by Jon F. Merz
He steered down a side alley and avoided a group of sailors already scuffling with each other. As they went sprawling off to one side of him, Ran sidestepped and vanished into the shadows past another tavern. He smelled mutton and ale, and his mouth watered. He was ravenous, he realized, but judging by the look of things, the tavern was no safer than the other bars in this area.
Then he spotted something that vanished out of the corner of his eye as soon as he saw it.
Ran stopped short in the alley. He’d just passed a window looking into the tavern. His peripheral vision, which was sometimes more acute than his normal eyesight, had seen something. As it registered in his mind, Ran shook his head.
It couldn’t be.
He turned and snuck back toward the window, using the edge of the building as cover so his entire head didn’t appear in the window. He peered into the murky interior of the tavern and let his eyes scan the entire place.
At first, he thought he might have been mistaken. But on his second pass, he spotted him.
In the corner of a tavern, holding court with a group of equally surly thugs, sat someone who shouldn’t be alive. Ran thought through the encounter again in his head. He frowned. It was possible, he supposed, but very unlikely.
Still, he couldn’t argue with reality. And he couldn’t discount the presence of the man sitting at the table in the corner of the tavern—without his two hands.
Ejul, the bandit Ran thought he had killed, was seemingly alive and well.
The question was: what was he doing in Chulal?
CHAPTER FIVE
The last time Ran had seen Ejul, the bandit had just had both his hands lopped off at the wrist and was apparently lying close to death on the ground. At least, that was how Ran had left him. Surely the blood loss from the arterial cuts should have finished him off, and yet here he was, holding court in the corner of a tavern down by the docks in Chulal. Aside from the fact that both of his arms ended in bandaged stumps, he didn’t seem too badly off.
Should have followed up with a cut to his neck, thought Ran with a frown. That way he’d definitely be dead.
Ran kept his eyes on Ejul as he talked. Twice, the bandit brought his bandaged arms down on the table with a bang and an obvious wince, but the men he was with seemed to respect him. Had Ejul already found a new group of bandits to take command of since his former boss was dead? Or was this something else entirely?
Ran had no idea, but he knew he wanted to get closer to hear what was being said. The question was how could he do that without Ejul seeing him? True, it had been dark at the time they’d engaged in combat, but Ran couldn’t take a chance that Ejul would recognize him. If he did, he could easily sic his new buddies on him. Worse, Ejul might have pull with the city officials and arrange for Ran to be delayed even more than a potential mission from Gakur would waylay him.
Fortunately, Ran had worn his hair loose that night. From his waistband, he pulled out a simple length of leather and tied his hair back behind his head, pulling it hard to stretch his face a bit. His beard had also grown in a bit more. He hoped it would conceal him enough. It would be safer to wait for Ejul outside, but that would mean not learning what the bandit had up his sleeve. Ran wanted to know for sure. That meant taking a risk, but the shadow warrior was comfortable enough with it.
He entered the tavern.
Dozens of heads turned his way as he entered. Ran knew the instinct for most people would be to tuck their head down and try to disappear. He did the opposite. He stared down as many eyes as he could and wore such a grim expression that everyone in the tavern immediately assumed he belonged there. The customers all went back to minding their own business.
Ejul himself hadn’t looked up, which Ran was thankful for. He was still having an animated conversation in the corner.
Ran drew himself up to the bar and ordered a pint of ale. He carried it to a table close to Ejul but not directly next to it. Sitting with his back to the wall, he sipped the ale and listened in as much as he could without appearing to.
“They’re just sitting there plump for the taking,” said Ejul. “This is an incredible opportunity for all of us.”
“It’s not like they’re unguarded,” said one of the men at the table. “It won’t be as easy as you make it out to be. We’ll have to fight for sure.”
“So what,” countered Ejul. “Since when are you lot afraid of fighting? I thought I’d gathered some of the toughest brutes in the land for this little venture. And now with the prospect of fighting, you all get cold feet? Hardly seems that you’re living up to your reputation, if you ask me.”
“And what about you, Ejul? Just how much fighting will you be doing? Seems to me it won’t be much considering you haven’t even got any hands to hold a weapon.”
Ran nearly smirked. Ejul grumbled into his drink. “If I ever find the sorry bastard who did this to me, I will make sure that I cut his head off, scoop out his brains, and use the skull as a chamber pot. I’ll shit myself silly every night.”
“Still need hands for that,” laughed another man. “Unless of course, you’ve found yourself a woman who doesn’t mind wiping your arse.”
Ejul sighed. “Look, the trade caravans will be leaving the day after tomorrow. All we need to do is ride out of the city ahead of them. We’ve got the perfect spot to lay an ambush. Once we have their goods, we can either take them for ourselves or ransom them back. It’s easy and quick money.”
Ran coughed into his empty tankard and called out for the barman to bring him another ale. The barman came and took his first empty back.
The conversation at Ejul’s table continued. “Easy and quick for you because you won’t be taking part in the fighting. As for the rest of us, we have to weigh the risks of attacking a caravan. It’s not quite as simple a thing as you make it out to be. For instance, where is this ambush supposed to happen?”
Ejul cleared his throat. “There’s a spot about ten miles outside of the city. It’s on a lonely stretch of road and behind a hill. We can stage there, and, once the caravan has passed by, we can sweep in and attack.”
Another man downed his ale and slammed the glass back down with a thud. “It’s all well and good for you, Ejul. But like Jaeger says, you won’t be doing any of the fighting. Hell, I don’t even know how you’re going to ride a horse, for that matter.”
“I rode here, didn’t I?”
“Aye, and what about those stumps of yours? What if they’re infected?”
“They won’t be,” said Ejul. “I stuck them into the pit of a fire and let the flames kill the ends of my arms. I can barely feel a thing down there anymore.”
“One thing’s for sure,” said the man called Jaeger. “You won’t be playing with yourself anymore in this lifetime.”
Jaeger’s comment produced peals of laughter.
Ran gestured for another tankard of ale and slapped his second empty glass down a little less harder than the first.
Ejul pounded his stumps down on the table again. “Maybe I was wrong about you lot. Maybe you’re just a bunch of big talkers. Where I’m sitting, none of you is man enough to take this seriously. I’m offering you a chance to make a good score, and all you can is take the piss out of me for having gotten my hands cut off, through no fault of my own, I might add.”
“No fault of your own?” Jaeger let a belly laugh erupt form his mouth. “I’d say you definitely picked the wrong person to fight that night, my friend. No fault of your own. Oh my . . .” His voice trailed off, and Ejul said nothing for a long minute.
Finally, he cleared his throat again. “So that’s it then. You lot aren’t interested. I would have thought you’d be pounding down the door to get at this goodness. And yet here you sit, drinking away the night.” He sighed. “Well, I’ll have to find some other men to handle it then.”
Jaeger held up his hand. “Now, now, don’t get so glum, Ejul. Honestly, you look like a little boy who just got his heart broke by his first lay. We didn’t say
we wouldn’t do it, we just don’t think you’re exactly sharing in the risk to the same extent that we are.”
“I’m the one who came up with the plan. I’ve been thinking it through for weeks now.”
“And then you went off on the fool errand that Kayo put you up to. Look where that got you.”
“I needed the money.”
Another of the men sniffed. “No sense having money if you can’t live to spend it. You damn near died doing that village.”
“That’s true,” said Ejul. “But I didn’t, and now I’m back here trying to get this score launched.” He paused. “Will you do it?”
“We want a bigger share,” said Jaeger. “We’re the ones riding into battle, not you. If you don’t fight, you don’t get a big cut. Those are our terms. It’s up to you if you want to accept them or not, although I doubt you’ll find a crew who will do it any other way. If anything, they’ll probably just cut your throat and then do it themselves.”
Ejul sighed. “All right then. I’ll take a smaller share.”
Jaeger slapped him on the back. “We won’t be greedy, Ejul. You’ll make enough to hire some pretty wench to look after you for the rest of your days. I’m sure you’ll have all sorts of prospects for the job, and won’t it be fun testing out the aspiring ones? Now drink up and let us get on with the planning of this raid. Have you figured out which caravan you want to attack?”
“Yasseh is the wealthiest merchant in the city,” said Ejul. “I’d like to take him down.”
“He’s also got the most security.”
“Big risk, big reward,” said one of the men. “I say we go for it.”
Ran frowned into his drink. If they were planning to hit Yasseh’s caravan, that meant they would need to be prepared for it. Ran needed to get out of there and get word back to Yasseh about what he’d overheard. He finished his third drink, belched loudly, and then slumped forward, smacking his forehead on the table.
The action produced the desired result. Rough hands shook Ran, and he looked up with sleepy eyes. “Huh? Wha—?”
The tavern owner stood over him. “All right, you, that’s enough. You can’t stay here if you’re not drinking or eating. Sleeping ain’t allowed. Go home.” He muscled Ran out of his chair and steered him toward the door. Ran kept his head down as he passed Ejul’s table. The men sitting there gave Ran only a cursory glance. But Ran heard Ejul mumble something. He hoped he hadn’t been recognized. All he could do was allow the scene to play out and hope for the best.
The tavern owner got Ran outside, whereupon Ran stumbled away down an alley. He passed the window he’d peered in earlier, but no one at Ejul’s table had risen. Ran took that to indicate he’d pulled the ruse off without a hitch. It was time to get back to Tanka’s apartments and then tomorrow he would talk to Yasseh. Since the caravan wasn’t leaving until the day after tomorrow, it wasn’t an urgent matter. And given time to prepare, Ran felt they could easily thwart whatever attack Ejul had planned.
Ran navigated the streets of Chulal easily enough, thanking his instructors back at the Nine Daggers clan for instilling their students with such a good sense of direction. He ducked inside Tanka’s apartment only after completing a loop several times to make sure he hadn’t been followed. The last thing he wanted to do was lead anyone curious back to the resident shadow warrior lair.
Tanka was asleep but rose as soon as Ran entered. “How’d the walk go?”
Ran removed his swords and other weapons and set them on the table. “As well as could be expected.”
“You smell like ale.”
Ran nodded. “I had to down three tankards of the stuff to find out what was going on at a nearby table.”
“Something good?”
“A group of bandits planning to hit the caravans when they leave the protection of the city.”
Tanka sat up and rubbed his eyes. “How in the world did you happen to stumble on to that?”
“I broke up an attack on a village the other night. Three bandits set fire to the place. I thought I killed all three of them, but apparently I only wounded one of them. I passed a tavern and saw him inside holding court. Imagine my surprise. The last time I saw him, he was lying facedown in the dirt with no hands.”
Tanka chuckled. “I’ll bet.”
“Anyway, I wanted to find out what was going on, so I sat and listened.”
“Lucky the wounded guy didn’t recognize you.”
Ran stretched out on a bed nearby. “It was dark the other night. Plus the way I wore my hair was different. I felt confident he wouldn’t know it was me. I took precautions anyway, like having three drinks and pretending to be drunk.”
“Are you?”
Ran eyed him and smiled. “You know that we can handle our drink easily enough. Just a matter of proper conditioning is all.”
Tanka lay back down. “I have to admit, I always did enjoy those conditioning sessions.”
“I might have overdone it once or twice,” laughed Ran. “But that’s the price we had to pay.”
Tanka yawned. “So, what else did you do while you were out?”
“I got a job,” said Ran.
“Doing what?”
“Like we discussed: security for the caravans.”
“Lucky you heard about the attack then, huh? At least this way you can warn the owners what’s being planned, and they can take steps to handle it appropriately.”
Ran yawned himself. “I’ll be talking to the caravan leader tomorrow morning about it. I figure since we’ve got this advance warning, we can disrupt it as we see fit.” He turned over. “How was your evening?”
“Sent the falks off to Gakur. Now it’s just a matter of waiting. I’m sure we’ll hear back pretty fast. The journey isn’t too long for the birds, and the elders at the clan will want to make a fast decision while you’re still here in town. As soon as they do, they’ll send word back. Probably hear sometime tomorrow if I had to wager a guess.”
“It’s probably nothing,” said Ran. “Kan-Gul was a crazy bastard. He could have been making it all up for all we know.”
Tanka eyed him in the darkness. “Maybe, but you know how things like this go. We have to run it past the clan. And if they decide that you need to do a scouting mission farther north, then that’s exactly where you have to go.”
Ran sighed. “I know. I’m hopeful they won’t, though.”
“Understandable,” said Tanka. “But what the clan needs done comes first. What we want doesn’t matter when the safety of our people is threatened. Regardless of what you want, if the clan commands it, you have to do what they say.”
“We’ll see what they say,” said Ran. “No sense thinking it over right now.”
“Nothing to think over,” said Tanka. “We don’t disobey the clan.” And with that, Tanka turned over and promptly fell back to sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
Dawn broke with brilliant sunshine and a cool breeze sweeping in off the ocean. Ran woke and found Tanka already dressed.
“Going to check the falks and see if they’ve brought word back yet.”
Ran swung his legs out of the bed. “I’ll head down to the harbor and see about talking to the caravan master.”
Tanka pointed to the dining area. “Left you some food there for your meal. Tea should still be nice and hot.”
“Thanks.”
Tanka left and Ran quickly downed the food. He was eager to see what Yasseh would say when he informed him of the plot to attack the caravan and rob them of their possessions. He took his time belting on his weapons, making sure the senban were properly positioned along with the length of kusari. When he stuck his two swords into his belt, he headed out of the apartment and into the streets of Chulal.
Crowds already bustled along the main thoroughfares. Pushcarts filled with exotic fruits and baked goods clambered along, stopping frequently as patrons came to buy. Ran sidestepped a number of them on his way toward the harbor. Ahead of him, he spotted a contingent of
the city guard on patrol. Ran waited as they marched by and then resumed his journey to the waterfront. He inhaled deeply, feeling invigorated after a good night’s sleep. The salt air tasted good, and while he might not like traveling on boats, Ran had always enjoyed being near the ocean.
Around the corner, he caught a glimpse of one of the merchant vessels under oars rowing out of the harbor. As she passed around the jetty of stones and the pair of watchtowers guarding the harbor entrance, her sails unfurled and immediately blossomed as they caught the wind. Off on another adventure, thought Ran. He hoped he’d be off soon for one as well.
He found his way to the same location where he’d met Yasseh the evening before and found Gunj busy loading several pack mules. Gunj nodded at him as he approached and came over.
“You need something?”
Ran smiled. “I was hoping to talk to Yasseh. I have some information he needs to hear about.”
“What sort of information?”
“I’d prefer to tell him directly, if it’s all the same to you.” Ran said this with a smile still on his face so Gunj didn’t take it the wrong way.
But the smaller man merely shrugged. “He’s out right now, but he should be back in an hour or so.” Gunj walked back toward the pack mules.
“I’ll wait then,” said Ran.
Again Gunj only shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. You’re part of the company now. You can do what you wish.”
Ran watched him lace up straps on another mule. “How go preparations for tomorrow’s departure?”
“We’ll be ready to leave as soon as dawn breaks. That’s about how you know things are prepared.” Gunj eyed him. “Have you ever ridden with a caravan before?”
Ran shook his head. “Nope. I’m afraid I’m brand new to the experience.”
“But you’ve done a lot of fighting in the past. That much is obvious.” Gunj turned back to the mules. “And someone trained you very well.”