Lose A Princess, Lose Your Head (Merchant Blades Book 2)

by Alex Avrio

  Regina reached for the candle and lit it, then got out of bed. She felt better than she had in weeks, all the little ailments gone. She poured water from the pitcher into the basin and gave herself a good wash. She dressed quickly, finally feeling the cold, and spent a few more moments looking at Jaeger. The golden chain round his neck gleamed in the candlelight, a small medallion of the Mother and Child. Thin white scars crisscrossed his back. He slept peacefully. What had he done to earn those lashes, this man who'd been at the killing fields of Hildenburg?

  Regina shook her head as if to physically shake the thoughts away. She took the candlestick and headed to the door. She would order some hot water for Max to find when he woke up, check the supplies and maps, and speak to Briggs before Max came down. All part of the job, and the first time she’d do it properly. She was surprised that Max, no, she corrected herself, Jaeger, hadn’t taken the many chances to reprimand her. She certainly hadn’t spared him in the previous job, when he’d been her second. As she was reaching for the doorknob her gaze fell on his coat, thrown on the floor the night before. A folded letter had fallen out from the inside pocket. She bent and picked it up.

  Regina knew it was from her. The letters were in curly feminine script and the Pella postal stamp was unmistakable. She held it like a wounded bird but didn’t open it. Some things are better left unknown. Was it a bitter farewell? Was it to tell him of a newborn son who had his eyes? She put it gently back in the pocket. Once you know certain things, they define the future. In the end a friend is better than a reluctant lover. When it comes down to it, you can’t make anyone love you.

  But you can try, a small voice said in her head, the fighting voice that had kept her going for longer than she remembered. Your sympathetic ear and your tender hands can hold more power than her fleeting beauty.

  Why, why want him when he doesn’t want you, the other voice whispered. Why try to win men’s approval that won’t give it? It never worked with your brothers or the tutors at the War Academy; it won’t work now. Let it go with the Eressian. Don’t do him the favor, the damaged and compromised fool. Regina closed her eyes a moment, took a breath, opened her eyes, opened the door and left the room.

  15 SMALLEST TOKENS OF DEEPEST LOVE

  THOMAS and Mikka were busy putting the shined-up boots outside the corresponding doors. Mikka was untying the colored threads, wrapping them into twines and putting them in his pocket.

  “Come on, get a move on,” Mikka said. “We’ve got to load the luggage after this.”

  “If the previous days are anything to go by,” Thomas said, putting down a pair of boots, “don’t break your back rushing.”

  “Guess you’re right,” Mikka admitted. “It’s good to have the work out of the way though, before you can have a sit down.”

  “Are you related to Jaeger?” Thomas asked. Mikka’s eyebrows met in the middle in puzzlement.

  “What’s that thing Charlie’s wearing in her hair?” Mikka asked.

  “Last time I looked, they were calling it a flower,” Thomas replied.

  “I know that, smarty pants,” Mikka said. “Who gave it to her?”

  Thomas turned to face his friend. “Why does anyone have to give it to her? Why couldn’t she have just picked it herself and worn it?”

  Mikka gave him a look. “She’s never worn one before,” he said. Thomas put down the last pairs of boots in front of the final door. Most Eressian officers were very tall. What did they feed them in that war school of theirs?

  “All right,” Thomas admitted. “That lieutenant, Adler or whassisname, gave it to her. I thought she might punch him but she took it; and, when he went away, she put it in her hair.”

  “Ha, I knew it,” Mikka said triumphantly.

  “I wish he’d brought her something more useful than a flower,” Thomas sighed.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. A piece of cheese.”

  “You can’t wear a piece of cheese,” Mikka observed.

  “Yes, but you can eat it.” There was no contradicting that, so the two boys went downstairs to get their breakfast before loading the luggage.

  Wisps of mist slithered across the ground like gray snakes. Regina returned from the stables, having made sure that the horses were all ready to go. Something made her hang around, instead of rejoining the others. She walked aimlessly for a few minutes before she realized that it wasn’t aimless and her steps had led her to the Temple of the Mother and Child. I’m turning into Jaeger, she thought. She went up the steps, expecting the doors to be locked this early, but the good people of Stonebridge were not afraid of thieves. The temple was more austere than the others she’d seen here. She gingerly walked in, expecting to be sent away by the priest, but the room was empty. A storm lamp cast dim light over the statue of the Mother, who held her Child. The figure seemed covered with ears. Regina blinked to see if she was mistaken. Regina moved closer. The ears, small, large – some made of clay, others carved in wood – hung from the statue by colored strings.

  Regina reached out and touched one. Will you hear me better? she wondered. Her heart beat faster. Feelings swirled in her chest she didn’t want to name, as if her heart had a hard exterior but, if pierced, its soft interior would spill out revealing all her truth. The swirling hurt in such a sweet way. Could it be love? It couldn’t, Regina thought. It’s the curse that makes us feel it. It just isn’t true.

  “How can what my heart feels so strongly be an illusion, a deception, a lie?” she asked. Only when she heard the words did she realize she’d spoken aloud.

  “What comes from the heart is true,” a voice said. Regina jumped to see who had spoken. A woman in threadbare clothes and rags, holding a young child, was sitting in the corner of the room. She looked like a beggar who’d sought refuge from the cold of the night.

  “I’m sorry,” Regina said, “I didn’t see you there.”

  The woman smiled, her wrinkled face filled with hardship and worry. Regina wondered how old she was. Younger than she looked, for sure.

  “Do you know why the people cover the statue with ears?” the woman asked. “So She can hear their prayers.”

  Regina nodded. The woman lifted a hand, holding a clutch of crudely made wooden medallions on leather straps.

  “Would you like a medallion of the Mother and Child to protect you?” she asked expectantly.

  “Does it help with bullets and difficult men?” Regina asked. The woman peered at her, saying nothing. The child tugging at her skirts made Regina feel bad. Here she was, making jokes, while this woman was trying to feed her child.

  “The Mother helps with everything,” the woman said with certainty. “Sometimes not in ways you’d expect,” she smiled, extending a medallion to Regina. “For you, this one.”

  Regina took the medallion and tied it round her neck. I am definitely turning into Jaeger, she thought. She gave the woman a gold coin.

  “That is generous. Maybe something for your– friend?” the woman observed. Regina looked at the small child. It gave her a shy smile and then hid in its mother’s skirts.

  Regina bit her lip. Jaeger already had his golden medallion, but it couldn’t hurt. He liked these kinds of things.

  “Alright, but he has the Mother and Child.” The woman smiled and the wrinkles creased around her eyes. She put another medallion in Regina’s palm and closed her hand around it.

  “This for your friend,” the woman said and her smile widened. In a face thick with wrinkles, her eyes shone like a spring maiden’s. “You must remember, daughter, that not only the darkness has power. When darkness is greatest, dawn is close.” Regina took the medallion, speechless.

  “May I help you?”

  For the second time Regina almost jumped out of her skin. I’m going to get killed today if I’m not careful, she thought. She turned and faced the priest.

  “Aren’t you one of the officers from last night?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir,” she replied.

&nb
sp; “I’ll bring a flame if you want to light some candles,” he said. She nodded and turned towards the woman again, but she was gone. Regina looked around but she was nowhere to be seen. She probably didn’t want the priest to find her. Or maybe she was afraid Regina would rethink the gold coin. She opened her palm and looked at the carved image on the wooden medallion. A man drawing a bow. The Hunter. Jaeger will be hunting for me, Regina thought and quickly made her way back to the inn.

  When Regina turned in the courtyard, Jaeger had everyone ready to go. Briggs gave her a warning look. Great, Jaeger must be in a mood, Regina thought.

  “And where have you been?” Jaeger asked flatly. She gave him an indignant look. He took her to the side. “Have you been sick again?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I was at–” she paused. “Never mind. I have something for you.”

  Jaeger raised an eyebrow. She put the little medallion in his hand. Their hands remained intertwined for longer than necessary. Finally, Regina let go and mounted her horse.

  Eleven leaned towards Jackson but Regina heard her whisper, “That has to be the mildest dressing-down since time began.”

  “Good morning, Major,” Lieutenant Schaefer said. “I trust you got some rest after yesterday night.”

  Morgenstern didn’t look pleased to see her, though it was always difficult to tell what he was thinking. She gave a smile showing her broken front tooth. His mouth tightened. He looked around to see if anyone was in the corridor.

  “Not here, Arza,” he said sternly. She smiled again. “I don’t want to talk any further about this. I have already told you how I feel.”

  For a moment a flash of regret passed in Lieutenant Schaefer’s eyes.

  “As you wish, Major,” she said. “I brought you something to drink. There’s little space in the mayor’s dining room.” She offered him a cup. He looked at it.

  “Are you going to leave me standing like this, holding out a cup of coffee?” she asked.

  “Of course not. My apologies,” he said. He went to take the cup. Schaefer was still holding it. As their fingers touched, Schaefer looked into his eyes. He moved away and she laughed.

  “Afraid someone might take us for lovers?” she asked.

  He lifted the cup. Schaefer took the empty glass away and returned it to the maids to be washed.

  The Hussars and the Blades were ready, and waiting for the princess’s carriages in the village square. Many of the villagers had gathered to enjoy the spectacle. Nervousness ran through Regina. Something imperceptible felt wrong, and years of experience had taught her not to ignore hunches and gut feelings. Briggs’ concern about the Black Fox’s men was not minor, but Jaeger and she agreed it was unlikely they would dare attack their heavily armed convoy.

  Kapitan Venn was giving the orders. Strange, Morgenstern usually did this. The magistrate, the priest, the doctor and all the minor officials were there too. This felt more like a public holiday than a swift departure. To everyone’s surprise the princess and her ladies appeared exactly on schedule, waved to the crowds, and the mayor took the opportunity to start a speech.

  He didn’t get far. The veils of mist parted, and Regina gasped. Turbulent white river water was flowing before them, over the rubble of the collapsed central span of the long bridge.

  16 THE FORKING OF THE PATH

  “WHAT is this?” said Meyer, pointing, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. The mayor was only startled by Meyer’s surprise.

  “Why, Colonel, this is why you came, no? To rebuild our bridge?” The officials nodded. An excited wave of noise rippled through the crowd.

  Meyer looked daggers at Morgenstern, who blinked, looking dazed, and asked, slowly: “When did the bridge go down, Mr. Mayor?”

  “Why, about eighteen months ago,” the mayor replied. “We've sent many letters and petitions to the Prince and the Emperor. We are inestimably grateful they have sent you to repair it.”

  “What gave you the idea that we came here to rebuild the bridge?” Meyer demanded, as Morgenstern made a sharp gesture for Kapitan Venn to bring him the map.

  “Why else would you be here?” the magistrate asked. “You have the engineers, and plenty of hands.”

  “Why would the princess come here for that?” Meyer fumed.

  “Why wouldn’t she?” the magistrate replied coolly. “It was about time someone came. It’s a two day detour just to get to the next village, compared to two hours across the bridge. Is this not her father’s domain and duty? The princess will inaugurate the works, for which we have made so many petitions.”

  “The bridge is still existent on the map,” Morgenstern said, his finger tapping where it was meant to be.

  “Word hasn’t reached everyone yet. So it goes,” the priest said. “Including merchants who we often have to turn around. Including you.”

  “Who planned this route?” Meyer demanded, his face beet-red. Morgenstern folded the map away.

  “Baron Orsy,” he said.

  Lieutenant Schaefer approached with the princess. “A problem?” she asked. Morgenstern pointed at the bridge. The princess gave him a smile with something hard in it, of a woman who gets what she wants.

  “Your Highness,” Morgenstern said, “we can’t just leave.”

  The princess’s face took on the hardness of the smile. She looked remarkably like Lieutenant Schaefer when she was angry.

  “We can and we will,” she told Morgenstern looking him in the eyes. “I’m bored.”

  “Your Highness,” Morgenstern said, looking away, “the bridge has collapsed.”

  “Then, Major, I suggest that you find the new way to take us where we’re going. What’s the use of a company of Hussars if I can’t go where I want to?” Meyer, the target of this, opened his mouth only to see the princess turn her back and go to the mayor.

  “Dear mayor, all the good people of Stonebridge,” she trumpeted, “thank you for your hospitality. I am glad to have seen the situation here with my own eyes. I shall send my father’s best engineers on a mission of immediate remedy.”

  The crowd erupted in cheers.

  “That’s a big promise,” the Baroness whispered behind her fan to Lady Emilia. “I doubt that she can get Father to do anything of the sort.”

  “I bet she can get Orsy to,” Lady Emilia whispered back. They giggled.

  They trotted away from Stonebridge, Regina still feeling uneasy. The team was on their guard as they rode back along the road through the forest to return to the road to Alucia. They were soon on the circuitous detour back to the road for Neidenwalde.

  “I don’t like this,” Summers muttered to himself.

  “I agree with you, brother,” Amanates said. “It has the markings of a trap.”

  “What trap?” Eleven asked. “Only if someone predicted the bloody idiots wouldn’t know the bridge was down.”

  Jaeger leaned towards Regina, so only she could hear.

  “That’s just it,” he said. “They can’t not have known. The route was planned at the Prince of Eraden’s palace. Someone must have read all these petitions about the bridge.”

  “Is it possible they hadn’t talked to each other?” Regina replied.

  “They’re Eressian,” Jaeger said. Regina bit her lip. She returned to scanning the trees. They would now have to ride through the gloom of a heavily forested area and arrive at the next inn late at night. A rider had been sent ahead to make arrangements for the princess and her ladies, but that meant they had one man less. If there was to be an ambush, this would be a great place. Regina looked at the regiment of the Hussars and still thought ambush would be suicidal for anyone who tried it.

  “Tell me,” Amanates asked Eleven, “who is this Mother Spider they spoke of yesterday?”

  Eleven laughed. “Just a tale to scare naughty children. I spent my childhood terrified of her. My mother kept saying that, if we were bad, Mother Spider would come and take us, chop us up into pieces, boil us in a pot and feed us to her c
hildren.”

  Jaeger turned. “Mother Spider is an Eressian story,” he commented.

  “If you had thirteen kids like Eleven’s mother, you’d be using anything you could to make them behave, Eressian, Merrovigian or South Across the Water,” Summers said.

  “If I were you I’d be more concerned about The Black Fox,” Jaeger said sharply. “Maintain defensive escort formation. Keep alert until we reach the inn. Muskets ready.”

  During a brief break to rest the horses, Lieutenant Schaefer approached Regina and Jaeger. Jaeger was eating an apple.

  “Kapitans,” Schaefer said, “the princess would like both of you to ride in her carriage.”

  “I’m afraid that's not possible,” Jaeger answered, throwing away the apple core.

  “It’s not a request,” Schaefer said simply.

  “It would significantly weaken the rear guard,” Jaeger insisted.

  “You are familiar with the concept of orders, Kapitan?” Schaefer said. Regina was struck with the similarity between her and the princess when she smiled. She grimaced as she was reminded of the Ravena sisters back in Pella.

  “What happened with the bridge?” Regina asked.

  “It fell down, Captain,” Schaefer said.

  “With everything I’ve heard about fabled Eressian efficiency, I would have thought a rider would have been sent to check the route and ensure it was navigable and secure,” she replied waspishly. Both Schaefer and Jaeger turned sharply to look at her. Regina enjoyed a moment of pleasure at the expressions on their faces. She shrugged.

  “So, we’re going to the carriage, or what?” she asked Schaefer. “I’ll let the team know, Kapitan,” she said to Jaeger, turned her back and walked briskly away.

  Regina duly left horseback for the carriage, having little choice. The princess, the baroness and Lieutenant Schaefer sat on one side. Lady Emilia sat between Regina and Jaeger on the other.