by Jackson Lear
“The wall is ten feet high.” She tapped something wooden nearby. “That will reduce the distance to eight.”
“Can you reduce it to five?”
She stepped onto the wooden crate, pulled me up, knelt down, and I used her knee to gain more height. With a quick, “Ooof,” I was on top of the wall. To my surprise, the woman climbed up with me.
“Thank you,” she said, to someone I hadn’t seen or heard. That someone grunted as they lifted the wooden crate away. “Ten feet, straight down.”
“Ladies first.”
She shoved me off.
We walked for a mile with my restraints still on me. For some reason I got to thinking of how she liked to unwind after a long day. Gin? Gambling with the boys who had no idea they were being taken for all they were worth? Or perhaps – long after everyone had retired for the night – she finally slinked into her bedroom, bolted the door, barred the windows, barricaded every point of entry, and tried to sleep with a candle and knife nearby, all because some distant moment in her past wasn’t distant enough.
I twisted my body every now and then to figure out what I still had on me and if any of it could free me.
“You’ll get your dagger back when you hand over Myalla.”
A new approach was needed. “What’s your name?”
“Zara. And you used to be Brayen. You now work for one of the northern mercenary companies.”
“Northern, huh? Bold guess.”
“It’s not a guess,” she said, her voice coming and going like she was continuing our conversation whilst keeping tabs on everything around us. “There are six companies in Erast. You might look like the rest of the enforcers in your group but you brought a friend, didn’t you? The good looking one. He’s the face of the company. He’ll be easier to find than you.”
“You said I worked for a northern company.”
“You ran like hell while in Vanguard’s territory. That means you are miles from home and don’t know who to ask for permission.”
I smiled. I couldn’t tell if she caught it or not but she had certainly piqued my interest. “We don’t usually call them enforcers.”
“What do you call them?”
“A variety of names. Rattlers, squeezers, closers.”
“What about mages?”
“We have those as well.”
“Are yours the assholes of the company?”
Now I grinned. “Almost always, yeah.”
“And they’re never the captain, are they?”
“I wouldn’t say never. There was one somewhere in the south who lasted ten years. Why?”
“It seems unusual. The most powerful mages in the world rarely rise to become senators, generals, or emperors.”
“That’s because mages are only at their best when they’re utterly exhausted. It takes a rare mind to function well when you haven’t slept in days.”
I felt her work through another question for me, deciding on how to best phrase it. “What about army deserters? Do you have any of those?”
“Some.”
“Even when you know they are among the most dangerous and cowardly people alive? They have no qualms about taking an oath and then deserting the people they’ve sworn to protect?”
“Most deserters join when they’re fresh on the run and wash out when they can’t take it anymore.”
“I’m sure your recruitment process is as rigorous as they come.”
“It is. If we’re taking on a risk like that, they’d better come with skills we haven’t seen before. Otherwise what’s the point in taking on a fifteen year old deserter who knows fuck all when a fourteen year old knows just as little but isn’t going to be on the run for the rest of his life?”
“You’ve done pretty well so far.”
“’Cause I’m not an army deserter.”
“I meant with eluding capture.”
Damn these foreigners with their better language skills than my own. “You can’t imagine why the locals don’t turn me into the city watch, can you?”
“Because you threaten them.”
“Not as much as you think. There are thousands of people in this city and only a couple of hundred company men. Even with just the number of former soldiers now working an honest job, we’re outnumbered by people who could match us in a fight. But you know what? Even most of the ex-soldiers like us better than the city watch. Why? Because we’re better at keeping the peace.”
She scoffed.
“I’m serious. We help people when they can’t afford it and we’re lenient on criminals who deserve a second chance. The city watch don’t do either. They catch a criminal on the street, they’ll de-hand them or cut their heads off. What happens to the victims of the crime? Nothing. If they were robbed their money is likely never returned. If their windows are broken they are never replaced. The criminals who return to the streets, now without a hand, have no hope of ever getting a job again, not with the stigma attached to that.”
“They should’ve thought about the repercussions.”
“They did. And do. Most are aware that something bad will come their way if they’re caught. But sometimes it really is a life or death choice right then and there. You can’t blame someone for doing whatever it takes to survive. Most of the people with one hand missing end up dying anyway, either from infection or from throwing themselves into the river. The rest do a menial job half as well as a kid. They’re given a miserable existence with no chance of making amends. But you know what we do? We rough up our criminals and keep an eye on them, a constant reminder that they owe us their lives. All of our members know who committed what crime in the last ten years. We know where they live, where they work. We stop in every now and then and get an update. Sometimes they’ve turned their life around. As for the people they wronged, they are repaid in full. That broken window is fixed, the money they lost is repaid, the culprit apologizes and promises to behave from now on.” I was still blindfolded but even so I turned so she could see me. “If your way works so well there’d be no more crime. Yet everyday someone loses their hand.”
We walked on. I was still alive which gave me hope. We made it onto a decent road. Since the sun was now on my back I knew we were heading back into Erast.
“Why Myalla?” she asked me.
“Two bozos from the city watch came to the orphanage but that was only after one of the sestas pestered them for a second time. They didn’t even bother to check the place where she worked. If they had done their job a little better I might’ve chosen someone else.”
“Would you have really?”
“It’s always a possibility.”
We walked on. The echo of buildings around me confirmed that we had returned to the city. People passed us. Most whispered. I was still blindfolded.
“Rattlers, squeezers, closers, mages,” she said.
“Swift talkers as well.”
“Ah.”
“I’m not the swift talker in our company.”
“You like to talk.”
“People don’t like to talk to me. That can be a draw back.”
“So I must be a swift talker, then.”
“That must be it.”
“The sestas had your back, you know?”
“That’s because I have theirs as well,” I said.
“They told me you probably wouldn’t answer to Brayen anymore. Why?”
“Goes with the territory. Join a company, cast aside everything that led you there in the first place and get a new name.”
“Sounds like you didn’t leave everything behind.”
“I thought I had. Where can I find the doctors?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sure you do. You’re, what, the head of the family’s security? You know where they are.”
“I know where they were. They won’t be there anymore. You scared them away.”
“Then tell me where they were.”
“Five Corners. A two story building with a black door and a black
slate roof.”
I did my best to remain as calm as possible. “Desten the Leaf’s place?”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Healers work on the bottom floor and make ointment and the like on the top.”
“Opposite corner.”
Then they might’ve seen Greaser and Runaway snooping around last night. Great. “Who owns the building?”
“Probably Vanguard Company.”
“I gotta say, operating in someone else’s territory would cost them a fortune.”
Zara remained quiet. Not exactly conflicted. Instead, I got the feeling that I had spit-balled a statement that wasn’t true.
“Not money then. Drugs.”
We stopped. She pulled the blindfold off my eyes.
“Thank you.”
Zara folded the blindfold into her pocket. “Are you going to behave?”
I smiled at her. “You have my word.”
“The word of a thief and kidnapper.”
“True. I’m going to behave for as long as it benefits me. Considering the trouble you’ve gone through to get me out of Kasera’s compound, I’d say you’re pretty good with magic and weapons alike. It will be interesting to see how dirty you fight and at what lengths you’ll go to in a fight to the death.”
“I’d win.” Zara peered into me, burrowing deep into my soul. “I’m not letting you go. You’re going to take me to Myalla.”
“How about you first take me to Día?”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“You knew about her though. Long before Myalla was taken. You stopping by the orphanage when you did was no coincidence.”
“You’re right. One of the orphans came to the villa to tell us a girl had been abducted.”
“And how has your investigation gone so far?”
“Her safety is not my focus.”
“No, getting a cut of whatever business the doctors are really into is. I’m guessing if they’re working out of a place across the street from a healer’s workshop then it’s drugs. That would explain how they can work in Vanguard’s territory without needing to pay them, but it doesn’t explain why a thirteen year old girl needs to be ritually executed.”
Zara pushed me along, taking us loosely towards the orphanage. “I have to ask, is being a thief really what you want to do for the rest of your life?”
“You think one day I’m going to settle down with a nice prostitute, raise little bastards of my own, and pay someone else protection money?”
“There are more women out there than just prostitutes.”
I gave her a careful look up and down. “I’m flattered but my life is quite hectic these days and I do travel a lot.”
She glared back at me.
“I find it troubling that General Kasera happens to be the patron of an orphanage that has now lost two girls and he only became the patron after the first one was taken. Reeks of a guilty conscience.”
“Coincidence. One of the sestas went looking for patrons. The story of Kiera convinced the general and his family to take pity on them.”
“Then he’s taken pity on me.”
“He knows who you are and who you were.”
“He also knows the people who took Día and Kiera. To make matters worse, he’s protecting them. What kind of man would do that?”
She didn’t answer. I got the feeling that if we were both locked in a room together, we could go days without getting a decent answer from each other. It was not a scenario I wanted to see played out.
We walked on. I mulled over what Kasera knew about me, which would do little to ease my standing with the Captain if he ever found out that one of the highest authorities in the empire now knew my name. I didn’t know much about high-borns and what they discussed openly but Miss Kasera seemed to hold a lot more sway than I would’ve given her credit for. She knew my name as well. I can’t imagine why the general would’ve told her so that put the loose-lips onto Zara. “You work for the general?”
“Yes.”
“And his family?”
“Yes.”
“It’s curious that the general’s daughter disobeyed her father to come and talk to me, and probably disobeyed him again by releasing me.”
“I suppose it would be curious if you were stuck in a pig-pen for several hours, several hours of which you were the main topic of conversation in the house. Miss Kasera pleaded with her father to talk to you. He agreed. Under the right conditions he said he would grant your freedom.”
“How benevolent of him.”
“You owe him your life. And Miss Kasera’s for arguing on your behalf.”
“If you tell me how I can find Día and Kiera and the people who took them both, I will honor that.”
“You will honor it regardless.”
“Why did she want to spare me?”
“It has little to do with you and everything to do with Myalla. You’ve kidnapped an innocent girl. We want her back. I don’t imagine threats of violence or even death scare you that much so Miss Kasera wanted to try a new approach: reason.”
“I’m glad to see someone that young cares. She’s in line for a lot of praise if it works out.”
Zara pushed on, scowling slightly.
“Ohhhhh, so that’s why she’s doing it. Secure the release of a high-profile hostage and write her way into high society.”
“She’s already in high society.”
“What will she get out of this if everything goes well? Her choice in husband? A seat in the senate?”
“She’s already married.”
“You’ve been calling her ‘Miss Kasera.’”
“I’ve been with the family since before she was betrothed.”
“So she wants to be a senator, then.”
Zara scowled again.
“She’d be good at it. She has a good voice, a good mind, I presume she can read and write. Too bad her family is marred in the kidnappings and probable deaths of children. From what I’ve learned, there are more than just two girls who have disappeared. There are dozens more and your general is protecting the people who’ve taken them.”
Zara shifted her scowl into a glare. “Do you always talk this much?”
“Not usually, no. Why did Kasera send you to the orphanage after Día went missing? Was it to see who came looking for her?”
“I came to find out what happened.”
“Right. And the moment he heard about Castor’s daughter, he hurried to the orphanage with no time to spare, arriving so quickly that Castor had barely begun his investigation.”
“He was concerned.”
“And then he’s seen meeting with two magically inclined individuals who admitted to abducting an orphan and went on to say that she is due to be killed. He knows full well the service they provide.”
At last her conscience started to gnaw at her. “I wasn’t there for that meeting.”
I took a moment to look her over, checking for weapons, seeing if she flinched. “Your boss is crooked.”
“He’s a good man.”
“Generals aren’t renowned for being good men. Good leaders, possibly. Either way, he’s spent much of his life training to kill his enemies. You may say that there’s a difference between cold blooded murder and war but a sword through your heart still stings the same.”
“He’s never kidnapped children.”
“He’s never had hostages?”
“That’s different.”
“He’s never laid siege to a city and endangered the lives of thousands of children?”
“Your people have blood thirsty wars as well. Civilians are caught in the melee.”
“Our wars might leave a hundred people dead, yes. Mostly we like it when people surrender. Much nicer to ransom someone back. Your general does that as well, doesn’t he?”
We came to a stop. “If anything happens to you or to the people you’re with and you can’t get to Myalla in time, will she be able to escape on her own?”
I sized her up. “What do I get if I tell you the truth?”
“The chance to keep talking.”
I nodded. “We’ve stashed her somewhere far away. She’s bound but she’ll be able to get out.”
“When?”
“Two days.”
Zara unknotted the rope binding my hands together allowing me to massage some blood back into my wrists. “You’re right but it’s not drugs. It’s medicine.”
“Same shit, different name.”
“I guess. Vanguard gather raw materials, the doctors turn it into medicine. The doctors sell their share to the city watch and army, Vanguard sells their share to the healers in Erast.”
“Sounds like I’m up against quite a challenge.”
“Taking Castor’s daughter … I understand it but it was still an incredibly stupid thing to do.”
“If it works it’s not stupid.”
She shot me a look usually delivered by teachers toward a smartass student. The Captain was great at it. Zara was better. “We only have a couple of hours until sunset.”
“And a few hours more until midnight.”
“For your sake Myalla had better be back to her family by sunset.”
“Myalla will die if anything happens to Día. Whether it’s today or in a year doesn’t matter. We’ll find a way. And I’ll dispatch each and every one of those doctors.”
“Good luck. They move around.”
“Like gypsies?”
“Like people who have more buildings than they do members.”
“And how doctor-like are they, actually?” I asked.
“You wouldn’t have broken into the general’s villa if they were law-abiding surgeons, would you?”
A call came out from the side of the road. “Sorry to interrupt but this is a rescue.” Lieutenant stepped out from the corner, his sword drawn.
Zara shot her hand to her sash, yanked it free, flicked it downward. It snapped out, unfurling a foot-long blade with two rear hooks at the base. The sash stiffened, becoming as thick and rigid as an iron pole.
A spear. She had a god damned spear with her.
“So you’re the good looking one,” she said.
Lieutenant gave her the slightest of bows. “Ma’am.” He lunged forward, swinging his sword up to knock Zara’s spear away. She stepped back, swinging around to break Lieutenant’s momentum. Then, like a lion going in for the kill, she jabbed forward, swishing her spear through the air and forcing Lieutenant back. He brought his sword up to defend, checking her attack. She struck again, jabbing towards his face. Lieutenant blocked, stepped forward to retaliate but did what he could to keep her back.
