by Noah Layton
‘Yeah, but it’s easier to ask someone who knows the area.’
‘You are so lazy,’ she laughed, punching me in the arm. ‘I thought a bounty hunter would have more initiative.’
‘We do, this is just faster. Hey, you worked in the bureaucratic offices, I’m sure you know what it’s like to have your time wasted on mindless tasks.’
‘You have no idea.’
‘I’ve went through the exact same thing with my guild. Too slow, too small-thinking. What even is this Night Market, anyway?’
‘A… Market that’s open at night?’ Cassandra said, frowning at me like I was an idiot.
‘I got that part, thanks,’ I smirked, shaking my head.
‘I’m just kidding. It sells all of the things I talked about yesterday, all of the things that slow people down. Alcohol, opium, sex, exactly the kind of place that these bandits of yours would hold up.’
‘Take another look at this,’ I said, handing Cassandra the wanted poster. ‘Get to know their faces.’
‘I’m not sure I want to.’
‘Well, yeah, but these guys are brothers. If they roll together in their criminal activities they’ll likely be staying in the same place together. If we catch sight of one, hopefully he can lead us back to their hideout.’
‘You definitely think they’ll be there?’
‘It’s our best bet. They robbed a merchant caravan and killed three guys in the process. What do guys like this spend their gold on?’
‘Pretty much exactly what’s sold at the market.’
‘Right,’ I nodded.
We arrived at the market 15 minutes later and donned our hoods. The Night Market was composed of a low series of scattered stalls forming a maze-like formation. It was tucked away in a small plaza and lit by the dark sheen of a purple light that cast itself down on everything below, originating from a series of lanterns hanging from the balconies of the abandoned, vine-covered apartments above.
Shrubbery spun out from untamed plants hanging from the roofs of the buildings, waving in the breeze, their ends becoming hands that spindled out to reach for the men and women below.
The citizens of Spire City that lurked here were too well-hidden, though. They moved like happy zombies through the stalls, spending their coin freely on the produce of the dark.
Cassandra and I stuck to the outskirts, attempting to map out the maze but getting nowhere. With every path that we thought we had figured out, another seemed to appear that took it in a whole other direction.
‘Even if we spot this guy there’s no way we’re going to be able to track him down,’ I said. ‘We need a new strategy.’
Cassandra stayed close as we moved into the milieu of buyers and sellers, keeping our wits about ourselves.
I decided to move from stall to stall, showing the wanted poster to the merchants as I went while Cassandra kept an eye on the folks around us.
Not a single merchant had seen her – not until the ninth that I arrived at dropped a refreshing amount of truth on my head.
‘You seen these guys around anywhere?’
‘Mister,’ the dwarf started, ‘you’re in the wrong place if you think any of the merchants around these parts will start telling you shit. Why should they give up their valuable customers just so you can take them away?’ The dwarf paused and hocked a mouthful of chewing tobacco into a brass pot by his feet. ‘Of course,’ he continued, exposing his rotting teeth, ‘I know the guys you’re looking for, and they ain’t my customers. But for a small fee I’d consider divulging who they are customers of.’
Cassandra and I exchanged a look. I could easily rough the guy up a little, but in a place like this there was some occasional honour among thieves; I had little doubt that somebody would stab me to death, and I had been stabbed enough lately.
I reached into my jacket and retrieved five gold pieces, sliding them across the counter beneath my palm.
The dwarf scooped them into his own palm and they disappeared into his pocket, clinking teasingly.
‘See that goblin across the way?’ The dwarf said, pointing to the stalls behind us. I nodded once I caught sight of the green, wrinkled merchant. ‘He sells them opium every night, and their man hasn’t been around yet.’
I turned away from the stall and back to Cassandra.
‘We need a vantage point,’ I said. ‘Once we can trace this guy through the market we can follow him back to their hideout.’
‘How about those balconies?’ She replied, nodding up to the abandoned first floor quarters that surrounded the plaza.
‘They would work great, but how do we get up there?’
‘Leave that to me, my vertically-challenged friend.’
‘Vertically-challenged? I’m tall enough.’
‘That’s not what I mean, you ass. Come on.’
I followed Cassandra to the edge of the market below one of the balconies that would give us a perfect view onto the opium stall.
Cassandra positioned herself beneath the balcony ledge, which stood at least two yards over our heads. She measured herself, calculated her jump, and leaped deftly into the air.
Her fingertips wrapped securely around the edge, and she pulled herself up effortlessly.
‘I can do that but I’m a little injured right now,’ I shrugged sarcastically.
‘Of course you can,’ she pouted down to me with a laugh. ‘Stay down there. You’re going to need to follow this guy when we find him.’
Cassandra hung back in the shadows of the balcony, watching the spot carefully, while I secured my hood and kept a lookout from below.
We were out of the way here, though there was a still a chance that some jumped-up asshole might see us and figure something was going on.
I kept my eyes peeled, but the few that passed us here beyond the edges of the market didn’t even look our way, and I was happy for things to continue as they were.
‘Pass me the wanted poster again.’
I looked up to see Cassandra’s arm reaching down in the darkness, her open hand waiting.
I passed it up to her and her arm withdrew.
‘Nope, that’s not him. Thought I had a spot on the guy but… Wait.’
‘Do you see one of them?’
‘Maybe… Some asshole is in the way, hang on… There! That’s him!’
‘Which way is he moving?’
‘He’s not yet. He’s buying from the goblin… Wait… West. Come on.’
My instincts wanted me to rush into the market, but knowing how maze-like it was in its structure I knew deep down that I would lose him fast.
Cassandra had a better idea; she hopped to the next balcony along, balancing herself deftly on the mossy stone barrier and tip-toeing with immaculate balance.
I rushed along beneath her, relying on her eyes to keep track of the bandit as he moved through the crowds.
‘Hold for a second,’ Cassandra hissed down, jumping down from the barrier onto the fifth balcony she had leaped to and hiding while I shrunk back into the shadows of a locked doorway.
I scanned the closest exit of the market for a few moments. Then, lo and behold, the figure emerged from the exit, recklessly pushing aside an elderly man, and stamped down a narrow alley up ahead.
Cassandra hopped down from the ledge and we stuck to the wall, quelling the sounds of our footsteps and stopping at the entrance to the alleyway.
I ducked my head around the corner just in time to see him dodge into a doorway and close it behind him.
Cassandra and I moved quietly up the passage. We were halfway there when the door locked, and upon arrival I found that it couldn’t even be broken down; a rusting metal grating barred our way.
‘Shit,’ I muttered. ‘Even if I did manage to pick this, for all we know he could be hiding on the other side at the ready. Looks like we need to find another way in. This way.’
We paced up the passage and emerged into a slim yard that put some space in between this building and the next – a simple method for stopping fi
res from being able to move quickly through the city.
A rickety wooden staircase led up to a decaying back door on the first floor, but that was also barred. Beyond it, though, on the second floor above which was only the roof, a window stood hanging open.
‘Think we can make that?’ I said.
‘I think I can make it. What about you?’
I followed Cassandra up the stairs, wincing at every creak that gave out from the steps.
Cassandra balanced herself carefully, then leaped up to the second-floor balcony and pulled herself up swiftly.
‘Think you can make that?’ She whispered down.
Usually my approach was to kick the door down and aim for the heart, but these guys were more well-hidden than the usual small-timers that I hunted down.
This would require a little more work, but rewards this high didn’t come without first putting in the time.
‘Please,’ I whispered up to her, batting my hand as if it was nothing.
I moved onto the barrier of the stairs and jumped up, just managing to grab the edge of the balcony. I tensed my back up and wrenched myself onto the mossy balcony, leaping over the crumbled stone wall to greet Cassandra.
I pulled up the open window as far as it would go and peered into the darkness within. No movement that I could make out, but from the floor below I could hear voices.
‘First floor,’ I whispered back to Cassandra. ‘We move quietly and get the jump on them. Oh, and don’t mangle their faces. They need to be identifiable if we’re going to get paid.’
‘No mangling, got it,’ she whispered to me.
Carefully, I climbed through the open window and into the second-floor room. It was dusty and scattered with broken wood and derelict furniture, with a door to the left that led to the hallway and stairs.
Cassandra followed close behind it, moving through the window after me much faster thanks to her impressive dexterity. She was quick and light on her feet; both were skills that I hoped would come in handy.
We walked through the door and onto the landing, rounding to the stairs at the end of the corridor and descending step by precarious step to the first floor.
The voices now became louder, interspersed with both deep laughs and bizarre high-pitched ones. As I scanned the corridor, I realised they were coming from behind the door to my right.
All was dark save for the purple glimmer seeping through the grimy window at the other end of the hall, the occasional flicker casting more light into the passage.
‘We’re going to go in hard and fast,’ I whispered. ‘Aim for their necks and their chests. Incapacitating them quickly is the key.’
I moved down the final few steps and stayed close to the wall, approaching with bated breath.
A rat suddenly burst out from a crack in the wall by the window and scurried out of sight through an open door at the end of the hall. My heart raced madly at the sudden sound, only serving to make me more aware of my surroundings.
I moved around to the door to the room where the bandits were holed up. Cassandra unsheathed her daggers while I pulled out my sword and readied it.
Adrenaline was always in abundance in these moments before a fight.
The trick was to use your adrenaline to your advantage, especially when you were facing off against more than one enemy. In situations like this, catching them by surprise and terrifying them was half of the battle.
I turned to Cassandra, feeling my face half-lit by the purple light behind me that crawled over my skin, and mouthed:
Three. Two. One.
I leaned back on my heel and threw my weight behind my other foot, raising it and slamming it into the door.
It flew back on its hinges and I rushed in. I only had seconds to take in the positions of my enemies.
The whole room collectively yelped the moment Cassandra and I entered the room.
Two of the bandits were sat on couches around a large collection of lanterns on a central table. They had guests in the form of a pair of doped-up women they had their arms around.
Another was on the left on his back, stretched out on a bed smoking a pipe, while the final was on the right in a small kitchen area boiling food on several burners.
The adrenaline slowed everything down.
I scanned their faces. It was definitely them. There was no mistaking the distinguishing features.
Who’s the biggest threat?
The target in the kitchen was the only one standing, and he had boiling water on hand. No-brainer.
I rushed straight for him, swinging my sword in a horizontal arc and slicing through his chest. He screamed out as the force of the swipe swept him to the right, taking the handles of the pots with him.
Boiling water splattered onto the floor with the pans clanging shortly after.
‘Fucking kill ‘em!’ Someone yelled out behind me.
The women screamed out helplessly and scrambled from the couches. They rushed to the corner of the room as the three remaining bandits stood from the couches and the bed, drawing rusty short-axes and rushing toward us.
The man on the bed seemed the only who wasn’t high, and he was moving towards us with the most self-awareness and ferocious control.
Cassandra was standing right in his path.
I panicked, glancing between the two scrambling over the couches towards us.
Her right arm suddenly moved swiftly, swinging back one of her daggers over her shoulder and launching it straight at him.
The dagger struck him straight in the neck. He slowed immediately, dropping the axe and staggering to his knees as he fumbled at the dagger and sank to the ground.
The pair of women that they were using as company cowered in fear in the corner of the room while the remaining two Jones bandits dashed towards us, both brandishing axes.
Two down, two remaining.
Cassandra took the one on the left while I took the one on the right. The first drew back his axe, going for my companion.
She swiftly hurled her second dagger, missing his beck and striking him in the shoulder. He jolted backwards from the force, and Cassandra jumped onto the arm of the couch.
She propelled herself through the air, delivering a brutal kick to his face and sending the pair of them crashing through the table scattered with junk between the couches.
The bandit on the right pulled the exact same move that Cassandra had; he jumped to the couch and leaped into the air with surprising agility for a man who was so relaxed just a few moments ago.
I could sweep at his leg with my blade, but it was too much of a risk.
So I did something a bounty hunter should never do.
I dropped my sword.
With both hands free, I wrapped my fingers around my attacker’s calf and shin and stepped aside, then wrenched him in the direction he was intending to go in mid-air.
It was a single swift movement and a risky one, but it paid off.
The bandit slammed into the ground by the hot water and scattered pots, yelling out at the exact same time as something crucial cracked within his body.
I ducked down and snatched up my sword, dashing over to him promptly.
The bandit managed to gain control over his axe, turning and swiping out madly at me.
I dodged his final strike, turned my sword down in my grasp and slammed my blade into his chest.
His body seized up briefly, then dropped limply, his grasp on his axe failing.
I spun around to see Cassandra whipping both of her knives into the air as the final attacker scrambled to his feet, but she was way ahead of him.
She executed a quick series of swipes and jabs to the bandit’s torso before he could even raise his weapon.
Suddenly she drew back, out of any possible area of attack.
The bandit’s axe slipped from his hand. He seemed to have lost control over his hands as he desperately tried to raise them to his chest.
Finally he managed it, and just as he did a scattered mesh of red st
ains appeared on his stained white shirt. They expanded rapidly, and as he tried to speak he coughed blood from his mouth and keeled over, slamming into the ground lifelessly.
Just like that, we had taken down all four of them.
‘Quick and clean,’ I panted. ‘I’m impressed.’
‘What about them?’
Cassandra nodded to the two doped-up women that had been sat with the bandits on the couches. They were still cowering in the corner.
I crossed to the women and kneeled down before them.
‘Hanging out with wanted bandits?’ I said firmly. ‘Are you fucking kidding me? You could’ve gotten yourselves killed. Get out of here.’
They exchanged a look and pushed to their feet, edging around me and running to the door, their footsteps eventually disappearing out of earshot.
‘Damn good shot on the first guy,’ I said, nodding to the man on the ground with the dagger sticking out of his neck, now lying dead in a pile of his own blood.
‘You said not to go for the face,’ she shrugged with a smile. ‘So what happens now?’
‘My least favourite part,’ I muttered dryly, crossing back over to the first of the bandits and readying my sword over his neck. ‘But, needs must. I hope you’ve got a strong stomach.’
‘You sure know how to show a woman a good time.’
8 – Late Night Feelings
Ten minutes later we were passing the Night Market, looking no different from when we had arrived save for a few dark spatters on our clothes, sweat-laden foreheads and a pair of satchels in our possession, each of us carrying one over our shoulders.
‘Who would have thought that a human head would be so heavy?’ Cassandra groaned, shifting it in her grasp. ‘Well, two human heads, I suppose. Is there not a cleaner way to do this?’
‘This is the last time that I plan on doing this,’ I laughed. ‘Well, maybe the last time. Soon enough I’m going to get a cart so that my horse can transport the bodies instead of making such a mess. Besides, who knows how long it’ll be before somebody finds those headless corpses up there. This city doesn’t need to smell worse than it already does.’
‘Can’t disagree with you there.’ Cassandra paused. ‘Tell me something. That did not seem particularly difficult, so how is it that your old guild did not branch out and take on more valuable bounties?’
