by Alex Avrio
“Say something about my father again,” Jaeger growled, pressing harder.
Morgenstern clawed at his throat trying to get air.
“You do not get to speak about my father, or anyone else in my family, do you understand? My mother took you in as her own when your mother died, you who let them starve while I was away.”
Morgenstern made a guttural noise, his face turning purple. The innkeeper calmly put down the cup he was wiping clean and walked out of the room without a glance backwards. Jaeger pulled his arm away and Morgenstern fell on his knees, gasping. When, a few moments later, he slowly got up, it was with a murderous look towards Jaeger. Then, with lightning speed, he landed a punch on Jaeger’s jaw. Jaeger recovered quickly; he punched Morgenstern in the gut and then the face. Morgenstern was sent tumbling over a chair and landing back on the floor. Jaeger crossed the space between them, bent down, grabbed Morgenstern by the lapels and struck a further punch at the jaw, sending Morgenstern down again. Jaeger gave him a kick on the side.
“Stay down. Know what’s good for you,” Jaeger spat.
Morgenstern wiped blood from his nose onto the back of his hand. Then he jumped up, as if on a spring; he launched himself at Jaeger, sending both of them rolling across the floor. He landed heavy shots to Jaeger’s face before Jaeger managed to roll himself and his opponent over, pinning Morgenstern down.
“You were the worst off them all, you hypocrite, you shit, you worthless bastard prick of a whore-son.” He hit Morgenstern again to emphasize his words. Blood covered Morgenstern’s face and Jaeger’s hands. “All of the others not having anything to do with me after– but you? You were supposed to be my friend. One of my brothers.” Jaeger let Morgenstern go in disgust. “Where were you when they put me to the lash? Where were you all the years afterwards?” He got up and spat on the floor, spittle mixed with blood staining the planks.
Morgenstern’s nosebleed showed no signs of abating, neither did the blood dripping from his cut lip, but he replied: “They would have shot you if it hadn’t been for me, you fool. Court-martialed and shot. I spared you and your family the dishonor, so that you would do the right thing in private. Spare them the embarrassment.”
“Self-righteous turd,” Jaeger growled.
“I am a soldier. I understand my duty. Duty, Honor, Obedience, Jaeger. Valerian Kherr Morgenstern is a knight of the Empire, and I serve the Empire. Before the war, during and after. I have done everything in my power to serve. What have you done these past years that wasn’t for yourself?”
“I buried two brothers and their wives. I had to support their children as well as my sister and her husband. Hansel Naesgnau was your friend too once. And I supported their children and my mother. I had to pay taxes and war bonds. I sold myself to a man you’d do well never to meet and I won’t even tell you what I had to do to get out of it.” Jaeger took a breath. His face had turned red. “It’s not me who’s the selfish bastard here. Or disloyal. People matter more than duty. Every time. I’ll choose people over principle, over an Emperor that doesn’t give a shit about any of us but expects us to die in his name. The High Command had collectively gone insane – everyone knew it, but no one spoke out. Even now, no one even talks about it. And then we wonder why we lost the war. The Merrovigians would have rolled over easily enough and admitted defeat if we hadn’t slaughtered them like animals at Hildenburg. Now the Mother knows what the High Command is getting up to with their moronic schemes and how it will come crashing down around us.”
Morgenstern sat on the floor, looking pale and a little sick. It was almost like he’d never considered that Jaeger had expected Morgenstern to stand by him during his most difficult hour. “When this is all done, I fully intend to do the right thing. Or die trying,” he said. “But High Command knows by now that you are involved in this. If we don’t get the princesses back, do you think the Emperor will be forgiving and merciful? He will kill every one of the Jaegers still alive.”
Jaeger’s face paled.
“Hansel Naesgnau is still my friend,” Morgenstern finally said. “The money he put into the upkeep of the estate while you were off on your mercenary adventures, most was mine. His family’s finances, like yours, suffered after the war. They had nothing to give him. He turned to me.” Blood trickled down Morgenstern’s chin and dripped to the floor. “I don’t know what you think of me, but I would never have left them to starve. Not your sister, not your mother who raised me as her own. Certainly, not the children. I let Hansel retain a modicum of pride by keeping myself unseen.”
Jaeger said nothing but his face went from white to red. Finally, he offered his hand to Morgenstern to help him up. “Fine pair of idiots, each laboring under our own delusions. And they expect us to save the princesses. Valerian Kherr Morgenstern and Maximillian Kherr Jaeger.”
Morgenstern took his hand and painfully got to his feet. “This changes nothing,” he muttered.
Jaeger raised an eyebrow dismissively. He sat back at the table and took a long gulp from his bottle. Morgenstern looked at him, his face blank. “Want some?” Jaeger asked.
Morgenstern took the bottle. “Why not?”
29 OLD ACQUAINTANCES AGAIN
AS Regina sat up, a groan escaped her lips. Schaefer looked at her. Regina rubbed her temples.
“Headache,” she said.
Both women got ready quickly and went down the stairs. The room was filled with merchants and soldiers taking breakfast, getting ready to head to their day’s work. At a table in the corner everyone except Eleven was having breakfast. The smell from the food made Regina feel sick. It was then that she saw Jaeger; one look at his face and a wave of cold fury hit. That man. That man. Her eyes darted to Morgenstern. Both were a mess. She sat down and her head felt split open by a butcher, one with a large cleaver and an undeclared vengeance.
“Max, a word, upstairs?” she said, trying to stay calm. Jaeger looked up in surprise but he followed her.
He entered her room, with an expectation in his eyes that Regina couldn’t decipher. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Regina slapped him hard across his face. His look was of a dog that didn’t understand why his master had hit him, soon replaced with awareness that he’d done various things – but wasn’t sure for which one he was being scolded.
“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing his cheek.
“You know what,” Regina told him sternly. For one moment she thought he might pin her to the wall and hit her, or kiss her; he did neither. He gave her a half-hearted shrug, and went back downstairs to finish his breakfast.
The business of Theodorio Korthicico, the most exclusive hostage merchant in Korthi, was located in an exquisite store. High marble columns flanked the entrance; thick carpets and lavish paintings adorned the inside. The merchant himself would not be gracing mere mercenaries with his presence. Instead, one of his employees, Cathargo Wells, came to greet them. Wells’ penchant for fine dining and drinking had given him the appearance of a bullfrog, which was not helped by his green coat. Well, Regina thought, the frog is missing his chance: he’s spoilt for princesses: two, right here. Though how any amount of money might convince either to kiss him was beyond her.
“Our employer has, erm, misplaced his wife,” Jaeger said, after finishing the traditional greetings. The man stared at him, his eyes opening wider as he did so, his lips parting. Regina half expected a tongue to shoot from his mouth and catch a fly.
“Your employer, he must have a considerable amount of money for you to be here, yes?”
“He’s a baron.”
Cathargo cleared his throat. His gaze was fixed on Morgenstern’s scar. “I have not heard anything. A missing baroness would have been the subject of many a conversation in our circles.”
“He’s keeping it quiet.”
Cathargo nodded knowingly. He took out a lace handkerchief, the smell of lavender filling the room, and mopped his brow.
“Sometimes,” he croaked, “spouses get bored and ru
n away with lovers. Then they change their minds. Especially the ladies. When the first heat of passion has passed, they are faced with the realities of everyday life. Then things change. A young lover is all well and good, but the comfort of a spouse’s riches is better. So they come here and sell themselves to us.”
Morgenstern looked at him in such disbelief that Cathargo burst into laughter. “You haven’t been doing this job long,” he said. “They come to us: we write a letter that they have been abducted, and sold to us. This explains their, of course, involuntary absence. The spouse believes, or pretends to believe, this version of events, and pays the fee. They are reunited – everything is smooth waters, the past forgotten.”
“The Baron is very fond of his wife,” Jaeger said. “He’s willing to pay handsomely.”
“Much as I wish to help a rich baron, she is not here. Have you looked in Pella?”
“Word on the street is that you had highborn guests here recently,” Jaeger said dryly.
Cathargo gave a wry smile. “A duke’s daughter from Merrovigia. Eloped with a young lover but changed her mind. As I said, it happens. Young love is wonderful, but you cannot eat it or spend it. The cold sets in your bones, and the heart soon follows. Flames of love turn to ashes.”
Jaeger gave him the look he used to give people who owed money to Mr. Gold before he started breaking their bones, and growled.
Cathargo let out a squeak and hid behind Regina. “Dear lady, take away this man. He is a beast.”
“You’re telling me,” Regina said tiredly. “Just give him the truth and we’ll be gone.”
“Very well, in strictest confidence – it cannot leave the room, you understand?”
Regina nodded.
“We had here the son of an earl. He had an affair with a count. The count left him and the young man wished to return to his father’s house in a way that would save face for both.”
“Fascinating,” Jaeger said coldly. “So you are certain no nobility is here now?”
Cathargo shook his head vigorously, his chins wobbling. “No, my dear Kapitan, I assure you. Would I not give her to you? This is an enterprise for profit, after all.”
Jaeger looked around at the velvet chairs and a painting of a woman dancing hanging on the wall. He exhaled slowly, as though he was considering something.
“Have you any leftovers? Any women that haven’t been claimed?” he asked indifferently.
Cathargo shrugged. “A small number, all of low quality, Kapitan. They have been here for months, their families too poor or too indifferent. We were about to sell them to the traders.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
Jaeger stroked his chin seeming to consider it. Morgenstern shot him a look. Jaeger ignored him. Regina had an idea of what he was up to.
“How much?”
“What would you do with them, Kapitan?” Cathargo smiled.
“I have a platoon that hasn’t seen a proper woman in a month.”
Cathargo named his price. Jaeger snorted.
“I want them as whores, Wells, not to marry them.” The haggling went on for a while until they reached a figure acceptable to both. Jaeger shook Cathargo’s hand and turned to Morgenstern.
“Pay the man,” he told him. Morgenstern grudgingly pulled out his purse and counted the golden coins into Cathargo’s palm.
The three women sat close to each other, staring at the sawdust on the floor apprehensively, neither moving nor speaking. Regina and Eleven sat with them, making random conversation and sharing wine with them, until they gained their trust sufficiently to ask what they really wanted to know. It took a few hours, but Regina returned to the Eressians smiling.
“So?” Schaefer asked as soon as Regina sat down.
“Rosamynd and Emilia were at the mansion. The women never saw them but were aware of the commotion. The very next morning someone important came to take them away. They think someone from the Duke’s household. The servants were whispering that it was the Duke's brother-in-law. They kept commenting on how handsome he was.”
“So the Duke has them. Shit!” Morgenstern concluded. “What are we going to do with these three women?” he asked.
“Give them some money and send them on their way,” Regina replied. “They’ve been through enough.”
“And then?” Schaefer asked, absently chewing her thumb.
“We dig a hole, lie in it, and die,” Morgenstern muttered.
“This is no time for defeatism,” Regina commented.
There was silence across the table.
“Did we tell you about Adler’s accident yesterday?” Jaeger suddenly said. All eyes turned to him. “Adler had a little incident at the establishment. One of the ladies was sitting on his lap and I think she rubbed her bottom on him a bit too enthusiastically–”
“We don’t need to hear this,” Schaefer said, scrunching her nose in distaste.
“I find you lacking in humor,” Jaeger commented.
“It’s not what you think,” Adler cut in, beet-red and stammering.
“Son,” Regina told him, “when someone tells me it’s not what I think, nine times out of ten it’s exactly what I think; and then some.”
Everybody except Adler and Schaefer laughed.
“He’s telling the truth though,” Jaeger said. “The woman broke his stitches. Blood started spurting everywhere. They brought over a fellow patron, a physician, and he patched Adler up on the spot. I told Adler the golden rule is never to take his pants off for another man in a brothel, whatever the circumstances. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.” Even Adler was laughing now. The team downed a few more rounds of drinks.
“I wish we had Charlie and Thomas for this,” Regina said. “They could sneak into the palace unnoticed.”
Jaeger nodded and emptied his tankard. Regina’s eyes sparkled as a thought crossed her mind. “There is a way to possibly get access to the palace, at least for reconnaissance,” she said. Every head turned towards her in anticipation.
“Last year I met Ten’Daertha, Captain of the Korthi Guards. She said if I needed a job in a year’s time I should call on her– It’s been about a year.”
The following morning Capitan Regina Fitzwaters, dressed up to the nines, requested to see the Captain of the Guards at the Palace. The guard called a sergeant. The sergeant took a good long look at Regina and then led her through the traders’ entrance, up some flights of stairs, navigated through corridors and finally arrived in a waiting room where Regina spent several hours cooling her heels. Towards noon, Ten’Daertha finally showed up.
Regina’s heart tightened. All her present problems could be traced back to the moment she’d sought to impress Ten’Daertha in a desperate effort to get noticed for a position in the Duchess’s guard. Her whole fortune had ridden on the turn of a card. How different would her life be now had a different card been dealt?
“You asked to see me?” Ten’Daertha said, scrutinizing her through narrowed gray eyes. She was in her early fifties and something about her reminded Regina of Colonel Kyte.
“Yes ma’am,” Regina said. “I am Captain Regina Fitzwaters, formerly of the Merrovigian 44th Light Cavalry. I am currently employed as a Merchant Blade.”
Ten’Daertha listened closely, no spark of recognition in her eyes.
“We met last year in Border Town. You mentioned then there might be a position available this year and if I was in town I should come and see you.”
“Ah,” Ten’Daertha exclaimed, remembering, “the card game. You lost a lot of money that night, Captain.”
Regina tried to smile but felt like she’d been force-fed a lemon.
“You're in luck. We're recruiting for the Young Duchess’s guard.”
The Young Duchess’s guard! That would get her out of the mercenary trade, to a life of palace luxury, babysitting nobility, lazy comfort. No more getting stabbed and shot at, no running around in the rain and mud, no more risking the penalty of death for a fa
iled contract. The Young Duchess’s guard!
This wasn’t lemon, now, it was force-fed vinegar. She would have to burn this bridge. She would have to burn this bridge to save two Eressian princesses who wouldn’t give her a second thought once they were back in safety. Before today they couldn’t set foot in Pella again – now they could add Korthi to the list.
“I would be honored if you would consider me,” Regina said, trying not to clench her teeth.
“Of course,” Ten’ Daertha said, drawing her sword. “We’ll conduct the interview immediately.”
30 A TEST OF SKILL
“I will have to assess your fighting skills myself. Then we’ll take a look at your references from the Guild. Follow me.”
Regina followed through twisting corridors, out to the guards’ training ground. Ten’Daertha offered her a choice of blades. Though the practice swords were not sharpened, their cold steel could cause serious damage to unprotected flesh. Regina chose a slightly curved saber, weighing the balance of the blade in her hand. Satisfied, she stepped into the circle. Ten’ Daertha nodded with approval, then pointed at two of the guardsmen training nearby.
“Guido, Leon, try a round with our guest.”
The men stopped their exercise and turned towards Regina. She took in their height and stance, trying to estimate how they would fight and their likely style.
Guido came at her while Leon held back. Regina parried the first few blows with relative ease but wasn’t fooled. Her opponent was checking her defense as much as she was checking his offense. They both took a few steps back, then engaged in the duel again, their blades meeting, each parrying the other’s blows in the assured way of experienced fighters.
Ten’Daertha snapped her fingers and from the corner of her eye Regina saw Leon join the fight. He came at her from the back without warning. Regina stepped sideways; his blow missed her.
