A portion of the crowd turned toward the newcomers while a few others ran toward the wagons. Astrid worked hard with the club, splitting skulls and breaking necks. Someone may have tried to stab her, she wasn’t sure as the leather clothing did its job.
The tiny fighter was fully visible again, and it was clear that she was indeed naked. Her white hair was streaked with blood. Her eyes were completely green and glowed with intense light, but now she was surrounded. As fierce as she was, she was in trouble.
The brutal men closed in around her and pinned her down. Astrid couldn’t get to her, and neither could Vinnie.
“I know what will calm her down!” one of the men said, loosening his belt.
“This one’s gonna get fu—”
CRACK! The explosion seemed to press on Astrid's chest and face. Tarkon lowered one pistol as the man dropped to the ground with a huge chunk of flesh missing from his back. He didn’t even get a last breath.
Someone ran toward Tarkon from the wagons with a crossbow. He turned toward the attacker slowly and raised the other pistol. The crossbow man took a knee and aimed carefully—and so did Tarkon.
THOOM, the crossbow sounded. The bolt tore a channel in Tarkon’s left cheek, but he didn’t even flinch. Tarkon conjured the explosion that put a bullet into the skull of the crossbowman. It all but turned to dust.
Vinnie and Astrid fought harder to clear their share of the guards. Tarkon remained unfazed by it all. The four men who had been holding down the tiny fighter let her go and rushed him.
Tarkon reached both hands into pockets at his waist. He brought out something clenched in his hands.
With the men just paces away, he opened both hands as two more loud explosions burst from them. Two men fell, one with a shoulder that looked like ground meat, the other with only half his skull intact.
He blasted the remaining two attackers with fireballs, turning both into human torches who screamed and ran around in circles until they died.
As quickly as it started, the fight was over. Astrid stood with hands to knees trying to catch her breath while Vinnie turned in a slow circle, still in fight mode. There were seventeen men on the ground, and most of them were dead.
“Good job, everyone,” Gormer called from a wagon as he rode up. Where the wagon had been, three men lay flat on the ground. “I killed three guys. How about you?” he asked, pointing his face toward the dead. “So much for a clean, bloodless raid. Looks like things are fucking escalated now, eh Astrid?”
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy,” Astrid said with a shrug. “These assholes had it coming.”
“These have earned the final mercy,” Tarkon said. He pulled two long daggers from the small of his back and drove one each through the hearts of two men writhing on the ground.
Astrid turned to the large figure the men had been torturing. She walked over to the whimpering form on the ground that covered its head with its arms. He lay near the water of a small lake. When he heard Astrid coming, he peeked out for a moment to reveal huge brown eyes. Then, he curled up tighter.
The creature whined and blubbered. As large as it was, it didn’t seem to have any capacity to defend itself, or it certainly would have. An instant lump formed in Astrid’s throat. She cleared it, then squatted down on her hams.
“I won’t hurt you. My friends won’t hurt you either. It’s ok.”
He appeared to be dressed in sewn-together patches of grain sacks. Rips in the rags revealed bloody welts and abrasions. His arms and legs were covered in burn marks where they poked him with hot sticks.
Astrid struggled to keep the anger out of her voice as she spoke to him, so he wouldn’t think she was angry with him.
She was glad she had erased all the men who would do this to a living, feeling creature.
The more she looked at him, the more she thought he might not be human at all. His body was broad as well as tall, and he was well-muscled. Could he have been from the Madlands? Probably not. His four fingers and four toes looked completely proportional, and not some mutation or birth defect. People from the Madlands tended toward deformity. While strange looking, his body looked as if it was supposed to be the way it was. Also, he wasn’t a murderous subhuman creature. He seemed to be quite the opposite.
Light splashing caught her attention. The small, female warrior rose up out of the lake, running her hands through her hair to rinse out the blood.
She made eye contact with Astrid the whole time while her face was expressionless. When she was done, she stepped forward with confidence in spite of her nudity.
Astrid stood and waited. The woman walked slowly up to her and looked her over.
“Bandits?” she asked. Her claws extended just an inch or so from her fingers. She was prepared to defend herself.
Astrid hesitated, then scratched her chin. She didn’t know how to answer that. “Lately,” she replied. “I guess.”
The little woman turned to the giant creature. She let her claws retract. “He’s innocent,” she said. “He called to me before I heard his voice.”
Astrid blinked rapidly. “OK… ” she said. “Whatever that means… ”
“I tried to comfort him after the fight. He is scared of me. I am not innocent,” the little one said. “He doesn’t know violence at all.”
“What is your name?” Astrid inquired.
“You couldn’t pronounce my name,” she replied.
“What do I call you, then?”
“Some human friends I met once called me ‘Moxy,’” she replied.
“That sounds about right,” Astrid said. “Moxy it is, then.”
“Will you help take care of him?” Moxy asked.
“Of course,” Astrid said. “He looks badly hurt.”
“Mostly on the inside,” Moxy replied. “He’s very confused.”
“Hey!” Gormer shouted from the cart. “Hurry up! We don’t have all day! More might be coming by.”
Astrid wanted to shout back, but she didn’t want to scare the big creature lying on the ground. The raid did not go as planned. These men seemed different somehow. Astrid stood and thought, but knew she didn’t have much time to figure it out.
CHAPTER TEN
Wagon Train Camp, Near the Village of Blue Creek
Gormer stopped the wagon about fifty feet away, then jumped off and trotted up to them.
“Who’s this naked chick, and what the hell is that thing?” he asked. “Nevermind. We don’t have time for this. We need to go.” He looked around at the dead bodies.“You really fucked this job up bad.” Gormer folded his arms. “You are clearly amateurs.”
While he spoke, his eyes stayed focused on the petite form, who shimmered again and nearly disappeared as she walked off. Astrid watched, too, but lost sight of the woman near a small stand of trees near the lake.
“Damn, she’s sexy,” Gormer said. “If she’s not human, and we hook up does that mean—”
“She’s human, idiot. The Magic changes people sometimes,” Astrid said. “But we have a situation here. We have two wagons here, thirteen horses, and twenty dead men.”
“And one survivor. But don’t worry,” Gormer said. “I actually counted twenty-three in total, but you did leave one alive. Nice work. I think that death nudist—whatever the hell she is—killed a lot of them. Mr. Sour Fireball over here only killed about five. I’m not sure about the fighting lard bucket.”
“We had no choice,” Astrid replied.
“Of course, you had a choice,” Gormer said. “When presented with the perfect distraction, we could have grabbed both carts, scared the horses away, and took off, leaving these idiots to their distractions. This raid was too much fucking work. You can’t run a bandit clan this way.”
“And leave the woman and that… ” Tarkon paused, even in his anger, to find a word to describe the massive person still lying on the ground. “Leave him to be tortured by that scum?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Gormer replied. “
Not our problem. Oh, wait. It is now. In the absence of choice… ” He walked over to the giant cowering on the ground and stood inches from its head, then squatted down. He cocked his head. “What the fuck is this thing anyway?”
Tarkon stomped away angrily, which was something he was very good at. The giant peeked out from between his arms.
Gormer frowned. “Damn, they really fucked you up, didn’t they, buddy?”
The creature lifted his head to reveal his face for the first time.
His nose was the size and shape of a crabapple. A pile of wiry black hair stood over his high, sloping forehead. Huge, nearly black eyes blinked twice at Gormer, who reached out and patted the giant’s shoulder.
“Don’t touch—” Moxy exclaimed. She had come up beside Gormer without him noticing. Then, she noticed the giant’s reaction.
To Astrid’s surprise, the creature didn’t flinch at Gormer’s touch. Instead, he gave a weak smile and a faint grunt.
“Anybody got some water for this guy? He’s thirsty,” Gormer asked. The creature picked his head up higher. “You want some water, yeah? I’m always thirsty after I get my ass beat.”
The creature sat up slowly. On his butt, he was nearly as tall as Gormer.
“I tell you what else is good after a beat down,” Gormer said, reaching into his baggy tunic. “Sugar.”
He retrieved a stick of rock candy. Gormer held out the treat, and the giant flinched.
“Come on now,” Gormer said. “I’m an asshole, but not that kind of asshole. I won’t hit you.”
The creature frowned.
“I promise. It’s yours,” Gormer said, then cocked his head and paused. “Yeah, I know, right?”
Astrid traded inquiring glances with Moxy. It took her a couple of seconds to understand that the two were communicating, somehow.
“Fuck no, I won’t hit you if you take it,” Gormer said, annoyed. “I told you that already. Come on big guy, take a chance.”
The giant reached out a trembling, four-fingered hand and snatched the candy, watching Gormer the whole time. When Gormer smiled and cheered, the candy disappeared into the giant’s mouth, stick and all.
“Not all at once!” Gormer laughed. “Slow. I only have one more.” He shook his head at the response Astrid and Moxy couldn’t hear. “Yes, yes. You can have that one, too. But only if you keep being brave and come with us. You’re fuckin’ working me already. I see how it is… ”
Astrid gave a start and stared at Gormer slack-jawed.
“What?” Gormer asked, looking over to her. “I figured you’d want to take this ugly fucker with us, right? I mean, isn’t that what you’re into? Doing good and rescuing people and shit like that?”
“Of course,” Astrid said. “I mean, it doesn’t seem like he can take care of himself. His wounds need care.” She thought for a moment. “Did he tell you his name?”
Gormer paused, then looked between the giant, Moxy, and Astrid while he considered his answer. “Not really. He doesn't use words. I’m getting a stream of sounds and images all jumbled up.”
“I’m only getting vague feelings from him. How do you know what he’s saying? ” Moxy asked, now fully clothed. Apparently, her earlier disappearance had been to retrieve her clothes, which were made of leather and silk.
The silk make up the legs and sleeves while the leather parts covered her torso and half her thighs, Everything was colored in shades of green.
Eventually, Gormer just shrugged his shoulders and answered. “We kind of think alike. It’s nice to be inside a head as chaotic as mine.”
“Maybe it isn’t chaos,” Moxy replied.
“Oh, a naked philosopher. What the fuck do you know about it?” Gormer asked, then looked back to the giant and laughed. “He thinks you’re pretty, but he thought you were going to kill him next.”
Moxy laughed and looked at the giant. “Sorry, big guy.” Then to Gormer, she said, “You are right, though.”
“About?” Gormer asked.
“You are an asshole.” She walked away, leaving Gormer to chuckle to himself.
He stood staring at the big creature for a moment, then announced, “That’s why I don’t have any friends, and I like it that way. I’m calling you Charlie. You look like a Charlie to me.”
The creature grunted and groaned as he stood, obviously in pain. “Holy fucking shit,” Gormer said, craning his neck to look up at Charlie. “You’re ten fucking feet tall if you’re an inch.”
Charlie shrugged, then ambled over to the lake, where he stood with his massive, hairy feet in the water.
Astrid turned back to the campsite that had become a battlefield. She walked past a neat line of corpses at the end of which, Vinnie tended to the only survivor.
“I’ll see you all hang for this,” the hogtied prisoner said. “You fucking animals.”
“Oh, stop crying, fuckwad,” Gormer said. He moved to give the man a kick, but Astrid pulled him back. “You played the game and you lost. How does it feel to be on the losing side for once? Welcome to my world.”
“Enough,” Astrid said. She pushed Gormer away and looked down at the man. “This was the result of your actions. I’m leaving you for your boss with a letter.”
“Big mistake,” the man said. “You leave me alive, and I’ll make it my mission to ruin all your days forever.”
“The balls on this guy,” Gormer said. “He’s right, though. We should give this guy the final mercy and hide the bodies.”
“No,” Astrid said. “I want to leave the bodies as part of my message.”
“Astrid, can I talk to you for a minute?” Gormer asked, for the first time taking on a reasonable tone.
The two walked away a few paces until Gormer was sure they were out of earshot. Then, he said, “I get it. You have some kind of code. I respect that. I also have a code, and it’s called ‘survival.’ Be practical here. You let this guy live and the Protectorate will know exactly what we did here. Hide the bodies and the authorities may never know.”
“I mean, they’ll know, but they don’t have proof. Tying up loose ends will hold back the shit storm that’s sure to come our way after this. We need time to be ready for that storm. Even bandits don’t do shit like this. They only sometimes kill a guard or two.”
“Do you know how to hide more than twenty bodies so they can’t be found?” Astrid asked.
“I do, in fact,” Gormer said with a sinister smile. “I mean, it’s not something I’ve done before, but I’m always willing to break new ground. Pun intended.”
Astrid stared into his cold, blue eyes for a long time. “We’re not killing him,” Astrid said flatly. “I want to send a message. Just trust me and do as I say.”
“I’ll do what you say, for now,” Gormer replied. “But I won’t trust you because I don’t trust anyone.”
To his obvious surprise, Astrid put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “I know you don’t trust me,” she said. “But when the time is right, you will. When that time comes, you’ll see in yourself what Charlie sees in you.”
Gormer’s eyes narrowed. He batted her hand away. “Fucking do-gooders,” he muttered as he walked away. “The fuck do you know? Make me want to puke.”
Vinnie came over after Gormer stalked off. “There is something strange about this haul of goods,” Vinnie said.
“What do you mean?”
“First off, there were no Assessors in this crowd. These were all Compliance Agents. I took a look at the logbooks in the wagons. There’s far more in the wagons than indicated in the books. I’m also finding valuables—jewelry, fine clothes, expensive tools—things like that.”
“What do you think this means?”
“I don’t know,” Vinnie said. “There is also something different about these men. I’ve been in the Protectorates for a while. These compliance crews usually have a few rough types in them. But this crew seems to be entirely made up of the hardest types.”
“What village did they come from?”
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br /> “One village. It’s listed in the ledger as Blue Creek, just down the Toll Road branch to the Southwest.”
Astrid marched up to the hogtied man who she tasked with carrying her message.
“What was your job here?” Astrid asked.
The man only smiled.
Astrid squatted down and pressed her thumb behind his ear to find a nerve below the ear canal. The man grunted in pain, but kept his hateful eyes locked on Astrid’s. “Tell me what you did.”
The man laughed. “We enforced compliance. That’s our job. We took a bit more to show them who’s still the boss around here. Protector Lungu’s son lets us collect a bit of ‘free tax’ every now and again. It’s our bonus.”
Astrid pushed his head into the dirt and stood.
“Change of plans, everyone,” Astrid shouted. “We’re heading back to Blue Creek.”
“You are a fool,” the gruff man said when Astrid hauled him to his feet. “You have no idea the shit you started.”
Astrid tied him to the tree herself and left a note in his pocket.
“You see that your bosses get that letter,” she said.
Astrid had Vinnie stash the logbooks in his trusty backpack. “We’ll need them later,” she said. “That’s our proof.”
“Proof?” Vinnie asked.
“Proof that Lungu doesn’t follow the laws of his own Protectorate. We’re gonna need that to convince the other villages.”
“So, you do have some idea how big it is, the shit you started,” Gormer said, mounting the wagon.
Vinnie hopped up on a wagon while Gormer drove the other.
They headed back down the road to Blue Creek. Charlie kept up with the wagons easily, but still looked pained. His scabbed wounds drew flies. He wouldn’t let anyone near him to take care of the damage.
It took nearly two hours to get to Blue Creek. When they arrived, what seemed like the entire village was hard at work. Everyone was bustling around, each person with their own duty in mind, but all work ceased when they saw the wagons.
Astrid could almost taste the fear that came from the villagers. A middle-aged man stepped forward with a carpenter’s hammer in his hand and a tool belt loaded with nails.
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