The Heroes

Something that made him put a warning hand on Calder’s chest and gently steer him back.
    ‘Keep it for tomorrow. Save it for the Union.’
    ‘Why? My enemies are here. Tenways sat there while Scale died. Sat there and laughed.’
    ‘And you’re angry because he sat there, or because you did?’ He put his other hand down on Calder’s shoulder. ‘I loved your father, in the end. I love you, like the son I never had. But why the hell is it the pair o’ you always had to take on every fight you were offered? There’ll always be more. I’ll stand by you if I can, you know I will, but there’s other things to think about than just—’
    ‘Yes, yes.’ Calder slapped Craw’s hands away. ‘Keeping your crew alive, and not sticking your neck out, and doing the right thing, even when it’s the wrong thing—’
    Craw grabbed hold of his shoulders again and gave him a shake. ‘I have to keep the peace! I’m in charge o’ Dow’s Carls now, his Second, and I can’t—’
    ‘You’re what? You’re guarding him?’ Calder’s fingers dug into Craw’s arms, his eyes suddenly wide and bright. Not anger. A kind of eagerness. ‘You’re at his back, with your sword drawn? That’s your job?’ And Craw suddenly saw the pit he’d dug for himself opening under his feet.
    ‘No, Calder!’ snarled Craw, trying to wriggle free. ‘Shut your—’
    Calder kept his grip, dragging him into an awkward hug, and Craw could smell the drink on his breath as he hissed in his ear. ‘You could do it! Put an end to this!’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Kill him!’
    ‘No!’ Craw tore free and shoved him off, hand tight around the grip of his sword. ‘No, you bloody fool!’
    Calder looked like he couldn’t understand what Craw was saying. ‘How many men have you killed? That’s what you do for a living. You’re a killer.’
    ‘I’m a Named Man.’
    ‘So you’re better at it than most. What’s killing one more? And this time for a purpose! You could stop all this. You don’t even like the bastard!’
    ‘Don’t matter what I like, Calder! He’s Chief.’
    ‘He’s Chief now, but stick an axe in his head he’s just mud. No one’ll care a shit then.’
    ‘I will.’ They watched each other for what felt like a long while, still in the darkness, not much more to see but the gleam of Calder’s eyes in his pale face. They slid down to Craw’s hand, still on the hilt of his sword.
    ‘Going to kill me?’
    ‘’Course I’m not.’ Craw straightened, letting his hand drop. ‘But I’ll have to tell Black Dow.’
    More silence. Then, ‘Tell him what, exactly?’
    ‘That you asked me to kill him.’
    And another. ‘I don’t think he’ll like that very much.’
    ‘Nor do I.’
    ‘I think cutting the bloody cross in me, then hanging me, then burning me, is the least of what he’ll do.’
    ‘Reckon so. Which is why you’d better run.’
    ‘Run where?’
    ‘Wherever you like. I’ll give you a start. I’ll tell him tomorrow. I have to tell him. That’s what Threetrees would’ve done.’ Though Calder hadn’t asked for a reason, and that sounded a particularly lame one right then.
    ‘Threetrees got killed, you know. For nothing, out in the middle of nowhere.’
    ‘Don’t matter.’
    ‘Ever think you should be looking for another man to imitate?’
    ‘I gave my word.’
    ‘Killer’s honour, eh? Swear it, did you, on Skarling’s cock, or whatever?’
    ‘Didn’t have to. I gave my word.’
    ‘To Black Dow? He tried to have me killed a few nights back, and I’m supposed to sit on my hands waiting for him to do it again? The man’s more treacherous than winter!’
    ‘Don’t matter. I said yes.’ And by the dead how he wished he hadn’t now.
    Calder nodded, little smile at the corner of his mouth. ‘Oh, aye. Gave your word. And good old Craw’s a straight edge, right? No matter who gets cut.’
    ‘I have to tell him.’
    ‘But tomorrow.’ Calder backed away, still with that smirk on his face. ‘You’ll give me a start.’ One foot after another, down the hillside. ‘You won’t tell him. I know you, Craw. Raised me from a babe, didn’t you? You’ve got more bones than that. You’re not Black Dow’s dog. Not you.’
    ‘It ain’t a question of bones, nor dogs neither. I gave my word, and I’ll tell him tomorrow.’
    ‘No, you won’t.’
    ‘Yes, I will.’
    ‘No.’ And Calder’s smirk was gone into the darkness. ‘You won’t.’
    Craw stood there for a moment, in the wind, frowning