The Bastard by Jack Porter

Author:Jack Porter
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-12-27T05:00:00+00:00

27

The docks were full of people. Workers unloading cargo from the sailing ships that had made their way up the river. Passengers and sailors tasting dry land, perhaps for the first time in days, the latter as often as not heading swiftly away to enjoy whatever shore leave they had. Random townsfolk who had come down to the docks to view the large wooden boats in all their glory, and just to be part of the activity for a while.

And me.

I was loitering, doing my best to be part of the crowd, ostensibly watching the boats as they were unloaded. It was a typically drizzly morning, which meant I could hide my face beneath the hood of my coat, and for this I was grateful. I didn’t want anyone recognizing me before I was ready, and that included the man I was there to see. Rolf’s sidekick, and the man who had stomped on my face more than once.

Bryce.

Samuel had said he would be there at the docks to collect the dock master’s bribes, and that was good enough for me.

It went back to Rule Number Two—Know what you want.

I wanted Bryce dead.

Which led back to Rule Three—Make a fucking plan.

And so I had.

I was going to kill him. I had it all planned out in my head, and even now, I was running my thumb over the curved blade of the new, folded steel knife in my pocket, determined that it would be blooded long before this day was done.

I had played out the scene in my mind. Along with the dockworkers, sailors and the rest, there were too many random Blackcoats wandering about for me to attempt a public execution. This was just the first step in my quest for revenge, and that meant I had to get clean away.

My plan was simple. I would wait until Bryce had collected his coin, then follow him until we reached a likely spot. Only then would I reveal myself to him and let my blade go to work.

I was early. I knew it. And, despite everything, I was nervous. Of the three men who’d earned my ire, Bryce was the easiest target. Rolf carried an aura of power around with him the like of which few people possessed. Only Sir Lancelot, the King’s Blackcoat Captain, came close to Rolf’s physical presence, but even he might struggle against the younger man.

Rolf could be vicious, and he was stronger and quicker than he had any right to be. I knew I would be hard pressed to survive going one on one against him. Anyway, I didn’t have any information yet that I could use against him.

I didn’t have anything on Durstan, either, who was a different type completely. The biggest of the three by some measure, he was a brute, a monster. He looked powerful enough to break rocks with his bare hands and chew them into dust with his teeth.

In comparison, Bryce was more my own size, but wiry and mean.

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