by Jeff Kish
“Of course,” Graff says. “She’s in custody now, and we’re-”
“Lying doesn’t suit you, General. I know you lost her,” Ares interrupts as he stands.
A shiver runs down Graff’s spine, not from fear, but rather from suspicion. Something has always seemed off about this fellow. “How would you possibly know such a thing?”
“I’m an informant, am I not?” he asks with a bow. “That, by definition, makes me a master of information. Which means I also know where they’re headed.”
“And that is?”
“I’ve confirmed she’s headed for Canterin.”
“And what makes you so certain?”
“I happened to learn it from an associate. You did hire Merc Market resources, did you not?” As he heads toward the door, he adds, “You had better hurry and find her, General, before someone else does. I’d hate for the king to find out the military failed such a simple task.”
Furious, the general grabs Ares by the collar. “Is that a threat?”
“It is simply an observation of what could happen if the weapon falls into the wrong hands.” Calmly, he adds, “We are on the same side.”
Graff glares at him long and hard before finally releasing him.
Ares rubs his neck and smiles. “Quite a grasp you have there, General. Try not to let the girl slip through it again.” With that, he throws a hand in the air and makes his exit.
Graff slams his palm against the table. Ares has all the appearance of a youngster in way over his head yet has the backbone of the most veteran of soldiers. He contemplates sending men to trail him again, but even his best scouts had failed to follow him beyond a few miles. The man is as elusive as he is cryptic.
He starts jotting notes to add to his personal compilation of what he knows about Ares, frustrated he has to deal with such a character in the midst of a decisive moment for his nation. He hopes Galen can quickly find the girl so this matter can be resolved and his focus returned to those of military affairs.
* * *
Sunlight streams through the window, waking Jem from her deep slumber. She can’t even remember the last time she’d slept in later than sunrise; she usually leaves that routine to Era. Finding Di curled in the corner of the cramped exam room, she grumbles, “Useless doctor takes all our money for this.”
She tries to rub out the wrinkles in her clothes. With the sun shining brightly overhead, she thinks it must be at least ten o’clock. Loud footsteps approach the small room, prompting Jem to grab her dagger off the ground. The door slides open, revealing Era on the other side, holding papers in his hand. Jem breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”
Era practically gloats, “Wow Jem, sleep in much? Here I’ve been working and getting ready to go, and-”
“Yeah, yeah, shut up. What’s with you barging in here? What if we’d been dressing?”
“Hadn’t considered that,” he admits, “but this is important. Look!” he exclaims as he hands Jem the three papers in his hand. “We’re worth two million venni! Each!”
Jem’s eyes nearly pop out of her skull as she grabs the papers from his hand, and Di stirs from the commotion. “What’s going on?”
The Allerian’s shock fades to annoyance as she mutters, “Let’s see… drawings that could have been made by a toddler, the word ‘bounty’ is misspelled on one of these…”
“R-Right! Just like real bounty papers!” Era insists. “Errr… because they are real bounty papers, that is.”
Jem glares at Era as she holds a paper up. “And scribbled on the back of old doctor notes?” She smacks Era in the chest and yells, “You nearly made me faint, you idiot! What’s the big idea? Do you think this is funny!?” She throws the papers aside, leaving a curious Di to collect them.
Era swallows hard. “I-I guess I thought it would, umm… cheer you up! I know you were feeling down last night, so I wanted to take the edge off. I guess.”
“By pretending we’re worth the world’s weight in gold!?” Jem shoves Era into the hallway and slams the door shut. “Wait outside!”
Di reveals the last of the pages with great amusement. “He drew you with a scowl on your face, Jem. That’s kind of accurate!”
Jem snatches it and is ready to rip it to pieces, but looking it over one more time, she can’t help but crack a smile. “The idiot got one thing right, huh?”
Di laughs and nods. Jem grabs her bag and retrieves her emerald necklace. “At least I got to keep something of Andrea’s,” she says while slipping it on.
“Ugh, you’re going to flaunt that?” Di groans.
The pair takes notice of a growing crowd noise from outside. “Apparently not,” Jem mutters as she removes the necklace and wraps it around her forearm, hiding it beneath her sleeve.
Di looks to her guardian in confusion. “What is-”
Jem cuts her off with a finger held up in silence. “Stay here,” she whispers as she leaves the room and heads toward the front of the small clinic.
As she turns the corner, she bumps into Era, who was hurrying back toward her. “Oh, sorry Jem!” he apologizes as he grabs her arms and turns her around. “Maybe you should stay back in the exam room.”
Jem glances at him suspiciously, but as the noise grows she begins to figure it out. “Ah, so the welcome wagon’s finally here, eh?”
Era grimaces as they hear the front door open. He turns and takes a defensive position in the narrow hallway, shoving his hand into the pouch at his waist. Soon enough, three husky individuals walk around the corner. Though unarmed, they do their best to act intimidating.
“So it’s true,” one mumbles as he turns to his companion. “Mayor, sir, what should we do?”
The older man squeezes through his two guards and glares at Jem. He points past Era and shouts, “You’re not welcome here, Allerian. Get out of our town!”
While Era plays the role of bodyguard to Jem, she crosses her arms in defiance. “Oops, I didn’t realize I wasn’t welcome! I wouldn’t have stayed if I’d known,” she says, her words dripping with sarcasm.
The mayor narrows his eyes as he gazes at Jem and then Era, sizing them up. The exam room door behind the pair opens as Di slides out. After looking all three of them over, he orders, “Just get out of here before you bring trouble on yourself.”
“Seems it’s too late for that,” Jem banters. “Or is that crowd going to nicely create a path when I leave?”
“Let’s just say you have three minutes to exit the building before we allow the crowd to come in after you,” the mayor growls as the three turn and leave. When they open the door, the cries from the crowd outside stream in. It sounds like the entire town is outside waiting.
Era scratches the back of his head. “I don’t think we should go out the front door.”
Jem gives him a shove. “Thanks for your infinite wisdom. Now go get your stuff. We might not have three minutes.”
Era scurries back to his room as the doctor comes around the corner. “I’m most sorry, but once the people heard there was an Allerian here, there was nothing I could do.”
“And just how did they know an Allerian was here?” Jem asks with a sly grin.
“I treated your friend and let you stay here well into the morning,” he replies, his words laced with disdain. “You’d best not frown on my generosity.”
“Yes, thank you for your excellent hospitality,” Jem sneers. “Funny you have such problems with Allerians, and yet you took an Allerian’s money without remorse.”
“Just get out!” the doctor huffs before leaving to join the crowd.
Jem sighs as Di approaches from behind. “Jem, why are they so…?”
The Allerian places her hand on the girl’s head. “The real world is tough sometimes. You probably don’t see anything like this at school, huh?” Di shakes her head and hugs Jem as she explains, “Some of these towns were affected by the war in some major way. Maybe there was a battle here, or it’s possible they had some beloved local killed
in action. Either way, it’s just another town to add to my blacklist.”
For a fraction of a second, Di sees sadness in Jem’s eyes as she says all this, but it quickly disappears as the Allerian offers her classic, reassuring grin. “Come on! Let’s ditch this dirty town.”
Era comes out of his room, his bag slung over his shoulder. “We can get out through my window. No sign of the mob that direction.”
“Move out!” Jem shouts, shoving Di back towards Era’s room.
As the trio hurries through the back alleys, the sound of the crowd at the clinic dies away. Di watches Jem as she skillfully ducks from wall to wall, choosing her path carefully so as to remain unseen. The young girl wonders how many times the Allerian has had to sneak out of a situation like that.
Jem’s words echo in Di’s mind. She’s long known about the war that ended when she was only six years old, but there’s always been a mystery to Allerians. Jem had skillfully avoided Di’s interrogation when they first met, and Di burns with curiosity about the foreigner’s past. She’s so lost in thought she barely even notices as the buildings clear out, leading way to a brightly-lit forest.
Jem breaks the silence by abruptly smacking Era in back of the head.
“Ow!” he cries out. “What’s the big idea!?”
Jem plants her finger on his nose. “You still haven’t explained your little prank this morning. Don’t think I buy for a second you were trying to cheer us up. You were up to something!”
Era averts his eyes while rubbing the back of his head. “I’m not sure how to say it, but…”
A rustle of leaves from a nearby bush reveals the gang isn’t alone. Boldly emerging is none other than Fire, her arm bandaged and in a cloth sling, seemingly in a non-confrontational stance.
“You!?” Jem shouts as she unsheathes her dagger and shoves Di back. “Era, this is her! The one who poisoned you!”
“O-Oh! This is her?” he responds uncomfortably while doing his best to look surprised.
His relaxed response doesn’t go unnoticed, nor does Fire’s stance. Glancing back and forth between the two, Jem barks at Era, “What’s going on?”
“You haven’t told her?” Fire asks with amusement.
Keeping her dagger ready, Jem glares at her partner. “You haven’t told me what?”
“And now I see why he didn’t tell you,” Fire says, still amused. “Good to know who’s in charge of this little band.”
“Shut up!” Jem shouts. “You have exactly thirty seconds to explain yourself before I stab you!”
“It’s okay, Jem. We’re on good terms,” Era eases, bracing himself for physical punishment. “We met last night.”
Jem looks at her partner in stunned disbelief. “L-Last night? You went out last night!?”
“To hunt her down!” Era explains. “I was going to beat her up, make her explain herself… but then it got complicated! This other guy jumped in the middle of our fight, and he was about to kill her. So then I saved her life, and I-”
“I had the situation completely under control,” Fire interrupts. “The idiot here jumped in before I took my opportunity to strike, is all.”
Era waves it off. “Sure, we can go with that. Either way, I ended up fighting off the other mercenary and helping her recover.”
Disbelief washes over Jem’s face as the two recount the previous evening’s activities, bickering over the details like old friends.
Era turns his attention back to his two companions. “So anyway, after I beat back this crazy root-controlling guy- oh Di! I have to ask you about him later. But either way, Fire here… her name is Fire, by the way. Cool name if you ask me!” Collecting his thoughts, he slows himself and continues, “Anyway, Fire was unconscious, so I started carrying her back to town. My plan was for her to recover in the medical clinic, but she woke up and tried to attack me.”
“I woke up to you carrying me. What did you think I would do?”
Era laughs. “Guess it’s a good thing I tossed all your weapons.”
Fire grits her teeth. “Most of those were tools. And besides, don’t you want to hire me?”
“WHAT!?” Jem screams. “Are you saying you befriended and then tried to hire the bounty hunter who’s hunting us!?”
“A-Actually, it turns out she’s an assassin,” Era quietly corrects.
Di jumps back as Jem’s eye twitches. Fire adds, “And, to be clear, there is no befriending happening here.”
Jem smacks Era repeatedly in the shoulder. “Idiot! Moron! What are you thinking?”
“It makes sense!” he argues, rubbing his arm. “She’s injured, so she’s out of the hunt. Di’s worth money if we get her home, so now Fire will help us rather than telling all her friends where we are.”
Fire places her good hand on her hip, already bored from the conversation. “So are we doing this or not? Because I’m not interested in dragging it out.”
“We are not doing this!” Jem insists as she jabs her dagger toward Fire. “We’re tying you up and leaving you behind.”
“Just try it,” Fire dares with a challenging glare.
“Wait, Jem,” Era argues. “Look, I don’t think they were lying about the two million bounty. Two million! Do you think Fire’s going to be the last assassin we see?”
“T-Two million?” Di stammers.
“Each,” Fire corrects.
“Six million venni?” Jem mutters to herself as she lowers her dagger. “But… But Era, we can’t let her come with us! If we’re worth that much, she’ll backstab us the first moment she gets.”
“Ah, I see what’s going on here,” Fire interrupts. “You enjoy being the queen bee of your little hive here, and you don’t want another queen entering the picture. But as I see it, you don’t have a say. The moron here is the one who’s hiring me for his share of the reward money. I assume it’s fifty percent?”
“Actually, it’s thirty-five percent,” Era sheepishly admits. “I give Jem some of my share for her tutelage.”
Fire gawks. “For tutelage?” When Era offers a shrug, she grumbles, “Fine, I’ll do it for thirty-five. Girl’s worth six million to the military, so we should be able to hold out for a million from a town like Canterin.”
Di starts to object, but Jem jumps in. “Wait, the military placed the bounty on us?”
“Yep! Turns out I was right all along,” Era beams.
“You knew!?”
“O-Oh yeah,” he admits, “that other assassin guy mentioned it during our fight.”
“He’s just a bounty hunter,” Fire needlessly corrects. “So let me see if I fully grasp the situation. You two,” she points at Jem and Era, “don’t seem special, so my guess is you’re chump thieves who stumbled into this entire deal. You ended up with the girl, who’s a VIP to the crown, and you kidnapped her-”
“Saved her,” Era corrects.
“Well, you unwittingly ‘saved’ her from the Valvoran military,” she stresses. “You really poked the hornet’s nest, you know? Commander Galen himself placed the bounty on your heads. Sounded like he personally saw you in action.”
Jem rubs her temple as her head spins. “Ugh, this is bad.”
“So now you’re taking the girl back home, thinking all the while you’re doing a good deed for a small reward,” Fire continues. “In reality, you’re in far, far deeper than you can possibly imagine.” With a cocky smirk, she asks, “Still think you can go it alone?”
“Jem,” Era interjects, “I know it’s risky inviting her along with us, but isn’t it just as risky to not have her protecting us? There could be ten, twenty, a hundred professional hunters chasing us down right now. We need to do something!”
“Well, what good is she in a fight?” Jem asks. “Her arm is broken, so there’s no way she could-”
Fire steps forward, kicks the knife from Jem’s hand, spins around her, and grapples her neck with her good arm. Jem starts to fight back, but Fire just shoves her into Era. “There’s plenty I can do in a fight,�
�� she says.
Jem rubs her neck. “I hate this girl,” she mutters to Era. “Fine, come along, take Era’s money. You’re going to scout for us too, I hope?”
“I’ll be scouting, that’s a given. But first, a few rules,” she declares as she holds a hand up and starts counting fingers. “Number one, no more towns. Number two, no more roads. And number three, no more fires. You three are like a herd of horses romping along, leaving a trail a mile wide for someone to track.”
Jem manages to muster a smile. “Sure, anything you say! You’re the expert.”
Fire sizes Jem up and, with a smirk, says, “Just head west. I’ll keep an eye on the path ahead. Try to keep up.”
Without waiting for a response, Fire dashes into the foliage. As she retreats, Di can barely hear her footsteps disappear into the distance. The way she moves is different from anything she’d seen before. “S-So are we actually teaming up with her?” she squeaks.
To her dismay, she’s ignored yet again. Jem turns to Era and gives him a look that sends chills down his spine. Without saying another word, she turns and stomps to the south.
“Jem!” Era shouts as he stumbles after his partner. “Fire went that way.” However, Jem continues marching in silence. As her companions chase after her, Era realizes just how much trouble he’s in from both sides. “Oh man, Fire isn’t going to be happy about this.”
Chapter 8
“Come on, say something already!” Era cries out, tired of Jem’s silent treatment. “I’m ready. I can handle it!”
Jem tucks her canteen back away and withdraws her compass. Despite already moving at an accelerated pace, she picks up her speed in an effort to keep Era at a distance.
Era sighs in frustration, wondering whether Jem will forgive him for this anytime soon. Still, he wonders what else he should have done. Even if he hadn’t tried to hire Fire’s services, she would have started tracking them again. Bad arm or not, he has no desire to reengage her in combat.
They come to the clearing where the local train tracks make their run. Jem storms into the open, recklessly revealing herself to anyone who may be watching. Era creeps to the edge of the clearing and glances around before again darting after Jem. The tracks remind him of their epic raid, though that success is becoming a distant memory in light of their current woes.