Freelance Heroics (Firesign Book 2)

by Stephen W. Gee

  “I think it’s going to be a good day.” Mazik plucked the mug out of Raedren’s hands and lifted it high. “Cheers!”

  “Hey, that’s mine.”

  “We can’t do a toast if only one of us has a drink,” said Gavi.

  “Don’t care!” Mazik took a slug from the drink and set it down, grinning. He nodded to himself. “It’s going to be a good day.”

  *

  In the corner of the room, a woman sat alone. She wore a scarlet scarf over her head to hide her appearance. It wouldn’t have mattered, though. The last time those she was watching saw her, they were drunk, and she had looked completely different. Not just what she was wearing, but her body as well. The woman was taller this time, and several years older, with an understated green dress that flattered her figure without showing off. She looked like a distinguished noble woman out for a secret rendezvous, even if that rendezvous was with a plate of fried food and a common drink.

  But her elegant confidence, and the knowing smile on her lips, were the same. Luhi took a drink from her mug. She watched as Gavi said something across the room. Mazik slapped his knee and laughed, while Raedren appeared to be blushing.

  “Hmmm.” She set her mug down and pushed it away. “They’ve turned up in an interesting place already. I wonder what will they do with the information they’ve learned?”

  The redheaded waiter bustled over and took the empty mug. “Can I get you another, ser?”

  “No, thank you.” Luhi pointed at the trio’s table. “But those three. Please buy them a round, on me.” She pressed her hand to the table. When she drew it away, there was enough money to buy a round not only for the three adventurers, but for the entire bar.

  “Yes, ser.” The redhead bowed. “Should I tell them who it’s from?”

  “No, that’s okay. I’m leaving.” Luhi stood. She collected her shawl about her shoulders, even though it was a warm day. “Thank you.”

  The redhead bowed again. “Yes, ser. Have a good day.”

  When she raised her head, Luhi was already gone.

  *

  “This is not helping make it a good day,” said Mazik, several hours later.

  “Oh, shut up.” Gavi kicked the back of his legs, propelling him forward. “You agreed to this. Stop complaining.”

  “But that’s the only thing that’s making this any fun—Hey! Stop kicking me, dangit!”

  Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren were walking down an unremarkable street in a modest working-class neighborhood. While Mazik and Gavi were little changed from earlier—more awake, certainly, and perhaps a little more cheerful, as their hangovers had given way to a light celebratory buzz—Raedren was another matter. He had cleaned himself up, with his best shirt on (borrowed from Mazik), his hair and beard neatly combed (with assistance from Gavi), and a fresh bandage over the cut on his cheek (he took care of that himself). He was also more cheerful, if Mazik were to judge—and he always did. He was ecstatic even, though the undercurrent of anxiety remained.

  Mazik and Gavi had commented on that earlier. They had found it amusing that Raedren could fight multiple orcks without a hint of fear, but a date turned him into a jittering schoolboy. Gavi had said she found it kind of cute. Mazik just thought he was bonkers.

  The three of them stopped at a familiar one-story house. It had been painted pale green, with a brick chimney to the left of its door. There were people everywhere again—lurking in bushes, loitering on the lawn, peering out from neighboring windows, and, in one man’s case, sitting on a high stool beside the front gate.

  Mazik recognized the doorman from their first visit to the house of Ravelin Bilay, AKA the Blue Boar. Apparently the old man had bowed to the reality of his advancing age and dispensed with the illusion that he was merely loitering.

  Mazik worked himself up to a fake smile and strode toward the gate. Gavi caught him by the elbow.

  “Can you be diplomatic this time?” asked Gavi. “Serious question.”

  “Of course.” Mazik saw her skeptical expression, and added, “What I mean is, I’ll try. Now that the old man presumably knows who we are, I’m happy to play their game.” He considered this. “Well, maybe not happy, but I’ll do it.”

  Gavi’s expression remained skeptical, but she released his arm.

  Mazik started forward, then paused. “Though if you’d prefer, we could leave and—”

  “Move!”

  Suppressing a grunt of annoyance, Mazik sidled up to the old man. He leaned against the fence beside him, as if he were just passing by. The doorman said nothing. He just kept reading his book.

  “Hey,” said Mazik.

  The doorman remained silent.

  “Nice day, isn’t it?” said Mazik.

  He was greeted with more silence.

  Mazik sighed. “We just wanted to say that the park you suggested last time was nice. We’re actually thinking of visiting it again right now.”

  “Is that so.” The doorman turned the page.

  “We’re hoping we have as pleasant and productive of a time as last time. There are a few other important things we need to discuss.”

  The doorman glanced at Mazik. “Good for you. Do you mind? You’re blocking my sunlight.”

  Mazik looked around. It was a sunny day, and his shadow was on the other side of him from the old man. He bit back a comment and shrugged.

  “Just mention it to Mas Bilay, would you? Please. Thank you. Have a good day.” Mazik gave a little wave as he pushed away from the fence. “Bye.”

  “Good bye.”

  Two minutes later, once the trio had disappeared down the street, the old man slipped a bookmark into his place and ambled inside.

  “Well done,” said Gavi. “You had some tact for once. I feel like this deserves a reward.”

  Mazik glared up at Gavi, who was patting his head in a not-at-all-patronizing way. “I hate you.” He swiped at her hand. Gavi pulled it away with a laugh.

  The three of them were back at the tree, in the park where they had first proposed their plan to the Blue Boar. Mazik and Raedren were once again sitting on the bench beneath the stately old tree, whereas Gavi was again taking this opportunity to practice. Leaving her sword with Mazik, she picked up her sheath and held it in front of her.

  “Focus deeply on what you’re doing,” said Mazik, though he, himself, was distracted. He looked around, though he pointedly avoided looking at the tree behind him.

  Gavi had only been practicing for maybe ten minutes—or as she thought of it, six failed spells—when there was the subtle squeak of leather at the base of the tree. Gavi, who was partially facing the tree when the Blue Boar approached, noticed him out of the corner of her eye, but she let him keep his illusions and approach without comment.

  “I heard you received a reward for slaying the orck leader,” said the Blue Boar. This time, none of them jumped at his entrance. “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you,” said Gavi as she joined the others. She handed her sheath to Mazik, who exchanged it for a towel. Gavi dabbed at the sweat on her neck. “That’s actually what we wanted to talk to you about. We owe you our thanks.”

  The Blue Boar shook his head. “No thanks are in order. I didn’t do it to help you or your team, though you fought admirably. I did it for the people of Saffir.”

  Gavi smiled. “Actually, that’s not what I meant. We do thank you, but we didn’t just want to say it. We wanted to show it.” She bowed low. “We would like to give you a fourth of the reward for this quest.”

  “I must refuse,” said the Blue Boar. There was no hesitation. “A hero should never accept payment for a just cause.”

  “Heroes must be real hungry,” muttered Mazik. Gavi nudged him.

  “We thought you might say that.” Gavi draped the towel over her shoulder. “In that case, we’re going to donate your portion to the charity of your choice. Which would you prefer? Otherwise we’ll pick one for you.”

  The superhero appeared taken aback. He looked between t
he three of them, one at a time. “You all agreed to this?” he asked, looking pointedly at Mazik.

  Mazik glowered. “Yes, we all agreed. Even me. I don’t like it. I don’t want to give a fourth of our pay to a sanctimonious justice freak who runs around in leather pajamas, but you did earn it. We wouldn’t have been paid if you hadn’t vouched for what happened, not to mention how we may not have survived at all.” Mazik crossed his arms. “So yeah, we all agreed.”

  The Blue Boar stared at Mazik for a time. Then he smiled. “A hero should not accept payment, but money still has its uses. The Loath’m Orphanage. Donate it to them.”

  Gavi nodded. “We will. And thank you again.”

  The Blue Boar nodded, then turned to leave.

  Gavi stepped forward. “Hold on!”

  The superhero turned back, his head cocked to the side.

  “I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Um … why do you call yourself the Blue Boar? The blue part, mostly. We heard about the boar, how you were saved in the woods as a kid.”

  “Oh, that.” The Blue Boar shrugged. “No reason. I just liked the color blue, and I thought the two B-words sounded good together.”

  Gavi blinked. After all their interactions with the superhero, she hadn’t expected something so … mundane.

  The Blue Boar must have realized this, because he smiled. “Keep that a secret, all right?” He tapped his lips with a finger. Then he stepped around the tree and disappeared.

  “Huh,” said Mazik. “Well. That was stupid.”

  “Yeah yeah.” Gavi threw her towel at him and collected her sword. “Come on. Let’s go make that donation before you change your mind.”

  “Can we not do it if I’ve already change my mind?” asked Mazik.

  “No,” said Gavi and Raedren.

  Adventure Seven

  Mine

  Raedren adjusted his pack and let out a long breath. He stepped off the path and paused at a crook in the road. The scenery here was beautiful. It was all a jumble of hills, like the folds of a bunched-up comforter kicked to the bottom of the bed. Each hill was covered in rich green foliage, with stark shocks of red rock where the slopes were too steep for vegetation to grow. Birds pinwheeled overhead, their calls adding a peaceful soundtrack to the crisp summer afternoon.

  Raedren stood on one such hill. It abutted the small town of Parnl, where he and his friends had first arrived less than an hour ago. Raedren gripped his staff—which now served mainly as a walking stick—and glanced at his companion.

  Uard was looking the same direction as him. She smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is,” said Raedren, though he wasn’t talking about the hills. He looked ahead. The rest of their group was getting farther away. “We’d better catch up.”

  Uard smiled and agreed. They hurried after the others.

  Raedren’s heart tightened as he watched Uard run ahead of him. It had been two and a half weeks since they had met, and he was in love. He just wasn’t entirely sure that was wise.

  The two of them had met in Saffir, where they helped put an end to a series of orck attacks that damaged over a fourth of the city. At the time, Raedren had been hesitant to even contemplate a romantic relationship, lest he fall in love with someone he would have to leave once he and his friends moved on. But Mazik and Gavi had convinced him to try anyway, and he had asked Uard out on a date. Which was followed by a second and third.

  Raedren looked out at the beautiful scenery as they slowed to a walk. He repressed a sigh.

  “Okay, you were right,” Mazik was saying from up ahead.

  “What was that?” Gavi cupped her hand over her ear, tilting her head toward Mazik. “Did I just hear what I think I heard? Say it again.”

  Mazik gave an aggravated sigh. “Yes, yes. You were right, and I was wrong.” He folded his arms, his robes bulging at odd angles where the multiple daggers he kept about his person were sheathed. “I have no problem admitting when I’m wrong, you know. It just doesn’t happen very often.”

  Raedren snorted. Mazik turned around and cast him an offended glare. He had to look through two other people to do it.

  “I haven’t known you for very long, and even I can tell that’s bullshit,” said Shava. A friend and guildmate of Uard’s, Raedren and the others had met Shava at the same time they met Uard. A tall woman who wore full plate armor and carried a zweihander, Shava had wide shoulders and a dearth of womanly curves, causing more than a few people they had passed to mistake her for a man, at least when her faceplate was lowered. The main exception was her voice, which was beautiful and melodious, even if she often used it to curse or yell. She wasn’t Raedren’s type, but her voice certainly was.

  “Looks like we were right after all,” said the sixth member of their group. He winked at Gavi. Also a friend and guildmate of Uard’s, Hectre, whom they had met the day before they set out for Parnl. A deeply tanned man of Westron descent, Hectre’s family had immigrated to Jihnsruck when he was a child. With wavy black hair, dark green eyes, and an easy, outgoing attitude, Raedren envied how easy it was for Hectre to talk to strangers, and how he seemed to be able to make people like him. This was opposed to the way Raedren envied Mazik, who could just barrel into any social situation and not care if he was liked. Both were skills Raedren lacked.

  “Looks like it.” Gavi raised her hand for a high five. Instead, Hectre took it and kissed the back of her hand. Gavi rolled her eyes.

  They turned onto a street shaded by enormous trees on either side, and entered a stunningly affluent neighborhood. While Mazik and Gavi stopped at the guard hut, Raedren peered through the ornate (and closed) gates.

  He could only see three houses from here, one straight ahead and two on either side. They were all massive. Each was a stately mansion, with three floors, multiple wings, and wide swaths of lawn around and beyond their immediate environs. These were not the homes of the rich. These were the homes of the wealthy, families so rich they would have had to diligently work their entire lives to fritter away all the money they possessed.

  After a few minutes of Gavi arguing and Mazik getting increasingly annoyed, Shava marched forward to talk to the guards. While they were dealing with that, Raedren glanced at Uard. He had an urge to reach for her hand, to hold it, to feel her warmth—but he quelled it. It was too soon for that. He cursed his overly romantic self.

  While Shava may not have been Raedren’s type, Uard certainly was. A soft-spoken woman with delicate cheekbones and a tiny nose, her porcelain white skin was accented by her long, midnight black hair. From beneath her hair peeked her pointy ears—she had a habit of tucking escaped strands behind her right ear, which Raedren found adorable. She wore robes of soft pastels, most often greens, blues, yellows, and pale peach, and she was kind, considerate, and a good listener.

  Uard smiled up at him. She also had a dazzling smile that gave Raedren’s stomach the butterflies every time. He silently panicked and tried to quell them now.

  By then, Mazik, Gavi, and Shava had finished talking to the guards. One of them stepped out of the hut, and the gates slowly cranked opened. Raedren nodded at the three men as they passed, thanking them for allowing them to pass. Uard did the same.

  Gavi led the group to the right. It took several minutes to pass just the first house. The road curved to their left, hugging the crown of the hill, and opened up to several other houses along their left side. Raedren admired each one as they passed, though Gavi had her head down as she compared each house number to the one written on the slip of paper Shava had handed her.

  “It’s this one,” said Gavi, pointing to the fourth house they had reached. Like the others, it was a legitimate mansion. The tall white columns that surrounded its front door extended through the second and up to the third-floor balcony. Large windows reflected what late afternoon light was filtering through the tall trees on the opposite side of the road. Even from here they could tell that the interior was replete with velvets, fine china, expensive vases—anyth
ing and everything that could be used to signal just how rich the people who lived here were.

  It reminded Raedren of the Tyrant’s Palace back in Houk, though only as a contrast. I guess someone as powerful as her doesn’t need to prove how wealthy or influential she is, he thought, remembering the feisty old lady who had given him the heavy necklace that hung from his neck. He reached up and fiddled with it. It was a smooth gold disk with a hole in the center and delicate carvings around the edges, though the etching was so fine it barely registered to the touch.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this,” Uard whispered to him as they followed the others toward the front door. “I usually work with the same few quest givers, or use the board back at the guild hall. This is exciting!”

  “It is.” Raedren felt his heart speed up. Just ask her! He knew that Uard didn’t travel often, but if their relationship was to go anywhere, he needed to know whether she was open to traveling more—specifically, with him—otherwise he just didn’t see how they could get to know each other well enough in the time they had left. Saffir was back to the north, whereas he, Mazik, and Gavi would be continuing south after this quest.

  Raedren tried to force himself to open his mouth and ask, but nothing happened. Anxiety strangled the words in his throat. He silently berated himself for hesitating. He hadn’t known Uard long enough to attempt a long-distance relationship, like Mazik had with Kalenia; he couldn’t imagine being reduced to only speaking by telephonathy with a woman he had only known for a few weeks. He needed to ask, he needed to know, he needed to—

  “Good afternoon. How may I help you?”

  Raedren startled. They were at the front door. A butler stood in the doorway, his eyes narrowed.

  Shava stepped up. “Yes, we’re here for …”

  Silently cursing his shyness, Raedren followed the others inside.

  *

  The six adventurers were ushered into a small office in the corner of the southern wing. Gavi, by virtue of being the one who figured out how to get to the mansion in the first place, was still in the lead. Once they were all inside, the silver-haired butler bowed and excused himself.