by Andrew Lynch
‘Just give me this shot, boss. Have I let you down yet?’ His words echoed those from the entrance to Mounthold. Lucian glanced at Jess, who as usual seemed aloof and disinterested, so as before she wouldn’t guide him on how Khleb might perform. Darrius, however, looked hopeful that he might escape his fate.
‘All right.’ Lucian said, throwing his hands up in surrender. He was sure this would lead to months of Khleb insisting that “rogues do it from behind”. It would be a never ending torment! The thief was always light fingered, as you’d expect, and had some deep prejudices, but he hadn’t done wrong by Lucian yet. And at the very least the decision would make both Khleb and Darrius happy, and as long as someone ended up knowing where they needed to go next, Lucian wouldn’t complain.
Khleb stood up and grabbed the hands of the women on either side of Pietr. ‘I'll wager these two have valuable information!’ He dragged them around the campfire in the direction of the nearest empty caravan, pointing at every woman he passed, demanding they join him for 'questioning'. The team watched him go. Lucian had a sinking feeling. Still, what was done, was done.
Pietr looked at how many of his scandalers were going with Khleb into the caravan, and smiled greedily to himself. He gestured to the caravan behind him. ‘Of course in recognition of such an enthusiastic customer, you can all lodge for free tonight in my own caravan.’
He snapped his fingers and one of the women, that presumably Khleb hadn’t seen, jumped to attention. Pietr set her to making the caravan suitable for their stay. There was an unsettling tension between them as he gave orders.
Without much else to do while they waited for their quarters to be ready, Lucian begun counting the number of women that were going in and out of Khleb’s caravan. They exchanged hushed whispers as they passed. What horrors had they endured?
He knew that Moxar might arrive at any moment, so he set up a watch schedule and let everyone whittle away the day. Still, getting the information couldn’t be rushed. Khleb was being very thorough, apparently.
There was very little to do. Lucian organised a bit of sparring practice between himself, Darrius, and Jess - Gar complained about his aching joints, so sat it out - and was reminded just how capable his team were. Darrius used the time to complain about the weight distribution of his new weapon. Jess was surprisingly adept at all forms of physical combat, managing to wield her staff to deadly effect, and taught Lucian a thing or two about how to use his bow “less like a Human”, but remained adamant that these physical skills were beneath her, and never to be used in combat.
After they'd all built up a light sweat, they scrubbed themselves clean in a questionable steel tub provided by Pietr, ate, and went to bed. At one point in the night, Lucian was awoken by an awful screeching sound, and decided it was some of the women moving the steel tub for Khleb’s use. At each change of watch, they passed on the running tally of how many scandalers Khleb had been through. On waking in the morning they were greeted by a very happy looking Pietr.
‘Your friend was very enthusiastic indeed!’ Pietr beamed. ‘He didn’t leave a single scandaler unsullied. It will cost you...’
‘One second.’ Lucian interrupted, and ducked back inside the caravan, bringing Gar and Darrius back out with him. ‘Our money is in our bags, just behind the caravan.’
Lucian led them all to the rear of the caravan where, sure enough, they had left their bags. The caravan stood ten metres from the edge of the cliff which bottomed out at the grasslands far below.
They stood next to the bags, Pietr having positioned himself so he could keep an eye on both them and his scandalers, the cliff to his back.
‘It occurs to me, Pietr, that we haven’t actually checked with our, probably very worn out by now, friend. We still don’t know where the bandit camp is,’ Lucian said.
‘Hmm? Oh yes, none of the girls know anything about it, of course! Just take the right fork into the mountains. You can’t go wrong for the next day’s travel. Then you’ll reach another fork in the road. Take the left turn, then at the next fork, a right. Takes two days. Simple.’
‘A left then a right? And how much is that going to cost us?’
‘The information is free, of course! However, the scandalers, they are asking for eleven gold.’ Pietr couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his hands together greedily. The high prices he charged actually getting used? Who’d have thought it!
‘Eleven gold?!’ Lucian and Darrius gasped in unison. Gar’s jaw dropped.
‘Good thing you’re rich adventurers!’
‘Hah, yeah, about that...’ Lucian began.
‘The thing is, friend,’ Darrius jumped in. ‘That yes, we are very rich, of course. However, we actually have so much money that we can’t carry it with us.’
Pietr’s face fell at this news before Darrius continued. ‘We have a support team - two people - following us, and they have all of our money, you see. They should be here in a day’s time, and you’ll have your payment. As you say, simple.’
‘I see that as an issue, but I’m fair to all men.’ Not all women, Lucian thought, as Pietr decided how to take advantage of this situation. ‘If you all stay in the camp until your gold arrives, then I see no problem. And, of course, your friend is allowed to continue his prolific use of the services the Forking City provides. At our usual rates.’
‘Ahh, actually we have to be off as soon as possible,’ Lucian said, realising that Pietr was now going to ask Moxar for a large amount of gold, and would undoubtedly describe this entire encounter. ‘Technical issues. The support team is very jealous of us. We’re the main team, you see, so if you could also not mention that we were here, that would be helpful.’
‘So you want me to—' Pietr began.
‘Oh!’ Lucian interrupted. ‘And if you could give them the same information as you gave us regarding the whereabouts of the bandit camp, without the whole... sleeping with scandal girls thing, then we'll - they’ll’ - add an extra fifty silver for you.’
‘Good thinking, sir,’ Darrius whispered in his ear. ‘Don’t want prolific scandaling going in the stories.’
Pietr coughed in annoyance. ‘So you want me to let all of you go, without paying for some of the hardest work my scandalers have ever had to do? And give more valued information out? All for free?’
‘Oh no! It’s not for free, you’ll be paid by them,’ Lucian said, knowing his argument was thinner than the wings of a butterfly.
‘It sounds to me as though you are trying to swindle an honest man out of collecting for his scandalers’ work!’ Pietr gripped the hilt of the dagger at his hip.
‘Ahh, right, no, you see...’ Pietr stepped forward threateningly, and Lucian realised that diplomacy had failed. ‘Gar!’
Gar pushed Pietr backwards, making him fall to the ground just short of the cliff edge.
‘Help the man up,’ Lucian said.
Gar picked Pietr up by his collar and held him high. Pietr took a long hard look at the drop behind him. But it was behind him, not under him. Just scaring the man, that’s all Lucian wanted.
‘Now Gar, no need to scare our friend,’ Lucian said, stepping to the side of them so he could see Pietr. ‘I just want to be sure he understands that he has some information. Information that needs to be seamlessly passed on to the next people that come across this camp. A large, muscular, incredibly handsome man, and a giant Aviq.’
‘Haha, certainly, no problem.’ Pietr laughed nervously to keep the panic from his voice. This threat of violence has convinced me that they’ll definitely pay me. By the way, what’s an Aviq?’
Lucian caught Darrius' glare. ‘Well, it’s a large... a large sentient creature, that may, or may not, possibly, remind you of a bird.’
‘Good enough, I guess.’ Darrius grumbled.
‘Okay, Pietr?’ Lucian asked, thankful that Moxar had no concept of money so wouldn’t think twice about spending nearly twelve gold for a single direction. ‘You’ll get paid by them, you won’t mention us,
and everyone’s happy.’
‘Sounds great,’ Pietr spluttered.
‘All right, Gar. Let him go.’ Gar dropped Pietr.
‘Hah. Thought I was going to fall off the cliff for a second there,’ Pietr said with relief.
‘We're not murderers. You really will get your gold, regardless of our thoughts about how much you deserve it. Let’s go.’ They all turned to the caravans.
It often escaped Gar’s memory that he carried such a large shield and sword with him, and as he turned he felt them bump into something. They all heard the yelp, and the tumbling, followed by a scream. Finally, a meaty, distant thud. None of them looked back. ‘Oops.’
‘That’s a spot of bother. But he was a complete arsehole, to be fair,’ Darrius said.
‘Undoubtedly, but I really like to avoid killing innocent people where possible. Come on guys, we're supposed to be heroic!’ Lucian complained.
At the sound of the scream, several of the women had poked their heads round to look. They saw the absence of Pietr, the addition of several aggressive looking men, and decided to take advantage of the situation.
‘Well, now we have a problem. We still need to get this information to Moxar so he knows where to go.’
‘I’m sure we can just ask one of the ladies to let him know. As long as she doesn’t try to… you know.’ Darrius said.
They walked glumly back to the front of ex-Pietr’s caravan, and saw that almost every other caravan was being hitched to a horse. Khleb had been kicked out and was hurrying to get his clothes on. Worse yet, Jess was riding back from her guard shift at the crest of the hill, and waving her arms frantically. The pre-agreed symbol that she had seen Moxar.
Lucian shouted to Khleb. ‘What’s going on?’
Khleb was sitting on the ground pulling his boots on, but shouted, ‘You killed him, didn’t ya?’
‘Accidentally!’
‘As you may have noticed, he was a prick!’ Khleb stood up and walked over to the group. ‘All here against their will, abducted from families, the usual affair. You know how that old story goes - so they're all leaving.’
‘How much of that was down to what you did to them last night?’ Darrius smirked. ‘Be honest.’
‘Hey, that hurts. I was nothing if not a gentleman,’ Khleb said, his head held high.
Lucian, Darrius, and Gar scoffed.
‘Excuse me!’ Lucian shouted to a woman who was collecting a washing line. ‘Could you do us a favour before you leave?’
The woman didn’t stop her work. ‘Probably not. What is it?’
‘There’s a pair of men... no, a man and a large,’ Lucian looked guiltily to Darrius. ‘Aviq, coming towards this camp. Could you pass on some information? They’ll pay you.’
Jess arrived just in time to add that they were ten minutes down the road.
‘We'll all be long gone by then,’ the scandaler said. ‘Don’t want to be around here any longer than needed.’
Lucian looked at Darrius with pleading eyes. Darrius stepped forward, ready to use his charm, but Khleb cut in. ‘Suzie, my sweet, at least hear my friend out.’
Suzie stopped her furious packing and turned. ‘All right, for you. What do you need?’
Lucian wondered just what had happened between Khleb and the scandalers last night, but focused. ‘Pietr had—'
‘Don’t say that bastard’s name!’ Suzie threatened.
Lucian explained the situation, carefully avoiding “his” name. Telling Suzie the directions to pass on to Moxar.
Suzie rolled her eyes, her feet crunching gravel as she walked to Khleb. ‘I refuse to be in this spot for a second longer than I have to be - but at least I can make sure you’re going the right way.’ She kissed Khleb passionately.
The group looked anywhere but at Khleb, embarrassed. Apart from Jess who wasn’t paying attention to the conversation in the first place. Lucian studied the ground intently, speaking at it. ‘They will have the gold to pay for your... efforts last night.’
She stopped kissing Khleb. A small queue had formed. One by one all the other women said their goodbyes to him, some with tears in their eyes as he whispered into their ears.
‘Please, we should be paying him,’ Suzie said. ‘We won’t accept any money.’
Lucian was very confused to say the least. Even Jess’ steely resolve of ignoring all Humans broke for a moment. The first caravans started to pull away and headed down into the grasslands.
‘Anyway, that bastard was sending you the long way. It’s filled with deadly drops, and spiked pits. But there’s a shortcut. Just take the first right, and you’ll skip all of that. He knew well and good that path doesn’t take you straight to the bandit camp.’
‘Right! Good thing we didn’t pay him. Where does it take us?’
‘If the traps hadn’t got you, then it ends with a family of ogres. Still have to go through there with the shortcut though. Bandit camp is through there.’
Lucian spun round to take a quick poll from his group. ‘Ogres are great for stories. Big, dumb brutes. Shall we send him that way anyway?’ Everyone nodded enthusiastically.
Suzie shrugged. ‘It’s your funeral.’ She told them how to get to the bandit camp from the ogres, climbed into the driving seat of her caravan, and was one of the last to leave.
‘I'll miss 'em. Great bunch of ladies,’ Khleb said, wiping a tear from his cheek.
‘Right. It’s just the five of us. What do we do? Leave a signpost?’ Lucian asked, needing ideas.
‘With no wood or paint, how do you propose we do that, Lucian? Jess asked. ‘He will be here in five minutes. You may as well dress up as one of the women and tell him yourself.’
‘That’s... a good idea.’ Darrius said. ‘Not the dressing up as a woman part, of course. He'll easily recognise you dressed as you are, our Company clothing is too distinctive, but we still have Pietr’s caravan. I’m sure there will be some spare clothes.’
‘Why are you all looking at me?’ Lucian asked.
‘Well, it has to be you that gives the information, sir. The rest of us have all followed him for years. I figure you’re the least likely to be recognised.’ Everyone nodded agreement.
‘True, but I’ve spoken to the man face to face. I handed him his axe before he left the lodge, remember?’
Everyone ignored him and rushed to Pietr’s caravan.
Chapter 13
Xly’dia and I had been travelling for well over a week on the Great Road. I had been enraptured by his song in Mounthold, and he had given me the great honour of a song every night since. I knew this was because he missed it for his own reasons, but it strengthened our bond. Trust is important, and knowing he trusted me enough to sing, had touched me deeply.
And yet I still struggled to pronounce his name correctly. He had assured me that this was his Human name, chosen for its easy use in conversation.
I had started to like the Aviq. Our routine had come easily. His natural skills at hunting kept us both fed. I rode, he hunted, then we conversed and learned from each other. He had been teaching me an ancient ritualistic fight that was commonplace in Aviq society. It required wings to be performed properly, so my poor imitation often drew laughs from his inhuman throat. The principle involved catching weapons without looking at them and returning them to the attacker. He assured me it could be quite beautiful when done correctly. Then we would both bed down for the night. He would sing while I set up the tents. Several evenings around the campfire I even found myself telling stories, like how I beat a Lich with nothing but my wits, trapping his soul within his own axe and claiming it for my own. One night, I even told him the story of my love, and why it was destined never to be. His song that night had been sad and haunting.
Now we found ourselves in a beautiful, bushy, forest of evergreens - a welcome change after the harsh white of the snowy mountains. I crested a hill and saw a fork in the road. To the left, the path led down and onwards to grassy plains, stretching for weeks of travel. I coul
dn’t even see the horizon, just neverending, brown-green scrub. To the right, the road quickly curved behind a mountain, and presumably continued for some way.
It had proved challenging finding someone that could tell me more about the unique robes the bandit from the cave had worn. It seemed that my last chance for weeks lay in a caravan perched near a cliff at the fork of this road. I pushed my horse onwards.
Xly’dia burst from the treeline and stalked alongside my stallion. After telling him about the importance of showing a united front when not trying to scare and attack people, he had become quite good at approaching others by my side. Despite this, he definitely didn’t walk, he stalked. Luckily my trusty stallion was unflappable and wouldn’t flinch at his sudden, predatory movements.
‘A lone man with a caravan, resting on the Great Road,’ I said to acknowledge the Aviq’s return.
‘Caution... the earth is... churned to mud all around,’ Xly’dia said. ‘Many wheels. Just gone.’ I trusted him, knowing his eyes to be the sharpest I'd ever seen, day or night. I barely even noticed his unusual speech pattern any more, the clucking and hissing acting as inflections in his own language.
‘Maybe he knows the fastest way to the West, maybe we’ll find out why he’s been left behind, or maybe it’s a trap. Be ready for anything.’
Halfway to the caravan Xly’dia’s head darted to the side. Not unusual in itself, as the Aviq’s eyes couldn’t move independently of his head. But he moved himself to the other side of my horse and kept his eyes fixed.
‘A trap?’ I asked.
‘No... a wolf.’
‘So close to humans? A pack about to attack?’
‘I see only one... well hidden under a bush. Not aggressive. I will kill it.’ He shot into the tree line before I could stop him.
‘Come back!’ I shouted. He stopped and turned. Not something that would have happened a week ago. ‘Remember how I found you? Crazed and starving in the mountains.’
Xly’dia skulked back to the road. ‘Yes, but I didn’t kill that wolf... I found it.’