The Brazen Blade

by Billy Wong

  Deidre chortled. "I wasn't at full maturity back then either, you know." Kath estimated that Deidre might have been a teen when they last met and Lucia, a child? "Why didn't you hide or something when you heard us coming? Do you want to get captured?"

  Lucia's voice was calm and flat for her age, almost cold. "I could hear there were only a few of you. So I figured there weren't enough to be the villains."

  "Your perceptiveness is admirable," Gabriel said with a smile. "But you should less readily jump to conclusions. If they had sent five good men instead of an oversized group of peons..." Kath got the impression the merc who had almost killed her in fact wasn't good by his standards.

  They heard footsteps approach from behind them. It sounded like one person; since Gabriel and Deidre just waited, Kath and her friends did the same. A lean woman in her forties walked into view, carrying a dead fowl she must have caught for food. She spotted Gabriel. "You! What are you doing here?!"

  "We've come to protect your daughter."

  "Protect her? You mean take her away!" She brandished a long knife, though it looked woefully inadequate before Gabriel and Deidre. "I won't let you do that."

  He bowed his head in a gesture of humility. "You're free to come with us if you desire. We are not intent on separating Lucia from her parent." Even though he worded it carefully, Lucia looked away, as if understanding her father was gone.

  "And watch as your training turns her into a bloodthirsty warmonger? That's not so appealing to me, I'm sorry to say."

  Standing still seemed to tire her faster than walking, so Kath had stepped back to lean against the wall beside the entrance. "How are you following this?" Marty whispered to her.

  "I'm following it okay, I think."

  "We would only be training her to defend herself," Gabriel replied. "The world we live in is a dangerous place, Anna, and moreso for a person with your daughter's gifts."

  Anna scowled. "So she should become like your friend, the butcher of thousands?"

  "Deidre hardly comes from the same background."

  "But you associate with her. How many men's blood stains your own hands, guardian of stability?"

  "As many as was necessary. You keeping Lucia in isolation all these years does her no good either. At least with us, she would be able to socialize with more people."

  "I'm not that bad," Deidre protested to no one in particular.

  Kath didn't know if she should get involved. This wasn't really her business, after all. But she thought a third party's input might help open Anna's mind, and spoke up. "I understand you not wanting to let others share responsibility for your daughter. How well do you really think you can protect her alone, though? I think I'm a fairly good fighter. I've been training seriously since I was ten, and I'm the best of my class." Maybe second best, but she could omit that. "Yet I almost lost to one of the men who were just now coming for Lucia—one out of dozens the people who want her sent at once, and they could probably send more than that. You may be able to keep running and hide her from them for a while, but when they catch up to you... You can't get through this by yourself. You'll need help."

  "And why should I accept help from this strange man and that monster, when I can petition proper authorities for such?"

  Deidre said, "Aw, come on! If you knew who in authority you could trust, you wouldn't be hiding out here in a cave."

  The look Anna gave her was harsh and distrustful, but she admitted, "It is impossible to know, true."

  Gabriel extended a hand. "Come with us. You can watch over our tutelage of Lucia and admonish us as needed."

  "I suppose I couldn't stop you from taking her if you meant it," she said with a sigh at last. She shook his hand grudgingly. "Fine, we'll come for now and see how things go."

  They headed for the exit with mother and daughter in tow. "Butcher of thousands?" Kath asked Deidre.

  "I've been around."

  Lucia noticed the pallor of Kath's face. "You look like death."

  "They're just scratches," she said, and got an approving slap on the back from Deidre that almost made her faint.

  They made it outside, but saw it was already pretty dark. Gabriel looked to the rest of them. "We should probably go inside and rest for the night, and leave tomorrow."

  Nobody had a problem with that—actually, Kath felt rather relieved she wouldn't have to move around anymore for the day—and they settled down around the fire they made in the chamber with a window to the night sky. Anna didn't seem much interested in conversation, lying down to sleep right after she ate, but Lucia eagerly talked with everyone else. She listened attentively to Kath, Zack and Marty recount their journey so far, then said, "The outside world sounds so interesting. I hope I'll be able to explore it in earnest soon."

  Zack frowned. "We haven't really been exploring it in earnest. We've been running scared all this time, so we never had a chance to slow down and take it in."

  "Hopefully we can have some more enjoyable adventures when the trouble is resolved. By the way," Kath asked Lucia, "if you don't mind, what is this gift of yours that's so valuable to whoever is after you?"

  She looked down. "My actual gift is to give others nightmares. But when I use it, it can also disturb the sleep of nearby divine serpents, which is what happened all those years ago. Thankfully, Gabriel and Deidre were there to get things under control."

  "Was quite a battle," Deidre said, patting her axe. Kath had read that the great serpents embodied the chaotic side of nature, and when their slumbering minds became active, natural disasters increased and monster populations grew and became more aggressive.

  "So when I'm able to travel the land, what are some places you'd suggest I see?"

  They talked for a while longer about famous sites of interest and not-so-famous ones they had been to. Thankfully, Marty refrained from bringing up any brothels in response to Lucia's question. Kath also asked the boys if they were all right after shedding human blood for the first time. Marty had killed two men and seemed to be handling it well, while Zack turned out not to have killed any, but only wounded three that Deidre finished off. Then Gabriel mentioned that Kath looked tired, and suggested they go to bed in preparation for an early departure. Funny, despite her injuries she had almost forgotten her fatigue in the discussion. He turned out to be right though, as once she laid down, she instantly fell into a deep sleep.

  She had some trouble in the morning, only groaning and rolling around sluggishly at the others' first attempts to wake her, but they were lenient on her and allowed her the ten extra minutes she needed before she would try to rise willingly. Bending her torso enough to do so proved very hard due to the pain, so she let Deidre pick her up and set her on her feet. She screamed from being moved so, making Lucia stare. "You okay?" Zack asked, touching her hand while she tried to steady herself.

  Kath grinned at him as sweat ran down her forehead. "Yeah. But I think I'll let you guys lower me down this time."

  It was still quite agonizing going down, if not as much as climbing up. She wondered if her condition grew worse, as the pain had spread and her abdomen felt stiffer than before. She was definitely scared, but tried to assure herself, You won't die. You're too determined to. As if that really meant anything. She hoped her body, and the fates, would be cooperative.

  Despite all this, she walked on instead of allowing the others to carry her. Maybe she was too proud, but being in Deidre's presence compelled her to live up as best she could to her lofty nickname of... Kath the Blade.

  Well... I probably could do better, but I like how it sounds.

  Chapter 6

  Halfway back to town, Marty stepped away from the group to pee. A few seconds later, he came back into view with a lean goateed man behind him, holding a crossbow to his neck.

  Zack gaped. "Gosh, couldn't he have at least let you tuck it back in?"

  "I guess now the girls can see how big it is," Marty said, his face red.

  "The hell, you let yourself get taken that
easily?" Deidre snapped. "I was waiting for something like this to happen to Kath so I could rub it in."

  Kath shot her an irritated look. "Really?"

  "Novices like you need to be brought down to earth when they start getting too proud."

  "I think the blades in my belly did that enough."

  The man holding Marty hostage looked confused. "Give me the girl or he dies!"

  Deidre nudged Kath. "You heard him, get over there."

  "The other girl!" His voice already seemed to be losing conviction, but Kath hoped he didn't do something rash to Marty in panic.

  "You'll never have my daughter!" Anna shouted, and the man's arm wavered. Kath tried to think of something to distract him, so that Marty could get out of harm's way and they could take him down. But he was watching them carefully, and she couldn't...

  Deidre pushed Lucia towards him. "Then you go."

  "What the hell are you doing?!" Anna demanded with bulging eyes.

  Lucia moved closer. The man pushed Marty away and reached for her. All of a sudden, she took a quick step forward and swung her arm up. He cried out and dropped his crossbow, backed away grabbing his face with blood leaking between his fingers. Kath didn't realize what had happened until she registered the shining curved knife in Lucia's hand.

  "I already taught her some tricks back then," Deidre explained as she strode calmly to the stricken would-be kidnapper and whacked off his head. Everyone looked shocked, except for Gabriel who appeared completely unsurprised. He had probably been there, though.

  Anna walked over and slapped Deidre. "How dare you risk my daughter like that? You had no idea if he would be too much for her to handle!"

  "I made a judgment and turned out to be right." Anna raised her hand to slap again, but the mercenary said, "Hit me again and I'll hit back," and she relented.

  They turned again for the port. As they started on their way, Kath reminded Marty, "Maybe you should put that back in your pants."

  #

  They made it to Genbald without further incident. Before entering the city, Gabriel and Deidre bid Kath and the boys farewell. "What, you're not coming?" Zack asked.

  "We shouldn't even have gone in the same direction from the cave," Gabriel said. "We only came as far with you as we did because Kath is hurt and we wanted to make sure you got back safely." Anna didn't seem pleased to hear it, fixing a nasty and in her mind undeserved look on Kath, but Lucia grinned in admiration.

  Kath smiled. "Thanks. Good luck to you all, and hope you'll have fine adventures in the future, Lucia."

  Deidre squeezed her shoulder. "Survive those wounds, will you? I want to see you've become a fine warrior when we meet again."

  "Don't worry, I will and I will. Kath the Blade laughs in the face of belly wounds... well, after writhing in agony for a bit."

  "You are fine young nobles," Gabriel said. "I hope you are never led astray by this corrupt world."

  Marty replied, "Okay..."

  After they finished saying their goodbyes and Gabriel's group left, Kath and the boys returned to Genbald. "What should we do now?" Zack asked her. "It's almost night, but we still have one more day before the ship leaves."

  "I'll probably just spend the time we have left in the inn. I could lie down for a week right now. You guys can go shopping or whatever without me."

  "Will you be alright?" Marty asked.

  "I think so. Just don't get in trouble."

  Kath indeed spent the next day in bed, willing herself to feel better though she didn't notice any change. She wondered at one point what her parents and brother would think if they knew she'd gotten this badly hurt. Wait, her family! She should've written a letter and asked the boys to get it sent. Oh well, she wasn't going to go look for them now and they wouldn't have time tomorrow morning to find somebody to deliver it. She would wait until after their ship ride, then.

  In the morning, they boarded the merchant ship Marty had paid for a ride on and it set out. Upon the rolling waves, Kath soon didn't feel so good. She vomited several times over the side before retreating below deck and lying down with a bucket next to her cot to puke in. Her wounds made it worse, as the twisting of her stomach agitated nearby damaged tissues and she also had to move to get her mouth over her bucket. She felt so miserable at times, she wondered if it would be easier just to die.

  "Wow, you look like dog shit," Marty said when the boys joined her for the night. "How are you going to travel the world and have all those great adventures if you're nearly on your deathbed already after a day at sea?"

  "It could just be because I'm in bad shape. I might handle it better if I was healthy. What have you two been doing up there, helping the crew?"

  Zack showed off rope-burned fingers and palms. "Yeah... even though we paid, we figured it would come off better if we contributed, and we could also learn something about working on a ship too."

  "That's good work ethic."

  "Marty didn't particularly want to do it, but I convinced him."

  Marty shoved him. "Shut up! I just thought I should save my strength in case we need to fight off your kidnappers. Especially since Kath is down."

  Kath rolled her eyes. "Kidnappers really, here?"

  "Uh... pirates could attack, or something."

  "I suppose that's not outside the realm of possibility. So, did you guys bring me any hot food or do I still have to keep eating stale biscuits and jerky?" She didn't feel much like eating, but figured she should if she didn't want to get even weaker.

  Marty handed her the bowl of stew he held, which turned out to be cool by now, and Zack produced a greasy sausage from under his shirt. She hesitated for a moment before biting off a chunk. "You waited until you finished eating and the food you saved for me got cold before bringing it? Are the sailors that much more interesting company than me?"

  "Well, they are men," Zack said, and she almost choked.

  More seriously, Marty added, "We talk to each other all the time. Hearing a different perspective is nice for a change."

  "I understand. I'd join you too, except I wouldn't want to vomit all over the table."

  "You could bring your bucket."

  She considered it, but... "I'm very dizzy, too. I should probably just stay down here for the rest of the trip."

  Kath endured a week of seasick hell while the ship skirted the coast, going around the great mountain range they had originally planned to hike through. The temptation of seeing them as described by the boys did draw her onto the deck, and she gazed in wonder at the view of so many gigantic snow-topped peaks at once. Brawny-armed sailors whistled at her and complimented her pale royalty-esque looks, not aware she was only so pale due to extreme injury and seasickness. She tried to play along, thanking them and trying to ask questions about life at sea, but the sickness soon overcame her and sent her below again. She wrote a letter to her family down there, which she hoped she would be able to send once they made land.

  The ship eventually arrived at Nurenon, a port similar to Genbald only even larger with more variety in architecture and probably goods. However, now that they were close to Zack's home, they didn't think to spend time exploring—plus, Kath's body felt exhaustingly heavy dragging herself down the ramp never mind around town. They found someone with a carrier pigeon to deliver her letter and paid up. Apsenia was almost in sight, and with it hopefully an end to their troubles. But when they passed by a store with a bunch of carts visible behind the fence in back, Kath sat down on a nearby wooden post.

  "I can't go on," she said weakly.

  Zack blinked. "What? But you're so strong and tough, you can't die now after making it this far!"

  She looked up and at the carts. "I didn't say anything about dying. But I'm beat down and worn out. I don't want to walk anymore. Can't I ride something with wheels the rest of the way to Apsenia instead?"

  "You want us to pull you in a wagon like a pampered princess?"

  "I guess she actually is a girl," Marty said.

  "Al
l that pride just disappeared without Deidre around."

  Marty laughed. "There's a case to be made she deserves to be pampered a bit after getting so hurt fighting for your sake, though."

  "Yours too! Don't forget how she saved you from that mercenary while being all wounded."

  A smile began to spread across Kath's face. "So you will pull me to Apsenia like a princess?"

  "It still seems like an unnecessary hardship on us when I highly doubt you can't walk."

  "I really am hurting, though," she said softly. "I might be able to go on, but honestly I'd probably slow you down."

  "So would pulling a wagon—wait!" Zack looked at Marty. "Do we still have money to buy a horse?"

  "If you're asking whether I do... I'd have to know how much the cart will cost, but probably yes."

  They bought a small wagon from the store, a cheap mare from a stable nearby, and headed south out of the city. Getting to lie down without the rocking of the ship, and with the warm sun shining on her face, she did start to feel a little better. "So what do you plan to do after this, Kath?" Zack asked while Marty drove. "Go back to the school or what?"

  "Hopefully, if I can. Marty seems confident he can get off without much consequence, so maybe he can help me out too."

  "I'll have my father put in a word," Marty said. Good. She wondered how long it would take for them to get back in class, though. She hoped they wouldn't have to be freshmen for another year, and be separated from their other friends. Granted, they could make more. She was more confident of her ability to do that than she had been.

  After traveling through green plains and light forest for many days, they finally beheld the sweeping wheat fields that gave the province of Apsenia its title of "the golden land." They passed some vineyards too, the famous products of which Zack gladly told all about, before coming into view of Apsenia City at its heart. Tall stone walls surrounded it, making it look like an impossibly huge castle from afar. As they approached the gate, Kath could glimpse a multitude of buildings of varying types within, some unusually tall. Towers she supposed, but though she'd seen a few before, she had never been to a place where so many stood close together.