The Heresy Within

by Rob J. Hayes

  “So does Deadeye an' at least she don't burn folk.”

  Jezzet snorted. “I wouldn't be so sure about that. She killed Eirik, Thorn.”

  “Hawkeye?”

  “Aye.”

  That gave Betrim a reason to pause. He'd never gotten on too well with Hawkeye and his death meant there was one less name in the wilds to fear but it meant Deadeye was willing to kill just about anyone, might be she'd even try for the Black Thorn.

  “What job?” The Arbiter's voice seemed to cut the air in two.

  “We been hired ta kill H'ost,” the Boss said and near bit his tongue off as he clamped his jaw down. The plains seemed to grow silent as a crypt then. Henry, Swift, Jezzet, the Arbiter, even Betrim himself just stared at the Boss.

  Swift was the first to speak. “You want us ta kill H'ost?”

  The Boss fixed him with a stare. “Aye. That gonna be a problem fer you, Swift?”

  Swift took a moment to think about before shaking his head. All his usual smiles and humour seemed gone. “Not a drop, Boss.”

  “So working for Constance...” Jezzet started.

  “Jus' needed her trust. Need a way ta get close ta H'ost.”

  “That's a pretty dangerous job, Boss,” Henry said, her argument with Swift all but forgotten for now.

  “Dangerous jobs mean big rewards an' this one's the biggest. Three hundred thousand gold bits. Split six ways is fifty thousand bits each. That's more than a lifetimes worth o' jobs right there an' no more dangerous.”

  Betrim didn't have a head for numbers, never had, and he had no idea how big fifty thousand was but it sounded big. Might just be big enough to be worth going up against Deadeye.

  The Arbiter put away his sword. “Boss isn't it. I think we should talk.”

  “Aye?”

  The Arbiter just nodded and started walking away into the gloom. After a moment the Boss turned to Betrim and the others and pointed at Jezzet. “Watch her.” With that he stalked off after the Arbiter.

  Betrim relaxed just a little, still kept hold of his axe though and Jezzet still had her sword in hand and was standing ready for a fight. “Ya good then, Jez?”

  “Been worse, Thorn. Been better too. Ever had to crawl through a sewer?” she asked.

  “Aye, once.”

  “Puts me one up on you.”

  At that he had to smile. Weren't a pretty sight but Jezzet smiled back all the same. Girl had been close to a friend once. Didn't mean they wouldn't kill each other when time came.

  “I don't like her,” Henry hissed, she had her murderous glare locked tight on Jezzet. “Why ain't we killin' the whore?”

  “Cos the Boss said ta watch her,” Swift replied with a sly grin. “So I'm watching her.”

  “You wanna call them off, Thorn,” Jezzet warned giving Betrim the impression she would like nothing more right then than to gut both Henry and Swift.

  “Would that I could, Jez. Henry, Swift, this here is Jezzet Vel'urn. You might not heard of her but, well, she's the one that gave ol' Deadeye the name.”

  Henry looked confused but Swift caught on as fast as his name. “You the one took Deadeye's eye?”

  Jezzet grinned. “Aye.”

  “She don't look like much,” Henry said sounding a little less confidant than before.

  Betrim nodded. “Aye but neither does a woman called Henry but folk in Chade know ta fear her all the same.”

  Swift whistled. He was still looking at Jezzet with hungry eyes. “I think I'm in love. Sorry, Henry but my heart now belongs ta another.”

  “You don't have a heart, Swift. One day I'm gonna cut ya open ta prove it.”

  The Boss came striding back out of the darkness like some great black bear only with shiny metal teeth. His weapons were away but whether that was a good sign or bad Betrim didn't know. The Arbiter limped behind; he approached Jezzet, put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. A moment later Jezzet put her sword away but the last thing she looked was at ease.

  “The Arbiter an' his woman will be comin' with us fer a while,” the Boss said wearing his heavy frown.

  Jezzet didn't look too happy. Swift grinned from ear to ear. Henry started cursing. Thing was Betrim didn't give a shit what the others thought about it. “Boss, that ain't good.”

  The Boss rounded on Betrim like a bull about to charge. “Did I ask if it were good? Don't think I did 'cos I ain't askin', I'm tellin'. Jus' so happens we're going the same way so we're sharin' a road.”

  “I really have no interest in you, Black Thorn,” the Arbiter said. Betrim ignored him.

  “Boss, ya can't trust these fuckers. They...”

  The Boss turned back to Betrim and for a moment he thought the big southerner was going to hit him. Betrim wasn't sure how he'd respond to that. No one ever hit the Black Thorn and got away with it. If he let anyone, even someone like the Boss... He'd have to hit back and if it ever came to blows between the Black Thorn and the Boss there was only one way it could end.

  Lucky for them both the Boss didn't throw a punch, just stood real close and stared until Betrim backed down with a dark glare of his own. Couldn't say he liked the way things were going these days; the Boss was starting to act strange and Betrim had to admit might be time the Black Thorn moved on. It was a shame, he quite liked Bones and even Henry had her charms. Still, fifty thousand sounded like a real big number, might be he could stick it out a while longer at least.

  “They stay with us fer a while at least,” the Boss growled. “He's agreed they'll be no witch huntin' fer the time bein'. Even you, Thorn. Now back ta camp, all o' ya.”

  The BladeMaster

  There were a few times in Jezzet Vel'urn's life that she would have paid good money, and a lot of it, for a horse, and this was without a doubt one of those times. Thanquil didn't like the beasts other than to carry his own luggage, she had asked him why and the Arbiter had smiled and said, 'People have been known to fall off horses and die, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who fell off their own feet and died.' Somehow it didn't feel like an honest answer but then Jez had near given up trying to get Thanquil to talk plainly.

  The man they called the Boss had been less cryptic but a lot more blunt. He was not tall, at least not compared to the giant, but he was wide and by the looks of it he was all muscle. Thick arms, thick neck, thick legs and a walk that hinted at barely restrained violence. His black hair was braided and hung down past his shoulders and silver flashed in his mouth every time he spoke. When Jezzet had looked a little closer it seemed all the man's teeth were made of metal. The very thought made her shudder. When Jezzet had asked whether they might pick up horses in order to cut down the travel time the Boss had curled his lip at her and said, 'This crew don't use horses.' After that he had quickened his pace to get away from her.

  It wasn't that Jez wasn't used to walking, or that she was a good horseman. The thing was; the wilds were damned big. On horse it could take weeks to get from Chade to H'ost's estates, on foot it could take months and while she liked the Black Thorn as much as the next murderous sell-sword she did not much like most of his companions.

  The Arbiter and Jezzet travelled with but apart from the crew for the most part. Thanquil limped along and said little, brooding in silence and suffering dark looks from all the crew. Jezzet walked beside him, even in sullen silence she much preferred his company to the sell-swords'. They slept close and apart from the others as well, setting their own watches to make sure they weren't murdered in their sleep. The Boss seemed to have a firm grip on his crew and he wanted the Arbiter alive for now but Thanquil had told her he didn't trust a one of them and Jezzet agreed.

  There was one consolation though. The plains of the wilds were a beautiful sight. Away from the roads as they were it was possible to walk where human feet rarely trod. Tall, dry grass of yellows and greens and sometimes browns rippled in the breeze. Here and there a corpse tree, with bark as white as bone, would spring from the earth to provide limited shelter and
shade. The sky was a deep blue with only the occasional wisp of white cloud. The hot sun beat down upon them mercilessly but the Boss seemed to know the route.

  Jez was not so sure of the route as the Boss. She had travelled this way before but by roads. They were headed north and north would bring them to the yellow mountains, from there they would have to turn west to reach H'ost's estates and to do that they would need to cross the Jorl and the Jorl was a river like no other.

  Fed by hundreds of smaller rivers and streams it was said all the water in the world had passed through the Jorl at one time or another. At its smallest it was a mere half a mile across, at its largest it stretched near twice that. Below the surface jagged rocks waited to turn the water into white foamy rapids and in places it moved faster than a horse could gallop, faster than a bird could fly. It started up past the wilds in the World’s End mountains and dipped into a cavern system below the yellow mountains only to re-emerge the other side and continue on its way to the sea. Hundreds of waterfalls could be found along the Jorl and the biggest of them, the Gods' Fall could be heard thundering across the plains leagues away.

  There were only few ways to cross the Jorl. Only in one place this side of the yellow mountains were the waters calm enough to ford but without a horse it was a dangerous crossing and Jezzet was not convinced that all the crew could swim. There were the water lizards as well, great beasts that could grow to three or four times the size of a man with huge mouths full of row upon row of sharp teeth.

  There were bridges across the Jorl to be sure but they were near as dangerous as the water. Swinging death-traps of rope and wood that creaked and swayed in the wind. It was not unknown for planks of rotten wood to give way dropping crossers to their deaths or even for the rope to snap and drop a whole group into the churning waters below. The cliff sides on either side of the river were littered with the remains of such bridges. Jez had heard stories of folk who would rob those that walked the bridges. They would wait until people were half way across and then appear at the end of the bridge and threaten to cut the ropes that held it unless they were paid a toll.

  Jezzet didn't relish the idea of attempting a crossing but it was either that or take a route that would lead them weeks out of the way and without horses to speed their journey it seemed unlikely the Boss would choose such an option.

  “We seem to be heading in the same direction,” Thanquil said as he limped up beside Jezzet.

  “Still north,” Jezzet said with a nod. “It'll get us there eventually. Not a short route though. How's the leg?”

  “Stings a little. I can't help but shake the feeling that one of our companions stabbed me.”

  Jezzet snorted and grinned at him. “He scratched you is all. Anyone would think he cut your leg off the way you complain.”

  “From the looks I get from the Black Thorn I'd wager he'd like to.”

  “It could be worse. That Swift never stops staring at me,” Jezzet said and Thanquil glanced behind them to where Swift was keeping pace. “He's doing it now, isn't he?”

  “He's staring at a part of you.”

  Jezzet felt her lip curl and her hand brushed the hilt of her sword. It would be easy just to turn and kill him. I'm sure none of the others would miss him too much.

  “We could always walk behind them,” Jezzet suggested. “Stop some of the staring.”

  “Don't think they'd like that too much. They all seem to think that if they take their eyes off me for a second I'll light one of them on fire.”

  “Wouldn't you?”

  Thanquil laughed, he did that a lot, she'd noticed. “We burn heretics, not petty criminals.”

  “Oh...” Jezzet had always assumed witch hunters just burned whoever they pleased.

  “Witches, practitioners of forbidden magics, demon worshippers, Drurr...”

  “The Drurr are real? I thought they were stories made up to scare children like trolls or giants.”

  “The Drurr are real but, just like Blademasters, their numbers have dwindled. The Inquisition hunts them wherever possible but they hide in places where humans have never been, in places where humans fear to tread.”

  “My master always used to tell me fear is a tool. A Blademaster should know fear but should never be ruled by it.” A lesson you never learned, Jez.

  “You never told me what happened to him, your master.”

  Jezzet spat. “I killed him.”

  “Oh...” Thanquil said and then fell silent for a moment. “I'm sure he deserved it.”

  “He did,” she agreed. “I'd have killed him a hundred times if I could have. But that isn't why I did it. When a Blademaster takes an apprentice they know it can only end in one of two ways; one of them has to die.

  “It took fifteen years for my master to train me and the final test an apprentice has to take is a duel with their master. If the apprentice dies the master will know they weren't worthy. If the master dies then the apprentice becomes a Blademaster. There were two hundred of us when the order was created and there has never been more. Now as far as I know there are only two of us left.”

  “You two are always whisperin',” Thorn growled. He had been walking beside them but now he kept pace just a few feet behind, glowering at the Arbiter all the while. “It's enough ta make a man nervous.”

  Jezzet had noticed Thorn always seemed to have a weapon in his hand these days and the burnt side of his face twitched a little whenever he spoke to the Arbiter.

  “And you always look like you want to stab me again, which tends to make me a little nervous so I'd say we're even,” Thanquil replied with his easy smile.

  “Ya got what ya deserved fer attackin' me.”

  “I didn't attack you.”

  “Yes ya did.”

  “No I didn't.”

  Why is it men always have to get into pissing contests? Jezzet asked herself then glanced at Henry and realised it wasn't just men.

  Jezzet almost walked away and left Thanquil and Thorn arguing and growling at each other but the idea that they might dispense with the insults and get around to killing each other and leave her alone with the crew was a terrifying prospect.

  “What does it matter which of you started it?” she shouted at them. “You continue this and I'll kill the both of you.”

  Thanquil smiled but backed down, Thorn looked worried for a moment or at least as worried as his broken and battered face could. After that the two spent the rest of the day walking in silence sending sullen looks at each other but making sure the entire crew was between them.

  That night the Boss allowed a fire in the camp. He had decided they were far enough from any of the beaten paths that the only folk likely to find them were others like themselves and they were rare enough. Swift had brought down a couple of birds with his bow during the day, the speed at which he could string the weapon and loose a shaft amazed Jezzet.

  “Do ya remember Arlon Quickdraw?” he'd asked when he spotted her watching. “Not many do but some said there weren't a man in wilds could throw an' axe half so fast or half so accurate. Well, the fool only went an' challenged ol' Swift ta a duel. Seems he'd heard about me an' my knives an' didn't take too kind on me being faster 'an him. Had all me weapons laid out on the ground an' waited fer the judge ta say 'go'. Had a string on me bow and put an' arrow through his hand 'fore he even blinked. Put one through each eye an' all, jus' ta be sure. There's a reason they call me Swift, ya know.” He had leered at Jez the entire time he was speaking.

  Henry had padded up out of nowhere and cackled in Swift's face. “It's the whores that named ya Swift. So fast ya don't even know what a wet cunt feels like.”

  Swift turned his leer onto Henry. “Wet, willin', what the fuck does it matter?”

  After that Henry spat at the bastard and stalked off to talk with the Boss.

  The fresh meat from the birds tasted more a luxury than Jez could have imagined. There wasn't a lot of meat on either but Jezzet got a whole leg to herself and counted herself lucky. The A
rbiter got none; Swift had brought down the birds and so he decided who got to eat. Even Henry got a share but Swift ignored Thanquil like he didn't exist. When Jezzet had offered to share her leg with him Thanquil had just smiled and shook his head.

  A moody silence soon descended over the fire. The Boss and Henry retreated into the darkness. The boy, Green had the watch and had been expelled from the circle of light. Thanquil sat staring into the fire, the flames dancing in his eyes. Swift was asleep or pretending to be and Bones was busy cleaning his bones, seems he did that a lot.

  “How'd you lose the other finger, Thorn?” Jezzet asked, hoping to start some sort of conversation if just to lift some of the tension. There were times when silence could grate so on Jez's nerves that she wanted to scream.

  The Black Thorn spat into the fire and for a while Jezzet thought he meant to ignore her. “Last member of the crew took it. Boy was young, pretty much like Green 'cept he knew how ta swing a sword.”

  “Fuck you, Black Thorn,” the words drifted into the firelight but the boy stayed outside on his watch.

  “Big lad an' still growing. Shoulda waited a few years 'fore testing me though. What was his name?”

  “Bol,” Bones replied without looking up from his bones. “Though we took ta callin' him Bull. Seemed ta fit somewhat.”

  “Aye well Bol decided ta try fer me at a whorehouse in Naris. I was naked as my name day with a girl sat on top of me. Pretty little wench, claimed ta be jus' fifteen an' near enough a maiden as not ta matter.” Thorn let out a heavy sigh. “First swing of Bol's sword buried itself in her skull. Good job too 'cos he got it stuck an' had ta wrench it free. Gave me time ta push the corpse off me an' roll away. I swear, ya never feel yaself wither so fast as when the girl ya in turns dead. Strange feelin' ta find yaself inside a corpse, even a new one.”

  They were all staring at Thorn then, even Swift had opened an eye and looked somewhere between disgusted and fascinated.

  Then Thanquil spoke. “In some cultures it's a man's right to take his wife to bed one last time after her death. Honours her memory and allows him to say goodbye to her.”