Naming Day (Jake Underwood Book 1)

by Michael Ruger

  “I can promise that the first chance I get to kick your ass up to your ears I will, regardless of anything I say or do.” I couldn’t help but like the guy.

  “Tha’s the spirit. But don’t kid yourself. You may not be as hung up on this honor gig as Serlisch was or your father, but if you really didn’t care you would have assured me in glowing words of power about how sacred your word is and all that crap. See? You didn’t even want to lie to somebody who will probably be asked to kill you later. That’s honor for ya!” He grinned and waved me down the alley. I looked back at the carriage and wondered how long before my father decided I had been gone too long and decided to look for me. Not too much longer, I thought, as I followed the dwarf down the alley and out of sight.

  “Ya know,” he mused, “If I do get the word to kill you, don’t take it personal. You seem like a right guy, but the job’s the job, and if I started killing only those who deserved it or that I didn’t like or refusing to kill you honorable types, I’d be out of business.” He paused for a moment and looked me square in the eye. “Here’s how it is. I’m to take you to his lordship and you are supposed to work it out with him. You just come with me, don’t give me no trouble and as soon as I find out where I’m going, we’ll see Jeryn Callisandra and Dalia Claris.” I didn’t look happy and he didn’t either. He sighed. “Look. My guess is he means ta kill ya. But maybe not. I can’t imagine how he can think that he can work this out by killing you and the girl but I ain’t too sure that the boss is tightly wrapped, ya’know? Really, his best move would be to disappear and just let the both of you be. His original plan is shot to shit, there’s too much noise and heat and all he’s asking for is a vendetta by doing the two of you. His house against two powerful families on both sides of the court? Please, it’ll be a slaughter, he and all his kin.”

  “So why is he doing this? If you don’t think it makes any sense, why do you think he believes he can get away with this?”

  “Beats me. I was never the brains of our team. Cavanaugh was always the one for deep thinking and double thinking. He had a mind like a corkscrew and evil imagination. It’s a shame he got killed by your partner back in that first firefight, he could probably have figured a good way out of this mess, but them’s the breaks! He was the only one of our team who really could work the boss. He’s plans were always a little too deep for my taste but he always had a trick to two to try. Real shame he got killed but I told him to keep down and always wear that damn helmet. It probably would’ve saved him.”

  We turned a corner and boarded a rather plain looking coach. There were three Fey hanging about, who tried to look tough, and one who might actually be able to pull it off. I had seen a few other furtive figures skulking in doorways. He wasn’t kidding about having a lot of help. There must have been at least seven that I had spotted and probably some I missed.

  As soon as we were seated the driver got us moving. It wasn’t as comfortable a carriage as my fathers, but it was taking me towards Dalia, at least I hoped it was.

  “What’s your name? As long as we have to share this carriage, it would be nice to know my potential killer’s name. That way I can leave a clue when they find the body. Dwarf bastard isn’t much of name to leave as a hint” I quipped.

  The Dwarf laughed. It was hearty laugh, the kind that comes from the gut and runs all the way to the top of the head.

  “You’re a caution, you are.” He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “You could call me ‘Dwarf bastard’, I’ve been called worse, but you can call me Duntar Redcap though, if you have to have a proper name. It’s not my real name, but even the boss doesn’t know that and it’ll do. Serlisch was always little careless like that, slingin’ his name around, kinda free like. Poor, dumb bastard.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t cry any tears over his death. It was either Cavanaugh or Serlisch who killed Kevin Unglunblasch, with you and the Ogre helping. If I get to kill you at some point I will have avenged him. Something to look forward to.”

  “Whoa! We didn’t kill this guy! The boss was straight about that. We didn’t know then and we don’t know anything about his death except for what you’ve said.”

  “Don’t bother, Sergeant Bermuda showed me the re-enactment! It was two tall Fey, an Ogre and a dwarf. Sound familiar?” I sneered but inside I was having doubts. I’m pretty good at reading people and he was convincing especially when I remembered the look on Jeryn Callisandra’s face when I had accused him of the murder back at the Nasoni temple mound.

  “I don’t care what you think you saw. It wasn’t us.” He seemed pensive and continued. “Look, we would have killed him if we had to, no doubt. But killing him would be about the last thing we would do if we could help it. He was a Hidden Watcher, man! I knew him back when I served the Court and he was sneaky and a top guy for the Watchers. Killing him would just draw all the wrong kind of attention.” He paused for moment studying my face. I wasn’t sure why it was important for him to convince me that he hadn’t killed Kevin, but it was. “Look what happened when he got slotted; big pressure from the court, every field agent checking under rocks and stirring the pot, making life hard for independents like me and my team to make a safe living.”

  “What about Chris McNeely and his secretary. Did you kill them? Somebody used Magic on them. It had to be somebody who had a reason and the ability, just like your team.”

  “Who? I never heard of them and I never met them. We didn’t kill them.”

  He thought for a moment.

  “You got any other murders you want to pin on me? I grant you, we did try to kill you, your partner and the girl at the house. That was Cavanaugh’s idea. He figured if we presented the boss with a bunch of stiffs that he would be easier to manage and he could basically tell Lord Klaris any story we choose. His daughter, dead in the world of mortals, in the company of a disgraced cousin, what could he do?” He sighed. “It probably would have worked if Cavanaugh hadn’t gotten iced by your partner and if you hadn’t taken Serlisch and Karl down.”

  “Karl?”

  “The Ogre. Tough bastard but even he couldn’t live without head.” He chuckled. “But that’s the game for you, one damn thing after another went wrong with Callisandra’s plan. Dumb bastard.”

  He considered for a moment and then continued, “But I’ll tell you this, he ain’t getting me killed. I’ll pop the bastard myself if he does anything else stupid.”

  “Well, then why go through with it? Help me rescue Dalia and I will see that you are well paid. What do you owe the man who got so much of your team killed? Stop this carriage right now and let me call my father. We can rescue-“

  “Can’t do it. It’s not a bad offer, but I can’t. It’s not the money and it ain’t about my honor or anything like that. You just can’t have a reputation for backstabbing your boss. It makes others reluctant to hire you.” With that he lapsed into silence and I sat back to digest what he had said. I had been positive it was his team that had killed Kevin and McNeely, but now I wasn’t sure. It could have been anybody in that Black Watch armor that I had seen in Gilley’s. If it wasn’t Bermuda’s guys and if it wasn’t Callisandra’s crew then who was it? There was only one answer that fit and it was damn scary one. I had a chilly thought and I prayed that I was wrong. I considered mentioning it to Duntar, just to see how he would react to it, but I didn’t want to push him over the edge and have him do something that I would regret.

  We made some twisting turns and I heard some cursing from above as the help was flung about the top of the coach. We stopped abruptly, to the sounds of more cursing, and a kid ran up with a sealed note which he handed through the window to Duntar. He opened it and grumbled beneath his breath and passed it back with instructions to give it back to the driver. He smiled at me and said, “Now we’re cooking! We’ll get you to your lady friend in a jiffy. Hopefully the reunion can be long lived.”

  He seemed calm and I couldn’t think of any reason for him not to be. He was stronger than me phy
sically and I didn’t have any weapons. He was well trained and probably forgot more about dirty fighting than I will ever know.

  The ride wasn’t terribly long. That probably meant that the place we were at was not too far from the court. The shades were drawn, so I couldn’t see anything that would give me any hints, but the ride had been rough. We were no longer on paved roads, probably at some local estate. Most Fey nobles have a country house or two.

  “Here’s how it goes. When the coach stops we get out, me first. If anybody but me comes out and doesn’t give the all clear, they get pincushioned. The lads may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but even they can point a crossbow and shoot. Once I’m out, you come out, slow like. I told the boss you ought to be tied up, but he ain’t impressed enough with you as he ought to be. Still, you keep it cool and we’ll go in and have a chat and see what he’s got to say. You understand?”

  I nodded and he pulled out a dagger that looked like a cross between a bowie knife and an autopsy blade. I also noticed that it was coated with some green shine.

  “Now, I would surely hate to use this on you, but I will. The boss may take you lightly, but I don’t. Because of you my whole team is dead and you killed Serlisch personally and even with just one eye that’s a feat.” I started to protest.

  “Naw, relax. We all knew the score when we signed up, we just didn’t know it would get messy like this. Nothing personal, like I said, but a nick from this blade is enough to kill a Fey in a few moments and it ain’t a good death, what with the vomiting and all. Half breed like yourself? It might kill or might not, but I don’t think you want to chance it.”

  “Not particularly.” I answered.

  “All right then, let’s be all friendly like and see what the boss has to say, shall we?” He gestured with the knife motioning for me to stay still as he opened the door. There was a small cloud of dust around us, but not enough to obscure the sight of the ruined villa. Apparently we were headed for an intact out building. Duntar jumped out of the carriage and waved to the guards on the carriage. He then motioned for me to get out.

  The light was bright, as it usually was in the Court of Dawn. I could see a few guards positioned near what appeared to be some kind of barn, possibly a storage silo. To be honest, I never really bothered to get any real information on the farmer so I still don’t know for sure where we were. I counted three guys on top of the coach all nervously point cocked crossbows at spots would surely ruin this nice outfit I just got, not to mention making my bad day worse. Scattered around were a couple more local muscle similarly outfitted. Probably the same guys I had spotted earlier.

  “You must think I’m a mighty dangerous fellow.” I smiled.

  “You are dangerous and Duntar doesn’t take chances unless he has to.” He moved away from me and used the knife to gesture toward the barn. I saw one of the goons open the door and all I could see was darkness within. Shrugging my shoulders, I went in followed by the cautious Duntar, and the darkness closed behind me as the door was slammed shut.

  Chapter Thirty

  My eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light and inside I could see that this place had not been used for a while. There was dust gathered in some places and the air was heavy and stale. I saw a female figure which I took to be Dalia. She was tied and had a bag over her head. Pretty pointless I thought, she had to know who nabbed her, probably just another pointless cruelty. I counted about three thugs who had me sighted with crossbows.

  Jeryn Callisandra stood there, looking worse for the last few days. His Armani was torn and dirty in a few places and I could see a few cuts and scrapes that marred his cheek. Of course, he had a glamour up to hide all this. He looked cool and collected, but under the glamour he was shaky and seemed hardly able to focus on me. He kept glancing at Dalia and beyond her to another room. Probably more guards. He had a small hand held crossbow in his hands and was waving it about pretty freely. It was no good for penetration, but it would probably mess up a civilian pretty good.

  “Mister Underwood. So good of you to come.” He smiled that dagger smile of his and turned to Duntar. “No trouble I hope?”

  “Naw. He came along peaceful like.” Duntar carefully slid his poison blade back into the holster and moved to a position where he could watch me, Jeryn and the door.

  “That’s excellent. Excellent indeed!” He smiled some more. Damn if I could figure out what he was so happy about. He motioned for me to sit so I found a crate and sat.

  “I really wish you’d be careful where you point that thing. From what I can tell when you need someone killed, you hire it done. You don’t look proficient with that thing and I would hate for it to go off accidentally and ruin a perfectly good conversation. Besides, you’ve got three guys on me, probably your three best guys. If they can’t kill me with those crossbows you aren’t going to do it with the little thing”

  He grimaced and sighed and I saw the tip of bolt point towards the floor. “You are quite correct. I have never been this deeply involved in any mischief. I wouldn’t be here now if people would just react like they should. I really do blame you for that, Mr. Underwood, I really do. It’s very impolite. Very bad manners.” He giggled.

  Uh oh. I glanced at Duntar who looked a little nervous himself. Not too tightly wrapped he had said? This guy was a hop, skip and jump away from gibbering. I forced my panic down and tried to remember Marty and Dalia. He was gone, but maybe she could be preserved.

  “You can hardly blame me for all these problems. After all, you were trying to kill me. You did kill Marty after all.” I tried my best client pleasing, placating tone on him. The same one I use when a client has lied to me and everything has turned to crap but I haven’t been fully paid yet.

  “That was not me. No. No indeed. That was those fools from the Twilight Order, probably looking for the bitch!” He flung his arm around and pointed the mini-crossbow at Dalia.

  “Whoa, there Tex. Let’s just calm down and talk about this. You wanted this meeting, so let’s talk, shall we? ” He grinned and pulled a stool and sat. The crossbow was pointed at the ground again. “Now how do you know that was the Twilight Order on the top of the mound?”

  “Silly man, I arranged for them to be chasing the bitch. I had no idea that they would be right on top of us. I thought it would take them a few days to find her and you.” He looked puzzled. “Odd, they never seemed all that efficient to me, but they certainly found us quickly.”

  “Twilight Order? You called the Twilight Order down on us, on yourself? Are you crazy? Those fuckers won’t stop coming no matter what you do! How much did you tell them? Do they know who we are?” Duntar stood and crossed the floor to Jeryn in a near instant and looked like he was ready to throttle him despite the fact that Jeryn was taller and a little crazy.

  I was pretty close to panic myself. This was bad, bad for me and Dalia and was exactly who I thought had been cleaning up at McNeely’s. Great. The Twilight Order was a slightly more efficient and definitely more ruthless crowd than the Black Watch. I was little fuzzy on how they were organized mainly because most fey hope never to meet them certainly not on the other end of a weapon. The guy was walking dead and didn’t even know it but a glance at Duntar told me he did.

  “Let’s all stay calm now.” I said as placating as possible, “Maybe we can work something out. Maybe we could get you asylum with the Court of Dawn.”

  Duntar sneered. “Yeah sure, pull the other one while you’re at it, it’s got bells on. We got a despised son with no juice and a fugitive from her own court who knows nothing of value. Why the hell would they make any deal with us other than our choice of funerary rites?” He turned to Jeryn Callisandra again. “You fucker! You’ve killed us all!” His hand was resting on the dagger and he was eyeing Callisandra the way dog eyes a piece of meat. The guards were nervous. They didn’t know exactly who was in charge. Callisandra was paying the bills, but Duntar was very dangerous and they knew it.

  “Duntar, really, you must keep
a hold of yourself! We have cards yet to play.” He glanced at Dalia and then at me. “We give her to the Twilight Order, sadly dead, killed during capture. So very sad. And then we hand them him as Count Trellisor. Nice and tidy.” He smiled. He actually smiled and I heard Duntar curse beneath his breath and turn away.

  “Yeah. That’s a great plan.” I said “It’s damned stupid and hasn’t got a prayer of working, but it’s a great plan if you’re a psycho nutbar. Don’t you think they will deepscan me to point of imbecility? They will know more about me than I do! They’ll find out I’m not this Count Trellsor pretty damn quick!”

  “Careful, Mr. Underwood. You needn’t be alive or whole when you are “captured”. I can do things that would make you wish for death.” He was close to edge. A little push would be all it took.

  “I could see you being the sort who thinks he knows things like that. Trouble is, I been tortured before, by pros. I don’t think you got the chops, Jerry. ” He was near livid. But he was still. “Let me tell you why it won’t work. First, you’re laboring under the delusion that I have no backup. That just ain’t so. My father and I reconciled last night. Ask Duntar here if he didn’t fetch me out of couch and four with a Lord’s crest.” Callisandra looked at Duntar who nodded. Duntar was looking a little more nervous and began glancing about.

  “That was my father’s coach, Lord Stavros Melliscant. He’s a 4th circle lord I believe at the moment. He’s got a lot of pull and a helluva long memory. He’ll either find us alive or he’ll make every fey here as dead as iron.” I paused and I saw that I had everyone’s attention, including the guards.

  “Duntar, do you remember that sword you lifted off me? “Duntar nodded, a look of horror slowly spreading across his face as he began to realize where I was going. “That was an Honor blade of my house. It has always been recovered, always.” I shrugged. “I figure it won’t take him long to track a blade like that, one tied to his house for generations, one he wore himself. Seems fair, after all you did use a tracking spell to find us didn’t you?”