Hive Queen

by Sinclair, Grayson

  “Was a custom order for a customer, but they didn’t like the design, so I redid it. Meant to put this one up for sale, but just never got around to it.”

  He handed me a long black knife forged from shadowsteel in a sleek black leather sheath meant to hang scout-style at my lower back. I was missing my hunting knife, so this was absolutely perfect.

  The thought of what I was about to do sickened me, but I fought it down and smiled. “It’s absolutely perfect, Thrayl. What do I owe you?”

  “Nuthin’,” he said with a wave. “Already got fifteen thousand for your last repairs, meant to send this with it as a gift, but I forgot. Just hope you’ll stop by more often in the future.”

  “I will.”

  I waved goodbye and left. Raven stood outside, leaning against the wall of Thrayl’s storehouse. I secured the knife to my belt as I walked over to her. She glanced at me and looked away, quickly.

  “Stow whatever your problem is. It doesn’t matter and won’t help the job,” I said, walking past her.

  She didn’t immediately follow but caught up before I reached the stairs that led to Copper Lowtown.

  “Ass,” she muttered softly to herself, but it was amplified in the narrow stairwell.

  “Sometimes, yeah. What, you don’t like that I used to be a bandit?”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go,” she said, pushing past me.

  I shoved my hand against the wall, blocking her path. I stared into her crimson visage, into the thin circle of her iris and the black dot of her pupil.

  “I’ve taken lives and coin with little regard for either. There’s no justification for the things I’ve done, but it’s in the past. Can’t change it, even if I wanted to. Now we have a job to do, and I need to know that I can count on you, that you’ll have my back.”

  “Can we work together, or is this too much of an issue for you?”

  Raven stepped back, her heel half on the step above her, and crossed her arms. “I guess I have no choice.”

  “We always have a choice.”

  I headed down the stairs without looking back. There was slight hesitation, but Raven followed less than a minute later.

  By the time we reached Lowtown, I was dying to stop at the closest tavern and drink away my frustrations, but according to Raven, our meeting place was deeper in.

  “What’s the place called?” I asked, stopping as we stepped down to the rough streets of Lowtown.

  “Low Road Bar,” Raven replied.

  Well, let’s find it, quick. I’m ready for an ale or more whiskey.

  We walked the Lowtown streets cautiously, my hand resting on my sword. Lowtown wasn’t any more dangerous than walking the streets of Central at night, but if we got pegged as a mark, we were in for a bad time. I just projected confidence and kept an arm around Raven, despite my distaste for her.

  Someone takes a fancy to her and that’ll just lead to trouble. I don’t need to dodge a murder charge today, not when we have a heist to plan. We meandered seemingly at leisure until we found the bar a mile down the street.

  It was formed from rock and stone like the rest of the buildings in Aldrust, but the level of craftsmanship in Copper Lowtown was considered shoddy by the inhabitants of Midtown and Hightown. The stone was chipped and hadn’t been repaired recently, and the slanted slate roof was missing tiles. There were no windows, but there was a crude pipe wedged into a hole near the roof which belted smoke in a constant stream.

  A sign hanging from a broken chain told us it was the bar we were looking for. The Low Road Bar, this is the place.

  “Let’s eat and drink our fill, then let’s have the shifter for dessert.”

  What’s with you and blood lately?

  “It’s delicious and slakes my thirst. Just a couple drops, and I’ll be satisfied.”

  “Oh, hell no,” I said and shook off the lingering mental chill the Aspect brought; ignoring the quizzical look from Raven and entered the bar.

  Subtle music mixed with the hum of the patrons. The bar was packed with dwarves, humans, and even one of the fae. She was bartending, which was a strange place to find a faery. I turned to Raven and let go of her hand.

  “Find your contact and come get me when you’re done.”

  She stopped and paused, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t want to go with me?”

  “I’d rather drink. Besides, consider this an olive branch. I expect you to fill me in completely when you’re done. I’m choosing to trust you. Don’t make me regret it.”

  Trusting her goes against my nature, but right now she doesn’t trust me, and that could go bad if we get backed into a corner.

  She nodded. “I won’t.”

  I left her to her own devices and made my way over to the stone bar top. Half a dozen other patrons crowded around the bar, all vying for the attention of the faery.

  She was unnaturally beautiful, as all members of the fae are. Long, straight mahogany hair framed her refined face and cherry lips. Her hair fell to her waist and swirled as she moved her hips to the beat of the drums and flute. Her ice blue eyes swept over me as I reached the counter, and I shivered under the intensity of them.

  “What can I get you?”

  “Something strong,” I said, pulling out a gold coin and sliding it across the bar.

  She smiled and swept the coin into her palm, turning to grab a glass and giving me a good look at her back. Her blue tunic and tight black pants were an unusual style of dress for the fae, but she made it look natural. Two slits above her shoulder blades told me where her wings were, but she’d concealed them with illusion magic.

  She returned a minute later with a tall mug with a bright red liquid that bubbled and fizzed as it threatened to spill its contents over her slender chestnut fingers.

  “Red Goblin pale ale. A personal favorite,” she said as she sat the mug down.

  I took a cursory sip. It was tart and hoppy as hell, but delicious. The faery came back with my change and counted it out exactly before handing it to me. I took half.

  “Keep the rest.”

  “Thank you,” she said, smiling wide, showing her two rows of pointed teeth.

  “Can I ask your name?”

  “Tel’ganora, but everyone calls me Tel.”

  I nodded and smiled before taking another sip of beer. “It’s nice to meet you, Tel.”

  “It’s nice to meet someone who isn’t gawking at me. I appreciate it,” she said before turning to handle the mob of other customers all demanding her attention.

  I nursed my drink and listened to the band playing while I kept a sidelong glance at Raven. She sat alone at a stone table in the corner, not talking to anyone, but she kept throwing her eyes my way.

  I’m not going anywhere, little shifter; just do your job and we can get out of here. This bar was a decent enough place, but having a creature as beautiful as Tel nearby would only complicate matters. People would do anything for beauty like that, and damn anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Though as Tel flitted around her domain, she kept order really well. One of the scruffier dwarves got a little handsy and grabbed her ass, and he swiftly received a fork stuck through his fingers. The screaming, bleeding dwarf was dragged out of the bar and tossed out on the street while the patrons cheered.

  Guess she has things under control.

  “Let’s break her of that control, drink her dry. I bet her memories are sweet.”

  Oh, godsdamn it! Look, you sadistic little monster, just wait till we get back home. I’m sure Eris won’t mind sharing her blood.

  A grumbling came from my heart, but the Aspect considered my proposal. Fine, I’ll behave—for now. The false queen’s blood is rich and sweet as sin. You can have her flesh as long as I get her blood again.

  Deal. Now keep quiet unless you’re going to help.

  I finished my drink, and Tel swiftly brought me another one. “How’d you like it?” she asked.

  “
It was perfect.”

  She flashed me another sharp grin and went back to work, she sat up straighter as a thick, black-haired dwarf walked in. So that’s Orryn. He wore a simple brown tunic free of any dirt and a pair of canvas pants. His beard and hair were well-groomed, and his dull green eyes swept the bar in a professional manner. His eyes met mine, and I knew he’d made me.

  He looked from me to Raven and back again. He jutted his chin toward the table, motioning me to join them.

  Ah, hell. Whatever. I grabbed my drink and ambled over to the table. Raven glanced from me to the contact. “Thought you were going to leave this to me?”

  I held my hands up. “He made me, nothing I could do about it,” I said and took a drink.

  “Can I have a taste?”

  I slid her my glass while Orryn sat down. Raven chugged a third of the beer and let out a sigh of content, thumping the glass against the stone table.

  “Let’s get to business, shall we,” I said as our dwarf contact pulled out his chair.

  He smiled and leaned back in the chair. “I wasn’t told about ya, I was told to meet with a red-eyed woman with pale skin and long black hair. A male wasn’t part of the arrangement. I don’t like this.”

  “I’m part of the team. Though I don’t know your part in this, I’m sure we’ll manage if you want to walk away. Though you would greatly displease our employer, and none of us want that, do we?”

  Orryn blanched slightly, paling as he stroked his beard. “All right, ya bastard, no need to get nasty. I just wasn’t expecting ya is all.”

  Fluttering from behind me caused me to turn my head. Tel had climbed out from behind her bar and was dancing elegantly our way with a tray of drinks. She stopped and sat them down before leaning over and giving Orryn a peck on the cheek.

  “On the house. This one was a gentleman,” Tel said, thumbing back at me.

  Orryn nodded and ran his hand over Tel’s lower back. “You’re a doll, Tel.”

  She smiled and left, back to man the bar, leaving me angry that we’d been had as soon as we stepped foot inside.

  “Tel’s your frontwoman, making sure we’re clean.”

  Orryn just gave me a toothy smile. “Love that woman. Vicious, and sweet as syrup. Now we can get down to business?”

  Raven coughed, speaking up. “What we need has already been discussed and payment made. We also need a place to set up for a few nights. For an additional fee,” she said, palming a small bag that clinked ever so slightly as she slid it to Orryn.

  He didn’t so much as glance at it before stowing it in a pouch by his waist. “Understood. I have just a place in mind, made with humans in mind so it won’t even be cramped. Now that our business has been sorted, I was told to introduce you to the team you’re going to be working with,” Orryn said.

  He placed his fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply, breaking through the clamor of patrons. Footsteps sounded off the stone outside. Three men, from the sounds of it. The way this job’s gonna go, I’ll take whatever help I can get.

  The men were all human, scruffy and scarred from years of hard service and questionable decisions.

  The two in front were both nondescript, brown hair, one long and wavy while the other was short, nearly buzzed to his scalp. The longer-haired man had bloodshot blue eyes and the other brown. I took them in. Decent leather armor, but worn and scratched, which formed into a rich patina. They had swords belted at their hips, but they weren’t the highest quality.

  I promptly discounted them. They were nothing but fodder, maybe level forty at best, with mid-tier gear. They wouldn’t be worth much.

  The third man, however, was a different story entirely.

  He was tall and thin. Old Japanese heritage gave him a nearly lanky appearance, but there was too much lean muscle cording down his warm cedar skin. Thick veins writhed to the surface as he clenched his hands tight, flushing the color from his knuckles.

  His long, jet-black hair was pulled back in a topknot out of his once-soft face that had been chiseled in recent years as his skin stretched thin over his cheeks and slim, hard-set jawline.

  The man locked eyes with me, and cold fury stoked the warm brown in his iris as he strolled across the tavern.

  “Mika─“

  His fist slammed into my nose before I could even rise from my chair.

  Chapter 12 - Bittersweet Blood

  My head snapped to the side as the cartilage in my nose burst and spilled red hot agony over my lips. I careened out of the chair and landed hard on my side before sprawling across the floor.

  I braced myself for a beating, but nothing more came my way. Mika hadn’t moved from where he’d knocked my block off. I stood and picked up the chair before I looked at my old friend.

  The tension in the air changed drastically with that singular punch. Raven reacted harshly, sprouting her midnight wings and claws. The others reacted to her and drew arms while I threw my hands up in a panic.

  “Hold the fuck up! No one move!”

  Though we could’ve heard the drop of a pin, if anyone had dropped a pin, we’d have torn each other apart just out of pure reaction.

  The other patrons of the bar saw the writing on the wall and beat a hasty retreat, leaving only the seven of us.

  Raven grimaced, nearly snarling at the others while they stared wide-eyed at her expansive wings and wicked talons. “That man assaulted you. This breaches the contract. Why are we just standing here?”

  “Because,” I said, brushing the blood off my mouth and spitting what dripped into my mouth on the floor, “I deserved that.”

  “At least that. But that settles our score,” Mika said, cracking a smile as the fire faded from his eyes.

  “It’s been a long time, old friend.”

  “Too long. Now you gonna get over here and hug me, or do I have to break your nose again?”

  I crossed the room and clapped the man who’d once been a brother to me on the back. Mika wore shadowsteel, like me, which made our hug awkward to say the least, but the meaning behind it was clear.

  I let go of him and stood back. “I’d recognize Thrayl’s work anywhere, but c’mon, Mika, you look like a damned samurai from the movies back on Earth.”

  “Even have the katana, though it’s certainly an upgrade from the original Takamikazuchi back in the Swords, eh? I call it Taka 3.0.”

  His armor was black shadowsteel, but his sword was shiversteel. Its silver blade accented by the black tsuka ito wrapped around the handle, it was certainly a beautiful sword, on par with any hero-tier weapon. Might even give my new blade a run, though shiversteel would chip and crack, even as it bit through my shadowsteel.

  “So we’re not fighting, right?” Raven asked, still in a combat stance.

  “No, we’re not,” I replied, waving at her to sit down while I took my own seat. “We’re all friends here, barring the hired help over there.”

  The two rent-a-thugs scowled at me. Their hands twitched to their swords, but Mika held up his hand. “Stand down. He’s the leader of the Gloom Knights—you both know what that means.”

  The two men nodded and sat down without another word. Godsdamn, have some fucking pride. Normally I afforded other rent-a-thugs an amount of professional courtesy, but the two men that had been hired were poor excuses for mercenaries.

  Their armor and swords were cheap, and they had the battle-hardened looks of seasoned men, which meant they skimped on their gear to save profits. A choice only fools would make.

  “I know I joked about your armor, Mika, but at least you know how to play the game.”

  He snorted and sat next to me. “True, but it’s just like you to antagonize your comrades when we’re about to go into what sounds like, by all counts, a really fucked up situation. You haven’t changed.”

  I sighed. “I wish that was true.”

  Mika drummed his fingers on the table. “I know we have business to discuss, but how’ve you been?”

  “That’s a complicated ques
tion.”

  “Can’t be more complicated than how things ended between you and Lonny,” he replied.

  I chuckled. “You’d be surprised, but speaking of, I ran into Ascalon not too long ago.”

  He paused mid-drink. “And how’d that go?”

  “Couldn’t have gone worse if I’d resurrected Sophia only to kill her in front of him.”

  “Whisper’s lips,” Mika cursed. “Though, if you can joke about Soph, you must be doing better.”

  “I’m getting there,” I whispered.

  Mika smiled and drained his mug. “Well, we’ll have all the time in the world to catch up properly when we’ve got what we’re after and are rich as kings. Your boss is footing the bill for this quest—that means you’re calling the shots. What’s the plan, D?”

  I stood up, and Raven followed suit. “For now, recon. Considering the stakes, I’m not leaving anything to chance. In the morning, we’re going to scout the location and assess the situation. What your team could do for me is work Hightown, listen to rumors, monitor foot traffic, you know the drill.”

  Mika and his team nodded. “Operational budget?”

  “Spread some gold around quietly. I’ll reimburse whatever you spend.”

  “Understood.”

  With that, our business concluded for the evening, and I was looking forward to some much-needed rest. Mika and his team departed with plans to meet up the following day to discuss our plan.

  “Well, might as well follow me,” Orryn said as they left.

  Raven and I stood and swiftly exited the tavern behind him. It wasn’t cold enough to fog my breath, but as we stepped onto the street, Raven shivered. I barely noticed the chill. The air outside was fresh compared to the heated confines of the bar, but even with as much wide-open space above us, the air was still a little stagnant.

  We caught up with Orryn a short jog later just before he rounded a corner and disappeared from view. He didn’t so much as look at us as we fell into step behind him, but he did pick up his speed as we crossed side streets and alleyways until we reached a small residential street. Two rows of houses stood side by side as we walked down the street to the last house.