Mercenary Little Death Bringer

by Banks, Catherine

  I let Fire run for a few miles and then pulled her back to conserve her energy. Favian caught up to me, having started out slowly and asked, “Are you in a foul mood today?”

  I wanted to snap at him, but I held in my anger since he had done nothing wrong. “You’re wearing a new necklace,” I noted quietly.

  He looked down at the new necklace and frowned a moment. “It was a gift.”

  “From Amile,” I finished.

  He looked at me and shrugged. “Yes. Does it bother you that I accepted her gift?”

  “Of course not,” I said quickly, “I just…” I trailed off, not wanting to tell him the real reason I was upset. I couldn’t explain that I was upset that he’d taken off the necklace I’d given him to wear hers. Did he like her more than me?

  A deer and her fawn stood in the center of the road and our horses moved around them so as not to startle the fawn and make it run off and possibly injure itself. The doe watched us with calm eyes and held her ground as we passed by.

  “Marin,” he said kindly, drawing my attention back to him, “I am sorry if I’ve upset you somehow. We’re partners, right?” I nodded my head. “And in order for our partnership to work you must tell me what I’ve done to upset you.”

  “It’s nothing. Forget I mentioned it,” I said as I tied and untied a knot in my reins to avoid looking at him.

  Favian trotted up closer to me until our knees were rubbing as the horses walked and stared into my eyes. “Tell me.”

  He had beautiful grey eyes that swirled like fog when he was mad and glittered like gemstones when happy. He’d been my best friend since I was four and my partner in crime since I was six. Together we’d completed every task the Academy had thrown at us and together we’d fought over a hundred enemies. We were partners and worked as one flawless unit, but recently things had been changing and I did not like it or understand it.

  “I do not care that you receive gifts from females. I do not care that you flirt with them. I do not care because you and I are partners in battle, not physically. I do care when you remove gifts I have given you and replaced them with a gift from a different female though. It’s dumb and that’s why I tried to get you to drop it, but I am female after all and I have stupid emotions I cannot control sometimes. Now that I’ve told you why I was upset at first please forget I said it and let us return to normal,” I said quickly, stumbling over some of my words just to get it all out and be done with it.

  “Is that what you truly want? You want me to leave this necklace on instead of taking it off and throwing it away like I had planned to do?” he asked me.

  I looked at him in shock. “What?”

  He smiled. “You think I like this ugly necklace that that girl made? The only reason I took it was because that is what a polite prince is expected to do. My mother would have been furious if she had heard that I refused a gift from a female. I was going to simply accept it and throw it away later, but then she insisted I put it on.”

  “You could have told her you didn’t want to take the necklace off since it was a gift,” I muttered.

  “Then she would have been insulted because she knows it was a gift from you and it would have been a big ordeal. It was simpler to give in until we were gone.”

  Despite its ridiculousness I felt much better and happier now that he had explained it all to me.

  “So, do you still want me to forget it or can I throw this ugly thing away and put the one I like back on?” he asked me with a teasing smile.

  “Don’t be rude,” I told him, “It is unbecoming of a prince.” I turned my face and hid the blush that was creeping into my cheeks.

  He laughed. “Now you sound like Mother. I think you spent too much time with her this past month.”

  “I spent all my time with her,” I said irritably, “she insisted that I had to finish learning the womanly skills necessary for when I became a lady at eighteen.”

  “Have you figured out how to hide your sword under your dress yet?” he asked me.

  I laughed and turned back to face him. “No. I think I might have to settle for several daggers and needles instead.”

  It was our ongoing joke that I figure out ways to be able to combine my skills with the manly arts with that of my womanly arts, such as keeping a sword inside my dress. I’d had very little success so far because somehow Amadis always knew when I had things hidden on me that I wasn’t supposed to have. It was like some weird sixth sense.

  Fire’s ears shot forward just as Favian drew his sword from its sheath and slowed Ice. “Riders, six of them, are moving fast this way.”

  Another elf perk I envied, extremely good hearing. I kept my sword sheathed to appear as a delicate female human being escorted by an elf. It was surprising how well that tactic worked on dumb men. The riders appeared on the horizon line, still barely visible to me, but in perfect sight for Favian. “Human bandits. Be ready.”

  I nodded my head at him and then draped my right leg over my horn so that I was essentially riding side saddle instead of regular. Even though I was wearing pants, that wouldn’t deter most men since putting women in pants was a common tactic to make them appear less helpless, which helped us make me look more helpless in the current situation.

  The bandits spotted us finally and charged the horses forward to encircle us. They were all very hairy with facial hair so thick that I couldn’t see any of their mouths. They all wore dirty leather outfits that needed a soaking and then a washing. I was sure they wouldn’t smell very good either, but I didn’t try to find out, beginning to breathe through my nose as they moved closer.

  The leader moved his horse closer to me and I pulled on Fire’s reins to move her closer to Ice and Favian, tucking my head down and widening my eyes as though I were scared of him. Luckily my cloak hid my sword so he couldn’t see it on my belt to realize I wasn’t scared of him or his hairiness.

  “Don’t be frightened pretty lady. We won’t hurt you,” he said as he circled us. I thought he might be smiling, but it was hard to tell if his mustache had moved upwards or not.

  “Leave us be,” Favian said, “Or I shall be forced to defend myself and the lady.”

  “One elf isn’t enough to take on six men,” the leader said, “especially not a young elf such as you.”

  That was where they were wrong. I knew Favian’s true strength and it frightened me sometimes. Never get on an elf’s bad side or you won’t live to regret it.

  “Last warning,” Favian said and then smiled.

  “We’re going to wipe that smile right off your face,” another of the bandits said angrily. Was that a frown or was his beard just particularly droopy?

  The leader reached out towards me to try to grab me from my saddle and as soon as his arm was within reach I grabbed it and jerked him towards me, pulling him from his saddle. I shrieked as though shocked and scared at what had happened and then the fight began. Favian killed two men instantly with his throwing knives in their throats before they could even draw their swords and then he moved towards the other three.

  The leader pulled his sword just as I pulled mine and then he came at me. He must have realized I wasn’t completely defenseless or he wouldn’t be attacking me. I parried his blow and then stabbed him with one of my knives. “Not all of us are damsels in distress,” I whispered before yanking my knife out.

  He raised his sword to strike me and I plunged mine into his belly. He gargled in pain and then fell to the ground dead. I was right, they did stink. I turned just in time to duck a punch by one of the other bandits and caught a whiff of his stench which made me gag a moment before swinging at his face with my fist. Favian finished with the bandit he was fighting and turned to me. “Need help?” he asked.

  I punched the bandit in his face and then blocked his return punch. “No, I’m fine,” I said as I hit him in the throat with my hand. He stumbled backwards gasping for air and then pulled a knife from his belt. I moved to pull mine, but Favian had already thrown one of his
into the man’s throat, ending his life. I turned and frowned at him. “I was fine.”

  He ignored me, hopping off of Ice’s back to retrieve his knives. “You were moving too slow. He could have stabbed you before you got your knife out.”

  “If you don’t let me protect myself I won’t learn,” I told him as I wiped my knife and sword on the bottom of my cloak to clean the blood off.

  “You can learn at school with dull blades that won’t kill you,” he retorted. He was upset, but I had no idea why. I hadn’t done anything wrong, well at least not that I could think of. “Quickly check them over,” he ordered.

  I searched each of the men, coming up with a measly forty coins. I was searching the leader, sure that I would find nothing when I came across a small painted picture in his pocket. I stared at the picture in shock and couldn’t move. It was me. Why would he have a picture of me?

  “You find anything?” Favian asked.

  I turned the picture over and found two lines of writing:

  Kidnap alive.

  Bring to me.

  No signature. No name. Favian took the picture from my hand, scaring me and making me jerk a knife from my belt in reaction. He looked at me in shock a moment until he read the writing and turned the picture over. “We’re going back to see Father,” he said angrily.

  “No!” I yelled. “We are already late for school as it is. We cannot be any later.”

  “Someone sent these men after you, Marin. Don’t you understand that?” he asked as he faced me.

  “Yes, but they failed and we are only a day away from school. Whoever hired them won’t have time to learn of their failure and hire new men before we arrive and you know as well as I do that the Academy is impossible to break into.”

  I could see the decisions warring within him and crossed my fingers behind my back. This was a tough decision for him since he was the one who had vowed to protect me when I’d been found and brought to the castle. Now as my self-proclaimed protector, he had to decide which the best protection was, the Academy or the elves where I would try to sneak away to return to school.

  “I have to finish at the Academy,” I pleaded with him, “I only have three months left. Please Favian. Please!”

  He sighed. “Fine, but I’m sending word to Father about this.”

  I smiled happily and hugged him. “Thank you.”

  He pushed me away and put the picture in his pocket. “Get on your horse.”

  I did as he asked and we rode off at a brisk pace towards the Academy. We would have to camp off the road later that night since we had gotten such a late start to the day and then we would reach the school by midday tomorrow. Macon would be very upset that we were half a day late, but the worst he would do was force us take an extra shift of guard duty.

  I glanced at Favian to find him releasing his long silver hair from the silver clip he wore to hold it back from covering his ears. He wasn’t ashamed of his Elven heritage, but he found it beneficial to hide it sometimes. Other times it meant he was mad at me and hiding his ears because he knew I preferred his hair up and his ears out. I was pretty sure it was both things prompting him to let his hair down currently.

  I wanted to talk with him or joke to lighten the mood, but he had his serious face on and that meant that for the next eight hours we were going to be riding in silence. Silence would have been fine if I wasn’t slightly freaked out by the fact that someone had hired bandits to kidnap me. Why? Who on earth would want to kidnap me? And to what purpose? Were they going to use me for ransom from the elves? That would only end up bad for the kidnappers. The elves would agree to their terms and then as soon as I was safe again they would send out assassins to kill those that had kidnapped me.

  Had I angered someone so much that they wanted me dead? No, otherwise the note would not have said to kidnap me alive. Had I angered someone who would want to kidnap me? I wasn’t the most loved person, but I didn’t really have any true enemies, just some childish dislikes. Even the three jobs I had done had all ended well and hadn’t created any enemies for me.

  It seemed like minutes had passed when I realized that the sun was setting. “We’ll set up camp now,” Favian said as he steered Ice off of the road and we made our way through the trees to find a suitable camping spot. Luckily there wasn’t much brush so the horses were able to walk easily into the forest. We stopped about a mile from the road at a spot just wide enough for our horses and us to sleep. I dismounted and grabbed the small water skin off of Favian’s pack to fill with water. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I looked at the water skin and then at him. “Getting water obviously. I can hear a stream nearby.”

  “You can’t go off alone,” he said adamantly.

  I glared at him. “I can protect myself, Favian. I have been going off in the forest alone since I was six.”

  “Someone tried to kidnap you, Marin. It’s not safe for you to wander off alone.”

  I thrust the water skin at him angrily. “Then you go get water while I unsaddle the horses.” He clenched his jaw, but walked in the direction of the stream. Elves could be so stubborn sometimes that it was infuriating. I removed Fire’s bridle and saddle and she shook all over, shaking dust from her coat. Ice nudged my shoulder, impatient to be unsaddled as well. “Easy boy. I’m working on it.” I set Fire’s stuff on one side of the clearing and then unbridled and unsaddled Ice and set his stuff on the other side. “You two be nice and don’t wander too far. And Fire, don’t bite your brother anymore. Favian gets upset at me when he finds the teeth marks in Ice’s coat.”

  Fire bobbed her head and then she and Ice trotted off into the forest in search of drink and food for themselves. The horses couldn’t truly understand me, but they were trained extremely well and understood us better than most horses did. Elves were animal gurus and could train them to do just about anything. Favian and I had raised them since they were born and trained them together. Irritably Ice was better trained than Fire, but I still loved her. The main thing they were trained to do in these situations was not to wander too far and to come galloping at our call.

  I made sure the clearing was empty of rocks and then shook out my bedroll and laid on it a moment to ensure it was comfortable. I opened the food pack on Favian’s saddle to see what the chef had given us, keeping my fingers crossed for something good. Sadly there was no meat since the Elves were herbivores so I was stuck with bread and leaves from plants which were supposed to be highly nutritious. I dug deeper and was excited to find a piece of berry cake, but left it in the bag, not wanting to eat it if it was for Favian only.

  I sat on top of my bedroll chewing on the bread when Favian made it back. “Still in one piece,” I told him sarcastically. He didn’t look like he thought it was funny and simply tossed me the water skin. I took a swig from it and then tossed him back the half of the bread I didn’t eat. Elven food was fortified with special ingredients which made it very filling and healthy so you could survive a long time on a little bit of food. “Good night,” I said as I climbed into my bedroll.

  “I accidentally dropped the necklace in the river,” he said around his mouthfuls. “It was swept away too fast for me to grab.”

  “Tragic,” I said.

  “Can you help me tie yours back on?” he asked.

  He could tie the necklace himself, but he was trying to make amends. It wasn’t fair of me to be mean to him so I opened my bedroll and sat on my bent legs. He walked over to me and then sat down just in front of me, facing me. I took the necklace from his hand and put it around his neck, trying to ignore the closeness of our faces and the scent of his body.

  I hadn’t realized how upset I was until I tried to tie the necklace and couldn’t because my hands were shaking too much. I tried again to tie it and dropped it. “Dammit,” I said angrily. I reached down to pick it up, but he grabbed my hands and held them inside of his.

  “Everything’s going to be alright. I won’t let them take you,” he said seriously. I w
as avoiding looking at his eyes, but he tilted his head sideways and down so he could look at my face. “I’m going to protect you like I promised to twelve years ago. You don’t have to be scared.”

  I jerked my hands away from his and quickly tied the necklace around his neck. “I’m not scared. And I don’t need your protection.”

  He ignored me and went to his bedroll to finish eating. “I hope Macon isn’t too angry. Maybe we’ll get out of it because of what happened.”

  “Good night,” I said as I wrapped myself up in my bedroll again, choosing to ignore his attempt at conversation.

  “Good night,” he said softly.

  I knew I should have been nicer, but he’d made me mad by his niceness. Even as crazy as it was to be mad that he was nice, I was. He should have kept that comment to himself instead of telling me. I knew he would protect me because he always did. He took his word seriously and when he vowed to protect me back then he hadn’t broken it since.

  For once I really hoped he would keep his word and even though I said I didn’t need his protection, I truly wanted it.

  I relaxed and prayed that tomorrow would be uneventful and we would make it to school easily. As the time passed I didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep, but then Favian moved his bedroll closer to mine and with his reassuring presence so close, I fell asleep to the sound of the nocturnal creatures stirring and the crickets chirping.

  ~~~~

  CHAPTER THREE

  An uneventful night and an uneventful morning were good signs for us as we rode towards the school. Favian was still being silent and I could see him scanning everything ahead to ensure our safety. I kept on high alert as well, but Favian could see and hear miles ahead of me so there truly wasn’t much of a point.

  The trees ended and we began passing farm land where families were already out pruning, gathering and inspecting their crops. A small girl with a dirt smeared face waved to us and Favian and I waved back.