“We finally had something to bargain with,” said Bren, wretchedly.
“We?” I asked, dread closing over my heart like a fist. “Bren, don’t tell me you knew about this.”
“I…”
I slapped Bren hard across the cheek before he could finish, fury like a living thing, writhing inside of me.
“How could you?”
“I was trying to do the right thing for the village,” he said, staring at the ground. “We all were. Damn it, Keira, we were scared. They could have killed all ten of those bandits easily, think what they could do to us.”
“But they didn’t kill them,” I pointed out.
Bren had no reply.
“What about my parents?”
“A few people stood up for the mercenaries – your mom and dad, old Elva. Ryne had them locked up.”
“Why are you helping me now?” I asked.
He had an answer to that, his head coming up fast, eyes flashing. “You’re my friend. No one treats my friends like that.”
“Those guys are my friends.”
He nodded. “I get that now. But I can help. I want to make things right.”
“It’ll be dangerous.”
“I don’t care. It’s the least I can do.”
“Where are they being kept?” The village did not have a ‘jail’. People were either made to work off penalties or, for more extreme crimes, were simply exiled.
“Cold storage,” replied Bren.
Just beyond the edge of the village proper was the windowless, stone-walled building where meat was stored in the warmer summer months. It was not far from the stable, another building kept outside the main village because it could smell a bit in hot weather.
“Okay then.”
So now there were two of us trying to set the guys free. We were barely out of our teens and had never been in a real fight in our lives. But we were both smart – relatively – and we were both brave – relatively – we could come up with something.
“We’re terrible at this,” said Bren, glumly, after about ten minutes of hard thinking.
“It’s just not what we do,” I admitted. “And we need to come up with something fast, before someone notices that this guy is missing.”
As my eyes shifted to the dead body on the floor, the beginnings of a plan started to form.
“What are you thinking?” asked Bren.
“I’m thinking that you were right – we’re not cut out for planning a prison break. But I know four people who are. All they need is an opportunity.”
A few minutes later, I screamed as loud as I could and ran out of the stable in the direction of the cold store. “He’s dead! They killed him!”
One of the bandits – there were ten or fifteen of them there on guard – came to meet me. “What are you screaming about?”
“One of the mercenaries killed Largon.”
“Impossible,” the man shook his head. “They’ve been locked up in there all night. There’s no way they could have gotten out.”
“Look for yourself.”
The man stared at me for a moment before nodding at a pair of his men. “Chak, Digon. Go and see.”
“You’re wasting time,” I said as the pair went back to the stable. “He went out the window, he’s getting away.”
“There’s no way any of them got out,” the bandit insisted.
But Chak and Digon hurried back with the news that Largon had been killed and my story started to sound plausible. “Alright. Go check to make sure they’re all still in there.”
Chak and Digon nodded. They heaved back the heavy bolt on the cold store and entered, closing the door behind them. They were gone for a long time.
“Something’s wrong. With me.” The bandit in charge led the rest of his squad into the cold store. This time, I heard sounds of a fight from inside, muffled by the thick walls of the store. I held my breath.
A second later, Taka strode out, carrying the spear of one of the bandits. He was followed by Luca, Kai and Rex, all of whom had armed themselves.
“Well done,” said Taka, as he saw me, and I swelled with pride.
“There’s more,” I said, really quite proud of myself. “Bren,” I hissed into the darkness, and Bren hurried up with horses.
“Very well done,” Taka added. But there was clearly something wrong with him, and with Rex and Kai, too. They stood unsteady, and even that ‘well done’ had been slightly slurred.
The guys and I mounted up. None of them questioned me coming with them, which was just as well, because my decision was made – there was nothing left for me now in this village of liars and traitors. Bren would look after my family, but they would be safer with me gone.
“Good luck,” whispered Bren.
I nodded back at him and then followed the guys as they galloped away into the night, up the slope towards the crags.
Chapter 16
With night dwindling into early morning, I led the guys to a cave in the crags, secluded, but affording clear views down the mountain. Bren and I had called it our ‘fort’ when we were kids. We had played there and it was where we came to hide out when we were in trouble. As the guys stumbled in, I thought that I had never known them so serious and so downcast.
“It’s the drug,” murmured Taka when he caught me staring as he clumsily dismounted. “Still need to sleep it off.”
He, Rex and Kai collapsed in the cave, asleep as soon as they put their heads to the hard ground. The drug used had probably been goats’ bane, which grew locally and was a powerful and dangerous sedative. The fact that the guys had been able to shrug off its effects enough to fight back in the cold store and ride up here was little short of a miracle, a testament to their strength.
I tried to make myself comfortable by the wall, as Luca, the only one without the drug in his system, sat down at the cave mouth on lookout duty.
“What you did tonight; that was very brave.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. I knew that I couldn’t do anything – fucking useless. You guys managed to take them down even when you were tied up.”
Luca shrugged. “In some ways, it’s easier to take people out when you’re tied up, because they’re not expecting it.”
“But your hands and feet were tied.”
“In that way, it’s more difficult. When those first two came in, Taka pretended to be asleep, then tripped them up when they got close. Rex sat on one while Kai and I banged the other’s head against the ground. Then, we used his sword to cut our bonds. From then on, it was pretty easy. But the point is, we wouldn’t have been able to do any of it if it wasn’t for you.” His eyes shyly drifted from me to the floor. “You’re amazing.”
“I didn’t feel amazing. I felt helpless.”
“You felt helpless? We were tied up in a meat store. But real bravery is feeling helpless and still standing up. That’s what you did tonight. The others will tell you the same when they’re not whacked out on goat grass, or whatever the hell it’s called. There isn’t a person in this cave who doesn’t think you are incredible in every way. Who wouldn’t be proud to …” He looked away again. “We all like you. Very much. That’s all I’m saying. There’s not much that the four of us agree on, but on you, we are very much agreed.”
The flutterings of love inside my chest that had flickered for all four of the men I shared this cave with were fanned to a flame by Luca’s words. Was it too much to hope that all four of them could… I did not even dare put words to my dream, but it was a beautiful dream, nevertheless.
“Get some sleep,” Luca advised, and I decided, for once, to do as I was told.
When I woke, the sun was already high in the sky. Although the floor of the cave was hardly a comfortable bed, it had been a long night and exhaustion was enough to send me to sleep for a long time. I sat up and looked about.
The guys were seated cross-legged just outside the cave mouth. Taka looked over and smiled as he saw me. “Ah, our savior is awake.
”
I was delighted to see the familiar expression back in his face, and the familiar crispness back in his voice. Kai and Rex, too, looked their old selves again, with no ill effects from their ordeal. There was something about seeing the four of them together there as I woke up that made me feel as if all was right with the world. This was how I was supposed to wake up, the sight to which I was supposed to wake up. My four guys and me. What could be wrong with that? Today, we started our new life together. I would ride with them to the headquarters of Lord Krius, where they would take up their next job. They would go out on missions and I would stay at home and do whatever it was mercenary wives did – I was anxious to find out. Then, they would come home and tell me about their day and make love to me.
I would miss my family, of course. And Bren. And, damn it all, I would miss Stenheim. However much I had turned against the place after the events of last evening, it was my home and I loved it. But life is change.
“Come join us,” said Kai eagerly. “Breakfast isn’t up to much – can’t risk lighting a fire this close to your village – but it’s better than nothing.”
I joined the circle, the guys moving to make room for me.
“So, where do we go now?” I asked, eager to start the new life I was picturing and put behind me any sadness at leaving my old life. “Lord Krius’s territory?”
“Not yet.” Taka shook his head. “Soon, but not yet. We’ve got unfinished business in Stenheim.”
I gaped. “What? You’re going back?”
“We don’t run away from a fight,” said Luca.
“But…” I stammered, “what have you got to fight for?”
“Same as we ever had,” said Taka. “We said we would rid your village of bandits and we will see it through. The gods know they need it now more than ever.”
“They drugged you,” I exclaimed. “They turned you over to the bandits. They betrayed you.”
“They didn’t betray us,” Taka pointed out. “We’re mercenaries. We’re on no one’s side but our own. That means no one can betray us.”
“Except each other,” Kai added.
“It’s a job,” Taka continued. “It’s unfinished.”
“How can you help people who treated you like that?” I was almost incensed on their behalf.
Taka shook his head. “You shouldn’t be so hard on your village. This isn’t their world, it’s not something they’re prepared to deal with. You were scared of us when you met us. You tried to run away.”
“Wait; she did?” asked Kai.
But Taka went on. “They just want to be left alone to do their work, to live their lives. They saw an opportunity to save their village and they took it. They did what they felt they had to do to protect themselves, their friends and families.”
“But…”
“No buts.” Taka held up his hand. “I grew up in a village a lot like Stenheim, and we saw our fair share of bandits. I hated everyone for the way they just let these people come in and take what was ours. I swore that I would never be like that, that no one would ever take anything from me. I got out of there as fast as possible and never looked back. Two years later, I heard that my village had been destroyed by some warlord or other. It was in his way.”
Taka suddenly looked much older than his thirty years as he contemplated the mistakes of the past.
“The day I left home, I promised myself that I would never be poor again and I have found a way to make that a reality. It’s still the mantra that I live by. But I would go back if I could. In a heartbeat. If only to say sorry and to tell the people I loved that I understand now. All of us could tell stories about where we grew up. You might find it hard to believe, but we were all village boys. And even if those villages still stand, unlike mine, there comes a point when you can’t go back. And that point comes all too fast in the life of a soldier. You grow beyond the place, the people who knew you from a baby can’t look at you anymore.”
“I went back to where I grew up,” Rex spoke. “Friends I played with in the fields when we were kids were scared of me.”
“You think what we do is hard?” continued Taka. “You think fighting is brave? We all ran off because we couldn’t take how hard it was back home. The brave ones are the ones who stay. Maybe it’s a different kind of bravery. And maybe when they have to face something alien to them, like bandits or mercenaries, it doesn’t look brave. But trust me, one day you will know why your village did what they did.”
I didn’t know what to say to all that. I felt as if I had been taken to school, but I also felt wary. There was no doubt in my mind, especially after the words I’d had with Luca last night, that the guys liked me, but now I was wondering if they still felt the need to push me away.
“I can’t stay there now. Not after all that’s happened.”
“You can and you must,” replied Taka.
The certainty of his reply made the old defiance flare up in me. “You think I’m going to start doing what I’m told now, just because you gave me a speech? It’s my life, and there’s nothing I ‘must’ do except what I want to do.”
Taka had the grace to hang his head a moment. “I shouldn’t have put it like that. The choice is yours, of course. But I very much hope you choose to stay. I fear you will regret it if you don’t.”
“But I want to come with you.” It probably sounded desperate, but I didn’t care.
Taka shook his head. “It’s no life.”
“Without you,” I pleaded, almost in tears, “I have no life anyway.”
The guys all looked at one another with curious expressions, and I wondered what was going on in their heads.
It was Kai who finally spoke. “Umm… Very touching sentiment. Heartfelt. But… Which of us are you talking to?”
I blushed as I realized that they could not have guessed my meaning. Of course they couldn’t. How selfish was I being? I was lucky enough to have met four incredible men, men whom any woman would be happy with, and was I willing to pick one? No. I wanted all four. And even though I was aware of how selfish that was, I really didn’t see any other way. Had I met them separately, then I could have been happy with any one of them, but meeting them altogether, however happy I might have been with any one of them, I would always regret the loss of the others and I would certainly never be able to choose between them. How selfish was that? A single man like Taka, Luca, Rex or Kai, would probably be able to keep four women very happy on his own, and here I was, wanting all four of them to myself. It wasn’t just a sex thing, it was… something about them, something about the way they made me feel. It was a combination of fun and seriousness, the way they cared for me but were unwilling to let me get away with anything. It was all the elements of that great mystery that we call ‘love’ wrapped up in four men. I couldn’t choose.
“All of you,” I blurted out, hastily adding, “I’m sorry.”
Again, the guys looked at each other.
“Actually,” said Luca, looking back to me. “That works out fine for us. We talked while you were asleep this morning. We all have such strong feelings for you that the idea of you picking any one of us… The other three would have really struggled to deal with it. Maybe our life paths aren’t on the same course and will cause us to part, which won’t be easy, but for you to prefer one of us to another – that would have really hurt.”
“So, what are you saying?” I asked, afraid to make a suggestion that might set them all running.
“If you like all of us,” said Kai, “and we all like you, then there does seem an obvious, if unconventional solution.”
“But,” I didn’t know why I was arguing, perhaps I didn’t think I deserved such good fortune, “you’d be okay with that?”
Rex shrugged. “We’re soldiers. We share everything. I’ve lived in close quarters with other men since I was fifteen. And between the four of us, there is a bond even closer than that of other soldiers – what’s mine is theirs and what’s theirs is mine. Admittedly, we never
thought that would extend to women, but none of us has any problem with it. Not if it means being with you. I think Kai and I already proved that point to you.”
“But you could all have any woman you wanted,” I said.
“That is rather the point,” said Taka, simply.
I couldn’t believe my ears. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had dreamed big and those dreams had come true. I had been selfish and, perhaps unfairly, it had paid off. I had won the love of four men whom I loved back. I was the luckiest girl on the face of the earth.
There was one thing I was not one hundred percent sure about yet. “If I’m with you all, then does that mean…” I left the end of the sentence inferred.
“If you want it to mean that,” replied Taka, “it can.”
I really wanted it to mean that. I wanted it to mean that at every possible opportunity. “How would that work? Practically, I mean.”
Taka glanced up at the sun. “We can’t attack Stenheim till sundown. How about we find out?”
Chapter 17
I laid out a pair of cloaks on the secluded grassy slope, just east of the cave, and turned around.
It was quite a sight. The guys were already naked, completely comfortable and unashamed in their nudity, out in the bright morning light and alongside each other. I let my eyes travel along the row, back and forth, not knowing where to stop and stare, wanting to be able to look every way at once.
To try to give a short summary of what I saw would be to shortchange all of the guys; there was so much to see and so much to admire. Taka was as handsome and powerful as always, the thick trunk of his cock already starting to rise between his legs. Luca seemed almost to gleam in the sunlight as it lent his sandy hair a burnished aura, his long, smooth limbs shining. Rex was, as ever, a mountain of muscle, each movement he made setting up waves of response across his body. Kai remained the smallest of the group but seemed to have crammed the same amount of muscular development into that tight, fit space, and my heart skipped a beat when he bent down to put aside his quiver and I could feast my eyes on the tight, taut ovals of his ass.
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