Running his hands through his hair, Cezar tried to look both disappointed and surprised. He needed to sell this lie well. “I saw something earlier. Something I was never meant to see and something that can’t be allowed to fester here.”
He sighed. “This morning, before dawn, I saw Zaraki and Aniska together, in a storeroom.” He let the accusation hang in the air so Fellnin would draw his own conclusions. It was no secret the young man harbored feelings for Aniska. Bringing her into this would push him over the edge, making him more dangerous. Success at all cost, Cezar thought.
Fellnin stared ahead for a long moment, his face a mask of fury. “Together, sir? That’s breaking their oaths.”
“I’m afraid so. I know they’ve been friends for some time. But it seems to have become more.”
“Then they’re both traitors, Father,” Fellnin said.
Trying to look solemn, as if he placed a great responsibility on the younger man, Cezar said, “It does, unfortunately. That’s why I called you here. You’re the only one I’ve told. I want to know if I can trust you to do what’s right. Zaraki has to die, but Aniska -” He trailed off for a moment.
Fellnin had always worn his emotions plain on his face, ever since he was a boy. Now Cezar saw hope spring up in his eyes. “Perhaps he took advantage of her? We won’t know until we talk to her,” he said, leaving the door open that the girl might be redeemed. He knew Fellnin would never kill Aniska. The young man pined for her. Cezar only wanted to dangle her in front of Fellnin to roil the cauldron of rage simmering inside so he could be sure Zaraki would die.
A pained expression passed over the younger man’s face like a cloud, but then it disappeared. “Of course, Father. Traitors are never tolerated. I’ll kill Zaraki tonight and bring Ani to you.”
“Be discreet, Fellnin,” Cezar warned. “I don’t want to alarm any of the others, understand?”
“Of course, Father.”
As he stormed down the stairs, Fellnin wanted to find Zaraki and kill him then and there. Forget hunting him, forget taking him down where the others would not see. How dare he? How dare he drag Ani into this? He still imagined he could be with her one day.
Taken by surprise, Zaraki could not beat him in a fight. He needed a way to lure him outside the walls tonight and so Fellnin went in search of Crain, another one of Father’s assassins. Crain could be recruited. Then they could figure out how to get Zaraki into town so they could kill him in an alley and dump his body some place for the guard to find.
***
After sleeping in all morning, Zaraki stopped in the clerk’s office to get his payment for the last job. Most of the money paid out went to Edik, but they all received small amounts when they finished a commission. Like most of what he earned, he would save this, just in case.
“Good work. Cezar was really pleased,” Eaton said, keeping his eyes down as he counted out the coins and pushed them across the desk. Then, glancing around, he whispered, “You’re in danger. Don’t be here after dark and take her with you.”
Confused, Zaraki looked over his shoulder to see who the clerk could be talking to, but there was no one else in the room.
“I’m sorry,” Eaton said, shaking his head. “I didn’t hear it all, just your names and – I’m sorry. I can’t say more. I have a family.”
Zaraki scooped up the payment and dumped the coins into a pouch. Just like that? He looked across the desk at his friend and heard the warning in his words. There was only one person Eaton could mean. He needed to find Aniska.
Spinning on his heel, he raced across the yard to the barracks. He took the stairs two at a time and opened the door to the room he shared with Aniska and two others. She sat alone at a small writing table, reading a book. Dressed in trousers and tunic, with her red hair pulled back, she looked like an impish student, rather than an eighteen-year-old killer. “We have a problem,” he said, still not believing what he heard. “Eaton just told me to leave, he warned me not to be here after dark.”
“What? What do you mean?” she asked, looking up from her book.
“Eaton. He couldn’t even look me in the eyes. Just handed me coins and told me to be gone before nightfall.” Zaraki paced around the little room.
She scowled. “It makes no sense. What’s he talking about?”
“I don’t know. He couldn’t give me a reason. Just warned me to disappear.”
Aniska paled and said, “That’s alarming.”
Zaraki looked shaken now as Eaton’s word sank in. “He said I should take you with me. Said we’re both in danger.”
“That’s stupid. They don’t make any money on our contracts if we leave. And what sort of threat could there be to us here?” she pressed, trying to make sense of it and fit these pieces of information together.
“Either we’ve pissed one of us off and they’re going to come after us, or Father’s ordered something. I could kill almost anyone here.” Mentally Zaraki ticked off Fellnin, Ani and maybe one of two others who would scare him one on one. Fellnin because he was vicious, Ani because she was so much faster. “Most everyone knows that, so I can’t imagine it’s something personal. That leaves Father.”
Or Edik, he thought but kept it to himself. He would not betray that secret, even to his best friend.
Ani looked puzzled. “You’ve always been one of his favorites. Why would Father want to kill you? What do I have to do with it?”
Just hearing her say it hurt, terribly. This was his family. He could accept one of their brothers or sisters having it out for him, but Father? “I don’t know. What could I have done wrong?” Zaraki started thinking about his last several jobs. Nothing jumped out at him except what he had heard in Deblin.
Aniska tapped two fingers on her lips, thinking. Then a guilty expression crossed her face. “Actually, maybe I do know something. I’ve been hearing rumors Father is feeling threatened by some us.”
He knew her well enough to know what she meant. “You’ve been eavesdropping? And you heard that?”
Now she rubbed the circle and bar brand on her wrist, a sure sign she was nervous. “Sure. We’re young, smart and could easily replace him. He’s getting older, slower. I heard him talking about it to someone a few weeks ago. Not those specific words, but close to it. Maybe you’re just the first one he’s making a move against.”
“But why me?” Zaraki could think of one or two others here who could take Cezar’s place.
“Why not you? You’ve always done better at lessons, you’re smart.” Ani paused again, thinking hard. “I think the most important question is who’s coming after us? If Father were sending someone against us, who would he choose? I think we both know and if Eaton’s warning us to leave, it’s serious. I don’t know how I’m tangled up in this, but I’m not going to wait around to find out. I think we have to go.”
One on one, they could defend themselves from most of the other spies here. But if Cezar had turned Ostrava against them? Zaraki felt panic rising, remembering days without food and nights spent shivering in the cold. One thought filled his mind. Where will I go? Where will I go? This was the only home he knew. Ostrava meant safety and food, and he did not want to lose another family. One problem at a time, he told himself.
“If they’re going to start killing us for no reason, I guess we don’t really owe them anything, do we? We’re not slaves here, but we’ll be traitors when we leave,” he said. “We have our brands. We can get far enough away from Cezar and find work. I’d love to start doing real jobs instead of stalking spoiled, rich boys for their fathers.”
They both stared at each other as the implications struck them. All their friends lived and worked here, they had no other place to call home. If they left, they would have to make their own way, but what choice was there? And they had always known they would leave one day. Now they would have to move fast and go very far from Ostrava.
Aniska started smiling, imagining being free from Father and Edik and making her own decisions. At eighteen,
she wanted to see more, do more.
“Pack what you can carry,” Zaraki said. “We have to move quickly.”
***
They waited until dinner when more people would be distracted. Slipping out of the castle and into the city, they wore dark clothes and carried their best weapons. They followed back streets to stop in small shops for supplies. With enough food, they could avoid the roads for a time. While they might prefer to take horses, those belonged to Lord Edik and had to be left behind. By nightfall, they were walking deep into the forest following animal trails. Aniska finally called a halt. “I’m tired, and we still don’t know where we’re heading.”
Zaraki knew they could both keep walking all night. Their training and conditioning had demanded far worse, but she was right. They had no plan.
Dinner was dried meat and cheese, boring but filling. They knew Cezar would send others after them, so they decided to set a watch but no fire. Zaraki told Aniska to sleep first and while she slept, he considered where they could find work. Lord Cyprian in Hemvall could be an ally. He and Edik were longtime rivals, and Zaraki had spent time scouting around several of his castles.
On foot, they could reach Hemvall in only five days, but Zaraki wanted to be further away from Ostrava than that. He decided their best course of action would be to head west to the border with Embriel and find odd jobs for a bit. They needed to be far away from Cezar. Once they knew they had evaded any pursuers, they could try to find permanent positions. Kajetan was probably the closest town to the border, so for now, it was their destination. As the moon rose, he decided to let Aniska sleep.
Just before dawn, something startled a deer and it crashed through the woods near their tiny campsite. Zaraki did not move except to draw his poniard and lay it next to him. He let his chin fall back to his chest to feign sleep and when he heard footfalls, he counted a single pursuer. That seemed unwise.
A face appeared just on the edges of the little clearing. It was Crain - older and stronger than Zaraki, but together with Aniska they could manage him. He was not one of the best pupils Cezar trained, but definitely one of the larger ones.
“Crain,” Zaraki said, loud enough to wake Aniska. He saw her draw a breath but remain still. “Go home. Go back like a good little lap dog and tell Cezar we’re no threat to him.”
Stepping into the campsite, Crain pointed his crossbow at Zaraki’s chest. “Fellnin told me what Father saw. You both traitors. You broke your oaths. Now I’m going to kill you and take her back to our brother for the reward. Sit up, Aniska. I know you’re awake.”
“No one here’s a traitor, Crain. Just let us be on our way.” Aniska tried to sound reasonable. Killing one of their brothers felt wrong, even if it was one of the dumber ones.
His eyes shifted over as she rolled over and pulled herself up. “You don’t get to fuck him and then walk away, Aniska. That’s not how this family works.”
Typical, Zaraki thought and launched himself sideways. Crain always let his weapon dip a bit when he looked to the side. He was faster than Crain, but even so, the older man managed to get his shot off. Where the bolt tore through his tunic and scraped his ribs, Zaraki felt a line of fire ignite.
As he landed, he pushed himself up again and at Crain’s knees. The bigger man swung the crossbow in an arc and connected this time. Dazed, Zaraki slumped to the ground. But with his back to her, Crain could not recover quickly enough. Aniska pounced, one hand pulling his head to the side, the other plunging a dagger into the flesh where neck met shoulder.
Pawing at his neck, Crain toppled to his knees. The wound was not so deep he would die quickly. Zaraki tried to get to his feet and end the other man’s suffering, but his head still rang with the blow from the crossbow. Aniska sat down next to him and cradled his head in her lap.
“Just stay down. You’re bleeding, and there’s no helping him.” She tore strips from his tunic and pressed them to his head wound.
The sounds of Crain’s labored breathing filled the quiet woods. “Fuck you both,” he gasped. “Fellnin’s coming for you, so you’re dead already.” He continued panting for a moment and then stilled.
As her heart slowed and her adrenaline ebbed away, Aniska began to cry. “How could he do this?” She meant Father, Zaraki realized. “We were a family. We don’t kill each other for sport.” Tears streaked her face when he looked up at her. Crain was several years older than both of them and had been a relentless bully. Zaraki felt no real sadness at his passing, but he understood her reaction to killing someone.
When the pounding and ringing in his head subsided, he sat up and gathered Aniska to his chest. The bolt had bounced off his ribs but his side still ached and blood soaked his tunic. Aniska let him soothe her for a moment before drying her eyes and wiping her nose.
“Crain always was more a bully than anything else. Remember the beating he gave you for sticking up for me?”
“I was an easy target,” Zaraki admitted thinking to the early days in Ostrava when he remained small and wiry. Then, he shot up in height and found he was fast and clever, with an instinct for fighting. The bullying stopped and he became a protector for all the younger children.
“And you had a kind heart. That’s why Father made Crain an enforcer and not you.” Her laugh was more a hiccup, but at least her mood was recovering.
He looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What does that mean?”
“You would never have had the heart to beat us for getting out of line. Everyone knew you had a family and a good home before Father found you. You had people who loved you and cared about you. That’s miles beyond what most of us had, Zaraki. You’ve always missed being loved and cared for.”
Kissing the top of her head, he said, “Come on, we need to move. Crain is gone, it sounds like. I’m sure not digging him a grave.” Neither one of them mentioned what the dead man said about Fellnin hunting them. They both knew they needed to be far away from here when the sun rose.
***
After ten days of walking, they saw no signs of any further pursuers. Good, except when Crain failed to return, Fellnin would know which way they had gone. Food began to run short, and the pair traded for some apples and a night in a barn by helping a farmer rebuild a stone enclosure for his sheep. They fell into the hay, exhausted after eating. Zaraki wrapped his arms around Aniska and covered them both with his coat. Nights were still cold. They needed to find real jobs soon.
Three days later the first signs of a town came into view. When the road they had been following widened and the traffic increased, Aniska declared it safe enough to walk with the other travelers. Houses, instead of tiny cottages, lined the road, and farm fields gradually disappeared. They heard church bells again and the town walls came into view.
Trade in wool built Kajetan. Outside the walls stood warehouses bursting with raw bales. Merchants stood around doing a brisk trade, and carters took wagons full of wool bundles down to the docks once they found a buyer. Zaraki knew the river in town moved barges full of goods downstream to Andula and Arnost. In a town this prosperous, finding some small jobs seemed simple enough.
They found plenty of cheap, nondescript accommodations in the slums. Aniska left to shop for fruit while Zaraki haggled with the shopkeeper with a room for rent and paid for a week from his dwindling coin hoard. He opened the door onto a shabby room with a single bed, a desk, and no chairs. Their room in the barracks in Ostrava seemed palatial in comparison.
After dropping their things in their room, he went down to the tavern and ordered a drink. He set himself in the corner and listened to the conversations of the other patrons. An hour later, Zaraki knew gossip from all over the slums, but nothing pointing to any jobs.
Aniska returned with a sack of tiny apples, wine, and a loaf of bread. With the cheese left over from their flight from Ostrava, they enjoyed their first decent meal in a while. They sat on the bed to eat and washed dinner down with cheap wine. The room needed a deep cleaning and it smelled awful, but
they had full bellies and would sleep in a bed tonight, instead of the ground. It began to dawn on them both that for the first time in their lives they could make their own decisions. Free of Father, free to choose their jobs, free to do whatever they liked.
“I have some ideas about where to start looking tomorrow,” Aniska said around a mouth of bread. “I heard a woman in the market talking about two wool merchants accusing each other of sabotaging the other’s stores. I asked her for details.”
“You hear everything.” Zaraki marveled. “We’ve been here five hours and already you have a best friend.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“It’s because you’re so little and you have the cutest button nose,” he teased.
This time, she punched him in the shoulder. She hated when he called her little. As she wound up for another punch, Zaraki pushed her back on the bed. Aniska fought him until she realized he was just looking at her. “What?”
“It’s probably the wine, but I suddenly want to tell you how lovely you are. And how nice you smell.”
“Get off me. I haven’t had a bath in a week.” She pushed at him again, though it was half-hearted.
Winding a loose strand of her red hair around his fingers, Zaraki said, “We’re not employed by anyone. We don’t have to live by Cezar’s rules right now.”
Aniska’s breath quickened. They had always been best friends, but the rules forbade any deeper involvement. They had never broken the rules or their oaths, even when they roomed together, but now their defection from Ostrava lifted those restrictions. “I won’t say I’ve never thought about it,” she admitted as he rolled to one side.
Zaraki laughed. “I’ve definitely thought about it, over and over. We’re free and alone here. And mostly safe.” He gave her a moment to say no and then leaned in to kiss her. One hand lifted her top and slid up to cup a perfect, tiny breast.
A Gift Freely Given (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 1) Page 7
