Riverbound by Melinda Beatty

Author:Melinda Beatty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2019-06-03T16:00:00+00:00

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THE SHALLOWS, LIKE Gareth had said, weren’t a place respectable folk wanted to be caught, and it was easy to see why.

At the top of the ladder of iron rungs, Gable muscled the well cover to one side and climbed out into the open air, me and Lark just behind him, fingers numb and legs like jelly after the long slog through the tunnel.

We found ourselves at the back of a tavern, whose sign declared it the Iron Glove, and whose scent was none too kind on the nose. The privy, set far too close to the back door, desperately needed redigging. Even in the cold, the smell of the rotting entrails in the corner of the yard was near unbearable.

Even in the early-morning dark, I could tell the tavern itself was a mess of mold-covered exposed beams, and the daub, which once might have been white, was a sullied gray. The windows were blackened with years of grime and pipe smoke. It certainly wasn’t the Bird in’th Hand.

“We’re not going in there, are we?”

Gable raised a freckled brow. “You’re the two most-wanted souls in Bellskeep. You’re looking sideways at a pub?”

“Well, it don’t look terrible friendly,” I huffed.

Gable rolled his eyes and, with no further ado, pushed open the back door and plunged into the gloom.

If I thought the outside of the tavern looked unfriendly, it was nothing compared to the inside. The floor was actually dirt and straw, though it was hard to tell one from another. All manner of malodors sat just below the haze of tobacco that kept the patrons hidden under its cloak. For a moment, I was afeared we’d lost Gable, but I spotted him by the bar and quickly hurried to his side, trying not to breathe too deeply.

The fellow he was jawing with looked like he’d not been cleaned any more recently than the building. His bald head bore several long, suspicious scars, and the collar of his tunic was stained yellow with smoke and sweat.

“What’s the word, Hugo?”

Hugo spat in a glass and began wiping it with a dirty cloth. “King’s dead.”

“Yeah, everyone with a pair of ears knows that by now—they’ve been ringing the bells all night.”

The barman sneered, revealing a few brown teeth. “What d’you want, Farway?”

“Someone to get something out of the city.”

Hugo’s bloodshot eyes landed on us. “Something or someone?”

Gable shrugged. “It all goes out the same gate, doesn’t it?”

“You know the lot in here.” Hugo waved a crooked hand at the people-shaped forms in the tavern’s thick air. “They’ll do just about anything if there’s enough coin in it.”

The mention of coin perked up a few ears. In the shadows, heads turned slightly, hoping to catch wind of the opportunity.

“We haven’t got any coin!” Lark whispered close to my ear. “How’re we supposed to get anyone to take us?”

I didn’t have a chance to answer as a figure loomed toward us out of the grimy recesses. He looked to be one muscle

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