I skirted around the ladder and went looking for a door. I hated the narrow space between the warehouse and the tall brick fence that lined the property, didn’t like being so boxed in. It was just high enough that I couldn’t scale it easily or quickly, and the wrought-iron spikes that lined the top of it made that idea very dangerous to try.
Rounding the second corner, I found a large sliding door meant to load and unload heavy cargo. I ducked right back around as several workers lifted large wooden boxes off a wagon and brought them into the storehouse. Peeking out again, I watched them for a minute or so. All of them were intent on their work, so they didn’t notice me, but it also didn’t allow me a way in without being seen.
Short of marching in and slaughtering them all, I don’t have many options. That was the most drastic option, and I didn’t want to resort to it if I didn’t have to. Much as I hate slavery, it’s legal, and the heat that will come down on not just me, but Eris and even the guild, will be too much. The Merchants Guild would never let me live if I went against them.
The direct route was out, so I backtracked to the ladder and climbed up to the roof. Despite looking like a rotten and crumbling mess, the ladder held and didn’t so much as creak as I ascended. I was on the roof in five seconds and stopped just before the lip, spying on the guards before I pulled myself up.
Only one man was up on the roof, and I didn’t see the second one. There was nothing on the roof except for the guard and a raised doorway that led into the warehouse. Caution told me to wait, but the darkness in my heart demanded action, so I hopped up and silently as I could snuck the forty or so feet to the man. Who was too busy watching the slaves down below to notice the danger that was right behind him.
I unsheathed my hunting knife, passing it to my off-hand and positioned myself behind him. I took the man's forehead in my right hand and yanked him back while kicking the back of his knee and bringing him to the ground.
He didn’t even have time to shout as I clamped my hand over his mouth and shoved my knife into his carotid artery. It stuck out the other side of his neck, and blood drenched his chest. He gurgled, trying to speak, but too much of his life had been lost for him to form any cohesive sentence. He slipped into unconsciousness a moment later, and death would follow in minutes.
As long as the large crimson pool the guard was lying in didn’t spill over the side of the building, no one would know he’d died up here. With one guard taken care of, I crept to the doorway that housed the staircase to the second level of the warehouse.
I jiggled the knob, making sure it was unlocked before I carefully opened it a hair and peered inside, looking in at the exact wrong time as soon as I cracked open the door. The second guard walked through without a care in the world.
The door smashed into my face, knocking me back on my ass.
“What the fuck?” he asked as he walked through the doorway, gazing down at me with as much shock on his face as there was on mine. Neither of us ready for the other. He cast his eyes towards his partner only to find him dead in a pool of blood. His eyes widened in alarm, and he went to shout a warning, but the door to the building had shut on its own behind him, and he wasted precious seconds fumbling with the knob.
I took advantage of the situation to sweep his legs out from under him. He fell to the ground with a grunt of pain, and I scrambled to pin him before he could go for his weapon. I managed to get on top of him just as his hand grasped the handle of his sword. With a twist, I broke his hand and quickly covered his mouth to stifle the scream of pain that escaped. At some point, he had the wherewithal to chomp down on the side of my hand with his teeth, tearing through the soft flesh until he hit bone.
I pushed the pain down enough to reach for my knife a second time, bringing it out and plunging it into his eye. He died with his teeth still entrenched in my flesh.
I had to break the man’s jaw to unclench his teeth. As soon as I was free, I tore a long strip of cloth from the dead man and tightly bandaged my hand. It was the same hand that I’d torn the flesh of my knuckles from in the jail, so at least I had one undamaged hand. I could heal it later with a potion, no problem. The pain was uncomfortable, but the last thing I needed was the health potion side effects right before I rescued Eris.
With my hand bandaged, the two men dead, and no alarm sounded, I opened the door to the entrance of the warehouse and slipped inside.
It was stifling hot as I shut the door to the roof behind me, and it reeked. Mold and rot along with the stench of unwashed bodies packed too tightly together. Only one thing that smell could be. Least I’m in the right warehouse.
I made my way down the steps, finding myself on a brace of catwalks that lined the
