Freelance Heroics (Firesign Book 2)

by Stephen W. Gee

  “I have a message from Mazik,” said Gavi, right next to Raedren’s ear. He jumped. He found Gavi crouched next to his chair. She leaned around Raedren to speak to Uard. “Do you mind if I borrow him for a minute?”

  “Of course.”

  She turned to Hectre. “Can you two switch seats for a minute?”

  “Of course, of course.” Hectre rose and Raedren slid over. Gavi beckoned him into a huddle.

  “Here’s the message,” said Gavi. “Mazik says, and I quote: ‘Stop being such a wuss, you scaredy-cat, who is also a wuss.’” Gavi smiled wryly. “I think he’s telling you to get it over with and ask her.”

  “That’s exactly what I was saying,” whispered Mazik. Raedren and Gavi looked up, and found him peering over Gavi’s shoulder.

  “If you were just going to join the conversation, why was I relaying your message?”

  “Because I thought it would have more impact if—”

  Gavi clamped her hand over Mazik’s mouth and pushed him away. “Either way, you should ask her. It’s not like you’re asking anything rude. Or if you’d prefer, I can do it for you. I don’t mind.”

  “No, that’s okay,” said Raedren quickly. “I’ll do it myself.”

  Mazik pried Gavi’s hand away from his mouth. “Chop chop. We only joined them for this ‘easy’ quest so you’d have more time with her, and since they were going the same direction anyway. Please don’t squander our pain.”

  “Gods forbid. I understand.”

  Raedren glanced over at Uard, who was chatting with Hectre. He just needed to ask her, to find out whether he would have more time to get to know her. Knowing would be better than not knowing. He understood that. He just needed to ask, even if it brought an end to his current happiness.

  Raedren swallowed.

  He leaned around Hectre and waved at Uard. She tilted her head to the side. “Yes?”

  “Er, um. Would you …” Suddenly, Raedren shot to his feet. “I’m going to get another drink. Would you like anything?”

  He could hear Gavi and Mazik groan. He ignored them.

  Uard placed a hand over the mouth of her mug. “No, thank you. I’m fine.”

  “Right.” Raedren drained his beer. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Wuss,” hissed Mazik. Raedren ignored him and headed for the bar. Before he got out of range, he heard Mazik behind him. “Okay, sorry about that. As I was saying, I have a plan. Here’s what I’m thinking …”

  *

  “Turns out, my plan was not a good one,” said Mazik.

  “You think?” Gavi grabbed his shoulders, trying to pull him up. Her feet slipped, and she landed on her butt. “Come on. Use your legs.”

  Mazik looked down into the pit he was dangling in. His feet were millimeters away from the sharpened stakes below, and the sides of the pit had been greased. “Can we start fighting back now? Ignoring these kids is not working. They’re mean.”

  “No, we cannot. Now use your legs, dammit!” Gavi grit her teeth and pulled.

  It was the following day, and the six adventurers were back in the mines. Mazik’s plan was simple: bring water and shields. If they couldn’t use lethal force against the New Lyfe Gang, they would have to weather their attacks until they found Ungerr. For this purpose, they had acquired three large shields, which Shava, Gavi, and Hectre had carried. The water was for putting out fires.

  Now, Mazik was clinging to the side of a pit by his armpits. As it turned out, fire was not in the New Lyfe Gang’s battle plans for today. That was small relief for Mazik as he clutched the only ungreased rock within reach. Ahead was another barricade, this one a clanking monstrosity of metal weaponry fastened to a rickety chassis, and similarly covered in grease. Arrows and rocks filled the air from yet more murder holes, while archers overhead rained crude arrows onto them.

  The room they were in was the largest they had found so far. It was an L-shaped chamber, tall enough not only for them to stand upright, but to also have several ledges along the right and back walls which were higher than even Raedren could reach. It was on these ledges where the tiny archers had crouched, firing their tiny bows. Now the archers—who couldn’t have been more than eleven years old each, Mazik guessed—were scampering down to the other side of the barricade. The murder holes drilled into every wall continued spewing projectiles.

  “Come on, help me here,” said Gavi. Her pointed shield lay next to her, green barriers protecting her as she pulled at Mazik’s shoulders. Further ahead, Mazik could see a kneeling Raedren, his legs covered in the grease that was on everything. He was supporting a dazed Uard, his repeated shouts of “Horvér!” vouching for how busy he was.

  Further still, Mazik could see Shava and Hectre, facing off against some of the kids from the previous day. These larger kids were pushing the clanking barricade forward with long pike shafts, while smaller kids grabbed the greased pikes and swords fixed to it, waggling and thrusting them at the adventurers. Shava kneeled in their way, her tall kite shield digging into the stone floor as she held the contraption at bay. Hectre stood next to her, his new, larger shield dropped in favor of his buckler and short club. Punctured water bags lay everywhere, mixing with the grease to make the red stone Mazik was clinging to even more slippery.

  Mazik took a deep breath and willed more strength into his rattled muscles. Below him, sharpened sticks had been embedded at the bottom of the pit. The trap had been disguised with a rust-colored animal skin covered in gravel, which gave way when he stepped on it. He was just glad he had reacted quickly, with a burst of alteration that threw him against the side of the pit. He didn’t know if his weight was enough to make the sharpened wood pierce both his barriers and his boots, but he was glad he hadn’t needed to find out.

  Mazik grunted, and with Gavi’s help, he pulled himself up. He had dropped his new club at the bottom of the pit, but he left it there. He crawled away from the edge and sucked in several grateful breaths. “Phew. That was close. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Mazik watched as the last of the tiny archers fled down a small tunnel ahead and to their right. The larger kids stopped struggling with Shava over the barricade and retreated as well.

  “What now?” Hectre’s arm twitched, and a swirl of yellow-tinged winds swept around him, batting projectiles out of the air. He flicked his wrist, and more wind tore a pike off the barricade. It crashed against the wall sideways, eliciting high-pitched shrieks from those on the other side of the murder holes.

  “We go after them, of course.” Mazik leaned over the pit and, with a flick of his own wrist, tore the gravel-covered animal skin off the spikes. Taking it in both hands, he carefully stomped over to the barricade and draped it over the grease-smeared monstrosity. Now that he could touch it without slipping and cutting himself, he shoved it out of the way.

  “Can we even fit in there?” Hectre craned his neck, peering down the tunnel into which the children had fled.

  “Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Shava.

  “I’ll make sure we do, even if I have to widen the damn thing myself.” Mazik growled and stalked over to the opening.

  “See anything?” asked Gavi as she came to stand beside him. Shava was right behind.

  “No. It’s too damn dark.” Mazik ducked into the tunnel, examining the walls. The other two followed, doing likewise. “Hold on. Let me get some light in—”

  There was the patter of falling rocks behind them, and then a metal door slammed shut. Mazik whirled, blue light in his hand. “It was hidden in the ceiling again,” he said, recognizing the scratches on the upper half of the door, and the spot of light that was leaking out from beneath. “But I just checked there. What the hell?”

  “So did I. It must have been hidden.” Gavi nudged some loose rocks with her boot. They weren’t there when they had passed that spot. That meant they were trapped, cut off from the rest of their team.

  Shava was examining the walls, more closely this time. “I don’t see a
ny holes this time.”

  There was a rumble ahead. Mazik, Gavi, and Shava spun to face it. The two women stepped to the fore, both of them digging their shields into the ground and stabilizing themselves. Mazik remained standing, both hands raised, a blue barrier filling in the gap between their shields. The commotion grew louder.

  “Oh, godsdammit!” said Mazik as a brown bear, of all things, rounded the corner. It roared as a spherical wooden cage crashed into Shava’s shield and split apart, spilling raw steak into her lap.

  Daggers appeared in Mazik’s hands, and his lips curled in a delighted snarl. “Finally! I get to kill something.”

  *

  The following day, they went in even more heavily armed. Everyone had shields, and they were all carrying heavy blankets to put out fires or cover grease. They still had water, too—or rather, Raedren did. He carried it for all of them, in a metal barrel as big around as two of him put together, which they had pounded inward on one side to make it somewhat fit the contours of his back. Gavi, who still walked behind him when they were single file, helped him carry it when the tunnels were too short for him to stand up, which was pretty much all the time.

  They were all wearing plate armor, too—on their chests, arms, and thighs. It was secondhand, excess they bought from the local smith, who sold it to them for cheap since they hadn’t needed it to be tempered against magickal attacks. The armor was sweltering, turning the formerly cool mines into something more akin to the summer air outside—but it would turn aside arrows, making it easier for their defensive magick to protect them. Mazik also had a new bearskin sash, which Gavi felt was a bit much, even if the meat they sold to the butcher and the skin they sold to the tanner had helped defray the cost of their new equipment.

  They had prepared extensively, and selected a new route based on the information they had collected so far. After so much work, Gavi would have been disappointed if they weren’t able to get farther than they had before. Fortunately, they had.

  She just wished it felt like a victory.

  “More incoming!” Gavi bellowed.

  “I got it.” Mazik spun around and planted his iron shield on the ground. Blue barriers rippled away from it in every direction, sealing the passage. He crouched and braced himself.

  The rumble grew closer—and then, from around the corner, a careening tsunami of burning rocks appeared and crashed into Mazik. He grunted as his barriers buckled, but held.

  There was a hollow clang on the ground behind Gavi. She turned and, as Raedren opened their arrow-proof water barrel, she reached in, snagged the bucket floating on top, and dragged it through the murky water. “Get back!”

  Mazik scuttled out of the way as Gavi slung water over the smoldering pile. Steam boiled upward, but nothing else happened. She did it two more times anyway. Once the rocks were thoroughly soaked, they backed away and watched.

  “No bomb in that one either?” asked Gavi.

  “Don’t know, don’t care.” Mazik stood up, though he kept his shield oriented toward the dripping rocks. “Either that, or you doused it. Clear!”

  “Move, move, move!” barked Shava. Arrows plinked off her armor from gang members ahead. The young archers scuttled out of sight, scattering down multiple pathways.

  The corridors the adventurers had found this time were a maze. Gavi suspected this was at least partially the point. The tunnels looked like they had been excavated recently, and there was plenty of ore left in the walls. If the New Lyfe Gang was mining efficiently, they would have widened the area and taken everything, but it looked like they had designed this area with ambushing in mind.

  But we have the defenses this time, Gavi thought as they tromped after the retreating kids. The six adventurers stubbornly stuck together. We can take it.

  They had been circling the area for at least thirty minutes now. At a familiar crossroads, they took the middle path this time—they had taken the right last time. They moved steadily, dutifully jamming a hidden floodgate as they passed.

  “Are you all right?” asked Hectre.

  “Huh?” said Gavi. That’s when she realized that she had overtaken Raedren and Uard—she had been too focused on where they were going, and trying to figure out which direction they should go next. “Oh. I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure? If you need to slow down, I’ll protect you.”

  “Huh?” Gavi snorted. “That’s not necessary. Besides, protecting is his job,” she said, jabbing a thumb at Raedren.

  Hectre chuckled. “Of course. But that’s not what I was talking about.” He pointed at her forehead. “You’re bleeding.”

  Gavi wiped her hand across her forehead. He was right—she had thought the moisture on her forehead was sweat, but it was blood. Once again, she wished she had been able to find a helmet that fit her. Her armor was bad enough—she was pretty sure it had been made for a man, what with how it pinched her in certain places. At least it was big enough so that she could still move and breathe, even if it was rubbing her neck raw.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Gavi glanced down a corridor as they passed. “I—whoa!”

  Hectre was already in motion, his body flying down the tunnel like his feet had wings. Ahead, two older boys—who looked as surprised to see the adventurers as they were to see them—raised their shields, but Hectre was too fast. He knocked one off balance with burst of force magick, and then lurched to the side, bringing him into the second gang member’s blindside. There was a clash of metal on metal as their shields collided, and then he grappled with the boy, tearing his weapon away with his free hand.

  “We have a few questions we’d like to ask you,” said Hectre, through clenched teeth.

  There was a rumble off to the side. The boy shoved at Hectre, shaking himself free—and then Hectre dove out of the way as a mining sled crashed into the wall where he had been standing a second prior. As the two children scuttled out of sight, yellow-tinged winds whirled around Hectre, knocking splinters away.

  Gavi gaped as she reached Hectre. She knelt to help him up. “That was impressive.” I need to learn how to do that, she added to herself as she checked Hectre for injuries.

  Hectre coughed at the ore dust that had filled the corridor. He smiled weakly. “Thank you. Kind words from a beautiful lady such as yourself mean the world to me.”

  Gavi snorted and helped him stand. As Shava walked over and began speaking to Hectre, Gavi could hear Raedren’s water barrel clang to the ground beside her. She reached for the bucket and doused the sled, just in case.

  Hectre coughed again, and pointed down the corridor the two gang members had fled down. “Good news. Doors up ahead. On the right side. Wooden.”

  Gavi peeked around the corner. Sure enough, she could see four doors before the tunnel curved out of sight. She strained her hearing. She could hear voices ahead, as well as footsteps in all the tunnels nearby.

  “Let’s see what’s inside,” said Shava. They all agreed.

  The six adventurers crept up to the first door. Inside was mining equipment, wheelbarrows half-full of iron ore in the middle, picks and hammers leaning against the walls. The next had barrels of water and wine, mostly empty, and a few similarly empty boxes of food and other provisions. The next one had a small pile of ore, and the fourth—

  Gavi held up a hand, opening her mouth to speak, but it was Uard who got there first, her voice barely a whisper. “The voices are coming from this one.”

  They crept up to the fourth door. The doorway was larger than the other three, and easier for an adult to fit through. Shava positioned herself off to the side. She nodded to Hectre. He nodded in reply. He counted down from three on his fingers, and then yanked the door open. Shava, Hectre, and Gavi rushed inside.

  Inside they found a child, a girl who looked about the size of an eight-year-old, though her features appeared older than that, marking her as at least partially halvelin. She carried no weapons, though she did have an empty quiver on her back, and she wore two bandanas, one acros
s her forehead and the other over her nose and mouth. She was standing over a cot, shaking the person lying—

  A thrill of realization went through Gavi. The person on the cot was an adult. She could only see the back of their head, but even under the thick blankets Gavi could tell that the sleeper was even taller than her. An adult for sure.

  “Did we just find our target?” asked Hectre.

  “Who the hell could sleep through all this?” asked Mazik.

  Gavi reached for the little girl. “Hey. We’re not going to hurt you. Just—oof!” Gavi staggered as a heavy weight hit her from behind. She stumbled further into the room, lost her balance, and sprawled out over the sleeping bandit. Behind her, she could hear the door slamming shut, and a lock sliding into place.

  “Not again!” Mazik turned to the little girl—and found her wiggling into a tiny escape hole underneath the cot. “Oh, no you don’t!” He lunged, trying to grab her legs, but the girl slipped away. A metal door slammed shut there as well, covering her escape.

  Gavi scrambled to pick herself off the sleeping bandit, reaching for her sword—and then switched to swearing once she realized what was going on. “Dammit, dammit, dammit!” She whipped the sheets away, revealing the bandit for what it was—rolled-up blankets wearing a pair of boots, with a head carved out of wood underneath a nice wig. “It’s a decoy.”

  “And Uard and your tall friend are still outside,” said Shava. Gavi looked around, and realized she was right—only she, Hectre, Shava, and Mazik were trapped this time.

  Mazik patted Hectre on the shoulder. “Well, at least you’re trapped in here with us this time. Happy to have you.”

  “Oh, yay,” said Hectre.

  Mazik snorted, then spun and pounded on the door. “Hey, Rae! Are you okay out there?”

  There was a pause, the sound of frantic combat, and then Raedren’s voice, strained and farther away than they would have expected. “Busy. Hurry up.”