by Jackson Lear
She found a stool. Slumped into it. Wiped her eyes clear. Then turned back towards me. “Can you honestly tell me that all of this would still have happened if you hadn’t been here?”
“Things would definitely have been different. In all likelihood, Auron would be dead by now.”
“But you don’t know that. Not for certain. And not with Zara watching out for us.”
I returned to Derro and nudged him again. “How long have you been in Torne?”
He blew a pained hiss at me.
I nudged him again.
“Hey!”
“How long have you been in Torne?”
“Fuck you.”
I slapped him across the face.
“Fuck! You!”
I slapped him again. And a couple of more times.
“Five days!” he cried.
“Thank you. When were you first contacted for this job?”
He sneered at me. Or at least he sneered at where he thought I was.
“I can belt you across the other side if you like to even things up.”
He grunted. “Last month.”
Alysia looked up at that, her mouth hanging slightly open as the reality of Caton’s plan consumed her.
Derro did his best to elaborate. “We didn’t know the full job. All we knew was that someone wanted us to kidnap a young husband and wife from Torne who both came from money. That was last month.”
“How did they contact you?”
“Through one of Oder’s friends.”
“Oder?”
“One of the guys you killed.”
“The one with earrings?”
“Yeah. Oder’s buddy works on one of the ships. He’s helped us out before. This time he said there was a lot of money involved. If we were interested he could set up a meeting with the guy behind it.”
“So, five days ago you arrived. Who did you meet?”
“The first day? No one. Oder’s buddy said the guy wasn’t in town, so we waited. Then he came back to us that night with an address. He said the house where it was going to happen was empty right now and we could have a look around to get ourselves acquainted.”
Alysia’s outrage climbed higher. “You were inside my house?”
“Yeah. We mapped it out, checked all the doors, checked the stables, checked the roof and the walls. No problem. We figured we could wait there until you and your husband arrived and grab you just as you were coming in.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
“Because then we met the little fella and he said no.”
“When was this?”
“Noon, the day your lady friend arrived into Torne.”
Noon would’ve been quite impressive for Krassis. If Artavian was killed in Verseii after midnight then Krassis had managed to haul ass across twenty five miles, checked in with Caton, found out about Derro and his brothers, then gone to meet with them to give the go-ahead, all in the space of twelve hours.
“Why did he say no?” I asked.
“He didn’t say. We heard about the dead steward that night. I assumed the timing of a murder and kidnapping would make things look a little too suspicious.”
“How do you know he was murdered?”
“I was hired to kidnap and kill the steward’s boss. Of course he was murdered.”
Alysia crept forward. Pressed the tip of the short sword against Derro’s chest. “What was that?”
“Alysia, easy ...”
“What was that?”
“Alysia!” I wrapped my hand around hers and pulled the sword away. “Auron is still alive. These are the people who were supposed to kill him.”
She shrieked at Derro. “How were you going to kill him?”
“A sword through the heart.”
“Where? On the ship?”
“In your house. It was going to look like a kidnapping gone wrong.”
Alysia kicked him, slamming her toes into Derro’s face. He howled with fright and pain amplified by his lack of vision. She staggered back, hopping on one foot with what could’ve been a couple of broken toes. It wasn’t enough.
She charged, her hands out and aiming for Derro’s throat. I wrenched her away, kicking and screaming, and dragged her into the other room. “It’s okay ...”
“Like hell it is! They were going to kill him in front of me!”
“And now they won’t. You are better than this.”
“I want him dead!”
“He will die. One day.”
“Today! Now!”
“I still have questions for him.”
“Then hurry the fuck up and get your answers!”
“In my own time.”
“Now!”
I slowed down. “In my own time, Alysia.”
“I’m ordering you to!”
“Tough shit.”
“Then I’ll get Zara to do it and you won’t get paid.”
“Calm the fuck down, Alysia.”
She huffed and seethed back at me. “They killed Ursula. She didn’t do anything wrong and they killed her. She’s been with us for ten years. She was one of us, Brayen. Someone who found a way out and then they killed her because some asshole lieutenant she’s never met decided that he wasn’t being promoted fast enough for his own liking.” Her eyes welled up with tears again. “And you said you could help to get that asshole out and keep on living. How is that fair to Ursula?”
“It’s not. This is what life is like. People who deserve it the least get second chances all the time while the most good-natured people either die or get fucked over. Idiots who should die from their own sheer stupidity manage to survive while the people they crash into are forced to live with the repercussions for the rest of their lives. There is no such thing as fair.”
Alysia dropped her eyes. Mumbled. “I liked her.”
“I know. There’s something I still need to do. Can you wait here without exploding into rage?”
“I don’t know.”
It was all I could hope for. I returned to Derro. Wiped the sweat from his brow. “I can give you something for the pain.”
He wheezed back at me. “Sure.”
“First you’re going to tell me when and where you’re supposed to meet Krassis.”
“Drugs first.”
I dug out a mix of honey and leaves of the elder plant and dabbed a small amount on the end of his finger. “That’s a starter.”
He wiped it along his tongue. “More.”
I dabbed another small amount on his finger. Just as he tried to bring it back to his mouth I held his wrist in place. “What was your plan for getting Alysia out of here?”
He grunted against the pain but he was took weak to overpower me. “The docks. Krassis was going to check that we had the right people before paying us.”
“When?”
“Sunset.” He struggled again to bring his hand towards his mouth.
“Which dock?”
“Not until I get more.”
I held his wrist where it was and turned to Giulia. “How many docks are there?”
She stared back at me, uncertain. “The whole center of the city is one dock after another.”
I released Derro’s hand. He swiped his finger along his tongue again and eased back as the elder and honey concoction kicked.
“More.”
I gave him his final dose. “Which ship are you supposed to be on?”
Derro grunted, the drugs taking quick effect. “The Yasmina. Western side of the river, near the northern-most point of the city.” He slipped into delirium.
I returned to Alysia. “He’s asleep.”
“Dead asleep?”
“Just asleep.”
“Great. How long are we going to wait here for?”
“Until Zara finds us.”
“And if she’s dead?”
“Then until something encourages us to leave.”
Alysia paced around the room, refusing to settle, and only stopped when she caught sight of s
omething on my shoulder. There appeared to be a sizable cut running across my skin which would explain why my arm had been feeling a little peculiar for a while. “You need a doctor.”
I peeled off my coat. Hissed at the pain. Grimaced with the stretch across my chest.
“Did they get you somewhere else?”
“I took a couple of hits to my ribs.”
She inspected my shoulder. “You need a doctor.”
“Can you do it?”
She stared back at me, bewildered. “I’m a councilor.”
“Then I’m going to need you to council a needle and some thread to my shoulder.”
“I’ve never stitched anyone together before.”
“Did you ever do needle work as a kid?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You’re qualified.”
“At that! Not at sewing someone back together.”
“I might have a shocking revelation for you: have you ever noticed that there are a staggering number of girls who have been taught the intricacies of needle work? Especially rich girls who one day might have husbands who return from battle in something of a mess?”
She fell quiet.
“Yeah. Like it or not, you were being trained to stitch your husband back together.”
“I don’t have a needle or thread with me.”
I pushed my pouch over to her. “In the bottom. Small canvas roll. Dark gray with a leather knot.”
She dug around. “Bloody hell.”
I pulled off my tunic. Sat down.
“Giulia?”
“Yes, m’lady?”
“Can you help, please?”
Giulia returned with a bowl of water. Alysia dropped some salt into the mix. Swished it around. Dabbed some fabric into the water and wiped my shoulder. “You’re not going to pass out on me, are you?”
“No. You?”
“I don’t think so.” She hesitated, holding the needle as steady as she could. She looked quickly to Giulia. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever done this before?”
“No, m’lady.”
I glanced at Giulia’s hands. Trembling like she was suffering from hypothermia. “Deep breath,” I told Alysia.
She held the needle close to my arm, hesitating. Trying to find the right angle. Also trying to plan ahead with no experience in stitching flesh before. “I never thought blood would bother me. I was present for the birth of both of my brother’s. I didn’t pass out. I needed to sit down and a hold a damp cloth over my head, but I didn’t pass out.”
“Maybe you should try stitching some clothing first.”
“I’m not sure if I can do this.”
I lifted my sleeve up to show her an existing wound. “Like this. In this far apart, push the needle through, out this far apart, and back again.”
She jabbed me in the arm.
“Wow! Okay, that’s …”
“Too much?”
“It’s … fine, it’s fine. Just, skin is quite soft, okay? No need to ram the needle all the way through to the other side of my arm.”
“Sorry. You’re my first patient.”
“I wouldn’t start applying for a job at an infirmary just yet.”
“I won’t. But I probably have a better bedside manner than you would if our positions were reversed.”
“Do you really think all Derro would be missing were his eyes if our positions were reversed?”
I sat in silence for a few minutes while Alysia sewed and Giulia cleaned. Alysia broke the silence. “How do you do this and still get to sleep at night?”
“Wounds heal.”
“I’m not talking about your injuries. I’m talking about in here.” She tapped my forehead. “How do you watch people die … even cause people to die, and not lose sleep over it?”
Despite having been asked the same question a few times before, I didn’t have a particularly good answer for Alysia. “You justify it. It’s either them or me and they would be less kind to me than I would be to them.”
“You volunteered to join a mercenary group when you were a kid.”
“I was old enough and I had motivation.”
“You were fifteen.”
“Not quite. I joined the day before my fifteenth birthday.”
“You were still a kid.”
“How old were you when you got married?”
“Fifteen.”
“And engaged to Auron?”
“Nine.”
“So our perspectives are somewhat different.”
She jabbed me again. I must’ve hissed. “Do you remember your first kill?”
“Yep.”
“Who was he?”
“She, actually. We called her Sewer Rat.”
Alysia pulled a face.
“She was a thief. Probably never had a bath in her life or washed her mouth. I was making a round of collections one day when she got the drop on me. I lost the grip on my sword the moment I unsheathed it. Threw a brick at her face and got lucky. Managed to grab my sword before she could kill me and started slashing wildly. Cut up her hands like you wouldn’t believe and gave chase. That was … that was particularly unpleasant. It’s one thing learning how to fight someone who is facing you in an open room, it’s something else to actually drive a sword into someone’s chest in a dark tunnel when you’re tripping up over gods know what.”
Alysia fell silent. Giulia sniffed.
“Anyway, the fellas got me blind, pukingly drunk that night.”
“You celebrated killing someone?”
“They celebrated me killing someone. I celebrated still being alive.”
“And when the next recruit came along with the same victory, did you celebrate him still being alive or for him killing someone?”
“Killing someone.”
Alysia grimaced once more.
“Have you ever asked your husband these questions?”
“He won’t talk about it with me.” She broke a piece of thread. Had to hold the needle up against the window to see what she was doing. “Do you remember them all?”
I shook my head. “Some faces stay around for a few days. The sounds they make lingers a little more. That’s the worst part – hearing it.”
“I don’t see how you can get used to it.”
“You’d be surprised what people can get used to. Even our blind friend in there might one day be surprised that he was able to spend a whole day without relying on anyone else.”
Alysia scowled at me. “He and his people were going to kill you.”
“Yeah.”
“But you ...”
“Handled it.”
She jabbed again. “Were they good?”
I got the feeling I wasn’t getting out of this conversation all that quickly. I also had the suspicion that Alysia hadn’t been a particularly gifted sewer as a child, what with all the tugging, poking, and green looks she was giving me. “Yeah, they were good.”
“You were better?”
“I was better than three of them.”
“What about the other four?”
As much as it pained me, we both deserved the truth. “They were good. Prepared. They had a strong defensive line by using you and the handmaids as a shield. They probably figured the only way I could win was by going on the offensive, so using you as a shield was a good move on their part. I got lucky, though. I was able to stop the big guy coming at me for a few seconds. That fucked their whole attack, leaving me with only two guys at once. Our prisoner, though … his spell attack fucking hurt. That would’ve been the deciding factor in the whole thing. If you hadn’t been able to distract him he could’ve used his timing more effectively. He would’ve been less panicked. Thankfully I was already on the ground when he struck. I guess his plan was to drop me and have two swords and one ax upon me in a second. As it happened, his spell simply kept me immobile for a moment instead of suffering a head-wound from dropping to the floor in a heap.”
“Did you know what you were walking into?”
“I expected it to be bad. It ended up being a little worse and a little better.”
She tugged again on my shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“I hoped Zara would reach us in time. She didn’t. I also assumed that there were three more of them I hadn’t seen. Even one more, waiting in the atrium, would’ve fucked me completely.”
“They said you might be able to take three of them, maybe even four.”
“Yeah.”
“And there were seven.”
“I know.”
“How … how did you even do that?”
“Assholes like them taught me how to fight. I’ve been practicing against them for twenty years.”
“Haven’t they been practicing against someone like you for twenty years as well?”
I had no good answer for that one. “The honest answer is that I never fought more than two at a time. Aside from that, I know how to remain calm while being aggressive.”
“What?”
I asked, “How many fighters do you know? Anyone with actual combat experience?”
“I don’t know. A hundred?”
“Forget the young ones. Think of anyone who is thirty or older. Would you describe them mostly as calm and calculating or explosive and violent?”
“Calm.”
“Right. The calm ones survive more often than the explosive ones. That’s not to say the explosive ones never survive, it’s just they become rarer with every passing year. You might start out as a violent whirlwind of fury, but somewhere along the way you realize that the adrenaline running through you is more of a poison than an aid. It’s useful for a five second burst of energy, the kind where you’re asleep and you get the feeling that someone is in the room with you, creeping forward. You open an eye, you lash out, get to your feet, and you’re ready to attack. That’s all it’s good for. By the time you’re actually ready to swing with whatever weapon you have, that adrenaline is starting to tire you out. The more adrenaline, the more you suffer. The calm ones know this. They keep themselves in check. So, I taunted them. Riled them up and tired them out before the blades started swinging. After that I just tried to create problems for everyone behind the guy I was fighting and keep whoever it was as a shield.”
“You kept saying the big one would be first.”
“I wanted him angry. Angry people make mistakes. And if he was going to start swinging at someone, I wanted it to be at me, not you or Ursula and Giulia.”