The Unworthy and The Damned

by Billy Wong

  Apparently thieves were scary enough in their own right, for patrons let her by without trying to stop her. Celia grabbed a large plate off a protesting couple's table and threw at the back of her head, but missed. When the woman passed one table, however, a staff stuck out from behind it to trip her up. Lina retracted it with an innocent look while Edge jumped on her and pinned her arms behind her. "I guess you were right not to let your guard down," he said. And so, after she'd dared to hope it was over, it began again...

  Having finally caught an assassin alive, Celia was disappointed they'd done it in a public place so that they had no choice but to hand her over to the authorities. Still, maybe the constables would be able to get information out of her. It proved rather discouraging when they were told the woman had no idea who hired her. It seemed plausible enough, for reputable folks to act through proxy when employing assassins.

  "Do you think none of the assassins we met knew who they really worked for?" Celia asked her friends on the way towards home. "We thought we could get to the bottom of this by interrogating them, but it seems that might've been a false hope."

  Edge's features tensed in thought. "There are some assassins who would want to know more about a job before taking it on, who might have a better clue. Dino was that way, so he may have known something—but you killed him."

  "I wasn't exactly confident about being able to take him alive," she replied tersely, sensing he still had some negative feelings over it.

  "Let's ask your dad what he thinks," Lina said. "If anybody will have good advice for us about this, it's probably him." She hoped so, since he and the rest of her family were in harm's way too.

  They went together to her family house, where upon seeing her enter Mom read from her expression that there was something wrong. "Celia, what's going on?"

  "Is Dad home? We need to talk to him."

  "No, he's still at his meeting. You know how he is, always working even when others take time off. What's the matter?"

  "The, uh..." She looked around for Ted, not wanting to scare him earlier than absolutely necessary. "An assassin attacked me at the tavern we were visiting. I'm not sure if this isn't an isolated incident, but that seems pretty unlikely."

  Mom's lips parted with worry. "If they attacked you, they might well attack your father too. God, I hope he gets back safely..."

  They waited for Dad to come home, the tension high enough that they could barely speak about anything else. Celia's friends waited with her, for which she already felt grateful. She thought they'd offer their help again if need be, and could for sure use their support in that case. After hours of nail biting from her mother and Ted looking in confusion at them when he came out of his room and saw their demeanors, Dad stepped through the door. Mother and daughter alike released a long exhalation of relief, and the former threw herself into his arms. "I'm so glad to see you well."

  "I'm glad to be well too," he said, "but what is going on?" He glanced at Celia, and proved quick-witted as always. "Have you been attacked again?"

  "Mom wasn't, but I was while I dined with my friends. It seems whoever wanted us dead before has decided it's time to try again. We finally caught one of the would-be killers alive, but she didn't know who had it in for us. Do you have any ideas about what we should do to find out?"

  He averted his gaze and didn't reply for long seconds. "I'm sorry, Celia. I haven't told you the full truth, or your mom either. I've long had a good idea of who might be after us and why, but thought it would be better for you if you didn't know. I feared you might do something rash, and hoped that in a worse case scenario, I could talk the culprit into sparing you if I convinced them you were ignorant of their secret. But seeing how much you've grown, I suppose I should trust you with the knowledge."

  "Secret?" The wheels spun in her head. "So you're saying somebody wants to silence us over a secret you know, and they think I do? What is it, that's so important as to justify murder?"

  "It is a secret pertaining to the royal family. To Princess Eleanor—that is, Queen Eleanor now—who I believe is the one who wishes us dead."

  Celia recoiled. "Elly? Why would she want to kill us? Wait, what is the secret anyway?"

  "Apparently, the queen was adopted as an infant. She was raised as the king and queen's own, but does not have any of their blood. I heard this from one of the nobles she confides in at a gathering of merchants, and at first actually took it for a drunken joke. But when we and other merchants who were there started to be attacked, I realized it must be true and we were to be quieted with our deaths."

  "I still find it hard to believe. Elly seemed like a good person, and even saved us when she had no obligation to. Would she really approve of sending assassins, especially with the vile methods some are prone to use?"

  "We barely knew her," Edge put in. "Sure she saved us before, but she didn't know who we were then. Even if she wasn't obliged to help, destroying the cemetery golem was easy work for her, so it's not like she went out of her way. Maybe she just felt compelled to take a rare opportunity to show off her prowess, too."

  "I still got a good feeling about her. Why would you believe so easily that she'd be so ruthless and callous towards life?"

  "Since when are you this sentimental and driven by emotion? She seemed like a nice fun girl, sure, but this is the same person who singlehandedly killed two thousand during the war. She's probably more inured to killing than anyone."

  She knew he had a point, but said, "If a consummate warrior like her wanted us dead, don't you think she would do it herself instead of leaving it to paid goons?"

  It was a rather flimsy line of reasoning, which she realized when Edge replied. "She was a princess and now queen. Coming after us would take time she could use for other things and risk giving herself away. Besides, I'm guessing the merchants who heard this are scattered around the country." Her father nodded. "No matter how much of a warrior she is, hunting them all down herself wouldn't make sense."

  "You're right. Still, we shouldn't condemn her as being behind this without a shred of proof. It could be somebody who wants people to think it's her, like one of the other merchants seeing a chance to get rid of potential rivals."

  "Is any one of the merchants likely to view all the others as rivals when they're so spread out, though? If not, it would be a big waste of resources and unneeded risk to send assassins after everyone just to keep up a pretense of being her."

  Lina put hands on her hips. "This argument is going nowhere. Whether or not Elly is in fact responsible, these assassination attempts sound like they have something to do with her secret. My questions are, what are we planning to do with this knowledge and"—she looked at Celia's father—"if you've known this for so long, why haven't you done anything about it?"

  Dad gave a helpless shrug. "Though I had my suspicions, like Celia without evidence I could not be absolutely certain of them. So I continued to investigate in hopes of coming to a more solid conclusion. Besides, what could I do against the princess? If I had confronted her with it and she was guilty, it might just have made circumstances worse for us."

  "But what will you do now? You've been investigating an awfully long time and not gotten anywhere. If you just keep letting assassins attack you, sooner or later one of them is bound to get lucky and..."

  He stood there in silence, and Celia could sense the weight of his concern for his loved ones bearing him down. She had always thought him so capable, but he seemed at a loss what to do. It was unabashedly frightening. She understood his plight. If he accused the queen, he risked sparking her anger and turning them into higher priority targets, but playing dumb while continuing to fend off assassins hardly seemed a viable long term solution. She considered suggesting he threaten her with the secret, but that was far from a safe bet. One person making outrageous claims against the crown could be easily be dismissed, and if she was responsible that would definitely put them high on her death list.

  "What if we just talked to her?" Ever
yone looked at Celia, and she raised her palms for them to give her a chance to speak. "We don't have to aggressively accuse her—we could ask her for help in this matter, and get a hint from her reaction as to whether she's responsible. If she is, maybe we could convince her to stop, and even if not, I doubt she'll openly have us killed then and there."

  Her mother, who had just sat there listening anxiously until now, said, "That's so dangerous! Even if she doesn't kill you on the spot, it'll certainly draw her attention to us, and..."

  Celia bowed her head. "I know it's a bold plan, and obviously carries its risks. But you know what I said about having a good feeling about her? It still stands. Even if she could possibly have something to do with this, I can't bring myself to believe she's all bad. Hopefully having met us on good terms before, she'll be inclined to give our words some consideration."

  Edge asked, "So you're going to walk up to a woman whose strength is akin to that of a demigod from old lore, talk to her about the attempts to kill you which she might be behind, and hope everything works out?"

  "Like I said, I doubt she'll draw unwanted attention to herself by outright murdering me in her castle. As for after... that might go poorly if she is guilty, but I'm willing to take a chance on a girl who saved our lives."

  "You've covered the time you're in front of her and after," Lina said, "but what about on your way there? Whether or not Her Majesty's to blame, it's likely assassins will come for you on the road to the capital. You know, like they did before."

  "I've taken that into account." She smiled. "Which is why I was thinking to ask you guys for help again."

  Lina took on a doe-eyed look. "You want a healer to go headlong with you into danger?"

  "You showed few qualms about facing danger before."

  She giggled. "I guess that's true. Fine, into peril once more."

  "As long as I'll get paid," Edge agreed with a grin.

  Celia looked at her father. "Is this all right? Will you let me try to save us, for once?"

  Hugging Mom as to reassure her, he said quietly, "I don't have any better ideas. So we'll put our hopes in you."

  The trio gathered the needed supplies and started on their way to Bagentroth, the capital in the heart of the nation. They hadn't even gone a full day before they were attacked by a pair of grizzled swordsmen. Edge took one on in a noisy, frenetic roadside dance while Celia faced the other, waiting for him to make a move as they stood in mud from a recent rain. He faked a jab at her, then darted towards Lina instead. Celia's heart quickened; he must mean to take the healer hostage, though she didn't know how he could be confident they'd capitulate to that. Lina shrank back while he closed in, Celia chasing after him but afraid she might be too slow. Just before he would have grabbed Lina, light flared from the top of her staff. He shielded his eyes with a yell of surprise and pain. Celia ran him through from behind, lowered the blade so that he fell off it. Catching sight of what had happened, his partner tried to flee. Edge threw an axe into his back, and he flopped facedown in the mud.

  Celia observed the gently pulsing white glow from Lina's staff. "I didn't know you had offensive magic."

  "This isn't typically used for offense, more for providing light when there isn't enough. But at close range, it can momentarily blind someone who isn't expecting it in a pinch." It was good to know she wasn't totally defenseless in a fight. Although such a trick would only buy seconds, sometimes seconds were all that was needed, as they had just seen.

  They continued on, battling assassins on three more occasions over the next weeks. Though nerve-wracking, the encounters proved not too tough, Lina providing ample distractions with her magic or just throwing things while Celia and Edge did the meat of the bloody work. She healed the minor wounds they received after, though the fatigue from the fights and long journey were something they just had to deal with. One morning, when only days remained before they'd reach Bagentroth, Celia smelled a bone-chilling stink from beyond the trees to the sides of the road. Lina had pinched her nose closed against it, but Celia didn't know if breathing in the tainted air through her mouth was any better an idea. "What is that stench?" she asked, though she had a sinking feeling...

  Edge's features scrunched up in disgust. "It smells like that creature in Lideje. Stay alert, girls—I suspect we might be seeing our friend the Necromancer soon."

  A stout figure in brown monklike robes stepped out from the wood before them. He looked hardly the image of a dark magician with his relaxed slouch and soft, pleasant face. But when he spoke, Celia knew they faced their most persistent enemy. "Admirable deductive skills," he crooned mockingly. "I wonder if they will save you, though." He waved an arm, and she heard crashing footsteps from both sides. Trees cracked and toppled as three rotting giants the height of buildings stepped right through them. One looked to be made of the bodies of dead warriors, wearing armor and with weapons mixed in there. Another seemed comprised of particularly puffy and bloated corpses, and the third's constituent bodies sported boils evident of deadly illness. "Because you seem very lucky in terms of just happening to gain powerful allies when I would otherwise have you, I've taken my time to prepare extra assurance. Meet my most proud creations, War Dead, The Drowned, and Plague Lord."

  "Three cemetery golems?" Edge said. "That is way overdoing it!"

  "W-what's the plan?" Lina asked, voice shaking.

  The Necromancer's gaze snapped towards her. "In case this little wench has some magic that could be an inconvenience, I will have her taken care of first. Go, my servants, and destroy her!" The monsters stomped towards her.

  "What?! Hey, wait a minute, that's not-" War Dead pointed an arm at her, and out shot a sword. Stepping sideways while she gave a wild wave of her staff, she just managed to avoid it. But The Drowned and Plague Lord were already on her. She ducked Plague Lord's attempt to grab her, wide eyes staring as the diseased flesh passed inches above her. Then The Drowned kicked her, sent her hurtling away dozens of feet through the air. She landed with a thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust, and lay motionless.

  "Celia, why didn't you do anything?" Edge asked.

  She realized guiltily that she had just stood and watched while Lina was taken out, but said, "You didn't do anything either! I guess it just happened so fast, and they're so big..."

  "Is she dead?"

  "I can't tell, but that was a devastating hit." If she did live, no doubt the healer needed healing now. The golems ambled towards them, slow but inexorable. "Should we run? I don't want to leave Lina for dead, but we'll do her no good getting killed either."

  "No, Dino once mentioned these things can run. I doubt we'll be able to lose them fleeing blindly through the place chosen for our burial ground." He shifted his axes hesitantly, eyes searching the titanic forms for weaknesses but not looking hopeful. "If we kill the Necromancer, maybe they'll fall inert without anyone to control them."

  It was as good a plan as any she could come up with. She raised her sword. "Think we can get past them?"

  He looked each one over and gulped. "We won't know until we try."

  They charged, the Necromancer leering at them from behind his monsters. War Dead pointed its arm at Celia and shot a spear. Not quite quick enough to dodge, she winced as it grazed her shoulder. She neared it and chopped at its ankle, penetrated a few inches but then had her blade stopped by metal hidden inside. As she tried to drag it free, the golem jerked its leg back. Pulled forward, she stumbled. Her sword finally came loose, but before she could regain her balance a heavy fist hammered down between her shoulder blades. She heard bones snap and fell forward with a shriek, her back a mass of agony. "Edge, help..." she mouthed, slowly raising her head—and saw him high above the earth, straining to feel himself from Plague Lord's grip. No, no... Plague Lord lifted him to head level, seemingly to study him though it didn't have anything Celia could identify as eyes, then like it'd grown bored of him flung him contemptuously against the ground. He moaned and tried to push himself up, but The Drowne
d stomped on him and he lay still.

  Though in unbearable pain, Celia resolved to use everything she had left to bring the Necromancer down. She forced herself up with a scream, took her hilt in both hands. With a twist of her body, she hurled her sword spinning through the air at her adversary. She imagined it striking his waist, shearing him in half—but before that could occur, a shield flew down from War Dead's arm and impacted with it, knocking it to the ground. Trembling, Celia glared in defiance at the Necromancer and reached for a dagger. Just as her fingers brushed the handle, War Dead's massive onrushing foot brushed her face, and all was darkness.

  Chapter 11

  Celia came to slowly, only aware of darkness at first. Then she realized she lay on something hard, maybe wood—and that she hurt all over, though not as much as perhaps she would expect. She was moving too, not of her own volition—whatever surface she rested on jolted up and down at random intervals, as if being pulled over a bumpy trail. She opened her eyes to see the blue sky littered with white cloud. Looking to the side, she saw Edge on his back next to her, eyes closed but breathing. She propped herself up on her elbows and gazed back over her shoulder to see they were in the back of a horse-drawn wagon—driven by a girl in blue robes. A staff with a large round head rested beside her.

  "Lina, is that you?" Celia asked.

  "Who else do I look like?"

  "Are we alive, then?"

  "Does it feel like you are?"

  She got out a weak smile. "I guess you sound a bit carefree to be dead." She shook Edge by the shoulder. "Come on Edge, wake up." He groaned and slowly opened his eyelids.

  "We're not dead?" he asked, glancing about to orient himself like she had. "I thought for sure we were goners. Did you manage to kill the Necromancer?"

  "I wish I could say I did, but no, I got defeated just like you. Somehow we're still here, though. Lina, what happened?"

  "A group of royal knights saw us about to be slaughtered, destroyed the creatures and saved us. They lent me this vehicle to take you to the city too, but I'll have to return it when we get there."