by Jackson Lear
“How much were they paying you?”
“A thousand for you,” he said.
“Is that all? You were going to ransom her for a hundred times that.”
He shrugged, not knowing how to respond to my insulted dignity.
“Are you really telling me that you risked a hundred thousand marks on the off-chance of earning a hundred and one thousand in the hope that I’d drink some poison?”
“We were told you might be a problem and that we had to kill you if you came, but we also had to wait for the husband.”
“What are your thoughts on that now?”
“We should’ve set a better trap.”
“No shit.”
Alysia held her hand against Ursula’s chest. Ursula spluttered. Tears streamed down her cheek. Still alive, thankfully, but it was a mortal wound. She might live for another few minutes, but she’d be dead long before a surgeon could be found.
“You tell her to shut up!” shouted Defensive.
“Take your trousers off.”
He stared at me, puzzled. “What?”
“Take your trousers off.”
A momentary break in reality filled his mind. “No.”
“I wasn’t asking. Take your fucking trousers off.”
“No.”
I stormed forward. Ax at the ready. He scrambled backward, bumping into Alysia and the handmaid. I knocked his sword out of the way with the ax. Jabbed the point into his sternum.
“Wait!”
And I rammed the tip of the ax into the fleshy underside of his jaw, smacked it down onto the elbow of his sword arm, tossed the ax aside, grabbed his injured arm with both hands, spun, dropped, and threw him over my shoulder.
“I’ll take this,” I said, as I liberated the sword from his grip. He opened his mouth, possibly a final spell at the ready. I drove the tip of the sword between his teeth and out the other side of his skull. His body sagged. Limp. Now lifeless.
Alysia threw her palms back onto Ursula’s chest. “Get help!”
“Yes, m’lady,” gasped the still-standing handmaid.
I grabbed onto Giulia. “She needs surgery, not a doctor. We have to carry her.” I looked to Alysia. “Is there another way out of here?”
Still confused, she said, “We can get help. The city watch …”
“Are controlled by the governor and someone on his authority just sent seven people here to kidnap you. Is there another way out of here?”
“Yes, but Ursula …”
I tightened my grip around her arm. “Alysia? There is a bounty on your head that is high enough to start a war over and the governor’s right-hand man is behind it. We need to run. Now.”
“What about Auron?”
I honestly hoped that Zara would get to him in time, but I didn’t like her chances.
Chapter Fifty-One
The stables were clear. Three horses. One cart. A shelf of riding gear, saddles, ropes, and another rack of household junk that was being stored for who knows what. I laid Ursula into the back of the cart.
“Giulia?”
She shuffled in behind me. Pale and on the verge of collapsing.
“Get up here. Quickly.”
“I …”
I grabbed her hands, pressed them down on top of Ursula’s chest wound, and lifted Giulia into the cart. Even then it wouldn’t be enough. Giulia could’ve been a gifted surgeon with her tools at the ready and there was still no saving her friend.
Alysia sidled up next to me. “Will she be okay?”
“No. Get the horses ready.”
I unbolted the main door. Found a surprising agony in my fingers as well as a sting across my shoulder as I tried to close move the latch. Even my legs were shaking. It took all my strength to drag the door open. Peered outside. No obvious sign of danger. Closed the door back.
Alysia hadn’t moved from Ursula’s side.
“Alysia! Ready the fucking horses!”
She jolted back, the fright of me potentially coming in to attack her. It wasn’t a look of betrayal that crossed her eyes, it was more like a scolded puppy who didn’t realize what it had done to deserve such a hit.
“Please!”
She moved to one of the shelves, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like, “Asshole.”
Giulia sniffed. Lifted one hand to check Ursula’s throat. The other went to wipe her cheek.
Alysia returned, dumping a saddle at my feet. Glared. Headed back to the shelf for more gear.
Giulia lifted her hands away. Trembling. Looking to me like I was about to blame her for Ursula’s death.
I checked Ursula’s pulse. Nothing there. Her eyes were glazed over, her chest awash with blood, her cheeks speckled with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “None of you deserved that. Are either of you injured?”
Alysia kept her back to me. Giulia wiped the corner of her eyes.
“Are you injured?”
“I don’t think so,” Giulia said, though no louder than a mouse.
“Check. Hands, fingers, thighs, stomach, chest … all good?”
She gave me the meakest of nods.
“Alysia?”
She dumped another saddle on the ground. Gave me the stink eye. “The last thing Ursula heard was you shouting at us!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Really? Because you’re supposed to be good at this, okay? A professional with twenty years experience. So don’t yell at me like I’m supposed to know what to do because I don’t!” She stormed back to the shelf, grabbing more riding gear.
“Are you okay?”
“Take a wild fucking guess.”
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
I intercepted her. Looked her over. The side of her face was red from an impact. “What happened here?”
“I don’t know.”
It seemed to be the only injury she had.
Her stink eye started to fade. “They killed Delen right in front of me. And Ursula for no reason at all. Why?”
“Because their plan turned to shit and she became a threat.”
Alysia pressed her fingertips against my throat and held them there for far longer than I was comfortable with.
“I’m still alive.”
“I know,” she said, as she pulled her hand away. There was a strain in her eyes that she couldn’t quite shake. “This is you after one of the most difficult fights to the death?”
I said nothing.
“They nearly killed you.”
“But they didn’t, thanks to you.”
She pulled back, unsure of what I meant.
“It’s true. You did remarkably well in there. You remained calm, you pointed out their leader, you incapacitated him, and you put yourself in danger to help Ursula and Giulia. You also saved my life. Thank you. I won’t ever forget what you did. Now, I’m sorry for rushing you but we have to get out of here. Get the horse and cart ready. Don’t open that door until I get back.”
“Get … wait, where are you going?”
“I think there’s one still alive in there.”
“So? Leave him.”
“He might know who hired him. If he does he’s coming with us.”
“What? No!”
I crept back into the bloodied entryway of Lavarta’s home. Five bodies lay on the ground, concentrated around the three up-ended stools the women had been sitting on. One was still writhing. The calculating one.
I also found the shards of my silk pole, split and splintered beyond repair. It had been hacked and sliced and broken, now nothing more than simple strips of silk. I tried to activate it. Couldn’t. With a heavy heart at losing one of the most useful tools I had ever acquired, I moved over to the final mercenary.
“Are you Derro?”
He had started to sob. Not quite crying but certainly in more agony than he had ever experienced before, or ever would again. His right hand had been obliterated. Both of his eyes had been gouged. He could still die
of shock. Probably would.
I clamped my hand down across his mouth. “Are you Derro?”
He shuddered, trying to cry out. Eventually nodded.
I dragged him into the stables.
Alysia shook her head the moment she saw him. “He’s not coming with us.”
“He is. He knows who hired him and who is supposed to pay him.” I dropped him into the back of the cart next to Ursula, pulled apart his expensive merchant clothes and fashioned a thick bandage out of it. Wrapped his hand. Looked back to Alysia. “Are we ready?”
She looked to two of the horses, both now saddled and harnessed.
A heavy weight snapped my stomach shut and dropped it down to the ground. “No. Not now, not ever.”
“Well I don’t know how to hitch a cart to a horse and Esteban has never done it before.”
“Well then he’s about to learn something new.”
Alysia glared back at me. “Do you know who can outwalk a horse and cart? Everyone. Horses alone are faster.”
“I can’t ride.”
She rolled her eyes at me like it was the weakest excuse she had ever heard. “If a five year old can learn how to ride then a thirty five year old asshole can learn to ride as well.”
Not only did I have to climb onto a stubborn and always-shifting beast of war, I had to drag Derro’s failing body up with me as well.
I was saddled upon Jaxter; Delen’s gray and white horse. Neither of us liked each other. It didn’t help that I had a mercenary dying in my lap. Alysia held one length of the reins in her hand and together we rode off faster than I cared for. Giulia hurried after us on foot.
Everyone around us was a threat. Mercenaries posing as civilians. Spies in the windows and balconies reporting to their company captain. Soldiers behind every corner, just out of sight. Bounty hunters closing in on us. Every unseen hand had a weapon in it. Every pair of eyes were targeting us with a spell, ready to knock one of us off our ride with a neck-breaking fall awaiting us.
I’m sure Derro left a trail of blood behind, leading whoever found his brothers directly to where we were. I couldn’t even trust Giulia. She kept up the pace, quietly, her pitter-patter of sandals against the paved road coming in and out of ear shot, depending on how close she was to me. Whenever I turned around Jaxter veered off course, forcing Alysia to bring him back on point.
We came to an intersection. Alysia pulled us to the left.
“We have to go right,” I said.
“We’re going left.”
“We’re not heading to the army. We’re going somewhere safe.”
“We’re going to my husband. End of story.”
“He’s not in the fields anymore. He might not even be in the arena or the infirmary. Wherever he is, Zara will find him. You and I are finding somewhere safe to hide.”
“Raike?”
“No. I’m not walking us into another ambush and I’m not heading into the middle of an army controlled by the people who want to kill you. I can’t fight six hundred men on my own. I can’t even fight one. Not when I’m like this. Zara will find him. And when she does, she’ll find us.”
We argued. I tried to steer Jaxtor to the right. Couldn’t.
“We’re going to my husband.”
“You said so yourself: I’m a professional. I know what to do. Trust me on this. Zara will get to him in time.”
Cries came from behind us. Members of the city watch had arrived at Alysia’s home.
“If they catch us they’ll kill me,” I said. “We need to go right.”
Alysia grimaced, her mouth quivering like she had a world of arguments to make, yet nothing came. We went right, riding in disgruntled silence until we reached the front of Franco’s building.
“Here?” Alysia asked, the area unknown to her.
“It’s empty and Zara knows where it is,” I said.
I shifted Derro, slid off Jaxtor, stumbled my landing, and tried the front door. Locked. I took the shard of my blade – now handleless – jammed it into doorframe, wrenched it to the side, and broke a nice little bit of the wooden frame free. The door to Franco’s building swung open.
“What do we do with the horses?” asked Alysia.
“I’ll find somewhere for them in a minute.”
With great reluctance, Alysia dismounted. Giulia offered to help but Alysia had it covered. I pulled Derro down. Dragged him inside, up the flight of stairs, and propped him against the wall outside Franco’s apartment.
There was still a chance that Franco hadn’t left. A slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. I knocked on the door. No answer. Called his name. Called Miera’s name. Nothing. Tried the bolt. Locked. Checked the shutter looking over the street below. Manageable. With a quick unfastening and some leverage I knocked it loose. It wasn’t all that difficult to do from the inside, since these things were designed to stop people from the outside getting in, not people from the inside getting out.
The street below wasn’t all that busy but it was far from empty. On either side of the outer wall was a balcony six feet long and four feet away.
Alysia stood fairly limp. Pale. It dawned on me that she had been silent for a long time and I hadn’t even noticed.
“Wait here.”
Alysia mumbled towards to Derro. “What about him?”
I gave her one of the short swords. “He may be blind but if he manages to grab onto you, use this.”
The balcony to Franco’s apartment wasn’t far away, but it would still be a challenge. Above all else I wished I had the silk hook with me, but it was now more useful as a handkerchief. I reached out. Tempted fate. Rocked back and forth on my tiptoes as I gave myself a quick count to three to steady my nerves.
Lept. Grabbed on. Slipped. Wished I’d had a ladder. Pulled myself up onto one elbow. Swung one leg up. Started to reconsider the wisdom of what I was doing, since I was a fifteen foot drop onto the road below and I was angled sideways. Shifted my whole body. Rolled onto the balcony ledge. Dropped down without cracking my skull on the ground beneath me.
The corridor shutter might’ve been easy to open but the door into Franco’s apartment sure as hell wasn’t. Definitely designed to keep anyone from the outside getting in. I jammed my blade in between the two doors. Couldn’t find anything to pry it free. I rammed it along the hinges. They wouldn’t budge. I dug it into the thick wood. Twisted. Carved out a fine groove. Kept twisting and digging until I broke the seal around the bottom-most hinge, leaned back against the balcony and pushed with my legs until the door started to push free.
I found the bar locking the whole door closed. Was able to get my fingers in far enough to slide it open. Nearly sliced my fingers completely off in the process.
Clink.
The bar fell. I climbed in. Popped open the front door.
Alysia turned towards me, uncertain about now being an accessory to breaking and entering. I dragged Derro inside, waited for the two of them to enter, went downstairs, led Esteban and Jaxtor a hundred yards down the street, tied them to a post outside of a barber’s, and returned to a pale Alysia, a tearful Giulia, and murmuring Derro.
“Where are we?”
“Artavian’s parents’ place.”
Alysia took a moment to have a look around. Three rooms. One a bedroom, one something of an office, and the main room complete with a kitchen, dining table, and seating area. I examined my blade. It was beyond fucked. The tip was chipped, the sharp edge was dull to the point of being useless, and I had no handle.
“How will Zara know where to look?”
“She was here with me earlier and I don’t know many other places that are empty.” I moved over to the eyeless Derro. Tore a piece of clothing off him. Wrapped it around my blade to create a new handle. “When and where are you supposed to meet Krassis?”
He snarled back at me. “Fuck you.”
I kept one hand at the ready in case he tried to lash out at me. “We both know this is it for you. Your eyes are gone. Your hand might b
e saved but I don’t like your chances of it being functional. You may not know exactly who I am but you know the kind of person I am, don’t you?”
He hissed with a quick breath inwards, fighting the agony that screamed through his body.
“If you want a deal, now’s the time to negotiate. You were being paid more than just a ransom, so that means you have some way of contacting your employers or have a predetermined meeting place. I want to come face to face with whoever hired you to do this job. You want a doctor and the chance to live beyond today. You can help me. I can help you.”
He wheezed, sinking lower towards the floor. “My life is over anyway.”
“Your old life is, yes. Your new life starts now.”
“You took my fucking eyes from me.”
“I did. And do you know why? Because you risked a hundred thousand mark ransom to earn an extra thousand marks. Your greedy ass cost you your eyes. And your hand.”
I gave him a moment for that to sting him.
“You meet a lot of people who are fine with a fight to the death. You rarely meet someone who is fine with a fight to the permanently mangled, even if that gives them the chance to be a better person. But this is your lucky day. I can have you patched up and hidden when this is all done. I just want to meet the people who promised you a thousand marks if you killed me.” He remained tight-lipped.
I left him in peace to give him some time to consider his options. Alysia was doing what she could to remain busy and resorted to comforting Giulia.
“How are you?”
She stared back at me like I had just asked her the world’s dumbest question. “Really? After everything that just happened … we’ve kidnapped someone who just tried to kidnap me, Ursula is dead, Delen is dead, my husband might be dead, my home is littered with mercenaries who have been hacked to pieces, and the man behind it all is the governor’s chief-of-staff.” She stared pacing around the room, working off whatever steam was rising inside her. “My father warned me against you. He said that if I was to ever see you again I should just pay you to leave me alone. Auron agreed with him. The day you came by the house, Auron went to the base and withdrew a year’s salary in advance. He was going to give it all to you for you to leave us alone.”