Page 93 of The Iron Hex

“I’ll make sure of it,” Hugo said.Even if it’s the last thing I do, he thought.

“Evangeline,” Eira snapped. “If you don’t want to be here, you can just go.” Eira had been quickly losing her patience all day with Evangeline’s quips. In a way, it was refreshing for Hugo to see. Back in the capital Eira had never spoken up at Evangeline like that, at least not in public.

“Eira Eckhart has an annoying new spine. I liked it better when you treated me with some reverence,” Evangeline sniped back.

“Both of you, hush,” Hugo said as he grabbed Eira’s hand and squeezed it, his silent affirmation that she hadn’t done anything wrong, that he was there for her.

They approached the city gates and slid in through a darkened corner, the city guard still not guarding Luwha as they should have been. Nerves lit up along Hugo’s body; everything about this felt wrong.

Hugo led the group through back alleyways, the map of Luwha in his head thankfully remaining true to his memory as they approached the city center. They skirted the base of the mountain, buildings and scaffolding above them. He knew the tavern they needed was on the base level of the town, near the mine entrance. The alleyways were blissfully quiet as the sun set. Hugo had strategically started their mission after the day shift had walked out of town, meaning that even if someone saw the three of them, it would be easy to mistake them for miners going to their night shift.

“Something feels wrong,” Eira whispered, her hood shadowing her face.

“What do you mean?” Hugo answered.

“It feels too quiet,” she said, looking around nervously.

“It’s Luwha,” Hugo said, trying to calm her. “It’s cold here, people stay inside. It’s not Cilirien.”

“Okay,” she said, continuing hesitantly. “If you say so.”

It took them only a few more minutes to reach the town clearing. Hugo spotted the Crooked Carp across the way, awooden sign shaped like a lopsided fish crusted in ice and swinging slightly in the cold winter breeze. He quickly scanned the town center. A handful of townspeople walked through the clearing as a group of miners headed into the cavernous gap in the mountain just beside the Crooked Carp. He looked to Evangeline and Eira, motioning for them to follow him as he wove through the back alleys behind the other shops until they got to the back door of the Crooked Carp. He could hear music through the door.

He twisted the door handle, and it gave way without any lock. Adrenaline shot through him, his worry increasing with each step they took. Why wouldn’t the Crooked Carp keep its employee door locked? A million possibilities raced through his head in an instant, each of them worse than the last.

“Everything okay?” Evangeline asked, Hugo’s hand still frozen on the door handle.

“Yes,” he said, panic spiking in his chest. It was Luwha; crime rates were low, and it was normal to keep your doors unlocked. They hadn’t been seen, the guards were nowhere to be found, and they were here. Righthere, finally ready to be able to get the clue they needed to get Eira’s memory back. If something was wrong, it was too late to turn back anyway. He had promised to get her memory back.

Hugo swung open the door and walked in, through the kitchens and into the side hallway, leading Eira and Evangeline into the open tavern to make it, hopefully, seem like they hadn’t come in through the back door. The three of them stepped through the hallway and into an empty tavern. Music played from a player piano in the corner, no one manning it. There wasn’t a soul in the tavern, no one behind the bar.

“Hugo?” Evangeline hissed. “Something’s wrong. We need to go.”

His head was buzzing. He knew this feeling; this was an ambush.

A slow, rhythmic clapping sounded as Carth came out from a side room, wearing the same outfit he had worn this morning, the towel he kept draped across his shoulder replaced with the strap of a sword behind his back.

“What are you doing here?” Eira asked, her voice laced with fear.

“This isn’t personal, ladies,” Carth said. “I’m sure you can make a deal with the Iron Empire.”Carth looked Eira up and down. “Except you, probably... They frown upon witchcraft.”

“What did you do?” Hugo growled, stepping toward Carth.

“What didIdo?” Carth said, voice rising.“What didyoudo!?”

At his scream Evangeline and Eira stepped back as Hugo’s hand hovered at the hilt of the sword on his hip.

“WhatdidI do?” Hugo said, voice full of deadly calm, stepping forward again. He watched Eira and Evangeline scatter out of the corner of his eye, trying to find a way out. He turned to the front door and spotted familiar Iron Retinue plate armor through the glass. They’d been set up.

“You don’t even remember, you monster,” Carth scoffed, and all at once the dots connected for Hugo. How had he thought he’d be recognized in Lichton and not Luwha? What an unbelievably stupid misstep. Ofcoursethe people of Luwha knew him, and they were feral, starving for vengeance.

“Who did I kill?” Hugo said dully.

“You’ve been to the Crooked Carp before,” Carth said. “My mother owned it. Now I do. Thanks. To. You.” He punctuated each word with a single step forward.

Hugo thought back to his brief time here, mindlessly chasing down witches and killing them without thinking too hard about it, because if he thought too hard he wouldn’t have been able to survive it.

“She gifted me the Griffon’s Nest as a way to build our family’s legacy, and then.You. Killed. Her!” Spittle flew from his lips as his face reddened with the depth of the guttural scream.