“What do you think of this?” he called up to the Assassin at one point.
“I don’t know,” the man said, “but I do not like it.” Marcus heard a faint rasp of metal, followed by a clonk that he took to be the man drawing his long sword and laying it next to him.
Musk appeared not long after this exchange, being almost dragged along by Kendra. They received no small amount of suspicious glances as they dragged the cartful of supplies they had bought back with them over to the coach, and began loading it. Marcus kept his position hidden in shadow, and the Assassin did not move to help either, keeping his eyes trained on the crowds.
“What’s going on?” Musk asked. “Why does everyone seem so on edge?”
“I don’t know,” the Assassin said again, “but I do believe we should be leaving soon.”
Kendra gave Marcus a worried glance. He shrugged, but she didn’t see him in the gloom.
“Fair enough,” Musk said, strolling over to tend to the horses, “we have everything we need.. except Lucin. Where is he?”
They didn’t find an answer to that question until another nervous half hour had crept by. The short man came charging into the busy plaza unannounced, a heavy sack of money swung over his shoulder. His bird flew ahead of him, squawking urgently. The assembled Viaggiatori turned to regard the man with morbid curiosity as he came to a stop by the coach, panting and wheezing.
“We... hahhh.. should leave..” he gasped. His bird wasted no time on formalities and dived straight into the coach and hid behind Marcus, who felt moved to shift forwards.
“Lucin,” Musk said angrily, “what have you done?”
“I got your money,” the short man said, heaving the bag of gold into the coach. “But the people I was playing against.. did not take too kindly to me taking it from them. Nor did the rest of the bar, or the local authorities..”
A faint roar that had been bothering the edge of Marcus’s hearing for the last minute or so suddenly revealed itself to be the natural call of an angry mob, which came charging out from the street Lucin had appeared from, collectively paused for a moment to survey its surroundings, spotted Lucin, and redoubled its efforts in his direction. “Ah,” the man said brightly, “and here they are.”
“There he is!” came another voice at that instant, and Marcus twisted around to see, on the other side of the plaza and amidst a group of armed men, the merchant he had spoken to earlier. The man was pointing straight at him, and too late Marcus realised that he was now hanging half out of the window in order to get a good view of what was going on. “The famous Assassin! Get him!” The assembled groups of miscellaneous armed men and gate guards all turned in surprise towards the small group around the coach and, to the man, drew their weapons.
“Ah goody,” Kendra said, “one angry mob is never enough.”
“How did they know I was here?” the Assassin asked the air, curiously, before leaping from the roof of the coach and landing between the group and the mobs, sword in hand. Musk stepped up beside him, cracking the knuckles of suddenly oversized fists, and, at a meaningful glance from Kendra, Marcus sighed and stepped out as well, yanking the scythe out from where he’d hidden it, standing next to Musk as the combined mobs spread out, exchanging war stories and morphing into a collective wall of antagonism.
“Kendra,” Musk called back to her, “I think we’re going to need you for this one.”
Marcus glanced back over his shoulder, confused, as Kendra saluted smartly. She then closed her eyes and started to hum, much to his disbelief. Next to her, Lucin gave her a similarly nonplussed glance, before climbing up into the driver’s seat of the coach and grabbing for the reins.
“Stop right there,” called a man from the crowd, which had gone scarily quiet and was keeping its distance. Looking around, Marcus became aware that aside of the more obvious edged weapons, a lot of crossbows were being pointed in their direction. Presumably, no-one wished to get in the way of the initial flurry of shots.
Musk held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, which cause the mob to shrink back slightly. “What is the meaning of this?” He addressed the man who had spoken, who appeared to be a member of the local guard. “We came here in peace, and wish to depart so. We have done no wrong by the people of this town. Why the hostility?”
“You have among you a known assassin,” the man said, seeming slightly less sure of himself now that he had been collectively elected to speak for the mob. “Er.. there’s a reward out for his capture. Furthermore, some of my comrades believe that another of your number took their money from them by unfair means. And, we as the peacekeepers of this town have been told to be on the lookout for suspicious travellers claiming to be Viaggiatori. You fit all of these charges!”
“Oh come on!” Marcus said, jumping in irritably as Musk opened his mouth to let loose what would probably have been a well-reasoned response, “we do not have time for this. We need to be leaving this town like an hour ago, so I’m just going to address all of these points really quick before I run out of patience completely. For starters, if each of you – what? – two hundred? People collectively bring in this so-called famous assassin, then, well, how big’s the reward? Because I’m pretty sure that no matter what, you won’t be looking at more than a few bucks apiece. Is that worth the fact that, if this apparent assassin is among us, then given the fact that I imagine with a name like that he trades in killing people, bringing him in would mean risking your life for pocket change?”
The crowd began to murmur to itself. A few more economically-minded people slipped away at the back.
“Furthermore,” Marcus said, striding back and forth between the crowd and Musk, whose mouth continued to hang open uselessly, “what’s so suspicious about a group of Viaggiatori? We’re certainly not claiming to be; we are Viaggiatori. And with that in mind, do you want to take on our awesome judo powers?” For emphasis, he flourished his scythe, trying very hard not to drop it.
People in the crowd were glancing at each other. Those who were at the front took a few more steps back. Wow, Marcus thought to himself, this might actually work.
“Finally,” he said aloud, “if anyone has any actual proof that they were cheated by my associate here, rather than just being less good at gambling than he is, then let’s have it, and we’ll take it up in a court like civilised people. Honestly, all ganging up and waving weapons about like that, it’s barbaric. I know we’re out in the north and the wild and that, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a little more fellow-feeling from my fantastical parallel worlds. Put another way, if I do end up having to kill you, then I simply cannot properly enunciate how incredibly annoyed I’ll be about that. Trust me.” He held his scythe upright and leant against it wearily. “So what’s it to be, folks?”
More looks were exchanged, and the group that had gathered around the mob’s leader went into a huddle. “Well done,” Musk murmured from behind Marcus, “you may actually have defused the situation.” Marcus glanced back, and the man gave him a nod. Next to him, the Assassin was grinning.
“Okay,” the guardsman said, stepping forward again. “We’ve thought about it, and you do make some valid points. Can’t deny that.” Marcus relaxed slightly. “On the other hand,” the man continued, “well.. we’re all here now, ready to go and everything, and it seems a bit of a waste to not attack you. And well, hey, if some of us die, then all the more reward for the rest, right?”
Marcus’s heart sank. “Charge!” the guardsman yelled.
“Kendra!” Musk span, calling to her from where she was still humming to herself. As the mob spilled forwards between them and Musk, Marcus and the Assassin prepared to have all kinds of hell beaten out of them, she opened her eyes, clapped her hands, and the world went whomph.
Marcus felt a strange sensation pass over him, and almost fell over as his knees gave way. He grabbed at the scythe for support as Musk fell against him and used him for support in turn. To their left,
the Assassin steadied himself with his broadsword as would-be attackers collapsed all around him, rolling around on the floor and calling out, weapons falling from their hands as they stumbled.
“Assassin!” Musk yelled, staggering upright “with me! We’re opening that gate! Marcus, get back to the coach, get us moving!”
Marcus turned and obeyed, carefully walking back towards their vehicle amongst bodies that seemed to have lost control over their lower halves. Kendra, who had climbed up onto the roof, reached down a hand and helped swing him up, before collapsing next to him with a sigh.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked her, as Lucin steadied the horses and turned towards the gate, which was creaking open.
“My Talent,” Kendra said sleepily. “Told you it’d be better for you to see it in use..”
“You.. you.. I’m not even sure what you did. Help me out here.”
“Made their legs go wibbly,” she said, closing her eyes. “Temporary thingy.”
“Your Talent is to make people go weak at the knees?”
“Yaha,” she said with a giggle. “I toned it down a bit for you guys, but it’s hard to control. Pretty big blast wave. Woo I’m tired.” She began to snore faintly.
Marcus’s mental image of the entire town writhing around on the floor like demented jumping beans was dispelled by Lucin, who called up at that moment to say “you know, if we want to go through that gate, I’m going to have to drive over a lot of people. They weren’t very considerate in their falling over, y’see. So do I go or what?”
“Er,” Marcus said, but he was saved from making a decision, as at that moment they felt the coach suddenly catch the air and lift off, much to the continued bemusement of their already terrified horses. As their newly levitating ride coasted gently over the thrashing populace, Marcus leant over the side, and found Fervesce, conscious, sitting by the window with one arm hanging out, enjoying the breeze. The old man gave him a wave, and then spun his hand in a gesture that was equal parts ‘carry on old chap’ ‘chop chop’ and ‘as you were’. “I think we’re good,” Marcus informed Lucin.
They floated over to the gates, which Musk and the Assassin had managed to open enough for them to slip through. On the other side, the many refugees were in just as bad a state as the townspeople, vainly attempting to bring their legs under control. The Assassin jumped down from above, his sword still in hand, and snatched the reins from Lucin, but they stayed there a moment longer as the gate creaked shut behind them, and Musk leapt down to join them.
“What?” he said, meeting Marcus’s curious gaze as Fervesce carefully lowered them to the ground. “We don’t mean them any harm, and if we left the gate open then the refugees might get in unchecked and mess everything up for them. Best to leave things as we found them, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Marcus said, leaning back and enjoying the view of several hundred people failing to get up. “Exactly as we found them.”
23
That evening, well into the Northlands, and with civilisation now but the faintest hint of a glow on the horizon behind them, it began to snow. They rolled the coach away from the bumpy, battered track that their road had now become, and hid in the sheltered jaws of a rocky overhang, protected from the elements while they built their camp. Marcus stood off to the side as the Assassin built a fire, watching the flakes fall and enjoying the dampening effect of the soft-settling blanket as it soothed away all the world’s sounds, leaving just the quiet bustle of the camp and the louder notes of Kendra bouncing around, making snow angels and generally enjoying herself, as the last sounds of the land. Overall, it was nice, and, despite the wintery atmosphere, not too cold: the temperature had been steadily dropping over the course of their journey, but for now, it remained bearable.
“It won’t for long,” Musk warned, however. The man had been overtaken by a deep gloom since leaving Tiski, dissatisfied as he was with the way things had turned out there. He had cheered up slightly when Marcus had informed him that they’d found out exactly where to find Keithus, meaning that they had in fact accomplished everything they’d set out to do in the town, but given the nature of what lay ahead, he hadn’t cheered up that much.
“It’s a good thing, though,” he mused, considering the map of the Northlands that he had produced when Marcus had shared this information with him. “The Aglaecas Mountains run across the whole northern border of the Northlands, and just continue onwards for as long as anyone has ever dared explore, but there’s only one Aglaecas Pass, here, and look – it’s not that far away, almost directly north of us. If we keep our pace up, we could be there in another two days. Maybe three.”
“If this snow keeps up, we won’t be going anywhere,” the Assassin put in, from where he sat wrapped in a blanket nearby. He leaned back to dodge a snowball that came flying in from Kendra’s general direction, scooped up a handful and returned fire with deadly accuracy.
Fervesce, awakening from the light doze he had settled back into after they’d escaped Tiski, informed them with a yawn that he might be able to help out there. He was willing to lift the coach slightly above ground level, in order to ease travelling, although it would mean less flying by night. Musk shook his head, telling the old man not to exert himself, as their late travelling was going to be even more important if they couldn’t cover as much ground during the day. Marcus just sat and thought about what lay ahead; two days, maybe three, and they would be at the resolution of their quest. What would it mean for him? What should he expect? No-one seemed to have any idea. The prevailing atmosphere that seemed to be settling over the group was one of apprehension; they’d known all along that they were basically flying blind into a highly dangerous situation, but now that it was almost upon them, this knowledge had taken on a certain tangible weight that they’d been able to ignore before. The only people who appeared outwardly unaffected were Kendra and the Assassin, insofar as his face ever betrayed any emotion beyond wry amusement.
“So this is it?” Lucin asked suddenly, swinging the coach door right through Marcus’s reverie and stepping out. “We’re not going to talk about what those people back in the town said?”
“What about what they said?” Musk asked absently, poking at the fire with a stick.
“They said they’d been told to look out for a group of suspicious Viaggiatori,” Lucin said. “Now maybe you’re all content to let that go, but I at least find it slightly bloody concerning. Where did they get that information? Who told them there would be Viaggiatori coming?”
“Fairly obvious, little man,” the Assassin said, lighting a cigarette. Marcus spared him a longing glance, having smoked the last of his several days ago. “The wizard knows that we are coming, and put the word out to try and stop us. It’s not much of a stretch that he would have spies.”
“Yes, that’s what I thought,” Lucin snapped. “And we’re not going to discuss that?”
“There’s nothing to discuss, Lucin,” Musk said quietly, “it doesn’t make a difference if he knows we’re coming or not. We have a job to do regardless. On that subject.. can you find us some eyes in the Aglaecas Pass, that we might see what shape of trap we may be walking into?”
The short man glared at Musk, but closed his eyes and concentrated. “No,” he said, after a moment. “I can’t look that far.”
“Well, keep trying,” Musk said, staring into the flames distantly.
“Pah.” Lucin stared around a moment longer. “This weather is disgusting. Dibs on the coach.” He turned to climb back in, then paused. “By the way, we now have approximately three hundred Portruss dollars, in varying currencies. Took some counting.”
“Thank you, Lucin,” Musk murmured, but the short man appeared not to hear, climbing back into the coach and slamming the door behind him.
“What’s up with him?” the Assassin asked, with his customary raised eyebrow.
“Probably the same thing that’s up with all of us,” Musk said. “Un
fortunately he’s never been a particularly jolly person at the best of times.”
“Nothing’s weighing on my mind, muscle man. What’s eating you?”
“Really?” Musk asked. “You’re not even slightly apprehensive about what’s coming up?”
“Nah. See, the difference between us is that I’ve done this before. Seven times I’ve been hired to kill a wizard, and seven times I’ve killed a wizard, without so much as a scratch. They’re all the same. They think that because they can do things most people can’t dream of, they’re invincible. So much ego, and by all accounts, this one’s got an ego so big that if you throw things at him they orbit.”
“Don’t get complacent, Assassin,” Musk warned. “Keithus is very dangerous.”
“Maybe to you, chap. But I’m not worried. And you needn’t worry about me. Spend your time worrying about yourself, because I’m not coming to your rescue if you get in trouble.”
It was at this point that the conversation rather broke down. The Assassin stubbed out his cigarette and appeared to roll over and fall asleep, whilst Musk sat and glared at the fire, which flickered self-consciously. The only other noise came from across the flames, where Kendra was putting the finishing touches to a rather impressive snowman. She even gave it her hat, before Fervesce rose from where he’d been sitting, eyes closed and likely asleep, and mentioned that it wouldn’t be going with them when he started moving, at which point she promptly snatched it back.
“Put the fire out too,” the old man added as he climbed to his customary position atop the coach. “I can bring some of the warm air with us, but not that.”
Mirrorworld Page 29
