by Rob J. Hayes
An ingrained response Jezzet had learned at Yuri’s command early on in her training was to assess the potential threat and combat ability of everyone.
“Assess and re-assess,” the old bastard always used to say. “See everyone, watch everyone. Know which ones you can kill and which ones you can’t and any that you can’t watch and learn why not.”
It was good advice and no mistake, it had saved her life on more than one occasion and Jez would happily put money on it saving her many times again before her time was through. Some part of her deep down registered at times like this that it might be worth her taking on an apprentice of her own one day but she knew that could only ever end one of two ways; either she’d kill the apprentice for not being good enough or they would be good enough and would end up killing her. As neither of the two prospects appealed she had consciously taken the decision to delay the process for somewhere close to forever.
Once they were all aboard Jaeryn took the boat man aside and they spent a few minutes arguing in dramatically hushed voices. Jez watched, out of earshot, with a forced casualness.
Drake promised a fight. A real fight. Certainly not going to be from any of these lot. Jez found herself hoping the boat would get underway again soon. The sooner she got to flex her sword arm the happier she would be. She was full of a nervous sort of energy, excitement mixed with anticipation, the same feeling she got when she saw Thanquil only for very different reasons.
She knew she couldn’t trust Drake Morrass, knew she had no reason to believe he had been telling the truth even for one second but none of that mattered. She was pent up, ready to explode and ready to sate her desire on the first target that presented itself. As the boat finally pushed away from the district into the waterway Jez found herself once again standing at the front of a boat, with her foot on the railing, her hand on her sword and a wild grin lighting her face.
The attack came sooner than she anticipated and it seemed none but Jezzet were expecting it. The whistle warned her the arrow was coming a moment before she saw the shaft. Jez had no time to dodge the deadly missile but then she didn’t need to, it flew past her and she heard Sal scream in pain.
Jez risked only the barest glance behind her to assess his condition. He was down on his right knee with the arrow protruding from the meat of his left thigh. The head had passed clean through the flesh and stuck out the other side.
Small mercies. Apparently it’s a lot worse if it hits bone. Jez had never been hit by an arrow herself, one of the few weapons she hadn’t experienced the business end of, but she had been around enough folk who had and knew as well as any and better than most how to deal with such a wound.
“Snap off the ends and pull it through,” she called behind, turning her eyes back to the front, scanning the nearby buildings and looking for the archers. The arrow had come from a fair way in front of them, it seemed they were floating right into a trap. Her blade sang a beautiful harmony as it slid from its sheath. It was a work of art even Yuri would have been proud to own. A straight single-edged blade folded hundreds of times in the style that only the smiths of the Dragon Empire knew. Those same smiths boasted their swords were sharp enough to cut through rock and, though Jez wouldn’t normally believe such a claim, she had seen it done. The charms along it were Thanquil’s addition. Six of them and etched painstakingly in his own hand. Never had anyone given Jez such a beautiful gift and the night he had given it to her she had repaid him many times.
Another arrow flew out of the murky darkness from in front of the boat and to her left. The shaft went well wide and plopped into the waters that surrounded them.
Sal grunted and gasped in pain as the shaft was pulled free from his leg and even without looking Jez knew Lei would be ministering to the wound. The silent man wasn’t nearly so good at fixing people up as her but Jezzet wasn’t about to waste time tending to someone mid-battle.
“Turn the boat around,” Jaeryn ordered. “It’s a trap!”
“Belay that,” shouted the boat man, his cheeks as red as a slapped arse. “We keep on through. They’ll have to board us if they want the prize and then it’s a fight on our terms. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? Harder, boys. Push harder. Get us through or we’re all target practice.”
Another arrow whistled and ended with a wet thud as it found the bared chest of an oarsman. He went down silent as only the dead can be and the men either side of him picked up the slack and poled even harder. Another arrow flew out of the darkness, almost level with them now, and stuck in the deck, harmless.
Jezzet sucked at her teeth.
“What is it?” Jaeryn asked her, his voice hushed and his stance low and ready.
Jezzet glanced at him and cocked an eyebrow. “There’s only one of them and they’re a fucking bad shot.”
“Only one?”
She nodded slowly. Another arrow arced over their heads and landed somewhere in the district to their right. “And they’re a fucking bad shot.”
A last arrow flew out of the darkness and buried itself in the wall of the cargo cabin. Jezzet heard a squeak but she didn’t have time to investigate.
“Boats!” the boat man shouted. Pointing ahead of them as if there were anywhere else they could be coming from. They were in a particularly straight stretch of water wedged in between two large districts, one primarily warehouse and one residential and there wasn’t a turning in sight in front or behind.
Jezzet counted three boats, little more than rafts really, each carrying no more than four assailants and they all looked to be well armed and dressed all in black with their faces covered.
“Eleven men,” Jaeryn said as he stepped up beside Jez. She detected the hint of a tremble in his voice.
“Twelve,” Jezzet corrected him. “The archer is still out there somewhere.”
Jaeryn nodded and she saw him look behind. “Not sure how much use the others will be, Sal’s pretty badly hurt and the oarsmen…” Jez heard a splash. “Well two of them have decided to swim for it. How many can you handle?”
Jez laughed. “All of them.” The boats were closer, she guessed they’d be within boarding distance inside of a minute. Jez stepped away from the edge of the boat and crossed towards the centre of the vessel. The boat man stood, large and sweaty, with a dagger in his hand that looked comically small.
“That’s… uh… reassuring,” Jaeryn said as he followed her. “But really…”
Jez could hear a soft whimpering coming from somewhere, barely audible over the sound of the boats moving through the water, Sal’s sharp intake of breath and the rapid praying of one of the rowers. Somewhere behind them a man screamed and then the noise was cut off rapidly. Strange creatures hunted the waterways at night and the swimmers seemed to have found one of them.
A three pronged grappling hook looped over the side of the boat and pulled taut. Something heavy and solid bumped against the front of the boat. Jez relaxed into a fluid combat stance, light on her feet, ready to move.
“Try not to get in my way,” she said quietly.
Jaeryn looked at her. “Huh?”
A hand appeared on the railing to her left and Jez was already moving by the time the man jumped up, pushing himself over the lip onto the deck. The little rafts were lower down in the water and the attackers would have to open themselves up to attack as they boarded. The first man learned the hard way just how vulnerable boarding made him. There was no point stabbing the man, Jezzet hated to do it but in this situation it was easier to wound him and allow the things in the water to finish the poor bastard. Her blade flicked out, quick as a lightning flash and took off his right arm at the elbow. He toppled backwards, staring at but not comprehending the stump at the end of his right arm. Jezzet had already turned away by the time she heard the splash of the newly-maimed hitting the water.
Two more of the masked assailants vaulted onto the boat and Jez knew more would be following. The closest rushed her, closing the scant feet between them in moments. Jez flowed t
o her left, moving around the cut of the man’s sword and found herself face-to-face with another of the attackers. She ducked the second man’s wild attack, stepped backwards and blocked another thrust from the first.
Jez twisted her wrist, locking the man’s sword against his chest and brought her left knee up, striking him in his kidney. The unlucky assailant went down on one knee and Jez both pushed, span and stepped away all in one easy motion. Her sword cut through the man’s throat as easy as it did the air and blood sprayed onto the deck of the little boat.
She glimpsed Jaeryn and Lei backing towards the aft of the little boat, two of the black-clad men waving swords at them. A guard crew they may be but Jez’s friends were not used to real fighting, they were little more than hired thugs and were far less than capable of standing up to trained warriors. An arrow slipped out of the darkness, narrowly missing Lei and burying itself in one of the oarsman.
Jez broke from her opponents into a run that none of them expected. She leapt between Jaeryn and Lei’s attackers, her sword flicking first left, then right and both went down hard. The first man was dead before he hit the deck but the second gurgled out a bloody moan before dying. Her own opponents were close behind her so Jez stepped forward to meet them, putting herself between them and her friends.
Her blade was a blur, blocking once right and another left. Both men were taller than her, both had reach to their advantage but neither was a match for an experienced Blademaster. Jez feinted right, ducked left and with a downward slice took the man’s leg off at the ankle. He never had time to scream, Jez’s back-swing rent a gouge along his face and her sword met the next man’s with a glorious ring of metal on metal.
I should remember to thank Drake.
The man made a grab for Jezzet’s hair but the fool underestimated her strength. The moment he took his left hand from the hilt of his sword Jez pushed, crushing through his defence, she forced his sword down and thrust, twisted and withdrew. The man continued to spurt blood from his wound long after he was dead and Jez was left with five opponents.
Jaeryn and Lei took the opportunity to step up beside her, sensing the tide was turning in their favour. Lei looked at Jez, his mouth open to speak and his eyes went wide, he stepped back, giving her some room. She could feel the blood spatter on her face and the wild grin that tugged at the corners of her mouth, no doubt it was scaring their attackers as much as her own allies but Jez didn’t care, she was revelling in the bloody action.
One of the assailants threw something towards them, something small, dark and fizzing. Instinct, more than understanding told Jez to shield her eyes but her body was slower than those instincts. The thing exploded mid-air in a flash of light as blinding as the sun. Lei and Jaeryn staggered back screaming but Jez had managed to cover at least some of her eyes and she squinted against the darkness that rushed in all around her punctuated by brightly coloured pulsating orbs of light.
A painful man-shaped blur loomed out of the sea of colours towards her. Jez couldn’t tell if it was friend, foe or trick of the light but she wasn’t about to wait around to find out. She ducked, tucked and rolled, feeling something sharp and deadly pass just over her head. Mid-roll she thrust out with her sword and felt resistance, someone screamed and something heavy hit the deck. A moment later what seemed like a laugh.
Jez rubbed furiously at her eyes and some of the spots of light faded, others resolved into men with weapons and the large, noisy one crying at her feet turned out to be the boat man. He clutched at his ankle and cursed in at least one language Jez didn’t understand. She spared close to a moment’s thought to apologising but decided against it and turned to face the armed blurs coming towards her again.
Too late she saw another sparkling object hurtling her way. It exploded in a flash of blinding agony and this time Jez had nothing covering her eyes.
Shit, Jez, you’re blind. Run. RUN!
She turned and ran, not knowing where to only knowing what from. Even as good as she was she couldn’t take on five armed assailants while blind. Her foot caught on something and she stumbled, her left hand hitting the deck of the boat, covered in something wet and sticky with an earthy metallic smell. Then she was up and moving again, hearing shouts from behind as though they were very far away. Her leg hit something hard and there was nowhere else to run.
The edge of the boat.
The realisation came too late and Jez was already tumbling over the edge of the little craft, head first into the monster-filled waterways of Soromo. Her fingers caught onto the lip of the railing that ran all around the edge of the boat but she found no purchase, covered in slick blood as they were. Tepid water hit Jez, enveloped her, rushed into her mouth and nose and ears.
Don’t panic, Jez.
Still blind she somehow managed to right herself in the water and came up gasping for delicious air. Something brushed against her feet.
Panic, Jez!
Her vision was a mess of dark colours all merging into one formless quagmire of confusion but she could see the boat nearby, an imposing mass in front of her, still in the calm waters. Even closer still, lashed to the boat was a smaller strip of brown that Jez hoped was one of the little rafts the assailants had used to board them. She kicked towards it, thanking all the nameless Gods Yuri had taught her to swim.
As she reached the raft Jez wasted no time in hauling herself up and onto the construction. It was little more than a number of wooden planks treated and then lashed together but it would serve to keep the water-bound monsters from chewing on her.
Jez rubbed at her eyes, trying to dispel the blobs of coloured light that throbbed in and out of her vision. Only then did she realise her sword was gone, she’d dropped it when she went overboard.
That glorious piece of metal, a gift from Thanquil and the most beautiful thing you’ve ever owned and now it’s lying down at the bottom of the Emerald Sea.
To say she was angry didn’t even start to cover what Jez was feeling as she pushed herself to unsteady feet and with a jump she mantled the railing and was back on the boat.
She could see four of the black-clad men left, the other was gone and so were all of the oarsmen, dead or fled. Lei and Jaeryn were backed towards the cargo cabin and Sal was at the fore of the boat with two of the assailants attempting to put a second hole in him. Jez broke into a run and was on the two men fighting Sal. Her right hand found one of the dual short swords sheathed at the small of her back and the blade flashed out, slicing a long cut along the first man’s back before he even knew she was there. He went down alive but Jez left him for Sal to finish off, her blade changed directions in her hands and buried itself in the second man’s neck before he could react.
Jezzet put her foot on the man’s back as he dropped and wrenched her sword free in a spatter of blood and flesh and bone. Turning she found Lei was down, crawling away and Jaeryn had been manoeuvred away from the cargo cabin and was still struggling against his own opponent. The other attacker was busy fiddling with the lock on the cabin. Jezzet wasted not a moment.
She ducked, plucking a dagger from the inside of her boot and launched it at the man attempting to murder Jaeryn. She heard the scream as the dagger found its target but paid it no more heed as she launched herself at the last man.
He never even turned to face her, too busy attempting to open the lock. Her sword plunged straight through his chest and buried itself an inch into the thick wood of the door. Jezzet heard an unmistakeable feminine squeak.
She looked across just in time to see Jaeryn, breathing heaving and wild eyed but uninjured, kick the corpse of his recently deceased attacker. The leader of the little guard crew took a deep breath and sighed it out in prayer for the dead before turning to her.
“Damn Jez,” Jaeryn said, the ghost of a smile returning to his lips. “You really do know how to fight.”
She nodded, looking past Jaeryn to the residential district behind him. Lanterns had been lit and people were out, watching and whispering. The screa
ms and metal-on-metal clashes had brought unwanted attention to the scuffle and she did not doubt the city guard would be far away.
“Fuck,” she swore all too loudly.
“What?”
“I dropped my sword,” she admitted to the survivors. Sal was helping the boat man up and Lei was busy tending to the shallow slash across his ribs, his shirt off showing a chest even more hairless than most women’s.
“Where?”
“Overboard.”
“Oh.”
“Fuck,” Jez swore again and kicked the door in impotent anger. Again the frightened squeak from inside the cargo cabin.
Jezzet looked at the door, then at Jaeryn who shrugged, then she looked over to the boat man as he limped towards them, supported by Sal’s massive frame.
“Open it,” Jez ordered the man on his own boat.
“No,” the boat man replied his voice quivering even as his chin stuck out in defiance.
“Please,” Jezzet put as much menace as she could able into the one word.
The boat man seemed to shrink away from her. He detached himself from Sal and sat down on the deck, taking his weight off of his leg, off of the ankle that Jez had wounded. “As scary as you are, woman. I am more scared of Captain Morrass and this is his cargo. That door opens when we get to the drop off point and not before.”
Jezzet spat and was rewarded by a sharp intake of breath from the boat man. In the wilds spitting was considered a waste of water and nothing else but here in Soromo spitting on a person’s property was considered a great insult, one that only violence or recompense could justify.
“Sal, the door,” Jez said.
The big man grunted, limped towards the cargo cabin door, put his shoulder to the wood and shoved with all his weight and strength. A grunt and a crash later and the door burst inwards, the lock ripping from its housing. Sal took a moment to stare into the cabin and then stepped aside with a whistle. Jez walked to the doorway and gave her eyes a second to adjust.