Richard Ford - The Shattered Crown

‘There ain’t nowhere we can run to they won’t find us,’ said Yarrick. ‘Runnin’s only gonna make us look guilty.’

‘We are fucking guilty,’ said Shirl. ‘We let them take him like we was nothing.’

‘They were trained,’ Essen replied. ‘Weren’t nothing we could do. You saw what that woman did to Harkas.’

Rag peered round the corner and saw the lads were crouched around the embers of the fire, Harkas standing back a ways staring into the flames.

‘So what the fuck are we gonna do?’ asked Shirl like he was almost in tears.

None of them seemed to have any answer. None of them had a clue what to do now Friedrik was gone and they were the ones that had lost him.

‘We do nothing,’ said Rag, walking into the room as confident as she could.

The lads all stood up at her arrival. Harkas just looked around all slow like he’d known she was there all along.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’ asked Shirl.

‘Never mind where the fuck I’ve been,’ Rag said. ‘Start thinking about our story and how we’re gonna stick to it.’ The fat man looked at her like she’d slapped him but said nothing. ‘If Bastian finds out we’ve lost Friedrik every one of us is gonna end up in the Storway with a rock round his neck. So we just don’t tell him. Friedrik’s fucked off before without telling anyone. No one knows where he goes or who he’s with, so that’s what’s happened this time. He left last night; no one’s seen him since. All right?’

Yarrick, Shirl and Essen all looked at her from beneath creased brows. Harkas watched her, his expression blank. It was clear they’d need a moment or two to think on it, and Rag just glared back, looking like she knew what she was on about. Like she’d tried to dupe the leader of the Guild before, and come out on top.

‘This’ll get us all killed,’ said Shirl.

‘No it won’t.’ Yarrick replied. ‘She’s right — no one knows we were with him when he got nabbed. We should just sit tight and wait for someone to come looking for him.’

Yarrick glanced over at Essen who said, ‘Yeah. You’re right.’

‘Are you fucking barmy?’ wailed Shirl. ‘We’re just gonna sit here and wait for them to come for us because she fucking says so?’ He pointed an accusing finger at Rag.

Yarrick looked at Shirl like he’d just done a shit on his chair. ‘She’s the reason you’re still breathing, lad. Wasn’t for her we’d have had to leave you in a ditch to die somewhere.’

That was enough to shut Shirl’s mouth for a while.

Essen went and got some more logs for the fire, and the five of them sat there waiting for morning. Rag’s heart was thumping all the while, wondering what was gonna happen. Wondering if she’d done the right thing. This crew weren’t the cleverest, or even the friendliest, but she didn’t want to see them hurt on her account. Well, not all of them. Every now and again, as the night drew on, she’d see Harkas watching her from the corner of the room. She had no idea what was going on in that head of his, but then she wasn’t too sure she wanted to know neither.

It was close to morning when the door burst open.

Palien wasn’t the first one to walk in. He had men of his own — men who looked a damn sight more frightening than Shirl, Essen and Yarrick. Every one of them looked more like Harkas, though maybe not quite as brutal. They came in, taking their places around the edge of the bar like they already knew where to stand; where the best place was to look all intimidating. Rag counted six of them before Palien walked in, a wolf smile on his face, his hawk eyes glaring straight at her. He pulled a chair across the floor, like he was relishing the scraping noise it made. When he’d slid it as close to Rag as it would go he plonked down on it, his elbows resting on the chair’s backrest.

‘Where is he?’ said Palien, staring straight at her.

‘Who?’ she replied.

Who? Don’t be an idiot, Rag. It’s obvious who he means.

‘Don’t play me for a fool, little girl,’ Palien said. As she looked at him she noticed he never seemed to blink. That wasn’t right, surely. ‘We both know you’re his little pet. He doesn’t go anywhere without you knowing.’

‘I don’t know where he is. He left last night, went off on his own like he does sometimes. We ain’t seen him since, have we?’

She glanced around, relieved when the lads all backed her up with their nodding heads, but it was obvious Palien weren’t interested in their opinion.

‘You expect me to believe that, do you, girl? You think he’d go somewhere without taking his little dolly with him?’

‘He goes off on his own all the ti-’

‘Don’t fucking lie to me!’ Palien stood up, flinging his chair out from under him. ‘Where the fuck is he?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Rag, pressing herself back in her chair but Palien reached forward, grabbed her shirt and pulled her up onto her feet.

‘Tell me where he is or I’ll gut you right here, I swear.’

Rag saw Palien’s eyes glaring down from that face, saw his stupid moustache twitching with anger. Her hands were up as she tried to push him away and he shook her. It was then her hand slipped down to his belt and she could feel the coinpurse at his waist. It was full, secured with a single buckle, and it would be nothing to just open it and take his coin.

‘She don’t know where he is,’ wailed Shirl taking a step forward. ‘None of us do.’

Palien didn’t have to say nothing; one of his men just walked forward and kneed Shirl right in his thigh. The fat man went down with a squeal.

‘Friedrik won’t be happy if you gut me, will he?’ said Rag. ‘You’ll be in for it then.’

‘Not if he’s dead and gone,’ Palien snarled. ‘And I think he is. I think you might be the one that made it happen. I’ve been watching you, girl. Slinking around like the fucking tavern cat. You know something.’

‘I don’t, I don’t-’

‘Yes, you do.’ His shake rattled the teeth in her head. ‘And if you don’t tell me, you won’t leave here alive. None of you will.’

‘All right, I’ll tell,’ she said, desperate. As she looked up, Palien seemed to calm, satisfied he’d done his job.

‘I thought you might,’ he replied, with that wolf’s smile.

‘But I’ll only tell Bastian,’ she said.

Palien shook his head. ‘No, girl, you’ll tell me.’

Rag managed to tear her shirt free of Palien’s grip. She stumbled back and steadied herself against a chair.

‘No, I won’t.’ She stared Palien back in his hawk’s eyes, trying to act more the hunter than the prey. She wasn’t too sure it worked. ‘I’ll tell Bastian or I’ll tell no one.’

‘You’ll tell me or-’

‘Or what? What’s Bastian gonna do when he finds out I’ve got news of Friedrik and you wouldn’t let me tell him? What then?’

‘How’s he going to find out?’

Rag glanced around at the gathered crowd of thugs. ‘You trust everyone here to keep their mouths shut, do you?’

Palien glanced around. At first he fixed every man with a determined stare, but it soon withered and died, only to be replaced with an arrogant raised eyebrow.

‘Let’s go see Bastian, then. I’m sure he’ll want to watch while I cut little pieces off you.’

Palien signalled to his men, who bundled Essen and Yarrick towards the door. Shirl limped after. Two of Palien’s thugs looked at Harkas but neither of them dared lay a finger on him. Rag could see them both breathe out a sigh as the big man followed along obediently.

There was nothing else that Rag could do but go along with them. Once again she was stuck in a spot she couldn’t get out of. Out on the street she kept looking for a way out, seeing darkened alleys she could have scuttled into, yet half of her was determined to see this through to the end.