Chapter 210: No Bounty, Still a Bill

Warehouse 9 was busy when Arthur arrived Thursday afternoon. Someone had dropped a crate of alchemical glassware near the loading bay, and two workers were arguing over who was supposed to sweep it up.

Sylvia was already dealing with another argument at the main counter. Across from her stood a man in a heavy wool coat, gesturing at a rolled map between them.

Arthur recognized the uninjured merchant from Saturday halfway across the floor.

The man caught sight of Arthur approaching and stopped mid-sentence. "Master Vance," he said, stepping away from the counter with his hand extended.

Arthur shook it with his right hand. "You’re looking better than you did on Saturday."

"Slept for two days straight," the man said. "Harlan Mercer, by the way. Never got a chance to introduce myself on Saturday. Thanks for getting us out of there."

"Glad we were in the neighborhood," Arthur said, glancing toward Sylvia. "Everything sorted out with the watch?"

Harlan turned back toward the counter. "That is what I was trying to ask Guildmaster Sylvia."

"And I already gave you the answer," Sylvia said. "I don’t run the city watch."

"You have contacts in the garrison," Harlan said, tapping the map. "My trading house has three wagons of cured leather and salt sitting near the south gate. They were supposed to move through the eastern foothills on Tuesday. The watch impounded our recovered wagon for two days, took my statement twice, and still hasn’t told us if the road is open."

"Because they haven’t cleared it," Sophia said from her side desk, her pen scratching steadily across an open ledger. "The patrol reached the quarry on Monday. They recovered two bodies and three dead horses at the junction. By the time they pushed up into the main camp, the sheds were empty, and most of the supplies were gone. Nobody knows where the rest of Kaelen’s men went."

Arthur stepped up beside the counter. "They found Kaelen?"

"They found a corpse in a fur coat with his throat torn out," Sylvia said, looking at Arthur. "The scavengers had been at him, so the watch captain is taking his time verifying it."

"Which leaves us waiting," Harlan said. "If Kaelen is dead, the gang is broken. I need four of your hunters to push my wagons through the pass tomorrow morning. I’ll pay double."

"No," Sylvia said.

Harlan blinked. "Double the normal rate."

"I’m not putting four hunters on a narrow mountain road when dozens of armed men just disappeared into the trees above it," Sylvia said.

"You killed their captain," Harlan said, looking at Arthur. "They ran."

"They ran after Kaelen went down," Arthur said. "That doesn’t mean the rest of them are gone. We saw dozens of men at the quarry, and I have no idea how many are still hiding in those hills."

Harlan rubbed his temples. "Then what am I supposed to tell my partners? Kaelen’s people already took our wagon and our last shipment. If that leather sits in Lornfell another week, the buyer cancels our contract.

Sophia closed her ledger and walked over to the main desk, carrying a small folder of loose sheets.

"The bounty expired months ago," Sophia said, setting the folder down in front of Arthur. "The watch might confirm you killed Kaelen, but they’re not paying us for it."

Arthur looked down at the top sheet. It was an itemized list written in Sophia’s neat handwriting.

"You’re billing me?" Arthur asked.

"Garrick’s delayed escort cost us a penalty, and Corin had to cover Mira’s training sessions," Sophia said. "You agreed to pay for both."

Arthur picked up the paper. "I rescued a stolen wagon and killed a wanted outlaw."

"Wanted, yes," Sophia said. "Paid? No. The total is fourteen silver and six copper."

"He had a very nice mace," Arthur muttered, thinking of the jagged black metal key locked in his dorm desk. Compared to an Assassin Extension, fourteen silver was nothing, though paying to get shot at still annoyed him. "Should’ve strapped it to the horses."

"You can settle it before you leave," Sylvia told him, turning back to Harlan. "What’s the actual deadline on your delivery?"

"Next Thursday," Harlan said, looking down at the map. "If the wagons aren’t across the river by sunset, the buyer voids the agreement."

"Take the southern highway through the low valley," Sylvia said, tracing a dark line along the bottom of the parchment. "It bypasses the quarry ridges entirely."

"It adds three days of travel," Harlan protested. "Between the bridge tolls, extra rations, and paying escorts for six days instead of three, we’ll barely break even."

"Barely breaking even is better than losing three more wagons," Sylvia said.

"She’s right," Arthur said. "Kaelen had men watching the smaller trails too. I wouldn’t take three slow wagons back through that ravine."

Harlan stared at the map for a moment. "How many hunters would we need for the southern highway?"

"Two," Sophia answered, pulling a scheduling sheet from her stack. "The municipal guard patrols the southern road as far as the bridge, so you only need two outriders to watch the camps at night. I can assign Sorrel and another experienced hunter starting Saturday morning at regular escort rates."

"Regular rates?" Harlan asked.

"Standard road rates," Sylvia confirmed. "And we’ll give you a copy of the incident report from Saturday. You can show your buyer why the shipment was delayed. Whether he accepts it is between you and him."

Harlan looked between Sylvia and Sophia. "Draw it up. I’ll bring the deposit back in an hour."

Sophia stepped back to her desk to write out the terms.

Harlan rolled up his map and tucked it under his arm. As Sylvia turned away to deal with the workers near the loading bay, Harlan stepped closer to Arthur.

"How is your hand?" Harlan asked, nodding toward the leather bracer on Arthur’s left wrist.

"Healing," Arthur said. "How’s the other man?"

"Tomas? Awake, at least. They set his leg on Sunday, but he won’t be walking for a while."

"Could’ve been worse," Arthur said.

"I know." Harlan hesitated. "He asked me to thank you. Both of us did."

"Just make sure he stays off that leg," Arthur said. "And keep your wagons on the southern road until the watch actually clears the hills."

Harlan nodded, took the fee slip from Sophia’s hand, and headed out into the street.

Arthur turned back to the desk, unlacing his coin pouch. He counted out fourteen silver pieces and six coppers, stacking them on top of Sophia’s expense sheet.

Sophia swept the coins into her lockbox and stamped the bottom of the page. "Did you want a receipt?"

"For an expedition that officially didn’t make any money? No."

Sylvia walked back behind the counter, tossing a broken leather strap into the scrap bin. "If the watch captain calls you in to identify Kaelen’s remains, don’t volunteer us for a sweep of those hills. The city collects taxes from the merchant guilds to keep those roads open. Let the garrison pay their own soldiers to hike through the mud."

"I don’t have any reason to go back out there," Arthur said. "I got what I wanted."

Sylvia eyed him for a second before turning back to her dispatch board.

By the time Arthur returned to the academy, the dinner rush at the dining hall was already thinning out. He walked down the quiet corridor of the medical wing, where the door to the secondary infirmary ward stood half-open.

Inside, Chloe was standing beside a long wooden table, putting the last few glass vials into a padded crate. Her academy robe was slung over the back of a chair, leaving her in a white blouse with the sleeves rolled to her elbows and a dark skirt. A smudge of dried blue salve marked the back of her left hand.

Arthur rapped his knuckles lightly against the doorframe.

Chloe looked up, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face.

"You busy?" Arthur asked.

Chloe glanced at the remaining vials. "Does it look like I’m finished?"

"I need someone to look at my wrist."

Chloe slipped the last vial into its slot and closed the crate. "Then sit down."

Arthur walked inside, letting the door swing shut behind him. He stepped up behind her, slipping his right arm around her waist, and leaned down to kiss the side of her neck right below her ear.

Chloe tilted her head to give him room, leaning back against his chest for a second before turning in his arms to kiss him properly. She tapped his chest. "On the table."

Arthur hopped up onto the edge of the examination table, swinging his legs slightly as Chloe pulled a wooden stool over and sat between his knees.

She unbuckled the two thick straps of Brunhilda’s leather bracer, sliding it carefully off his left arm and setting it aside. She took his hand, resting his forearm across her lap as she pressed her thumbs gently around the joint.

"Did you try shooting today?" she asked, checking the range of motion by flexing his hand forward an inch.

"No," Arthur said. "And before you ask, I didn’t draw yesterday either. Morwenna made me fight with a padded dagger in my right hand."

Chloe glanced up at him. "How did that go?"

"Alicia beat me."

Chloe stopped flexing his wrist and grinned. "Alicia beat you?"

"It was a two-on-two," Arthur said. "Leon and I had a disagreement about positioning. And I got Cedric out first."

"You still lost."

"I was fighting a swordswoman with one hand and a padded stick," Arthur pointed out. "I’d like to see you try parrying a longsword with six inches of foam."

"I don’t have to," Chloe said, going back to examining his wrist. "I stay in the back and wait for idiots to bring me their sprains."

She pressed a little harder near the base of his thumb. It still ached, but nowhere near as badly as the last time he’d tried drawing Whisperwind.

"Doesn’t hurt as much," Arthur noted.

"The swelling’s almost gone," Chloe said. She reached over to the supply cart, scooped a small amount of pale green salve from a ceramic jar, and began rubbing it into his skin with slow, firm circles. "Give it a few more days before you start using that bow again."

"Morwenna’s going to keep making me use the rubber knife."

"Good. Maybe you’ll learn how to dodge."

Arthur watched her work, using his right hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear and letting his fingers trail down her jaw. Chloe leaned her cheek into his palm, her thumbs never stopping their steady circles over his joint.

"How was the guild?" she asked. "Emily said you were going down to check on the quarry report."

"Cost me fourteen silver," Arthur said.

Chloe paused, looking up at him. "They fined you?"

"Sophia billed me for pulling Garrick and Mira off their weekend jobs," Arthur said. "And the bounty on Kaelen was expired, so the city isn’t paying out. One of the merchants from the wagon was in there too, trying to figure out how to ship his leather without getting robbed again."

"How is his partner?" Chloe asked, wiping the excess salve off her fingers with a clean linen rag. "Emily told me his leg was in bad shape."

"Stuck in the city ward with a broken leg. Won’t be walking for a while."

Chloe picked up the leather bracer and slid it back onto his arm, pulling the straps snug. "He’s lucky it wasn’t worse after being bounced down that quarry road in the back of a cart."

She finished buckling the second strap, leaving her hands resting on his thighs.

Arthur slid his right hand under her chin, tilting her face up, and leaned down to kiss her.

Chloe parted her lips immediately, rising slightly off the stool to press herself closer between his knees. Her hands moved up to grip the front of his shirt, pulling him down as her tongue slid warm and familiar against his.

Arthur tightened his arm around her shoulders, shifting his weight forward until the wooden examination table creaked loudly beneath them.

Chloe broke the kiss with a quiet laugh, resting her forehead against his chin.

"Not on the ward tables," she murmured, though she didn’t let go of his shirt. "I just scrubbed these down an hour ago."

"There’s a supply closet."

"There are mop buckets and dried leeches in the supply closet." Chloe kissed the corner of his mouth and stepped back, pulling him off the edge of the table by his good hand. "Come on. I’m done with the inventory, and my room doesn’t smell like boiled bandages."

She grabbed her academy robe off the chair, blew out the oil lamp on the main desk, and linked her fingers through his as they walked out into the quiet hallway.