The Mercenary's Bounty

by Kristen Banet

  Bryn gave her an odd look and she didn’t try to decipher it.

  “I’ll meet you outside,” he said. He left first, almost running out. She sighed, following him. She didn’t know if what she had just asked of him would hurt Mat or put him in a bad position. She walked down the hallway, ignored the main room of the community building, and went outside to breathe in the fresh mountain air. It was something she enjoyed on the roads. The air was thinner, and somehow nicer. It also didn’t smell like fish like the ship and Namur. It didn’t smell like old dirt or sweat like the pits.

  The mountains had a freshness she wasn’t used to.

  Bryn was nowhere to be seen, so she idled at the door to the community building, unsure of where to go. Bryn had left her, even when he told her to follow. She tried not to be put out by it. It was a strange feeling, to have someone obviously run from her like that.

  “Allaina, I need to get back inside. Please.”

  Mave’s eyes found the source of Mat’s voice, nearly thirty feet away, near a round building. Her male looked distressed and uncomfortable.

  A female, wearing something like Mave was, ran a hand over his chest. “You got back and didn’t come to see me. You were taken by the Empire. I was worried about you. What happened to your horn? They had looked so good and now…”

  Mave bared her teeth at the touch and purr in her voice, but waited. This was Allaina. She wasn’t going to get into the middle of Matesh’s conversation, though. She wanted to see how he handled the female.

  Mat shook his head. “No, I didn’t come see you. Just like I haven’t seen you when I’ve returned from missions for the last hundred years. We’ve been over for a long time, Allaina. I’m with someone now, so stop touching me.” He pulled her hand off his chest by the wrist, but it wasn’t rough. Mave wanted him to break the female’s wrist, but he didn’t. “It’s serious, ‘I’m in her mayara’ sort of serious. Unless you have something important to tell me, I need to go.”

  “With someone? In her mayara? What did I miss yesterday while I was out hunting? I came back, was told you were here, and yet didn’t see you. No one would even tell me where you were or what happened. They were surprisingly close-lipped about it with me.”

  Mave kept waiting, watching the interaction. Matesh was trying to step away from the female, his eyes down. He was tense and wanted to leave. She could see it even from the distance.

  “With someone. You’ll meet her eventually. She’s a member of the Company. She knows how being a warrior is important to me because she’s one too.” Mat’s tone was accusing as he ended that. “She’s not telling me to stop being me.”

  “I wanted to keep you alive!” Allaina growled. “Alive, Matty! With me! With our family!”

  “Your family. I never got along with your bodanras, and we both know that. They tolerated me as a casual lover. There’s a lot of reasons why you and I were never going to work, Allaina. Drop it.” Mat stepped further away from his old lover and towards the building Mave was standing in front of.

  “I want to meet her,” Allaina demanded. “A new female? She’ll need friends. She’ll need to submit to Jesvena if she hasn’t yet. As mativa, Jesvena is in charge of all of us. We both know that. Maybe I can help her get in to a good position here-”

  “I didn’t submit to Jesvena,” Mave called out. She didn’t want anyone thinking she did. Or that she should. She watched Mat look up in shock, then a smile came over his face. She loved that smile. “Good morning, Mat.”

  “Mave,” he crooned, walking closer. He was to her in ten steps and wrapped an arm around her waist. “The blue looks amazing on you. Senri offered that when I saw her at dawn. I was washing your armor, trying to get it done before you woke up.”

  “Thank you. Bryn had to teach me to put it on. I hope you don’t mind.” She wanted to clear that now. They were both ignoring the female slowly walking closer. Allaina could wait. She wasn’t important anymore.

  “I won’t get pissy over it since it’s my fault. I should have stayed and woken you up for first meal. My apologies, amanra.” He kissed her to prove just how sorry he was. She was chuckling as he pulled back.

  “I’m Allaina,” the female greeted, finally close enough that Mave shouldn’t ignore her. She could, if she wanted to be rude, and part of her really wanted to pretend like the greeting hadn’t been extended. She turned on the female, meeting her eyes.

  Allaina put up a fight, snarling with a viciousness that nearly had Mave ready to fight. Mave never dropped her eyes, and gave her nothing similar to that display. Not a single twitch of a muscle reacted to the threat Allaina just tried. The female stepped closer. They were the same height and now chest to chest. Allaina snarled again, narrowing her ruby-red eyes.

  “Lower your eyes to the ground before I put them there,” Mave said softly. “I don’t submit to anyone and I never will. I’ll kill you if I have to. I’m very good at it.”

  Allaina’s nostrils flared in anger and then her eyes dropped. “You’ll submit to someone eventually. You don’t just get to show up in our village and take over.”

  “I don’t plan on taking over, but I also don’t plan on being underneath anyone. I’m a member of the Company. I follow the orders of Alchan and Luykas. I don’t submit to an Andinna I’ve never met, and I never will. And don’t think of trying to make me in the future.” Mave made it clear as the day around them. If she needed to do this with every female she met, she would. She wouldn’t submit to the males; she wouldn’t submit to the females. She wasn’t going to submit to anyone.

  “Well, it’s been a blessing to meet you,” Allaina said with none of the politeness of Senri. She began to walk away without letting Mave respond or a handshake.

  “That…well, I don’t think it could have gone better, but it absolutely could have been worse. I’ll be thankful that it wasn’t.” Mat sighed. “Allaina is in line to be the next mativa of the village. It’s always gone to her head. Between her, Jesvena, and Senri, you’ve now proven more dominant than the three most influential females of the village.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” she asked, watching the beautiful female walk away. She hadn’t wanted to admit it when the female was talking to Mat, but Allaina was pretty. Her shoulders were broad like every Andinna’s, but her muscle didn’t bulk up and look overly masculine. Her waist and hips created the illusion of an hourglass.

  She was pretty, and Mave wanted to tear her ruby red-pink eyes out of her skull for it.

  “No, but it’ll make things interesting, for sure. Especially since Alchan declared you his and not the village’s. Alchan doesn’t submit to them either, so between the two of you, they’re losing power. King and the most dominant female? It’ll make things very interesting.”

  “This sounds much more complicated than I care for,” she muttered.

  “It is,” he conceded. “Let’s not worry about it. We only have today to relax and prep for the mission. Just think, tomorrow we’ll be out of here again and killing some Elvasi.”

  She grinned. Yeah, I can get behind that.

  “Hey, you two are finally both alive!” Nevyn dropped down next to them, but he wasn’t smiling. He didn’t exactly look excited to see them, only carrying some urgency. “Company meeting. Alchan wants to check in with us, make sure we’re all healing now with a good night’s sleep, then to talk about prep that needs to be done.”

  “Thanks,” Mat said, sighing. “There goes the idea of relaxing.”

  “We’ve got Elvasi to kill,” she said, grinning. “They did just attack us, Mat. We’re going to get them for it.”

  “I love the way your female thinks.” Nevyn was laughing as he jumped up and took off.

  Mat sighed, taking her hand. “It’s not just about them attacking us. They tried to take you.”

  She didn’t have anything to say to that. It made her heart clench in an uncomfortable way.

  Mat showed her the small trail to Alchan’s home. Apparently, it was a different clif
fside, one he claimed just for himself. There was a waterfall that came down the side of his mountain into a pool of his own, but not a hot spring. There was a platform, but it wasn’t very high and even had some stairs to the door, nearly thirty feet up. She and Mat climbed up, and he let her in first.

  It was the first time she had been in a mountainside home. She had heard about them from Leshaun during her lessons, but the community building was just a wood and stone structure. This was something very different.

  The walls were carved from the mountain, and rough. She let her hand slide over one as she went further in. It was carved out large enough that her wings had ample room and Mat could get around her without needing to avoid her. The floors were also raw stone, smoothed and with rugs laid over the top.

  She found the Company inside a large central room, waiting on her and Mat. She couldn’t see anyone else missing. The males were mostly lounging on different pieces of low furniture, like bags with stuffing in them. They let their wings rest on the floor, along with their tails. She took it all in, ignoring the actual Andinna. She was more curious about the home. It was a little like the pits.

  Yet so different. It was warm and dry. There was even a fire going, and it was only late summer. She wondered where the smoke went.

  “Like my home?” Alchan asked her, obviously already annoyed with her.

  “Could be nicer. There’s not much color.” She wasn’t sure where the retort came from, but it had many of the males chuckling. “Not that I would know much about that. I grew up in the pits under the Colosseum. Everything was dirt and stone there, with not a single shred of color.”

  “Hm. I’ll take that into consideration.” He wouldn’t, his tone made that clear.

  “You have jokes today?” Mat asked her softly, pulling her to sit down.

  “I’m in a good mood,” she answered, falling onto one of the giant cushions, letting her wings relax like the other males did. She saw Bryn standing in a corner behind Alchan and Luykas by himself, and he was watching her. Their eyes met for a moment and he quickly looked away. Her face betrayed her, heating up slightly. She wasn’t sure where that reaction had come from, but she worked to control it.

  “That’s a first,” Luykas said, staring at her oddly. “A good mood? Skies save us, we’re all going to die.” He finally broke out into a smile, snickering to himself.

  “Does it have anything to do with putting Allaina underneath you?” Mat asked mildly.

  “She what?” Alchan snapped. “Damn it.”

  “I’m not sure what’s wrong with you now. Please tell me, sire.” She narrowed her eyes at him until he growled.

  “You can’t roll every female here. Jesvena, Allaina. If you get Senri, you’ll have outdone every female in the village. Those three rule.”

  She smiled, causing Luykas to laugh harder. Kian was the one who gave Alchan the bad news, though.

  “Senri told me last night she was rolled. Didn’t stand a chance.” Kian began to chuckle. “Females.”

  “Since I’ve only just met other females, does anyone want to tell me why this is happening?” She tried to pose the question nonchalantly. The very few times she had experience with females before this, it was the old female in the castle in Elliar. Those interactions had been short and curt.

  “You females instinctively try to make a pecking order. Dominance challenges, testing strength of mind and physical strength.” Kian leaned closer. “Jesvena is dominant by nature and the will of her mind and her belief she can lead drove her to become a tradition-keeper and take over the area young. Allaina is much the same way and was chosen as an apprentice. Her training began years ago. Senri has no interest in those things and feels no need to challenge them, but she is a warrior and no other warrior that lives here permanently will ever challenge her. She’ll put them on their ass. As a triad, they rule this village and its territory.”

  “Then you come in, a member of the Company, and put them all beneath you.” Alchan sighed. She could see for just a moment the weight he bore on his shoulders and realized she should have recognized it sooner. There were rare days she had seen Shadra tired, and then she would quietly complain about the stress of ruling an Empire. Alchan was ruling a dying people without a real home. The stress of it was now starkly obvious. “We’ll deal with it after the mission. Right now, we’re going to stay focused on our newest problem.”

  “I told Alchan last night that attacks on you all coincide with an increased amount of Elvasi activities right outside the mountain.” Kian stood up, holding a large scroll. “Now, they’ve never been bold enough to come into the mountains. The Elvasi know we rule here, even if we’re outnumbered, but they’ll pick off our hunters and patrols if we’re not careful. We try to make sure our patrols are always well-manned enough to handle any trouble. Recently, Senri and I caught a scouting party coming into our territory. We killed them before they could report anything about our mountains back to their funders and other Elvasi.”

  “So the word went out that Mave has such a high bounty, and they kicked up, all looking for her.” Luykas hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “We do need to attack them. Hiding isn’t going to make this settle down.”

  “No, it won’t,” Alchan agreed. “How are everyone’s injuries? Did you all get enough rest last night?”

  A wave of confirmation ran through the Andinna in the room. A good night’s rest and they were all healed. Being in their prime, it wasn’t too much of a concern. Leshaun was the one who took the worst injury and would need to sit out to heal, thanks to his age. He wasn’t even at the meeting.

  “Good. I want you all handling your business today and preparing to go. We leave tomorrow at dawn, so there’s plenty of time to plan this out. Make sure you eat, rest, make any plans you need before the winter. We’re going to be on the move for another week to get to the location - be ready for that.” Alchan smiled, a brutal thing showing off his canines. “And keep focused. We need to show these Elvasi that no one comes after one of ours.”

  Mave felt a flood of respect. She and Alchan didn’t get along, but more than once now, he’d called her one of them. He wanted to fight for her, fight for the Company.

  Walking out, she and Mat headed towards the village with a tail. Bryn hovered behind them, quietly walking when he could have flown. She looked back at him, causing him to look away.

  “Let’s do the horses together,” Mat suggested, ignoring Bryn behind them. “The more familiar you are with them, the better.”

  “What about our gear?” she asked. She had blades to clean. Where was her armor? He’d gone to clean it, but she didn’t know where he left it.

  “I’ll help her with the horses,” Bryn said suddenly, stepping closer. “Ya can round up all of that and meet us in the stables.”

  Mat’s eyes narrowed just a little at Bryn. She had no idea what he was thinking about, but he finally responded. “Yeah, that works. I’m going to take off.”

  “I’ll walk back with her,” Bryn promised.

  Mave just raised an eyebrow. She knew the walk now. When had it been decided she needed an escort?

  Mat swiftly kissed her cheek then jumped back and up into the air. Plants rustled around them as his powerful wings took him up into the air. She watched him disappear and turned on Bryn. “You said you would meet me outside earlier,” she reminded him as he walked up to stand at her side.

  “Varon got me pretty quickly to come over here. I figured one of the others would find ya.”

  She knew he was lying. From his entire posture, it screamed a lie. He didn’t want to tell her why he wasn’t outside to meet her. In the end, it didn’t really matter, but she was still hurt by it. It felt like he brushed her off.

  “Okay.” She turned and started stomping down the trail back to the main village.

  Bryn groaned, speeding up to keep pace with her. “Yer mad at me now. I understand. I did leave ya behind. I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.” It wasn’t really, b
ut she didn’t exactly have the room to get pissy with him. He made his decision to go and it had all ended up fine.

  “Thank ya.” He moved closer to her side and stayed there for the entire walk back to the village and to the stables, pointing them out for her. Another one of the large wooden buildings in the village near the cliff-side, it blocked a view of an open field where several horses were running around, enjoying the morning.

  “You didn’t need to walk back with me,” she finally said, staring out at the horses.

  “Made Matesh feel better knowing you had someone instead of walking alone, and him letting me was a sign he trusts me with ya.” Bryn shrugged. “It was something that needed to happen.”

  “I don’t understand you males,” she muttered, shaking her head. She continued to walk into the stables, finding the horses they had ridden in on and many more, including mules and donkeys for hauling. “We’re just taking individual mounts for this, right? A few pack animals, too?” She wanted to work instead of fight with a headache over what males did between each other.

  “Aye.”

  As they started working, he helped her with kind words and led her through preparation, always there. He never went ten feet from her. He hovered, and sometimes they would accidentally touch - and he would quickly jump away as if there was lightning between them. As the day grew warmer, his shirt came off, revealing muscle she had seen already. She glanced at it a lot, seeing how the cut of his abdomen went down into his breeches, which he let ride very low. When he caught her looking, his face turned a little red and she turned away quickly.

  “Let me get that,” he offered, grabbing a saddle from her. She found herself staring at his chest again. She only nodded, letting him leave with it, her eyes falling down to see his ass in leather.

  He’s not my type. He’s not my type. He’s not my type.