by Derek Palmer
"Let's see if this fellow is more talkative or do we need to start removing his testicles first."
"You can't... you can't do anything to us. We're City Guardians!"
"Shinies? I do not see any Shinies in uniforms here, just common thugs with stolen swords attacking a known restaurant."
"We had a special mission!"
"A special mission to figure out who of the famous or important people are here with whom? Maybe take some women for 'questioning' and kill those who were tipped for an opportunity for some quick money. Your kind of people make me feel sick."
"I was just doing what I was ordered - and some of the people here are against us."
I was just about to answer 'like any good person should be', when I was interrupted by the other wounded man: "Shut up, you fool."
Shaking my head, I moved towards the man who had just spoken.
"I wasn't finished with you yet. I'd like you to tell me who are you working with, who are your bosses and how the Magicians and Trolls fit in with your plans."
"Fuck you, bugger. You're dead. I'm not telling you anything."
"No, I'm not dead - but you will be soon. What's more, there's no need for you to tell me anything because I probably know more than you. Nobody with any sense would tell anything important to somebody like you."
"Fuck you, I was the second in command..."
As soon as he noticed what he had revealed the man closed his mouth. I hesitated for a moment, but as I was sure that he wasn't going to tell me anything more and for sure I would not start torturing a dying man. Quickly I pushed the tip of the sword I had still been carrying through his heart.
"You, you murdered him!"
I turned towards the man who now looked at me with a real terror now in his eyes.
"You think that he was going to gently pat my head with his sword when they attacked this restaurant without any real reason? No, I think that I actually did him a favor. There's only one person I know who might have been able to do something to save him and that person is far, far away. Even with all that help he probably would have died and here he would have died for sure. Most likely I saved him from a lot of pain."
"You're going to kill me now."
The truth was that I had planned to kill him quickly as soon as I walked back to him since we really couldn't risk that somebody would go back and tell what had happened. Now, especially when the two highest persons of this special group had been killed, it might be possible that there would be no immediate reaction. Especially if we could clean up this mess and cover our tracks so that this place could pass a daytime inspection. Even if it would have been wise to kill this man before anything else happened I really didn't want to do it. Not really knowing what to do, I sensed our environments for any more threats from the outside before turning back to the man.
"Or maybe I'll turn you over to the Magicians. Don't they have a reward for people like you? I'm sure that some of them would gladly forget this little skirmish if they would get you."
That was all bluff, since I had been equally shocked by what I noticed when I turned and allowed my senses to touch that man lying there. There was magic in him, not much, but some. I also got a feeling that he was older than he seemed, so I kept on pushing.
"Just how are you going to remain unnoticed when someone notices that you don't age like the others?"
If the man had been pale because of being hurt, he was even more pale now. I shook my head when I also felt that all the power that I'd had was quickly leaving me.
"I have no intention to do any more killing if I can avoid it. I hope that you understand that it means that you'll need to disappear. However, I'll leave that for the restaurant people to arrange."
By then I really started to feel the pain in my left hand and I also became aware of the blood dropping from it. I walked to the blocked door and rapped out the pattern I had once agreed with Frode. Most likely we would need to change it now.
Luckily I had guessed the door correctly, since I was feeling so exhausted that walking to the other blocked door would have been an enormous task. As soon as Frode and a few restaurant people came through that door, I allowed myself to relax a bit. That worked for a few blinks of an eye, but then I rushed past the outer doors to the alley and emptied the contents of my stomach there. I kept on emptying it there, long after it felt all empty.
--
Chapter 21
"Quite a mess you created here."
Frode's sense of humor wasn't for everybody, but I knew that already, and didn't mind a bit. I knew that he was also trying to distract me when one of the waitresses was cleaning and sewing the wound in my left hand. It hurt, but I didn't mind the pain, since I felt that I had deserved it and much more. On the other hand, it reminded me that I was still alive while those men weren't. Somewhere there, hidden, was also the thought that that wound and coming scar would be a trophy. Something that would remind me of this very battle. The first one where I had been really able to use the warrior in me. The first of many... I closed my eyes and forced that idea somewhere back where it belonged. I'd be happy if I would never be in a situation like this again.
"Yes, sorry about that. Next time I'll try to be more careful."
While saying that, I saluted him and took a sip of the smoky usquebae from the glass I had been holding in my right hand.
"Stay still, young man."
"I'm sorry."
The woman who had been patching me together let out a sigh of frustration and turned to face me.
"Stop being sorry for yourself, you fool, and celebrate. You fought them and won. You saved us, our customers and for sure those two young women up there."
Suddenly something inside me was boiling over. I snorted and spoke to her with a soft voice.
"Easy for you to say. It isn't you who will see those faces in your dreams in the future. For sure, you can also have somebody to comfort you during those nights while my female companion has so many issues of her own, that there's no way she would be able to make me feel better. Yeah, I'm bitter and horny - and will probably stay that way for a long time."
The woman kept on looking at me for some time.
"Is that all? Could you be still for a while and stop apologizing? That annoys me."
I looked back at the woman, not really knowing what I should do or say. Then, suddenly a smile broke through to my face and I shook my head.
"I'm better now, thanks. I guess that I just needed a good kick on my ass."
I raised my glass to her and took another sip before leaning back again and relaxing. However, the woman wasn't done.
"That's just a start, young man, just a start."
I had been somewhat worried that getting rid of all those bodies would turn out to be a problem, but the people at the restaurant were much more knowledgeable about that particular issue than I was. Clothes would be burned in their oven, and no part of any body would be dumped into the River Aston. No, they had a contract with a few farmers. There was one piggery that gladly accepted more meat for their pigs. Of course I knew that pigs ate anything; but still, it hadn't occurred to me to use them that way. I wasn't sure if I would eat bacon here in Aston ever again.
"Everything dumped into the river tends to surface at some point, even swords. However, there are good markets outside Aston for good quality weaponry. Remember, we don't want what happened to those people to come out. Silence is much more efficient."
I nodded to the new, older woman whom I knew to be one of the family heads. I could understand that - as we hadn't wanted to let certain Guardians know what had happened to their spies, or let the Trolls know what happened to their army. I was told that they had sent a messenger to Mrs. Hansen as soon as the situation was clear, and that Frode and I would stay here for the night. Well, considering how I was feeling, I would not have been eager to walk back home, anyhow. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall while Frode was talking with the restaurant people about how the cleaning proces
s could be arranged.
"Why did you leave that one man alive? You know that we cannot let him go back to the Shinies."
I forced myself to concentrate despite the exhaustion I was still feeling. In fact, I was already feeling better since I wasn't really physically tired. I really wished that I would understand that magic thing better.
"I know. I was hoping that you could hide him or maybe use him on a ship or at some remote location. There will be a time when I'll need some experienced people for my own business."
"You are really serious with that idea of yours Elise told us about."
"Yes, I am."
"And you really trust him?"
I couldn't help smiling a bit.
"I'm quite certain that he can be trusted."
The woman nodded.
"Okay, we owe you at least that much, now. What about those thugs, then?"
Yes, what about them? What about Ylva and Liv and those two beefy guys?
"They were tricked to come here; and, without Ylva's help, I probably would not have been able to survive the fight." I wasn't entirely sure about the last part. Maybe I could have made it, and there was some scary part inside me that would have liked to try.
"So you want us to save them, too?"
I shrugged tiredly and felt somewhat unsure about the situation since I really didn't know how this family dealt with their problems. Even if they talked about a piggery they could just as well transfer those barrels to the ship and sail into the open sea. I didn't know. I didn't really want to know.
"Remember that neither Liv or those two men have any idea what happened after they were taken down. That Ylva there... would you believe me if I say that you can trust her, too?"
That older woman wasn't stupid, not at all. My problem was that I was mentally too exhausted to think of some clever way out of this. However, I met her gaze without hesitation when she looked at me. She looked at me for some time before turning to look at the room behind us. I had to admit that these people were efficient, since the bodies were already gone somewhere and some cleaner was being used on the floor. I wondered what she was thinking about all this: a young University student kills several Shinies who appear here without any warning. I tried to avoid thinking about that, myself.
"Okay - and you should get rid of those clothes, young man. I'm quite certain that they cannot be saved. We cannot really clean the floor until you have been cleaned, too."
Only then I realized that my clothes were wet and sticky. Then there was the smell - the sweet, but metallic smell of blood. For a moment I thought that I was going to throw up again, but there wasn't anything left in my stomach.
I used a few bowls of water and then I took the offered clean clothes. They weren't new, but they were clean. They smelled clean. My head felt like it was full of something that wanted to come out - but at the same time I felt empty. I sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall.
"Are you still feeling sick?"
I must have slept for a short moment since I hadn't noticed how Ylva had moved next to me. I shook my head. “Tired. Dead tired. Because of this useless killing and because of..."
I didn't want to finish what I had started to say. I was also tired because I had tried to heal Liv with my magic. However, even that short nap seemed to have helped.
"Because you saved Liv. I almost saw it. Or, I mean that I didn't really see anything, but I sensed that you did something."
She moved closer to me when she said that in a low voice. I shrugged and finally nodded. "Let's keep that between ourselves, okay?"
"Of course. I'm not stupid. I know something about what happened back then to those people in the old town. Most likely my grandparents were among them."
That girl had probably been through quite a lot in her life already, but I was still able to hear some hurt in that voice. Or maybe I imagined it because I missed my loved ones so badly.
"Do you know any others, who...?"
Ylva shook her head. "No, and it’s better that way if I want to stay alive. Even Liv does not know. Your secret is safe with me. Thanks to you, Liv looks much better now. Do you know that I would have killed you if I'd had the chance? Not that I would have really been able to do it..."
I touched Ylva's hand. "You two were tricked into trying this. They would have used you as an excuse for their operation and at the end they would probably have killed all of you. First, they told you about this and then they came themselves to finish you."
After that, I didn't really need to take care of anything. The storage room was cleaned, the dead bodies were stored somewhere and Frode and I were offered some new food and some wine to drink. I surprised myself of being able to enjoy the offered food even if moving my left hand reminded me of my wound. Maybe it was the excitement, maybe it was too much wine, I do not know. Whatever the reason - or excuse - was, I found myself between the legs of one of the waitresses.
The following morning, I felt some guilt because of what I had done, but much less than I had thought there would be. My partner had left early in the morning, but only after she had woken me up for another round. When I finally walked to breakfast there were no raised eyebrows and not much reaction of any kind.
At least there hadn't been any nightmares. Yet.
Sometime later I found myself sitting at a table with the woman who had been talking to me the last evening... and Elise. It was clear that I wasn't there by accident, but more as a representative of my 'real' family and as someone who might start some business that would benefit all of us. Unless someone stopped us before that. Unless something happened to me.
It wasn't totally unknown that some family would try to expand their business at the cost of other families, and sometimes they had even been successful. Those Shinies weren't allowed to own any businesses, but they probably had some friends who could. Besides that, they would have had some power over the people who had been at the restaurant the previous night. That clearly was something new, an attempt to change the old balance.
Of course, I had told them about the army they were creating and Elise confirmed what she had been able to find out about an alliance between the Guardians and the Magicians. An enormous shift of balance if it were allowed to happen, if they were allowed to start that war they wanted. Now it seemed that they had made a mistake by assuming that their target was just a single family and therefore a suitable target, as all our ships and most of the men were at the sea.
Now the main goal was not to let the people in charge learn what had happened to that group of Guardians they had used. According to Aage - the young-looking ex-Guardian whom I had left alive - we had just taken out one third of their elite force. A group they could use for this kind of operations. A group that didn't care too much about the laws of the kingdom.
In a way, there wasn't much to decide, since both families would lie low for some time. If the Guardians came to check the restaurant during the day, they would be welcome to do it, since there would be nothing left to find. Besides that, from now on, one of the three ships would always be here at Aston, even if that might affect the profits; but, this way, the business would remain securely in their hands. Also the secrets of their customers would stay safe. Only now, I learned that there were other ways out of the restaurant, through the other buildings and those doors were designed to keep a possible intruder away long enough. Long enough for some people get away, if needed.
Because of the heavy rain, I was happy to get a ride in a closed carriage with Elise back to our home. It seemed now that the women in the restaurant were tattletales. On the other hand, I hadn't been exactly quiet myself. I sighed.
"You never said anything about the problems Linnea and you have."
"I'm sure she would have agreed if I had asked her, but there's no way that she would have really enjoyed it. Not after all those things she has been through. Forcing something like that would probably destroy the friendship we have managed to develop. Maybe there will be a day when..."
My sentence was interrupted by Elise's hand on my knee.
"I'm sorry, I should have asked you instead of assuming. She didn't say anything about those wild carrot seeds either."
"No harm done there. The fact that we don't have sex does not kill me." Even if it sometimes made me feel quite uncomfortable; but I didn't say that to Elise.
"In the future I'll make it possible for you to visit the restaurant or the nearby houses when I take Linnea with me."
"Elise, there's no need..."
"As head of my family I may also order you to do that. Besides, there's now at least one woman who wishes that she would have volunteered."