake off the feeling that somehow Wolf would be involved, Enola hauled her bucket of soapy water out of the back door of the small kitchen and emptied it into the gutter. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she straightened up, her eyes scanning the dark, empty street. Opposite the whore house a narrow alley ran between the houses and it was there Enola concentrated her gaze. She sensed, rather than saw, someone watching her from the shadows.

Even before he stepped into view Enola knew it was Wolf. He had grown taller and filled out, but his sky blue eyes had not changed. He walked slowly towards her, unsure of his welcome.

“It’s you they’re looking for,” she said, a statement not a question.

“Yes, but I didn’t do it.”

Enola believed him. Although she had not laid eyes on him for two turns, she had no doubt he would tell her the truth. As a child, he had lied to everyone else, but never to her.

“How did you find me?”

“By chance,” he said. “But I’m glad I did.”

Shyly, she stepped forward and took his hands in her own. How grown up he looked in his cadet uniform and how handsome.

“What will you do?”

“I have to get out of the city. Then I’ll find the renegades.” He hesitated, staring deep into her eyes. “Come with me.”

“Absolutely not!”

Both of them swung round guiltily to see Magnosa in the kitchen doorway. Neither of them had heard her approach or had any idea how long she had been standing there. Wolf was angry with himself. If he was to make it out of the city he would have to be more alert.

“Bring him inside quickly, child, before he is seen,” Magnosa said looking up and down the empty street.

She ushered them through the house and into her private chamber where they would not be disturbed. The two of them watched her nervously, waiting to see what she was going to do. The Madame noticed they still held hands.

“If you care anything at all for Enola then you’ll leave her here,” Magnosa said. Wolf’s eyes narrowed, reminding her he was a young man who, by all accounts, did not like being told what to do. She tried a different approach. “You will have a better chance of fleeing the city on your own. Surely you can see that?”

“We belong together,” Wolf answered stubbornly. “We’ve been apart for long enough.”

Beside him, Enola nodded in agreement, but her expression was troubled. Magnosa knew her well enough to see that, happy as she was to be reunited with her beloved Wolf, the prospect of leaving with him terrified her.

“You can bring her nothing but harm,” Magnosa told him angrily. “Look at what you have already done to her. She should have been a seamstress not a scullery maid in a whore house.”

“But I love it here,” Enola protested.

“I know you do, child, but you don’t belong here.” She turned back to Wolf. “How do you intend to get out of the city?”

“With a merchant, Tron. I’m to meet him at midday and he will smuggle me through the gates.”

“He won’t be there.” Magnosa saw his face fall, but he had to know the truth if he was to have any hope of surviving. “Tron may be a smuggler, but he is also a coward. He will have heard about the murder and he won’t risk being caught with you on his wagon.”

“I didn’t do it,” Wolf said again.

“But they think you did and that is all that matters. Your fate is sealed.”

Magnosa had seen city justice before and the law would not concern itself with whether Wolf had committed a crime or not. A man was dead. Wolf had been there. It was all the evidence they needed to hang him.

“Then what chance do I have?”

Magnosa looked him up and down with a slight smile on her blood red lips. “I have an idea,” she said.