Blood Mercenaries Origins

by Ben Wolf

  “Kent. You may call me Kent.”

  Ronin eyed him. “Just ‘Kent?’”

  “For now, yes.”

  “Fine. One meal, after I collect the bounty.”

  “You mean, after we collect the bounty.”

  “Yes. After we collect the bounty.”

  Kent motioned down the alley. “Lead the way.”

  With a pouch of one hundred fifty gold coins tied to his hip, Kent sat across the inn’s wooden table from Ronin.

  They’d visited a local magistrate’s office, submitted the bounty warrant, complete with the captain’s signature, and collected the sum owed—a thousand pieces of gold. A considerable amount, even given the trouble Ronin had endured to subdue Eusephus.

  Kent would’ve stopped to purchase new clothes if Ronin had let him, but Ronin insisted on sitting down to conclude their conversation first. They’d placed their orders with the innkeeper, and now they sat facing each other, each with a frothy mug of ale before them.

  “Get on with it, then,” Ronin said. “What did I do wrong?”

  “First, I want you to agree to answer my questions.”

  Ronin sighed. “How many?”

  “Very many.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” Ronin grumbled. “I need to start chasing my next bounty.”

  “It will be well worth your time.” Kent grinned at him. “I promise.”

  Ronin rubbed his forehead. “Fine. I’ll answer your questions.”

  “Good.” Kent leaned back in his chair. “Your mistake was the same as every other magic-user—mage I’ve encountered. You rely too much on your magic and not enough on what your physical body can do.”

  Ronin squinted at him. “Go on.”

  “Eusephus was so wrapped up in trying to kill us with his magic weapons and dealing with magic attacks that he failed to properly address my non-magic attack.”

  “He was physically swinging his magic weapons, though.”

  “That did not mean he knew what he was doing.” Kent sipped his ale. It had a pleasant hint of sweetness to it. “I will credit him this: he handled them better than I would have expected, but he was by no means as capable as any trained fighter I have ever encountered. Had he been otherwise, I doubt he would have fallen so easily.”

  “I’m strong and physical. I dodged every one of his attacks.”

  “Yet you could not breach his defenses.”

  Ronin looked down at his ale, then he refocused on Kent. “No. I couldn’t.”

  The innkeeper returned with beef stew and bread for each of them.

  Due to a lack of funds, Kent hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning, when he’d spent the last few coins given to him by the soldier at the city’s gate. The warm aromas set Kent’s stomach rumbling, and he tore off a piece of the bread, dipped it in the stew, and ate it.

  He finished chewing and swallowed the bite, then he said, “But I could. And I did.”

  “Normally my skills are enough to subdue my marks. Even other mages.” Ronin took a bite of his own.

  A few moments passed as they ate, and then Kent resumed the conversation.

  “This may seem like a silly question,” Kent began, “but how does magic work?”

  Ronin looked up at him again. “You’re a mage, and you don’t know?”

  Kent narrowed his gaze. “How could you possibly know that I am a mage?”

  Ronin shrugged. “I can just tell. It’s sort of a latent ability I got when my powers awakened. I can sense it, somehow.”

  Kent wondered if he had any sort of latent ability tied to his magic, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything specific. “So when a mage’s powers appear, that manifestation is called an ‘awakening?’”

  Ronin eyed him. “You really don’t know anything about this?”

  “Pretend I am a small child, and you are explaining it to me for the first time.”

  Ronin eyed him for a long moment. “Awakening is one term that is used. ‘Age of discovery’ is another. ‘Manifestation,’ like what you said, isn’t common, but I’ve heard it before. It just depends on what region you’re from.”

  Kent drank from his ale again.

  “Speaking of which, you never did tell me where you’re from.” Ronin ate another bite of stew.

  “I would rather not say.”

  “Your accent sounds Murothian.”

  Kent’s heart started beating faster, but he made sure not to convey any stress.

  “I hail from elsewhere, though I spent quite some time in northern Muroth,” Kent said. “That was, of course, until my magic ‘awakened.’ I immediately left the country when I discovered it. As you know, Muroth does not take kindly to mages or the use of magic.”

  Ronin eyed him again. “Where did you go when you left?”

  “Northern Urthia.”

  “For how long?”

  Careful, Kent.

  “I am asking the questions,” Kent said. “Not you.”

  Ronin scooped another spoonful of stew into his mouth and motioned toward Kent with his free hand.

  “Again, I would like you to explain to me how magic works.”

  Ronin wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat. “That’s like asking how the world works.”

  “Simplify it for me.”

  “Alright…” Ronin pressed his elbows into the table on either side of his bowl of stew and put his hands on his forehead. “Basically, you concentrate on what you want to happen, and then the magic within you makes it happen.”

  “How?”

  Ronin glanced around, leaned back, and spread his arms wide. “It’s magic, Kent. Ever heard the expression that something works ‘like magic?’ People say that because they can’t explain how magic works. It just does. And that’s what makes it magic. If I could explain it, I’d be a god instead of a bounty hunter.”

  “You kept reaching into the pouches you wear on your belt and grasping various objects. I am observant enough to comprehend that your magic revolves around whatever you are holding at that time.” Kent nodded at him. “Explain how that works.”

  “Alright, sure.” Ronin dug into one of his pouches and pulled out a bright green leaf.

  It might’ve been the same one he’d used to entangle Kent in the vines, but Kent couldn’t be sure. Ronin might’ve had a lot of them in there for all he knew.

  Ronin held it up in his left hand. “See this leaf? Watch this.”

  Ronin pressed his forefinger against the top of the table. Blue light emanated from under his finger, then it turned green. As he slowly lifted his finger from the table, a green stem sprouted from the dead, gray wood of the table’s surface.

  It grew another two inches, and leaves formed along its shaft. At five inches in height, a bud appeared, and then a vivid yellow flower bloomed.

  Kent watched, enraptured. Until that moment, he’d never considered what beautiful, creative properties magic could have.

  Perhaps Muroth had gotten it wrong—perhaps magic wasn’t a curse after all.

  “If you can imagine it, you can probably make it happen.” Ronin removed his hand, and it stopped growing, but it stayed there, a beacon of hope amid the otherwise dark atmosphere of the inn. “But you need fodder to make it happen. And there’s a cost.”

  He held up the leaf again. Instead of being bright green and full of life, it had shriveled and turned brown.

  Kent took it from his hand. “What happened to it?”

  “I channeled its properties into my magic, and it drained the leaf’s essence,” Ronin explained. “That’s how anima magic works. We use the essence of natural objects to direct the flow of our own magic.”

  Essence. The soldiers had mentioned that word after Eusephus started wielding his violet weapons. He basically understood what Ronin meant by the word, but he didn’t know what “anima” meant. “What is anima?”

  Ronin’s eyebrows rose. “You know about the three types of magic, don’t you?”

  Kent stayed quiet.

>   Ronin face-palmed. “Alright. This is basic stuff. Anima describes natural, or nature-based, magic. Light magic is derived from holy sources and involves light and goodness and happiness and religion and all sorts of other pleasant things. Dark magic comes from the exact opposite sources.”

  “Evil sources?”

  Ronin nodded. “Demons, dark gods, evil magical creatures—whatever you want to believe.”

  “I see.”

  “Anima magic is low-cost and easy to learn. The cost of light magic is lots of time and dedication. It’s arguably the most powerful magic, but it requires absolute sacrifice of one’s self to use it, let alone master it. By contrast, dark magic requires the sacrifice of others.”

  “As in, murder?”

  “More or less. Or the killing of animals or legendary creatures.”

  “Animals wouldn’t fall under anima?” Kent asked.

  Ronin shook his head. “It’s a fine line. Plants, trees, rocks, water, air, fire, and other elements all fall under anima. Animals, while natural, are living, breathing beings with some capacity for intelligent thought.

  “So extracting their essence will kill them, and that blurs the lines between anima and dark magic. The more sentient a being, the graver the sin of stealing their essence becomes.”

  Kent nodded. “So taking the essence of a bear is worse than taking the essence of a fish.”

  “Sure.” Ronin nodded. “I wouldn’t feel good about taking either, but if I were shipwrecked and might drown, I’d grab a fish and try to use its essence to help me breathe underwater or swim better, or both.

  “Intent matters, here,” Ronin continued. “It would die, but I’d live. And we eat fish all the time, and that’s not wrong. But good luck trying to take a bear’s essence anyway. It’s a damned bear. It would kill you before you succeeded.”

  “Point taken.” Kent sloshed the remainder of his ale around in his mug.

  “But dark magic has other manifestations as well,” Ronin added. “You don’t have to use an essence to become like that thing. You can just use the essence to power other spells. Dark spells.”

  “And that’s what Eusephus was doing?” Ronin nodded.

  “You said ‘essence,’” Kent said, “but you mentioned things like rocks and water and fire as options for anima users. How can a thing have essence if it is not alive?”

  “This was confusing for me at first, too,” Ronin replied. “Try not to think of ‘essence’ and ‘life’ or being ‘alive’ as all the same. They’re different. A thing’s essence is tied to its life if the thing is alive, but ‘essence’ more closely means ‘existence.’ If it exists, you can probably use its essence for magic.”

  “You were using a stone earlier, against Eusephus. Explain that.”

  “Maybe you didn’t see it when I grabbed it out of my pouch, but it was a normal-looking, bumpy, decent-sized rock at first. By the time I was done, it had shrunk to a small, smooth stone.”

  Kent recalled noticing the stone’s smoothness when Ronin had dropped it. “Because you used some of its essence.”

  “I used most of its essence for that one, yeah.” Ronin smiled. “I like using rocks because they’re durable and laying around everywhere. Leaves are plentiful, too, and they’re light. They’re not anywhere near as durable, but they have their uses, so I carry a bunch of those as well.”

  “Does the type of leaf or type of rock matter as far as what you can do with it?”

  Ronin shook his head. “The gods were kind to us. If I have a limestone, I can still manipulate basalt. If I’ve got an oak leaf, I can make the grass do my bidding.”

  “Or you can make vines on a wall obey your commands.”

  “Exactly.” Ronin scoffed. “I can’t believe you don’t know any of this. Didn’t anyone use magic where you’re from?”

  “I only recently had my own awakening,” Kent confessed.

  “How long ago?”

  Kent debated whether or not he should admit it to Ronin. He relented. “About eight years ago.”

  Ronin leaned forward, his eyebrows raised. “You’ve been sitting on your magic for eight years? What in the third hell is wrong with you?”

  “I did not know what was happening. Therefore, I did not know whom to turn to.”

  Ronin nudged his bread around his plate with his knuckles. “That makes sense, I suppose. Your awakening happened really late in life. What are you, fifty-five?”

  Kent grunted and shot him a glare. “I am forty-eight, thank you very much.”

  “Still, an awakening at forty years old is later than anyone I’ve ever heard of.” Ronin smirked at him. “What happened? Did you catch a unicorn or something?”

  “Hardly.” Kent sighed, remembering that day. “I woke up one morning with blue light coming from my fingers.”

  “Sounds about right.” Ronin held up his hand, and it began to glow with blue light. “You know raw magic is this blue color, right?”

  “I do now.”

  “Watch.” Ronin reached for the flower he’d grown on the table and touched one of the flower petals with his glowing forefinger.

  The flower petal blackened, but only where he touched it. Then Ronin pulled his hand away.

  “Magic is corrosive on a low level, so you can throw a burst of raw magic and do damage,” Ronin said.

  “But it’s more effective if paired with the essence of something else.”

  “Yep.”

  Kent nodded. “I think I am beginning to understand.”

  Ronin smacked the table next to the flower. “Good. It’s time I get going, then. These bounties won’t turn themselves in.”

  As Ronin began to stand, Kent said, “I just have one more question.”

  Ronin sat back down. “Last one.”

  “More of a request, really.”

  “What?”

  Kent grinned. “I want you to take me with you.”

  Ronin stared at him. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Is this some sort of sex thing? Because I’m not into men.” Ronin looked him over again. “Least of all older men.”

  “That is very crass.” Kent blinked. “No, nothing like that. I want to learn how to use my magic, and I need to earn an income in the process. I have extensive combat and military training with a variety of non-magical weaponry, and as I have proven to you more than once, I know how to take care of myself. I would be an asset to you.”

  Ronin squinted at him. “So… you want to be a bounty hunter?”

  “I more so want to develop my magical skills, but I need to make a living as well. Being a bounty hunter seems like an ideal avenue to achieve both simultaneously.”

  Kent mused, And it will better prepare me to one day find my brother and right the wrongs he has done to me.

  “I don’t need a partner.”

  “You mentioned that you had done an apprenticeship prior to striking out on your own. Consider me an apprentice instead.”

  Ronin shook his head. “Don’t need an apprentice, either.”

  “With two minds, we will capture bounties twice as quickly.” Kent smiled. “And I will only require a forty-five percent split, as I am the trainee and you are the experienced one.”

  “Apprentices get ten percent. That’s less than what I gave you for Eusephus.”

  “I am no mere apprentice. Given my background, I would require far more than ten percent.”

  “I’m just telling you what apprentices usually get.”

  Kent grinned. “So you are willing to take me on?”

  “I—” Ronin’s voice stalled. “I didn’t say that.”

  “Sixty-forty split, in your favor.” Kent extended his hand. “Do we have an accord?”

  “I said I don’t need a partner.”

  “But you cannot deny how much more effective we would be should we work together.” Kent kept his hand extended. “And I will teach you physical combat so you can become a more well-rounded bounty hunter.”

&
nbsp; Ronin hesitated again.

  “Come, now. Let us make a deal.”

  “I want seventy percent,” Ronin blurted.

  “Nonsense. Sixty percent is more than fair.”

  Ronin scowled at him. “Fine. We’ll try it for one bounty, and we’ll see how well it works. If it doesn’t, then we’ll go our separate ways, no questions asked. Agreed?”

  Kent smiled. “Agreed.”

  They shook hands.

  Chapter Six

  Six Months Later

  “I have to admit, I never could’ve imagined we’d bring in fourteen bounties in only six months’ time.” Ronin passed Kent his cut of the most recent bounty, a cool four hundred seventy-five gold coins. “And dangerous ones, at that.”

  It marked their biggest score since they’d started working together, and it had been one of their easiest hauls yet, thanks to Kent’s strategic planning and their combined execution.

  “Who is our next target?” Kent stuffed the coins into his satchel.

  “Whoa, easy there.” Ronin held up his hands. “Why don’t we take some time off instead? I’ve got a cousin who owns an estate on the island of Caclos. It’s going to get cold here within the next few months, but Caclos is supposed to be incredible this time of year.”

  “It is supposed to be incredible every time of the year.”

  “All the more reason to go.” Ronin leaned nearer to him. “And the women there are said to be the most exotic beauties on the continent.”

  Kent smiled. “I have heard that as well.”

  “Then let’s go. We have more than enough coin, and the only bounties currently available are from Muroth. As mages, we can’t go there.”

  “No.” Kent shook his head. “Certainly not.”

  Though he wanted to go back and avenge himself upon Fane, Kent still wasn’t ready to do so. He’d grown in his abilities to use his magic over the last six months, but he had much more to learn. The parchment in Kent’s pocket was a prime example of how much he still did not know.

  “So how about it? Why don’t we take a holiday?”

  Kent rubbed his chin. He hadn’t had anything resembling a holiday since before he’d taken over most of his father’s affairs nearly four years prior. “I suppose it would not hurt to spend some of our coin. We have accumulated quite the sum over the last six months.”