Red Hood's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

Red Hood sat on a flat stone across from the split rock and watched the shadow move. The prisoner was awake in the hollow. The chain shifted every few minutes. The blue charm on the sill held its color. Red Hood had won the man and now had to keep him. The nearest honest sheriff was two towns away, a full day's ride each direction, and any accomplices left in the hills would scatter before he came back. He could not leave. He could not wait. He had to make the man talk before the sun dropped again. He stood and walked to the mouth of the hollow. "Names," he said. "Where they meet. How you pay them." The man laughed at the rock wall. "You'll bring a sheriff. Fine. He'll find nobody." "I'm not bringing a sheriff today." "Then you're bluffing." Red Hood said nothing. He walked out and sat back down. He would not hit a chained man. That was a line he had drawn for himself the first year he took the hood. Fear was a tool, though. Waiting was a tool. He let an hour pass. Then another. Footsteps came up the slope in the afternoon. Red Hood's hand went to his belt before he saw the green hair and the bright sneakers. "The shop call was nothing," Deku said. He was breathing hard. "An angry customer. She wanted a hero to yell at a shopkeeper for her. I said no and came back." "Good." Red Hood stood. "I need you to sit here for one hour. Don't speak to him. Don't answer him. Just sit where he can see you." Deku looked at the hollow, then at Red Hood. "Where are you going?" "Down the ridge. There's an old iron lamppost at the fork where his people passed the stickers. I saw fresh scuffs under it this morning. If they're meeting anywhere close, it's there." "You want a name before you go." "I want a name now." Red Hood went back to the mouth of the hollow. He crouched. "My friend is staying. He broke three of your men in the cave with one arm. The other arm works today. I'm going to the lamppost at the fork. If I find nobody, I come back and we wait a week. You sit in the dark that whole week. If I find one of your men there, I don't need you at all." The prisoner's jaw worked. "Tomas," he said. "Tomas meets there at dusk. That's all you get." "That's enough." Red Hood tied his scarf tight and started down the ridge at a run. Behind him, Deku settled onto the flat stone and faced the hollow without a word. The prisoner had given a name. Now Red Hood had until dusk to reach the lamppost before the man he'd named did.