by Jesse Teller
“The first man to touch me will meet Fannalis and reside in his hell until he sees fit to release you.” The Sterling Legion stared with panic on their faces, and Rayph turned away.
The Demons of Medey marched for the stage, and they would not be so easily intimidated. He leapt again into the throng, tossing a disguise spell over his back and disappearing among the terrified crowd.
The Bloodhounds
Konnon heard what happened that evening, and while the entire city mourned the darling little girl, Konnon fought for some truth regarding the event.
Many said Julius had come out of nowhere and slaughtered the little girl before the whole of the city. A few told tales of Rayph Ivoryfist attacking with Julius Kriss at his side to kill everyone except the king and Medey, who they all agreed was unkillable. Varied were the rumors of what had happened that night, but what Konnon could tell for sure was that Shalimarie was gone, and she wasn’t coming back.
Konnon thought of his own daughter and ached to make Julius pay for what he had done, but that was a fight for a better man. The one time Konnon had come up against Julius Kriss, he had barely escaped with his life. Julius had a knack for being everywhere. There was no way to escape him when he had his eye on you. Every turn, every step, he was there. Every time Konnon had decided he had gotten away, Julius Kriss had been behind the next door.
On his best day Konnon was little more than a nuisance for Julius Kriss, and with Slinter by his side, the man was nearly invincible. That was not a fight Konnon was willing to make. Added to the fact he had a fight going on right now, it was not time to worry or grieve for Shalimarie.
The brawl at the Pit had left the bar in shambles. Artiss and his Bloodhounds had fled the inn moments before town guards had flooded the place. Konnon had made it out with them, and the Bloodhounds had scattered. Konnon disappeared, too, and waited. Now the time was ripe again for action. He dropped his chain on his shoulders, pulled his thick leather jacket on his back and off he went. He used the back entrance so as not to show himself to Chester’s dining room, and he headed for the Pit and the mess that must still haunt it.
When Konnon arrived, the place was open but still being cleaned. The blood stains on the floor spoke of a body count that rivaled a battlefield. The furniture had been shattered and hacked into, and the bar was nearly cleared of places to sit. The table that sat the middle of the room was uneven and looked to have had an axe blade taken to it. A great blood stain had soaked into the wood, and Konnon dropped into the rickety chair afforded there and hailed a barmaid.
The woman who came wore a dress that stopped at her neck. Her face had been seared by what looked like a slap that could only have come from Slinter Kriss, and she looked as if her beautiful face would forever hold the scar. The wound was red and blistered. What had been ravishing was now broken and shamed.
“Drink,” Konnon said. “I don’t care what. Whatever your master is trying to get rid of.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, and she slunk off. Konnon decided he hated all cruel things.
“The Rowdy One returns!” Artiss shouted. He wore no shirt and his thick black chest hair bristled as he stalked into the Pit. Beside him walked Tama, though she kept her head down, working something out. They dropped into seats around the table he sat at, and Artiss slapped a hand on Konnon.
“Quite a bloody one you started last night,” Artiss said. “Almost didn’t make it out of that scrap alive.”
“Ridiculous. Artiss, you are always claiming to have been near death. No one of note touched you,” Konnon said. “I saw to that.”
Artiss grinned. “Seems I owe you a drink.” He turned to hail the barmaid.
“You said a keg,” Konnon said. “You are buying all night tonight.”
Artiss laughed, but he had always been generous with his gold, and Konnon knew he would not have to touch his purse all night long.
Soon Treavor walked in, his head up, his smile despicable. He slapped the wounded barmaid on the ass as he passed and laughed at the whimper that came from her as she hurried by.
He dropped into a chair and watched her walk away and he laughed. “She would be a great fuck now that she has been brought down a bit. I like to get them when they have just been shamed. Makes for better banter when I tell them how hideous they are while they suck me,” he said.
Konnon thought he would be sick. He knew he had to kill that man before the job was finished.
“You’re a cur,” Barrigan said as he cautiously sat in a chair that screamed beside Treavor. They both laughed, and Konnon looked at the raksa again, fear budding in his chest. He suddenly could not breathe and he kept his eyes roving, taking little sips of the giant man so as not to draw attention to himself.
Lauris cartwheeled in and leapt when she reached the edge of the table. She twisted in the air and tucked her legs and dropped into the seat beside Konnon with a gentle pop. She turned to Konnon and grinned. She licked her lips and slipped her hand into his lap. She squeezed his thigh just above his crotch and a shameful thrill ran through his body. He had not been touched by a woman in any familiar way in nearly five years, and as much as he desired to peel her hand away, he made no move to. He needed as many allies at this table as he could get. He felt filthy when he left her hand on his thigh, and worse when he looked at her with his sideways smile.
“Why is he here?” Treavor pointed at him, and Konnon sneered back.
“He is my friend,” Artiss said. “And if he needs a place to sit, he can always find that place beside me. Konnon and I did time together at that shit hole in the ass of Lorinth, Soother. We spent two years digging holes and shoveling shit out of that swamp, didn’t we, Rowdy?”
“I did most of the work, as I recall. You did an awful lot of resting and talking,” Konnon said.
Artiss laughed and clapped Konnon on the back so hard Konnon was sure it had bruised him. “What have the years done for you, friend?” Artiss said.
“Learning who my friends are,” Konnon said. “Needing new ones.”
Barrigan snorted and brought his fist down hard on the table, and Konnon looked up at him with his fear well hidden, his anger rioting on his face. “What happened, Konnon? Did you run out of sisters to marry?” the raksa said.
All fear of the bestial man drained from Konnon’s body instantly. His hand was moving before he told it to. His dagger flew and spun half a time before the butt of the weapon slammed the raksa’s throat hard. The dagger bounced off the gorilla’s neck and rattled across the table as Barrigan gripped his neck, fighting to breathe. Konnon caught the dagger, as it bounced off the table, and he slowly stood.
Barrigan saw him coming and reached for the blades on his back, but his air-starved hands could not work them. He fought to get to his feet and his legs tangled up on him as he stood. The chair under him flew wide and he fell to his back.
Konnon dropped to his knee and placed the tip of his dagger in the raksa’s ear.
“One shove and you’re gone. Just another stinking corpse to drag out of this shit stain of a bar. If you ever make a comment about my wife again, I will rip the life out of you slowly and painfully,” Konnon said.
The raksa gasped for air and air answered. His eyes steadied again, driving away the panic, but he did not move for his weapons.
Konnon patted the man on the side of the face. “Got the drop on you. Do I need to take a trophy to remind you of it, or can I walk away and be confident that you will remember the feel of the floor at your back as I stood over you?”
The gorilla face snorted and Konnon slipped the blade in the ear a bit. “Do I have to take this ear?” Konnon lifted his voice. “Artiss, do I have to take this ear?”
“Maybe you do,” Artiss said. “Maybe you should.”
“See, Barrigan, I don’t want to maim you. If I do, Treavor is going to want to fuck you. That would be awkward.” The table laughed and Konnon smiled. He pulled the blade away and extended his hand to the enormous raksa. Barrigan took the
hand and Konnon heaved with everything he had to get the man back on his feet.
Barrigan laughed and slapped Konnon on the back. “Fast as ever with that dagger of yours,” Barrigan said. “Use it on me again, I will make you eat it.” The great gorilla laughed and Konnon took a steadying breath.
“We are here for Ivoryfist,” Artiss said.
“Gonna be tough to pull him in,” Konnon said.
“A lot less tough if you are with us,” Artiss said.
Konnon retook his seat and Lauris gripped his thigh again and slipped her hand to his crotch. She squeezed ever so slightly and Konnon moved her hand. He just couldn’t let a woman touch him there. He wasn’t ready.
“Tama, what did you find out?” Artiss asked.
“Cast a few spells, asked a few questions, and what I found was quite alarming,” Tama said. “He is in town, but he is not alone.”
“That doesn’t bode well,” Treavor said.
“Worse than you expect. He has Kond with him.”
Treavor looked up, his face strained. “Smear Kond?”
“Do you know of another one?” Artiss said.
“Smear is retired. He is retired. Not working anymore. He is out of the game,” Treavor said. His fear rose ugly around him and his face turned red. His hands started shaking and he couldn’t swallow. He took a drink from Artiss’s mug, and he looked behind him. “Can’t be Smear,” he whispered. “Your information is wrong.”
Tama slammed her fist on the table and Barrigan grunted. “My information is spot on. My spells are never wrong. This city is haunted by Smear Kond.”
Treavor stood and walked away. By the time he reached the door, he was running.
“He is not coming back,” Lauris said.
“We are short handed now,” Tama said.
All eyes turned to Konnon.
“If you will have me. I don’t have a crew. I came here alone.”
Barrigan scoffed but quietly.
“I want in on the bounty if you guys will let me help,” Konnon said.
“Done. You’re in,” Artiss said. “I was working up to that anyway.”
“I’m not done,” Tama said. “Rayph and Smear are not alone. They are working with a warrior of Cor-lyn-ber named Dissonance.”
“Working doing what?” Konnon said. He thought he knew the answer but had to ask anyway.
“They are hunting Julius Kriss,” Tama said.
“Still?” Artiss said. “Even after the bounty on his head went up?”
“Arrogance was always his downfall. It is all we have going for us,” Tama said.
Artiss looked at Konnon, and inside he smiled. “We need eyes on Smear,” Konnon said.
Artiss nodded. He pointed at Lauris. She tried to kiss Konnon as she stood to go, but he twisted his head at the last moment and she got his ear.
“We need as much information as possible on this holy warrior,” Konnon said.
“Tama, dig deeper,” Artiss said.
“Until we know more, we can’t do anything,” Konnon said. “I would walk the city. Get a lay of the land. I have not been in Song for five years. Not during the Blossom Festival since I was a kid. We need to know what has changed.”
“Barrigan, go up. Find out what you can from the rooftops,” Artiss said. “I will go with Konnon and we will see what else is out there.”
Konnon cursed, but there was nothing he could do about it. For now, Artiss was his boss. Konnon needed to do what he could to get out from under him.
Fringe
“Smear, please answer,” Rayph said through his fetish.
Nothing. No word from Smear whatsoever. No sign of the man in any of their hiding places. Rayph slipped into the church of Cor-lyn-ber and was met by Dissonance.
“I can’t find him,” Rayph said.
“We need him now more than ever,” Dissonance said. “A man of Smear’s talents cannot be done without in a situation like this. Julius Kriss will be in a fortification now. There will be criminals all around him. He will be nestled in, waiting for your attempt on getting back Shalimarie, if she is even still alive.”
“She has to be alive, Dissonance. This is the kind of blow that could sour Thomas forever. Losing the one he loves so completely at such a young age. It would be devastating to him. Not to mention, did you see that little girl’s heart on display during the ceremony? She is to be treasured. Julius is brilliant in focusing on her. The king will be last in my thoughts while that girl is in his grasp, and he knows it.”
“You must focus on your main objective. Phomax mustn’t die. The nation will be thrown into chaos. Fear will reign in every city, in every corner of the nation. The effect of Pax’s blood being assassinated will ripple through the continent. Phomax is most important,” Dissonance said. “And what’s more, you know I’m right.”
“I can’t let him have her,” Rayph said. “I promised.”
“That may be a promise you can’t keep.”
“I make no promises I can’t keep,” Rayph said.
Rayph huddled in the corner of a pub, his hand on his fetish, whispering. “If you can hear me but can’t speak, I want you to know I am coming for you. I am about the business of finding you now. Hold tight, old friend.”
Rayph opened his third eye when the man in the center of the bar turned his direction. Rayph cast a slight spell, and the man shimmered. Rayph knew the spell the man had cast on himself to change his appearance. Rayph could say nothing. He had changed his, too.
The man dropped into the chair across from Rayph and parted an oily smile across his face. He ran fingers through sweat-slicked hair and leaned in close.
“I know who you are,” the man whispered. “That information is valuable in these parts.”
“I would guess that information would be valuable anywhere. Bounty hunters scour the streets for me. The Demons march in search of me. The villains of the city plumb the streets for me. You have the ability to turn me over and make a handsome sum of gold for your knowledge, but I would caution you one thing before you march off to make your deals.”
Rayph took a drink of his ale and winced. It tasted as if it had been watered down with sewer dregs. “They are not me. I am Rayph Ivoryfist. I have been court wizard of Lorinth for ten thousand years. In that time, I have become more powerful, not less. Whisper your secrets of me, betray me to my enemies, but when you are finished, pray they lay me low. For if they do not, I will find you.”
“A likely boast from a desperate man, but tell me, how you are to find me when no one has seen my real face in over ten years?” the man said.
“Do you think I cannot peel away your puny magic? Are you so poorly versed in spellcraft that you do not know the hundreds of ways I can rip that weak spell from your body? I know dozens of tricks to removing spells such as this one that are so mind numbingly painful that you’ll forget there ever was a time when you did not know agony,” Rayph said.
The man swallowed hard, and Rayph chuckled.
“What do you know of why I am wanted?” Rayph said.
“You, you,” the story was coming back to him now, and Rayph smiled as it struck a chord of fear in the rogue. “You killed a wizardess.”
“I shattered a wizardess. I broke a building with a wizardess.” Rayph hated the lie, but he needed the fear lacing across this man’s face right now. “She was a colleague. You are a base pretender. Her, I disliked. You, I loathe.”
The man looked about ready to bolt from his chair before Rayph dug into him with a look so savage he was sure the man would piss himself. “Tell me what I need to know and I will pay you well.”
“You wish me to settle myself with you against the two Krisses. What fool would do that?” the man said.
“If you had decided not to give me what I want, why come here at all?” Rayph said.
The man looked away for a brief second before Rayph knew what had happened. Julius had sent him. Rayph was being set up.
“I will tell you what I know, but I w
ill need more money. The whole underworld of this city will seek me out when I leave this bar. No place is safe for me.” The man’s voice held a whine to it, but Rayph knew better. This man would be rewarded for this farce. He would find Julius’s favor, but that would not last for long. Julius Kriss was a creature of hate. He would turn on this fool soon enough. Rayph searched his heart but found no shred of sympathy.
“He is holding her in Jailor’s District, on the corner of Tread and Languish. There is a sagging apartment there that—”
“I know the place,” Rayph said. “I can find it from there.” He stood to go, and the man grabbed him with trembling hands.
“Enter from the back. There is a crumbling doorway. The door is swollen and will take a good shove to get it moving.” The man tried to sound confident, but fear was in his voice. He needed to set this up just right or Julius would be furious. “The doorway leads to a set of tunnels under the city. He is down there. You can’t miss it.”
Rayph nodded and dropped a bag on the table, more than what was agreed on. The man would not have time to spend it.
Rayph ducked under the squeaking sign of the Mud Puddle and quickly left it behind him. He longed for the Rain Barrel. It had become home for him these last few weeks, and there was something comforting about seeing Trysliana’s smiling face every time he entered the place. He could not go there now. Kuck Street had become a snare set by bounty hunters and Medey’s Demons. There was no getting near it.
Rayph pulled up his collar against the slight rain and pushed on. Julius would be waiting for him. Slinter would be there. They knew the layout of the tunnels. They knew where he would be entering. They would set a trap he had no chance of slipping. No one knew ambush better than Julius Kriss.
There had to be another way. Search as he might, Rayph could not find it.
He cursed and kept stomping the streets and byways. He touched his fetish and felt Dissonance nearby. His own men were following him. The Manhunters were shaken after Smear’s disappearance. Could he hold them together if Smear turned up dead? Could he work this city without them?
