The Mercenary's Bounty

by Kristen Banet

  Rain could only hold onto one thing from that entire conversation. He’d gotten Alchan to agree to train him privately. That step was taken care of.

  20

  Mave

  “We’re ready to go! Where’s Rain and Alchan?” Nevyn called out from his cart, sitting next to Varon. Mave looked back from her seat, raising an eyebrow. There was no reason to yell. It wasn’t evening yet. From her understanding, they were on schedule.

  “Right here, you fucking prick!” Alchan growled from the back of their large caravan. She had to stand up to see him. “Sit down!” he roared. “You’ll break a fucking wing like that.”

  “He’s talking to you, Mave,” Matesh said, pulling on her tail with his. “Come on.”

  “I thought him going to see that…” She tried her best not to be condescending or rude. “Escort. That’s what he’s called?”

  “Yes, escort,” Mat patiently agreed.

  “Well, I thought it was supposed to calm him down.” She sat down slowly, making sure she didn’t lose her balance on the rickety wood cart.

  “We’ll see if it worked soon. You shouldn’t stand on the cart, though. I would have stopped you if I knew you were planning on it. He’s serious - you can fall and seriously hurt yourself.” Mat smiled tightly. “Please don’t pick any fights with him.”

  She shrugged. “Sure.” She wasn’t in the mood to pick any fights today.

  “Matesh, get on your horse,” Alchan ordered as he walked by. “Brynec, help Mave with the cart.”

  “What?” Mave frowned, watching Mat jump up and off the cart.

  “Bryn doesn’t like to ride.” Mat patted her thigh before going to get a large mare. “I’ll ride right here, don’t worry. It’s just the way of things.”

  Bryn was suddenly next to her, grabbing the leather leaders. “Aye, he’s not goin’ to go far from ya.” Bryn chuckled. “Are we ready to get movin’, Alchan?”

  “Yeah, you can start pulling out!” Alchan swung up on his own horse. Mave grabbed onto a wooden bit of the cart as it lurched into action with the click of Bryn’s teeth. “Company! Stay together!”

  She was almost mystified. They had all been wandering around, killing time. Then he showed up and it was like a whip had cracked. They jumped into position and things took off. They had fallen in without a second of hesitation, rolling with his commands with an easiness that defied what she thought of Andinna. Not even Luykas prodding them all day had gotten them moving so quickly.

  Mave tried to get comfortable, shifting on the barely-padded bench at the front of the cart until she felt the best way to sit on it. It wasn’t made for Andinna, that was certain. Her wings didn’t have a good place to sit comfortably, and her tail was jammed against the back. The bench wasn’t deep enough for her entire ass to fit on either.

  “We’re not even out of the city and I hate this,” she muttered. “Bryn?”

  “Aye, the carts aren’t the best. Probably all Han had, not ready for us to just show up.” Bryn looked over at her. “Try sitting more sideways. It’ll give ya some space.”

  She adjusted and sure enough, it gave her tail some space to fall off the bench. One of her wings felt better for it too. The problem? She had to press her legs up to Bryn’s. He’d been standoffish with her all morning, even during cards at breakfast. He wasn’t as friendly.

  “Are we going to continue my exercises on this trip?” she asked, trying for something light and casual. She didn’t think she succeeded.

  “If ya want. I mean, ya should always stretch in the morning and evening, but if ya want to exercise in the evenings, we can do that.” Bryn just kept looking forward now. He ignored how their legs were touching, something she knew was probably making him uncomfortable too. “Or Matesh can help ya…”

  “No, you’re better at the wing things than I am.” Matesh chuckled. “If you really need me to, I will, but I’m not a good judge of these things. I’m the idiot that had her trying to extend right after we cut the bonds off them.”

  “Ah, shit. That’s right,” Bryn mumbled, sighing with something that made her think he was defeated.

  Did he not want to spend time with her anymore? That was the vibe she was getting, which made her worried. He was her friend, one of her few. Was it because they were on land now? Was it because of the trouble she brought onto the Company the night before? How the Elvasi nearly started a brawl with them in the street because of her?

  “Hey. Look what I found!” Rain’s laughing voice cut into her thoughts as it rang over the Company and the crowd. “Our bounties went up!”

  “Damn it,” Bryn snapped. “How much?”

  “A thousand gold suns for each of us,” Rain answered, riding over to their cart.

  “Let me see those!” Alchan called out from the front. “Grab as many as you can.”

  “Is this something to worry about?” she asked Bryn as Rain rode off again. Bryn continued to hold one of the posters. There weren’t any faces on it. Just that the Empire was offering a hefty reward for the capture of any members of the Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company, one thousand gold suns a head. Wanted dead or alive, but preferred alive.

  “Nah. They’ve always been around. No one ever comes after us, though.” Bryn chuckled. “This is our highest bounty yet. That says something. The thing is? Not many loyal to the Empire here, and the Elvasi hunters who capture Andinna tend to go after the ones who are alone or in smaller groups. Ten or more full grown male Andinna? You need a small army to take us down.”

  “Or luck,” Matesh offered. “They got lucky to catch Rain and I.”

  “Aye, we can’t let that happen again.” Bryn hummed a small tune, almost a happy thing, like he thought the new bounties were funny.

  “You seemed more surprised when Rain found them,” she pointed out, confused by his mood.

  “There’s no individual posters yet, which changes things.” Bryn chuckled, shrugging. “I was worried he found individual ones, since those…they get people targeted in a bad way. At least with Company bounties, they only know we’re in the Company if we’re in the group. They aren’t going to fight the group.”

  “Bryn’s right. We’ll worry more if Alchan’s face shows up on a poster, or his name. Really, any of us. That changes the game.” Mat smiled her way. “There’s nothing to worry about. Like he said, small army. There isn’t a small army of Empire Elvasi in Olost. They’ll be hard-pressed to take any of us, no matter how much money they’ll make.”

  “And you aren’t worried about anyone else trying?” She took the poster and continued to look it over.

  “Humans? Shifters? No. Short-lived people don’t play those games with us. They leave the Andinna and Elvasi feud to us. They try their best not to get involved. Keeps them alive longer.” Matesh began to laugh. “Not like they live all that long.”

  “It’s why they’re so protective,” Bryn said, as if it was a joke. “Only get a century, at the best, you defend that century!”

  “Right? I couldn’t imagine. Seems like such a short time to do all the important things. Travel, find love, have kids. All the adult things. It just seems so rushed.” Matesh snorted. “I couldn’t handle it.”

  “Aye, me neither,” Bryn agreed, nodding wisely.

  Mave didn’t have a comment. If she were short-lived, her pain and suffering in the pits at the hand of the Empress and the other Andinna would have ended a long time ago. She would have never been there. She would have had a life.

  At least she was getting one now. That counted for something. She just hoped whatever life she was building could wash away the thousand years of pain. Things that should have broken a thousand men and women were piled on top of her.

  She continued trying to ignore them as best she could. She shouldered them for so long; she could continue to shoulder them. She was certain of it.

  The entire conversation had led her mind to a dark place and she wasn’t sure how to get out of it. As they left the city, Bryn and Mat didn’t notice h
er reserve as they continued to joke about something.

  “So, that’s how Mat ended up bedding a human and nearly getting her pregnant,” Bryn said with a joyful laugh.

  “What?” That yanked her right out of it. One minute she was lost in the memories, trying to keep them contained, and the next, a bubbling rage was forming in her chest. Her male had nearly bred a different female?

  “Yeah! Did you miss the entire story?” Bryn frowned at her.

  “Thank the Skies,” Mat muttered. “Never again. Look, it was before I even knew Bryn. I was young and didn’t know that humans didn’t go through fertile times like we do. I figured she wasn’t breeding at the time. Zayden told him the damned story, and now, like every other bad memory, he brings it up to piss me off.”

  “Okay.” Mave shook her head. “No, I wasn’t listening. Don’t go having children with other females, Mat. I might rip your balls off for it. You don’t have any children out there, right?”

  “None that I know of. That was the only human I’ve ever been with. I’ve never fucked an Andinna female during her fertile time, so there really should be no reason to think I have young.” Mat chuckled. “Please, don’t rip my balls off. They belong to you.”

  “They better,” she muttered. She trusted him, but there was some visceral feeling about the idea of him fathering young that weren’t hers. It was madness, since she didn’t intend on ever having children. Why would she ever bring young into this world? “How did you not know about humans and their breeding?” She knew. She’d had some of her humans explain over the years. They would talk about their wives, telling her about their children.

  “There were no humans in Anden. The land was too tough for them. Andinna and a small population of dwarves were all we had, and you’ll never catch an Andinna trying to breed a dwarf. There’s a size problem. I’m not even sure it’s possible.” Matesh shrugged.

  “Speakin’ of fertile times…” Bryn scooted away from her. “Have ya two talked about that?”

  Mave bit her tongue. No, they hadn’t. She didn’t want to.

  “We will when we get to the village. Not like it’s any of your business,” Matesh replied, eyeing the rogue.

  “Better me askin’ than Varon or Leshaun.” Bryn snorted, shaking his head. “You know if Varon brings it up, yer never getting away from it. He’ll ride yer ass until he gets the information he wants.”

  Well, I know who I’m never talking to about it, then.

  Mave didn’t have a good experience with her fertile time. She’d only had one so far. She wasn’t sure how normal that was, or how often she was supposed to have one. The only time she did have one had been over six hundred years ago, right after she’d gotten her private room in the pits. She could remember the bloody spotting she’d had, which had scared her, but she hid it.

  I didn’t know the males could smell it.

  Her mind flashed to the moment she had walked into the chow hall late and all of them had looked up, nostrils flaring. One of them had whispered only one word.

  Breeding. He’d said breeding like it was a prayer and a threat all rolled into one.

  It had driven the male Andinna into a frenzy for nearly two weeks. In the end, she had to be locked into her own cell with food brought to her to keep her safe. It had been terrifying and awful. Every male in the pits had wanted her underneath him for those two weeks. Every male would have done everything he could to make it happen. Three guards died and she killed five gladiators before the Empress agreed to quarantine her.

  No, she wasn’t looking forward to having another. And now she was living with more males? They were nicer, friendlier and more trustworthy, but how was she to know they wouldn’t react the same way?

  If she never had another fertile time again, she wouldn’t be sorry.

  “We’ll talk about it at the village,” she agreed with her bodanra. She couldn’t avoid it, but at least she could push it off for a time. She didn’t think it was going to hit on the three week trip to the village.

  The sun moved over their heads as they made slow progress away from the city. At sunset, she saw Alchan and Luykas bring their horses to a stop near a grove of trees.

  “Let’s camp here for the night!” Alchan called out. “Bryn and Matesh, walk her through how we bed down for the night. Leshaun, Nevyn, and Varon, you’re in charge of dinner!”

  The entire caravan came to a creeping stop and they all jumped off their respective mounts. Bryn helped Mave down from the cart, since she had nearly slipped earlier in the day when they were making a piss stop.

  She didn’t talk a lot as they walked her through getting out bedrolls, told her about watch order, and helped start up the campfire for the others to cook on. They wouldn’t be eating great food for the evening, but it wouldn’t be jerky either.

  “Bryn? Want to do my wing exercises now?” she asked before he could walk away from her as they finished. He nodded silently, waving her to follow him.

  They went out of earshot of the Company, but still in viewing distance. She didn’t know why they were so far out, but she didn’t mind it too much either. She could talk more comfortably without everyone listening in.

  “Are you okay?” she asked first, as his hands touched her wings. She hadn’t stretched enough over the last two days in the city, so she was a bit stiff.

  “Aye. Just been thinkin’.”

  “About?” She felt nosy.

  “Ya. Mat said some things last night that have me thinkin’.” He rubbed into her wings as she extended them. “Ya can’t do exercises tonight. Will need to wait ‘til tomorrow.”

  “Okay…” She continued to stretch and wouldn’t stop until he told her that she could. “What did Mat say?”

  “He talked to me about what ya did about the bed thing. How ya tried to play with him. Hope ya don’t mind.” Bryn sighed. She had a feeling it wasn’t the entire truth, but she accepted his answer without trying to get more out of him. “Ya know why the game might not be good for ya?”

  “I have a guess,” she answered.

  “Ya play with a male, especially one in your mayara, and he’ll force himself on ya. A lot of Andinna females do it on purpose, to give the males something to work for, test ‘em. It’s a game, and it makes everything exciting.” Bryn rubbed a little harder. “Smart of Mat not to let it continue. Ya would have gutted him if you felt threatened, not understanding you started it.”

  “I wouldn’t have,” she objected, looking over her shoulder at him. “I wouldn’t have hurt him.”

  “Ya would have. Ya sending all the signals that ya want it like that…” Bryn stopped touching her, pulling away. “A moment would have come where ya would have freaked yerself out and gone into survival mode.”

  “Why do you know this? You aren’t female.”

  “Aye, I’m not female, but I am a male Andinna. I’m like Alchan. I’ll stick my dick into anything, and I don’t mind receiving from another male either. Sex is pleasurable and it relaxes our temper. When a male is playing the submissive one, we can get the other male to play the same game.” Bryn chuckled at her silence. She could only wonder what her face looked like. She hadn’t expected to hear any of that. “Yeah, ya heard me right. I’ve been with other males before. Both fuckin’ and receivin’.”

  “I…” She shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong with it. Do you like females? Or are you a bedin like Rain?”

  “Hey, you know bedin now!” Brynec thumped her shoulder. Of course she did, since she heard Rain use it often enough. It just meant a male who only wanted other males. Her little brother had been kind enough to teach her the female version of the word as well, ahin. “Aye, I like females too. Don’t really care who as long as I like ‘em enough. They got to know how to get me up, though.” He was grinning as he explained.

  “It’s not hard to get a male up,” she said, looking down slowly. She was bold enough to stare until she got the reaction she wanted. A bulge was beginning to grow, but she didn’t stare
long enough to keep embarrassing him and see how big he got. When she went back up to his face, she shrugged. “It’s easier than most things, really.”

  Bryn coughed, and he turned away from her while his face grew dark from a blush. “Well, I was just put in my place.” He patted his chest, coughing a bit more before turning back around.

  “So all of this is why you know how I would react with Matesh if I tried to play this game.” She wasn’t sure why they were calling it a game or playing. She didn’t have another way to reference it, though.

  “Aye. I nearly did it myself,” Bryn said, sobering quickly. “Mave, ya want things that normal Andinna do and that’s good, but those Andinna didn’t live through what we did. To them, it’s bedroom play. To us, it can quickly become our nightmares.”

  “And you’ve been thinking about this all day?” She frowned, unsure why he would worry about her bedroom so much.

  “I was thinking how I got over it. I haven’t had an incident in centuries.” Bryn positioned her so he could go back to rubbing her wings. “I went to Varon. He walked me through it. We did it. He pushed, I resisted. When I began to freak out, he stopped and reminded me who he was. He gave me a word to stop it if it was truly too bad. Andinna, we do that. These types of games can get real dangerous. Males and females can get injured when one of the parties doesn’t know how to hold back or one doesn’t submit and stop in time.” Bryn rubbed the tight knot in her left wing now. She hadn’t realized it was there. It was the wing that was cramped on the cart all day. “He taught me how to trust the situation, in certain cases. It’s not perfect. I don’t receive from other males very often, so it’s not somethin’ I need to worry about too much.”