by Jackson Lear
The vampire intercepted the bear, wrapping his fingers around the neck of the ax and reinforcing the bear’s back against my spell.
In that split second I shelved my attack. It would’ve been a long-shot at best but an utter waste with the vampire bracing him.
The vampire spoke calmly in his northern tongue. The bear seethed, grunting, trying to break the vampire’s grip around his ax. When he found he couldn’t he let go he slammed one fist into my ribs and another into the side of my face. I got him at the same time with a knee to the side of the ribs and I managed to pull away from the full force of the impact but even so, some hits land no matter how far away you see them coming. The bear staggered back, clutching his ribs while I massaged my face.
The vampire dropped the hulking ax, it clanging on the rooftop, and flexed his poisoned finger tips. “You wouldn’t have made it.”
“I might’ve.”
He dragged me to the ledge, his grip on the back of my armor impressive as he pushed me out, my heels holding me up while my chest was pushed out into gravity’s reaching grasp. If he let go now I’d have a single gasp to cast a spell to soften my impact, but only if I knew exactly when he was going to let go.
“There,” he hissed, with a point below. I caught sight of two archers and three axmen hiding behind a short building overlooking a narrow courtyard – my only means of escape if I fell from here. All five of them were looking up at us, ready for me to land and run towards them.
The vampire pulled me back and flung me to the other side of the building. Grabbed me. Pushed me off like before. “And there,” he hissed. This time there was a noble with a sword and two mercenaries. The vampire hurled me into the middle of the rooftop like I weighed nothing at all.
I climbed to my feet, my face stinging like hell and my ribs aching all over. “I’m here to speak to Miss Kasera first, Desdola second, and we’ll see about King Draegor third.” I’d like to say that I sounded commanding as I spoke but after the beating and near plummet to my death I admit I sounded a little shaky. “And I’ll remind you, you only have four days left until Miss Kasera returns to imperial lands. Unless all of us make it back intact an Isparian legion will turn this whole city into a wasteland. I’m going assume that’s exactly what you want since you’re trying to provoke me into a fight. But you’ve never fought a legion before, have you? A unit, maybe. A cohort, unlikely. An army, certainly not. But a legion? They won’t even need catapults to bring this castle down. Six thousand troops all charged with the same effect – to obliterate this castle – and this whole place is done for before anyone can escape. You try fighting that many people and no matter how good you think you are, if a hundred of them see you at the same time the only thing left of you will be a splatter of blood twenty yards wide. Now, fuck off with your scare tactics and take me to Miss Kasera.”
The vampire glared at me, the whites of his eyes more of a murky red and sickly green. His lips peeled back, cracking with flecks of scabs and blood.
A chilling voice flittered towards me. Male. Higher pitched than I remembered ever hearing. “Brayen?”
I glanced over. Behind me stood a fifty five year old man, a ghostly apparition which seemed to be mostly cloud and mist than solid form. He looked an awful lot like me. More gaunt in the face, more pudge in his gut. A shake in one arm from tremors.
“Is that really you?” he asked. He sounded different. Not that he was using someone else’s voice but more like his voice had aged with the passing years.
“You’re not him,” I said, before turning back to the vampire. “I assume Desdola is too scared to come and face me herself.”
The bear and cubs seemed to be at a loss at who I was speaking to but the vampire could see my father as clear as day.
“You’ve grown so tall,” croaked my old man.
“Fuck you.”
The vampire’s lips cracked into a grin.
“You know he’s still alive, right?” I said.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t a better father,” said the ghost.
I ignored him. The vampire started to cackle.
“They’re telling me Zara will be next,” said the ghost. “And then the rest of you. I’m sorry, I can’t stop them.”
“You are them, Desdola. What’s your plan, here? Spook us all into submission? Scare us so that we never want to come to the north ever again?”
“No. They want revenge. Two enemies united against a common foe.”
“Against Ispar? Good luck to them.”
“Not just against Ispar. Against the Kaseras. One of your party is starting to turn against you already. One taste of what’s beyond and they will betray you completely. Your only hope of saving Miss Kasera is to betray them first.”
I sized him up, taking in as much detail as I could, but the last time I caught a glimpse of that old fart was the morning I tried to join the company. I had twenty years of mangled memories filling in a lot of blanks. “You must be really bored up here to stake everything you have on mind games.”
He shook his head, moving less like my father and more like a female with every subtle gesture. “How many whispers does it take before two best friends turn on each other?” He waited, looking apologetic as though he couldn’t help but say what he was commanded to. “They’re going to interrogate each of you. Someone will crack. And in four days only half of you will return.”
“Then you’ll have a war on your hands.”
“That won’t matter to you,” said the ghost.
The door to the rooftop swung open. A maid wrapped in dull gray and tattered robes clenched her arms in against her chest, fighting the cold. She called out to the bear. He grunted in return. She repeated her instructions. The bear dropped his shoulders in annoyance. Muttered to the cubs. They walked over, waving for me to come them.
I turned back to the pale imitation of my father. “Why won’t it matter to me?”
“Because time is running out for one of you. The Lord of Fellgarden is still deciding on which one he’s going to turn. Don’t let it be her.”
I was dragged back to the doorway, my stomach tightening as the vampire grinned with a quick lick his lips.
Chapter Nine
Down from the roof to the helix staircase, around a left-hand corner, along a corridor, shoved in my back until the guy ahead thumped my chest, urging me to stop. The mask was yanked from my head. The cub knocked twice against the heavy oak door with the back of his fist.
Alysia’s muffled voice drifted out. “Who is it?”
The cub glared at me. Nodded to the door.
“It’s Raike. There are two of Draegor’s guards out here.”
The cub squinted, hearing his king’s name and wondering why Alysia hadn’t open the door yet. The cub to my rear nudged me. Muttered something.
I turned. “Fuck. Off.” And to the one who led me here: “You too.”
Deep breaths. Glances to each other. Then a general, ‘yeah, fuck this,’ decision as they pulled back to safety.
I tapped on the door. “It’s as clear as it’s ever going to be.”
The door peeled open, revealing a mountain of fur with a single white face poking out from a hood. Somehow Alysia looked shorter than I remembered. Perhaps the weight of her northern clothing had caused her to shrink. She allowed me in. Closed the door.
Her room was pint-sized as well. Short and narrow with a single arrow-slit window. No fire place. A basic lamp nearby. The bed held its place along one wall, covered in a moose skin with the legs hanging off the side. Bare stone floor. Bare stone walls. High ceiling for the northern longbows to move about unencumbered.
Like all other doorways I had seen in the castle this one offered a half-inch drop from the corridor into the room to keep the draft at bay. The door butting up against the corridor floor made it more difficult than usual to slip any kind of blade or note underneath.
“How are you?” I asked.
She waved her hands out to the thick, stone walls closi
ng around her. “It’s hard to figure out if I’m a prisoner or an unwelcomed guest. At least the wine is strong.”
“Any water?”
“I haven’t been offered any. They returned a few things to me and I got them to promise to feed you all like guests. I don’t know how much of a noble delicacy it will be but it will be something.”
“I can’t wait.”
Alysia smiled apologetically to me. “You were right. We should’ve tried this months ago.”
“It doesn’t mean anything would’ve changed. You were right to trust Zara in vetting Mikael. Torunn looks sufficiently scared out of his mind so I don’t think it was either of them who betrayed us.”
“What happened to your face?”
“A couple of fists.”
She braced herself for the worst. “And the people who hit you?”
“Still alive. Hopefully feeling worse than I am now.”
“How badly did they hit you?”
“I won’t lie, it’s starting to hurt like hell but the cold air is helping to keep the swelling down. How did your meeting with Draegor go?”
She rolled her eyes at the memory. “He has a temper even in private. There were seven of them with just me and Mikael until they dragged Mikael away. I guess that was some kind of power move. Do you know where he is?”
“No. I’m guessing they’ve started to separate people to spook them. You know it’s not too late to break you out of here.”
She waved her hands around the thick walls and narrow slit of a window. “You really think you can?”
“Right now this door is unlocked and there are only two guys guarding the corridor.”
“Are they armed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“But you still think you could do it?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“And the others?”
“We’ll rescue them.”
“And getting to a ship?”
“The one we took is still in the harbor.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “I need to keep trying. This alliance is going to kill a lot of our people. If I can’t end it then I at least need to learn more about it, find out where the vampires are positioned and who opposes them. If we get enough of the northerners to flee, re-group, then arm them with weapons and supplies, maybe they can take on Draegor next year before the twenty vampires turn into a hundred.”
“All right. I will hold off your rescue until needs be, but if I see something worthwhile I’m going to react regardless of who is barking an order at me, including you. The last time you were taken against your will, things did not go well for either of us.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” I couldn’t help but shiver.
“A ghost walked over your grave?”
“No, just cold. I’m fine until I stop moving then I’m almost constantly shivering.”
Alysia slipped off her cloak and handed it over. “Here.”
“It’s yours.”
“And I’ll get another one.”
“Not if you’re a prisoner or an unwelcomed guest. There’s no fire in here.”
“How long will yours keep going for?”
“Long enough. I also have thirty one soldiers bunched together and body heat does tend to warm a room.”
“Zara’s a soldier.”
“Thirty two, then.”
Reluctantly, Alysia returned her cloak to her shoulders, drifted towards the window, and stared out at the bleak view of the seaweed city. “Tell me I’m doing the right thing here.”
“I don’t have that hindsight yet.”
“What’s your gut telling you?”
“That Draegor is looking for glory by any means possible. That’s likely to be either more money than we can give him or a victory against the empire. He might settle at forcing you to be his wife.”
“I’m already married.”
“Which isn’t much of a compelling argument up here. It just means that you’re already good wife material.”
She pulled a face, either regurgitating her rotting fish dinner or imagining the ill-tempered asshole trying to kiss her. “I don’t suppose they ever forcibly take husbands up here, do they?”
“No idea. It’s my first time in Vasslehün.”
She sighed. Shivered like it surprised her that she was still cold. “I’ve never met a vampire before.”
“How was it?”
“They smell.”
“Yeah. It gets worse the older they are. Their skin starts to break and can’t quite heal as well as it used to. Agrat told me it’s because they eventually drink enough rotten blood that it keeps them in a permanently-poisoned state. It’s one of the saving graces that keeps their numbers in check.”
She blinked. A shimmer of water formed across her eyes. “I need you to promise me something …”
“To kill you if you’re bitten by a vampire?”
She pulled back, somewhat affronted at such a question. “I was hoping you would be nicer about it.”
“No problem. I’ll cut your head off and burn your body.”
“Wow, so just like that?”
“What are you looking for, an impassioned recital of your virtues with a heartfelt kiss at the end like I’m some kind of rhyming actor? I don’t have the time for that up here. If you turn into one of them, I’ll kill you.”
“You promise?”
For not the first time in my life, I lied to her without breaking eye contact. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” She reached into her bag and dug out a cylindrical leather case the length of my forearm. “For you.”
“To give to …?”
“Your future self, whenever you see fit. It has more value than the gold we gave away today and I was holding onto it until we returned to Anglaterra, but after today ...”
I popped the cap to the leather case and shook two scrolls free, one wrapped around the other. The outermost one was sealed with wax and adorned with the Kasera bear rearing backward. “Oh, come on.”
“I’m serious, Raike. Instead of coming back to Erast when you had the chance, you chose to stay with the Fourth Cohort and train them to fight vampires.”
“I didn’t choose that.”
She waved her hand in the air, dismissing me entirely. “Semantics.”
The word was lost on me.
“How long does it take to train people to fight a vampire?”
“Months.”
She threw eye-rolling into the mix. “Right, well, it’s been months. It’s time for you to come back to Erast.”
“I can’t.”
“People have stopped looking for you there.”
“I disagree.”
“And you know this from your extensive research in the city you have avoided for a whole year?”
“I hear things.”
“From …?”
“Merchants who travel between Anglaterra and Erast.”
More eye rolling. “You’re afraid. And – remarkably – you seem to prefer being surrounded by soldiers who could be ordered by the governor to kill you on sight than to return home and have a real bed, a real meal, and – I don’t know – have a bath?”
I sniffed.
“I don’t mean you smell, it’s just however you choose to relax.” She knotted her eyebrows together. “How do you relax?”
“I plan heists and imagine spending the ridiculous fortune that would come my way.”
“Fine, be like that.” It took her a moment to reconsider what I had said. “Wait, really?”
“I come from a thieving mercenary background. Of course I do that. Best of all, I can do it while walking, drinking, screwing, you name it.”
“You think of heists while with a woman?”
“There’s more to breaking into buildings than simply busting down the door, especially when there are bored, disgruntled guards stationed there who can be persuaded to take the nigh
t off to be with someone who will blow their mind. Anyway, I’m getting the sense that this isn’t really the direction you expected this conversation to go.”
She tapped the pair of scrolls in my possession. “Those two ‘brats’ you’ve been avoiding for as long as possible have been learning to write. Día wrote you a letter. Kel drew you a picture.”
“I have not been avoiding them.”
“Oh, when was the last time you saw them?”
“A year ago.”
“And you’ve been employed by the Kaseras for four months already. It’s time for you to face your past.”
I handed the scrolls back to her. “Maybe some other time.”
“Brayen?”
“No.”
“Brayen?”
“Not that name. Not after today.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Fine. Raike? You’re not getting out of this one. You’re a good guy.”
“I really have to argue against that.”
“You’re not a saint but you’re still a good guy. Día wrote you a letter. She deserves it to be read.”
I turned the scroll over in my hands, probably with the same dumb look as when someone first handed me a bottle of gin. I understood the concept but just what the hell was I expected to do with this? I popped the seal expecting an avalanche of words and adoration spill from the girl I had only met once. Unfortunately Alysia had set us both up for nothing but disappointment.
Then, something within me caved, a twinge of regret I hadn’t been expecting. The first sheet of paper was Kel’s drawing. A girl stared back at me, smiling with one eyebrow raised like she had been recently laughing. Full lips. Freckles. A few strands of hair framed her face with the rest pulled behind.
It honestly did stop time.
“Kel did this?”
Alysia nodded, sending a peculiar warmth my way. “He draws for three hours a day after all of his chores. Even Grandfather has sat for him. What do you think?”
“Kasera Senior?”
“Yeah.”
I stared back at the picture, drawn in by the detail of the girl’s eyes. I said nothing. Instead, I unfurled the next scroll. I had seen a smattering of writing styles in my day but even I could tell that this was not done by a confident hand. Día’s penmanship was slow and deliberate. Her spacing wasn’t perfect and the size of the letters fluctuated within each word. There were three paragraphs with her name down at the bottom. Until then it hadn’t occurred to me that I didn’t even know how to spell Día’s name.
