by Noah Layton
‘Fuck this,’ Cassandra shouted, hurling the first of her daggers at him. The blade struck him in the back, slicing in several inches next to his spine.
Merliah let out another groan of pain, dropping to his knee before laughing with an even crazier tone and jumping back up.
‘Hit me, bitch!’ He yelled. ‘Go on, give me the other!’
But then an idea hit me.
And it was just stupid enough to work.
I fumbled madly in my pocket for the pouch of gunpowder that Grimdrom had thrown to me.
‘Back off, Cassandra, I’ve got this!’
‘Are you sure, Drake?’
‘Just trust me!’ I turned my attention to Merliah. ‘Come on, fire-boy. Why don’t you pick on somebody with your own two hands instead of setting them alight?’
‘I’d like to,’ he said, turning to me and staggering through a cleared path of grass, ‘But watching you scream and writhe while you’re immolated alive is just so much more fun.’
‘I’ll bet,’ I breathed, backing up as he approached me.
‘You know that part where you said do this the easy way or the hard way? Well the more you back up the more you make it difficult for me to actually kill you, so if you wouldn’t mind just standing still, that’d be great.’
I stopped in my tracks. The animal instinct in my mind begged me to run away as this wounded, psychotic gang member staggered towards me, his eyeballs encased in fire and his grin demonic with rage.
But the tactical side of me forced me to hold my ground.
‘There,’ he smiled, closing in, ‘Isn’t that so much better?’
‘Tons.’
Merliah drew a third and final deep breath, filling his lungs with the fire magic bestowed upon him.
Timing it perfectly, I took the handful of gunpowder and hurled it at Merliah’s face just as the fire left his mouth.
A small explosion engulfed him as I dived to the side, landing hard on my front in the grass and keeping my head down.
‘Drake!!!’
‘I’m okay!’ I yelled back to Cassandra as I pushed to my feet to see Merliah scrambling madly, his clothes smouldering with flames.
I rounded to the side of him, readied my sword, rushed forwards and swept my blade in a clean arc. It cut straight through his neck, sending his head flying into the grass and his body sagging to the ground.
Cassandra rushed up to my side to see Merliah’s headless body.
‘How the hell did you do that?’ She asked.
‘Let’s just say things got a little… Heated.’
She looked at me unimpressed with a raised eyebrow.
‘That’s your line?’
‘Hey, give me a break, I didn’t have time to think of a better one.’
‘Fair.’
‘Go get Grimdrom. I need you and him to put these fires out using that concoction of his.’
‘You got it. Where are you going?’
‘To collect the bounty on Merliah. I’ll meet both of you back at the sewer entrance. The explosion is going to draw a lot of attention this way, so stay and hidden and get back there as soon as you can.’
‘You got it. Wait…’
‘What?’
Cassandra spun me around and kissed me hard on the lips, running one of her usually gentle hands roughly into my hair with pure passion.
‘That’s for saving my life.’
‘Any time.’
I had kissed plenty of women in my time, but one from a woman that beautiful always sent my head spinning.
But maybe that was the fumes from the fire.
Or a combination of the two.
I wrapped up Merliah’s head in a satchel and swung it over my shoulder, then set off at a quick jog across the field to find Blister and ride to the bounty post, leaving the smouldering ruins of the gang hideout in my wake.
13 – Gold and Love
Blister was waiting for me near the bounty post as I headed over the hill. I patted him and led him to the tiny squat building, hitching my steed outside before staggering in through the door of the remote bounty post with my hood pulled tightly over my head and my cowl wrapped around my face.
I knew the location of every single bounty post under the jurisdiction of the Spire, including all of those on the outskirts. This was one of the most remote, and that would act in my favour.
‘Can I help you, sir?’ The tired-looking official said from behind a newspaper at the desk.
‘You can pay me,’ I said tiredly, fishing the poster from my pocket and setting it down on the desk.
The official, looking unimpressed and bored, set his newspaper down and pressed his glasses onto his nose. He examined the poster absently, then read it back a second and a third time, sitting forward with interest.
‘Wait… You mean to tell me Odasa Merliah’s head is in that bag?’
‘Yep.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I will admit that he’s a little scuffed up, but he wasn’t exactly willing to go easy, if you know what I mean.’
The official eyed me. He was a balding man in his 50s with eyes that had become razor-sharp ever since I had caught his attention. He wasn’t stupid or cocky; just weathered and sceptical, and I didn’t blame him.
‘Bring him over here and let me see.’
We crossed to the battered wooden table that resided in all bounty offices – the examination table. It was a rough job, but somebody had to do it.
The official pulled the bag down around the head and examined it.
‘I know the face, but I don’t know if this is him. Fortunately for you I know about this case, as does every other bounty officer in the city.’
‘You do?’
‘Oh, yeah. Even if most are unwilling to go after gang members, we still don’t like it when one of our own is killed.’
‘Just like a gang.’
‘You could say that.’
The official returned to his desk and unlocked the bottom drawer, retrieving a red ledger filled with papers that could put my journal to shame.
‘I know that our alleged friend over there has a few identifying features, namely a tattoo of a wolf’s head on the back of his neck.’
Identifying features were usually kept hidden from public knowledge. They were used in cases like this to ensure that the person I was claiming I had returned was in fact the very same person.
Why was it kept secret? Well, if some ne’er do well was hungry enough for coin and willing to stoop low enough, they could find any old corpse kicking around, make them unrecognisable, place the so-called identifying marks upon them and turn them in.
Doing it this way meant no confusion.
The official returned to the head and looked at the back of it.
‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ he muttered. ‘Looks like we’ve got a match.’
A few minutes later the bounty had been recorded alongside my pseudonym, and the official handed a huge sack of gold over to me.
‘Pleasure doing business,’ he said. ‘Are you part of a guild?’
‘I’d prefer to keep that to myself.’
‘Wise. Make sure that you keep everything else to yourself, too. The dark elves are not to be tangled with.’
‘Don’t I know it, but somebody’s got to shake up some tail feathers, and if that has to be me then so be it.’
‘I suppose I don’t have to ask, but were you responsible for that explosion over the rise?’
I smiled beneath my cowl.
‘What explosion?’ I shrugged with mock-innocence.
‘That’s what I thought.’
I returned back outside and hopped onto Blister’s back with the pile of gold tucked between my legs.
‘Let’s go, buddy,’ I said, patting his back and whipping the reigns. ‘Looks like we started more than one fire today.’
I arced around the grasslands, staying far away from the smouldering ruins of Merliah’s villa as I returned to meet Cassandra and Gr
imdrom. The smoke from the blast was still rising, reaching hundreds of feet into the air.
It was a marvel to look at, a wreckage spewing smoke against the beautiful backdrop of the countryside. The grass and the fields would repair from the damage that had been caused, but the gang house would be overgrown and steadily crumble into dust.
Blister galloped dutifully to the graveyard where I met my companions in the hidden spot by the tunnel entrance.
‘That was incredible!’ Grimdrom laughed. ‘Did you see it?! The blast, the smoke…’
‘I sure did,’ I assured him, hopping down from my horse and pressing my palms to my ears. ‘I can still hear it.’
‘Ahh, that ringing will vanish in a few hours,’ he replied, batting a hand at me like it was nothing. ‘Your lady-friend also tells me that you acquired the villain’s head?’
‘What was left of that murdering bastard, anyway. You got a bag? I’ve got a present for you.’
We headed to the back of the cart and tipped the gold out onto the wood in a gigantic pile.
‘Maker…’ Grimdrom said, taken aback. ‘This is more gold than I have ever seen in one place. Is this how well your job usually pays?’
‘Only when you go after the real bad guys,’ I replied, trying to keep myself from marvelling at the shimmering pieces. ‘This is my biggest payday yet.’
‘And well-earned,’ Grimdrom chuckled, slapping both Cassandra and I on the shoulders. We counted the gold out, 350 heading Grimdrom’s way and 650 heading mine. ‘Well, I must say, this is one of the most enjoyable days I have had in a long, long time. Testing my explosives, blowing up buildings, killing a gang member…!’
‘Keep your voice down,’ I said in a hushed tone, glancing around our solitary space. ‘You can’t ever tell anybody about this. It’ll be your head if anyone finds out. You were never here, we’ve never met, none of this ever happened.’
‘Of course, Drake, of course,’ he assured me with seriousness. ‘I shall ensure that my lips remain sealed. This is going to kick up something of a storm, no?’
‘I’m counting on it.’
‘Indeed. Well, I suppose this is where we part ways for now. Is there anything else I can do for you?’
‘Yeah, actually. You can give us a ride back into town.’
‘Shotgun,’ Cassandra said promptly.
‘Damn it.’
With our gold collected and our tracks covered, we set off from the graveyard back towards the Adler District as the sun began to set.
As we passed through the streets on the outskirts of the city there was an abundance of movement – guards were rushing in the direction of the explosion, while countless citizens stood in the streets pointing towards the smoke that rose in the distance.
Hooded and with our faces covered, we didn’t pay it a single spot of attention. Nobody looked our way or even noticed us. We were just another group with an empty cart, moving quietly along the edges of the streets.
After dropping off Blister at the stables, I hopped into the back of the cart and rode it with Cassandra all the way back to the district. We bid Grimdrom farewell just as it was starting to get dark and headed up to the hideout.
We snuck inside, closing the door behind us. Veronica was stood on the balcony, looking out to the sky.
‘Drake? Cassandra?’ She called back, heading into the hideout to meet us. ‘I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried sick! There has been a huge explosion on the horizon… Why are you so covered in dirt and soot? You’re filthy!’
‘Because we were the ones who set it off,’ I grunted with effort, setting down the hefty bag of gold on my desk and offloading my weapons.
‘You were responsible for that? Everybody in the city is looking towards it! What did you do?’
‘Blew up a house, killed a gang member, got paid a 1000 gold pieces for it. The usual.’
Veronica’s mouth fell open in shock as she moved towards me, but she wasn’t marvelling at the number that I had just dropped – she was fascinated by my body.
Looking down at myself, I could now truly see just how scuffed and covered in dirt and dust I was.
‘You are… Filthy,’ she breathed, scanning my body as she licked her lips before glancing up at me and batting her eyelids. ‘But still,’ she shook her head out of her trance and smiled with her perfect white teeth, ‘Such fame and fortune requires a celebration, and I have it – steamed lobster with a side of truffles.’
‘Trust you get to seafood,’ Cassandra said, setting down her weapons and pulling off her jacket.
‘It will be delicious, I promise, but first we must get you out of those dirty clothes and given a proper wash.’
‘Lobster and truffles?’ I exclaimed. ‘God, I’m eating like a king.’
‘You deserve it after today,’ Cassandra added. ‘Veronica is right, we made a small fortune.’
‘It’s a start,’ I smiled, ‘but let’s put a rain check on the fame part.’
‘You do not wish to bask in the glory of your accomplishment?’ Veronica said.
‘We can’t. Staying hidden is one of our primary objectives. Plus, don’t you think it’s pretty damn cool when you can have the entire city look at something that you did, and nobody has a clue it was you?’
‘That is very true, Drake,’ Veronica said smoothly. ‘Even so, I prepared something celebratory for you on the roof.’
‘Go have your celebrations,’ Cassandra said, batting her hand at me and kissing me on the cheek. ‘I need to take a nap. I think it would be wise for you to go and get, uhh… Acquainted with my dear friend here.’
Veronica took my hand and guided me out to the balcony. We climbed up onto the secluded rooftop where I found the bathtub sitting, filled with fresh, cool water.
‘I thought it best to take a bath out here so that you could view your accomplishments from a distance,’ she said, presenting it to me. ‘Just before we eat dinner, that is.’
‘This is perfect,’ I said, admiring the secluded setting and the smoke in the distance. ‘So… You just want me to take everything off again?’
‘That’s… Generally how people take a bath,’ Veronica said, eyeing me like I was an idiot. ‘Just like last time…’
‘Right…’
‘But seeing as this is a special occasion, maybe you would prefer me to wear something different.’
‘Oh, no, you don’t have to get changed or anything.’
‘Really, it is no problem at all, Drake,’ she said insistently, heading back down to the balcony. ‘Enjoy the water, I will be back shortly.’
Before I could object Veronica disappeared down to the hideout.
I took a moment to catch my breath from the day’s events, pulling my clothes off before sinking into the lukewarm water of the bath. It was a perfect temperature to offer some relief from the hot weather, and I couldn’t help but feel more relaxed as I got comfortable.
I looked up at the smoke rising in the distance. Plumes were constantly visible over the Dwarven District, but to see so much emerging from the countryside was unheard of.
And I was the one who had caused every head in the city to turn that way, moving back through without a single one of them knowing that I was the one responsible for it.
I’m not going to lie, it felt pretty damn cool.
Word wouldn’t have reached the dark elves yet that one of their main members was dead, along with all of his assigned guards.
But they would find out soon enough.
I hadn’t fully considered the backlash that would come about as a result of this; making a statement that the gangs weren’t above the law was my primary motive, and right now that was all that mattered. It sent a message.
Once the metaphorical dust settled, though, things would start to get tense. Searches would begin. Information would be exchanged. Meetings would be called. The gangs would be on high alert, wondering whether or not this was a targeted attack from another gang or a trigger-happy bounty hunter like myse
lf.
Even if they did lean towards the second of the two possibilities, there was no way that they could find me.
I was a myth, as were the beautiful women that I shared my hideout with.
‘So, what do you think?’ Veronica’s sultry, well-spoken voice asked as she moved into view from the edge of my eyeline. ‘Is this outfit better than my other one?’
Considering I had already been naked around Veronica already, I didn’t really think she could bring any more surprises flying my way, but when she stepped before me my eyes pulled away from the spoils of my work filling in the sky, and I gave her my total attention.
She was wearing the skimpiest, tightest maid’s outfit that I had ever seen. White stockings rose up her slender legs, meeting her ridiculously short black skirt and white apron that gripped her sexy figure. The material stretched up, gripping her firm, perky breasts and stopping at the base of her shoulders, leading up to her beautiful face and twitching cat ears atop her head.
‘Woah,’ I muttered like an idiot.
‘So, what do you think?’ She repeated, completely unashamed as she twirled in it. ‘I wore it the first day to my old job and my employer said that I couldn’t wear it again. Something about being too revealing...’
‘I can’t imagine why…’ I said, trying to hide my sarcasm as I admired her stunning body. ‘Didn’t you think men might start to show a little too much interest?’
‘I realised that a short while after moving to Spire City,’ she replied. ‘The men were nothing like the duke who I served.’
‘What was he like?’
‘He was pleasant enough, but he was bedridden for much of my time there, and his family were constantly cruel to me. Only when they went to bed at night did I change into this outfit. I prefer it; it is much more freeing compared to my other outfit. You wouldn’t mind it if I wore it more around the hideout, would you?’
‘You can wear it every second of the day as far as I’m concerned.’
‘Really? You wish for me to wear it all the time?’
‘If you want to.’
‘I would love to.’
