by Dave Oliver
Karedess popped up from under a pile of snow with a concerned look on her face. “Are we safe?”
Fierd shook his head. “We need to get away from here. Lots of dead folk that way, and it happened recently. Today recently.” He slunk over to the cart, climbed onto the driver’s bench, and readied the reins.
She nodded and followed Fierd onto the cart before they slowly departed. She whispered in a nervous voice, “Was it the wild people again?”
Fierd grunted in the affirmative. “Another whole village wrecked. I’d guess about fifty or sixty villagers, and they took down a dozen or two of the Rasend. Must’ve got taken by surprise.”
“How far south do we need to get before we get away from them?”
“Don’t really know,” Fierd replied. “Never been very far south myself. Could be all over the Commonwealth as far as I know, and we haven’t even reached the Irenic yet.”
“How far is that?”
“It comes from the southwestern tip of the Great Rime Lake. It’s what we consider the end of the north.”
Karedess shuddered. “Where do they come from? How can there be so many crazy people?”
Fierd barely heard her question, lost in his own thoughts. Crawling through that village had reminded him of what it was like to be in the thick of the Rasend attack on Camston. People everywhere were screaming and just as quickly being silenced. He had let himself get good and hot, but it wasn’t enough to save anyone. There were just so many of those feral fucks swarming the town. He remembered watching helplessly as some lanky bastard tore off Mag’s cheek with his teeth. He’d been working up the nerve to court her for so long, and then he’d been forced to watch her get torn apart without ever having told her how she made him feel.
“Fierd?” Karedess said.
Fierd shook his head and glanced at her. “Sorry. They came from way up north, past the Halefort, a couple years back. There used to be quite a few villages up that way in all the mountains, but I can’t say it looks promising that they’re still around.”
They rode in silence a bit more, Fierd meandering in the past and Karedess wearing a terrified look on her face.
***
A few days passed, all blending together in an endless trek of cold and travel. They reached the river Irenic near dusk, and Karedess was in awe of how quickly the scenery changed. They’d come far enough south to see leaves on the vast number of trees, plants and bushes with colorful blooms, and for the layers of cold numbness to start peeling away. The air wasn’t as crisp anymore, but it felt fresher. It was filled with the smell of the myriad of plants around them, with only the occasional waft of animal refuse.
“Here, girl,” Fierd said as he walked toward the river.
“I’m tired of you calling me ‘girl,’” she answered. She mustered a scornful look of irritated exhaustion.
Fierd shrugged defensively. “Your name’s too long. Feels like I got to chew on it just to get your attention. How about I just call you Kare?”
“That’s certainly better than ‘girl.’” She followed him as he walked into a shallow area of the river.
“All right,” he said. “Give this a try.” He squatted, bent forward, and stuck his hands down into the water up to nearly his elbows. He held them there.
“What are you—”
“Just wait.” A few moments later he snapped into action and had a large fish wriggling in his hands. “Ha! River fish are just as dumb as the lake fish. Now you give it a try.”
Karedess’s face lit up in fascination. She immediately adopted a pose like Fierd’s as he took a seat with his catch on the bank. He watched as she did an excellent job mimicking the technique he’d shown her. After getting into the right stance, she reached too quickly for a passing fish and fell over into the water.
Fierd let loose with riotous laughter and helped her up. “Can’t go right at ‘em like that. Gotta let ‘em think you’re part of the scenery, like a tree or something. Then you can make a grab.”
“O-oh. I s-see,” she said, shaking with cold.
“Want to give it another go?”
She wiped the water from her eyes and flung her soaked hat onto shore. Then she swept her drenched hair from her face and nodded. Taking her stance again, she let her small arms dangle in the water. She stayed that way for a full minute or two as her eyes darted from passing fish to passing fish. He thought about calling out some advice to her, but the determined look on her face kept him silent.
A fish flittered its way between her hands, and she made a grab for it. He watched as she reached far between her legs to chase the thing, only to topple over into the water again.
Fierd smacked his knee. “So close! What happened?”
She blew the water from her nose and wiped her face off again. “They’re so slippery. How do you get a grip on them?”
“Hmm, come over here.” He waved her in close.
She sloshed through the water toward him.
He took her wrists and spun her hands around. “Well here’s your problem. Your hands are dainty and soft. We need to get you some muscles and calluses if you want to go catching wiry fishes. You could also leave your hands in the water long enough for them to wrinkle up. That’ll give you a better grip.”
She didn’t answer. She just stood there looking at her own hands with her teeth chattering.
He let go of her hands. “It’s not as cold this far south, but probably best for you not to be wandering about so wet. You are a frail thing.”
“I’m n-n-not f-frail!”
He glanced around the area. “We should make a fire and set up for the night. Can’t stick too close to the river though.”
“Why?” she asked. Her whole body had begun to shiver.
“Well, if the Rasend are heading south, they’ll hit the Irenic. Then they’ll probably walk the coast looking for a bridge or ford. We should try not to be anywhere near their path.”
Karedess made a noise of understanding and nodded.
They headed back to the cart and Karedess looked through the baskets in the back for some thick furs. The best ones were caked in dried blood from her kidnappers. She picked some thinner clean ones instead and started drying herself as she walked up to the driver’s bench. She plopped down in the navigator’s spot and wrapped herself up.
They rode a fair ways north to get away from the river and made camp under a small overhang of land to avoid the fire’s light reaching anyone wandering the riverbank. Once Fierd got their camp set up, Karedess sat an arm’s length from the fire and finally stopped shivering so much.
“I feel like I’ve been freezing for a year.”
Fierd grinned as he started unpacking some meat to cook. “Sure wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“How do you stand it?”
“You get used to it. Besides, how could you ever really appreciate a fire unless you’ve been out in the frost all day? Best feeling there is.”
She stayed silent for a moment as she thought about that. “How much longer do you think we’ll need to travel to get home?”
Fierd scratched his scraggly beard. “Given how long you think you were in that cart, I’d guess we’re maybe at the halfway point now.”
“Only half?” Karedess’s face fell. “Am I ever going to see Ildia again?”
Fierd squeezed her shoulder as he pressed a spit of meat at her. “Stop that talk. There’s no sense living if you admit defeat when things get tough.” He turned and started spitting his own dinner. “Besides, once we’re out of the foothills, things will go a lot faster. Supposed to be lots of plains once we pass south of the forest. Should make for quick traveling the rest of the way.”
Her mood instantly lightened. “Yeah, you’re right. So how long do you think it’ll take?”
Fierd scratched at his beard again. “I really couldn’t tell you without knowing the land better. But best guess? Maybe a week?”
She went silent again, but Fierd could see a grin pull at the cor
ner of her mouth. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for. If he were thirty years younger, he couldn’t imagine being half as resilient as she was. He’d have to try to teach her some other survival techniques in the coming days. She’d proven willing to learn and listened well to his direction.
Her smile proved to be the contagious sort. He’d do his best to make sure she got home safe, even if there wasn’t a place for him in this fancy city of hers. Worst case, he’d continue south to one of the port cities, or maybe east to Ryten, which he’d heard talked about quite a bit. There had to be plenty of places in a big city for a strong handyman. He had a feeling these patron folks would shower him with thanks for bringing their little one back, so he probably didn’t need to worry so much. It was less about the reward now anyhow. She was a sweet kid, and it felt good to do something for someone who made him feel like their friend.
CHAPTER SIX
Casselle and Elress arrived at the docks and Casselle took a deep breath. It’d been a frustrating few days tracking leads on the syndicate, and it didn’t feel like they were making any real progress. Being back at the docks helped put her at ease. She loved the salty breeze, the activity, the smells—they were all so reminiscent of her first details in the Ward. Even the raw fish reeked of nostalgia. Things seemed pretty peaceful here nowadays too, despite how relentlessly busy it always was. The area had shown up in a lot fewer reports since the incident on the Kendel’s Brow.
The events of that day ran through her mind again, as they always did when she came out here. The way she and Ragna rushed onto the boat, the way the looters fanned out in front of them. There was so much adrenaline, she couldn’t remember feeling worried or afraid. She just parried and thrust until the deck was slick with blood.
They walked over to the pier where it had happened. Workers, vendors, and customers all gave Casselle a glance as she passed, but she scarcely noticed. She stared off the dock at where the Brow had been.
“Help you folks with something?” An overweight man stepped out onto the deck of the vessel wiping his hands on a cloth.
“No, sorry. I was…”
He pointed at her. “Hey, you’re the one what fought off all them fellas here, ain’t ya? I was here for that. I recognize the hair.”
Casselle tugged absently at her braid.
He strode down the ramp and stood near her. He must’ve been a whole two heads shorter than her, but he surely weighed much more. Didn’t have much in the way of hair either, though something about him exuded a certain kind of charm. He slapped her arm and laughed.
She glanced down at where he’d hit her and looked back at him. “Yeah.” The haze of memory fled and she refocused. “It was the Kendel’s Brow. Looters and vandals.”
The short man wheezed out a laugh and sat on the fender pylon. “Ain’t seen nobody fight like that before or since. You were like an animal!” He lit a thin cigar and held it in his teeth while he smiled. “Your partner make it?”
“Huh?”
“Your partner.” He glanced briefly at Elress. “That other Warden with the poisoned leg. She howled louder than a patron with kidney stones.”
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. We’re united, actually.”
His smile widened. “Ain’t that fine? Love bloomin’ on a battlefield and all that.” He took a few quick puffs from his cigar and held it between his fingers while he rested his hand on his knee. “You okay? You seem a bit out of it.”
“Yeah. Just memories. They tend to distract me here.”
He nodded and looked around. “Nostalgia is the curse of a life well lived. Only gets worse with age too.”
She nodded and eyed a man selling coffee beans down the way. That was exactly what she needed—coffee would wake her up and keep her from thinking about how she’d almost lost Ragna that day. Besides, everything had turned out fine. Ragna had come through her depression after the incident, and now she was the happiest and warmest person to be around.
Elress nudged her in the ribs with an elbow. “Trouble over there.” She jerked her head further down the pier.
She looked up and saw a young boy—couldn’t have been older than eleven—running down the docks with a box under his arm. An out-of-shape dockworker yelled at him from a vessel in the middle of unloading. Casselle broke into a sprint. Her eyes met the thief’s, and the boy tried to run even faster, but his feet fumbled. She swooped down with her right hand and grabbed the boy’s shirt as she raced by. She pulled hard and his stumble turned into a face-plant, his box falling to the ground.
She stood to catch her breath and looked at him. “Robbing folk on the docks in the daylight? That’s a real dipshit move.”
The boy squirmed into a crouch and looked up at her, shaking with fear. He stared at her braid and soiled himself. He looked around frantically for help—some way to escape.
Elress jogged up. “Nice grab.” She took a deep breath. “Looks like the box he was trying to steal came from a fine foods importer. Kid must be hungry.” She knelt down and looked him in the eye. “That true? You hungry?”
The boy stared at her and glanced back at Casselle. His muscles tensed in anticipation of being struck.
“Here.” Elress rooted around in her pockets until she came up with a ten-plat coin. “The docks aren’t a great place to get food anyway. It’s all raw. Take this to Sten Street if you want one nice meal, or take it to the Assez if you want ten cheap meals. You know where that is?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Good.” Elress stood.
Casselle nodded at the boy. “You should thank her and go get yourself something to eat.”
“Th-thank you.” The kid bolted east toward the center of the city. He glanced back once and then kept on running.
“Awful generous of you,” Casselle said without turning to face her.
“Kid’s from the Blue District. We need to make inroads with those folks if you want to get close to the syndicate. Besides, he was just hungry.” Elress pulled at the collar of her undershirt for a moment.
Casselle walked over to the box the boy had dropped and picked it up. It felt wet and smelled terrible.
The greasy dockworker who’d been yelling at the kid ran up, completely out of breath. His short jog from the dock not a hundred feet away really seemed to have done him in.
“Thank…thank you,” he huffed. “That…box is…” He swallowed and then continued. “…Really important.”
“Smells like a rotting fish,” Casselle said, her face twisted as if she’d just taken a bite out of a lemon.
He shook his head emphatically. “Oh no, it’s a delicacy. Not even fish at all. That’s a box of fermented Kaltic meat. They have huge animals up there that they hunt during the summer. The meat they don’t eat that season is buried until the next year. It’s very expensive.”
“Expensive spoiled meat?” Casselle asked. “I’m not surprised by how much a bottle of Kaltic wine goes for, but at least that tastes good.”
“Oh, so does this! Would you like a small piece as a reward for rescuing it from that dock rat?”
“I’ll pass,” she replied. “Just try to keep watch on your goods. This dock is better than it used to be, but there’s still some sordid folk running about.”
The man bowed a few times. “Yes, yes. Thank you very much again.”
She walked away, glancing at the other merchants unloading their boats and making ready to market their catches. She saw her new friend from earlier still sitting and smoking that cigar. He waved and she gave a sharp wave back. He looked eager to continue talking, but she wasn’t really in the mood for idle chitchat anymore.
“Sir?”
It was way too easy to get distracted in this place. Casselle turned to Elress. “Yeah?”
“If you’re interested, there’s a shakedown going on over there.” Elress pointed down the dock to two men talking.
“How can you tell?”
“See the tall one? He’s holding that box to one side while he argu
es with the guy on his other side. It’s a subconscious defense mechanism.”
“How can you tell they’re arguing? They just look like they’re talking.”
“It’s in their faces. They have to keep it quiet to avoid attracting attention, but look at the tall one’s brows. Now look at the thin guy’s confident grin. He’s got some kind of leverage.”
It took a moment, but Casselle could see it. All the signs of an argument were there, but it was so dulled down she never would’ve noticed. “How did you see that so easily?”
“Just experience, sir. Seen a lot of these.”
“We’d better head over there then. Oh, and just call me Casselle.”
“Yes, sir, Casselle, sir.”
She glared at Elress, but Elress smiled wide back at her. After a roll of the eyes, Casselle motioned for them to head over to the shakedown.
As they got closer, they could hear the venom in the voice of the merchant being harassed. He refused to yell or raise his voice, but he was clearly frustrated and angry.
“What’s the problem here, guys?” Casselle asked.
The merchant turned his head to them sharply. His expression changed from one of anger to a mixture of fear and relief.
The harasser looked them up and down briefly and said, “Not your business.”
“Afraid it is.” Casselle pulled her officer’s medallion out of her pocket and flashed it at them.
The thin man squinted at her. “I know you, don’t I? Aren’t you Rieger’s kid?”
“I am Lieutenant Cressian, yes. Now why don’t you tell me the deal here?”
The merchant raised his palms and glanced at all three of them. “I just want to sell my goods. I don’t want a part of any of this.”
Elress stepped over close to the merchant. “If he’s trying to extort protection money from you, just say so. We’ll arrest him.”
“It’s not that…” The merchant’s head sank to look at the box he was holding.