Finn could be trusted; he was one of the only ones left that Katryna had absolute faith in.
Finn, however, struggled to appear as a lowborn. He wore a plain tunic, trousers, and a spare pair of boots, yet still walked like a prince.
“Slouch your shoulders, lower your head,” Katryna whispered to him as they entered the city.
Finn attempted to do as she had said, but still failed to make it look natural.
“Like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Drag your feet a bit more- lowborns aren’t fussed about dirty shoes.”
As they made their way to the stable, Finn got a little better at blending in.
“Should we go in and ask for him?” Finn asked as they scoped the place out. The stablemaster, an older man with thinning yellow hair and mutton chops, was handing out hay to some of the horses tied outside and bucketing some fresh water into their trough.
Katryna shook her head. “He was afraid, Finn. We need to wait and talk to him alone. We can’t risk being seen by anyone else.”
Finn lingered around the back of the stables, while Katryna hung around the front entrance where several horses and their rides came in and out.
The iron horseshoe sign groaned as it swayed from its perched position atop the building, an uncomfortable noise of long-rusted metal.
Katryna awaited any sign of Sniff as the hours passed, circling around the area to try and avoid suspicion from watchful eyes.
Peasants went about their business, hauling cargo and resources in and out of Ravenrock along the road in carts and on their backs.
A smith hammered away against an anvil at some metalworks he had just forged not too far in the distance.
All the while, Katryna kept both eyes open, watching for the boy. It wasn’t until the late afternoon that the stablemaster closed up the main doors of the stable building, and out with him came a young boy. The boy must have been working inside the whole day.
The stablemaster and the stable hand went their separate ways having completed their day’s work. Katryna eyed Finn from across the way, gesturing with her head to indicate that it was the boy they were looking for.
They began to tail the boy as he made his way through the still bustling yet not quite so dense outskirts of town, presumably heading for his home. The streets grew narrower as Katryna and Finn paced quicker behind him to catch up without looking suspicious.
Sniff walked with a bowed head and hands in his pockets, as if completely oblivious to his surroundings.
They neared an alleyway which shot off to the side from the unpaved street they walked. Katryna scouted ahead and then behind to realise that in the moment, no one was around.
She fell into a jog, catching up to the boy and grabbing his arm before pulling him to the side, into the dark alleyway, away from prying eyes.
“Hey! Let go!” he said. He was not totally alarmed, however, as Katryna had not been too rough with him.
Finn raced behind, blocking the entrance to the shadowed alley so that they would be out of view.
“What do you want? I ain’t got no money,” Sniff said, resting his back against the wall. The walls on both sides of the alley were tall and windowless.
Katryna felt now was the time. She pulled her hood off, letting her long, brown hair free so that Sniff could identify her.
Sniff’s eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. “K-Katryna? What are you doin’ here?!”
Katryna covered the boy’s mouth as soon as he raised his voice. “Sshhh,” she said, placing a finger over her lips.
Sniff nodded and Katryna removed her hand from his mouth.
“Why haven’t you left the city? I told you to leave!” Sniff looked over to Finn, suspiciously. “Who’s that?”
“That’s my brother. Don’t worry, you can trust him.”
Sniff cowered. “We can’t trust anyone no more.”
Katryna looked the boy in the eyes. He had the same look he had had the night he snuck up on her in the castle stables.
He was terrified.
“When we first met, Sniff, I was quite scared, too. My horse, Tulip, needed your help after she had hurt herself… and you helped us. I trust you, Sniff. Do you trust me?” Katryna asked gently.
He looked at her for a moment, staring into her welcoming eyes and making considerations in his head, before nodding.
“Then let me help you, too.”
Katryna took a step back from Sniff so that he was not cramped against the wall any longer. Sniff was still scared, yet she noticed that his breathing was calming down and his eyes appeared less panicked.
“Sniff, I need you to tell me the truth. What do you know about the murders of the king and queen?”
Sniff scratched his head and bit his lip, refusing to answer.
“Please, Sniff. Was it my other brother, Rowan? Does he have something to do with this?”
Finn chimed in. “How did you know to warn Katryna that night?”
Sniff shrugged, still afraid to speak. He stuttered a few jumbled words, none of which made any sense.
Katryna knelt to Sniff’s eye level. Her knees sank into the putrid, stagnant water beneath their shoes, but she paid no attention to it. She held on to his arms in a reassuring manner, the way a mother would their child, as if to signal to him that she was there to help.
“We need your help. My parents were both murdered. My aunt was also murdered. We need answers. You know something.”
Sniff glanced back at Katryna’s face. She could see in his eyes that his mind was racing
