We Leave Together, стр. 45
That’s where Jona was, and he was doing everything he could to blur. He didn’t want to be anywhere, or be anyone. The black pit in his gut was so strong that it felt like everything inside of him had shriveled up into a poison so toxic that his very breath could kill a man.
He wondered if he drank enough, if he could fall asleep, and have a proper nightmare. He’d never been able to drink himself unconscious and tonight was the night to really try for it.
Then, he wondered if he could kill someone, just to kill them.
Then—right then—a narrow-faced lad that was a little too clear-eyed to fit in this particular location slipped into the empty space of Jona’s black mood.
Jona turned and looked that narrow fellow in the face.
The fellow held up a green feather.
Jona scowled. He snatched the feather. “Good,” he said. “Very good.”
He tried to stand up straight. The narrow-faced lad noticed that Jona wasn’t steady on his feet. The lad wrapped an arm around Jona to help him stand.
“Need help, king’s man?”
“I need you not to touch me.”
The narrow-faced lad smiled, politely. He stepped back from Jona enough to bow his head and shoulders a little. Then, the lad was gone. “I hear this one’s special just for you,” said the boy. “I hear some rich lady paid a fortune.”
Jona slipped the feather into his pocket and stumbled into the street. The Night King had work for this killer tonight.
Jona went to the toy shop, with a smile on his face that would make a corpse shiver.
***
“What did they do?” said Jona. He didn’t have a smile on his face anymore, and he had sobered up fast when the fear jumped into his blood. He thought about what lady might pay a fortune for this.
“I don’t care what they did,” said the toymaker. “I only care what you’ll do to them. I care what you did the other day. I saw your report. Pathetic. You have a lot to earn back for our good graces. Now you do what you do for us, loyal and no more stupid questions. We’ve got them sighted in the room. That Senta is enough to spook a fellow ain’t got the hard guts like you do. You’ve dropped Sentas like nothing. Demon blood spooks Sentas, too. The big fellow shouldn’t be too tough. He’s cheese-for-brains. The Senta is a hard scrapper, though, been setting fires and casting ice, and fast with it. Probably need to drop her first, and quick. The big fellow, you’re supposed to cut off all his fingers one at a time. Then, cut off his feet. Then toss him into a river and let the sharks finish him off. Bring the Senta body back here, though. You’re supposed to strangle her, and not spill any of her blood. Just bring her back here, whole.”
Jona’s hands shook. “What did they do?” he said.
The toymaker shrugged. “I have no bloody clue, nor do I ever want one.”
“Who else knows about the mark?” said Jona.
“Night King says drop someone, we do it.”
Jona looked around the room. The toymaker sat at a table. It was only a table. There were no signs of strings or traps or hidden surprises.
“The Night King is telling me to drop someone,” he said. “That’s exactly what she’s doing.”
The toymaker reached under his shirt.
Jona was faster. Jona was stronger. Jona was a king’s man all day and a killer in his sleepless nights and he lived for bats and teeth. The toymaker only had a small knife and the poison on the tip was not enough to take down a demon child whose very blood was the same kind of poison.
Afterwards, Jona poured all the alcohol and kerosene he could find in this shop all over the corpse. He struck a match. He stayed long enough to make sure the fire caught the wooden furniture and boxes.
Jona slipped out the back and ran.
***
The signpost had a picture of a woman standing next to her severed head. Disorganized, infectious music tumbled from the windows. Bouncers tossed drunken men into the streets, where the men could fight each other away from the mugs and tables.
Women who had only just begun to work for the night told filthy jokes arm in arm with filthy men, all of them laughing and laughing and drinking on their side of the tavern.
The bartender was a stocky midget with the top of his thumbs severed. He walked barefoot across the bar to serve drinks. The mugs were as dirty as the bar.
Jona snapped his fingers at the midget walking up and down the bar. The midget had only half his thumbs. The single joint wasn’t enough to grab anything too hard, but he was nimble enough.
The midget shouted over the crowd. “What you drinking, king’s man?”
Jona grabbed the midget by the leg and picked him up like a flailing fish. Jona carried the midget outside so fast, the drunks couldn’t raise up a shout in protest that their bartender was gone. Bouncers looked up and down at the uniform. Jona, with his free hand, pulled out his bell in his lapel pocket. “I won’t be long,” said Jona. “I only need one thing from him, and then he’s back with you free and clear.”
The midget hadn’t said a word. He kicked and struggled, but he struck air, and Jona was too strong to let go.
Jona pulled his bell out in full and held it up like he was about to strike the midget with it. “You run, and I ring the bells on your little tavern, and all your customers and bouncers wake up in the tank, and all your liquor’ll be confiscated by the king and anything you don’t want found out is your neck. I’m only after one thing, and then you’ll never see me