As the first one reached her, she swung her hammer, knocking him to the ground before he even knew what happened. That only enraged his friend, but before he could attack, Tianna jumped on his back, her blade to his throat. “You can either drop your sword, or I can cut your throat, your choice.”
He dropped his sword and dropped to his knees.
“Good, I knew some of you could be reasonable. I do hate killing unless I am provoked.” She made quick time typing his hands, before dragging him to his feet. “Grab his friend. We need to get them out of sight.”
Kara complied by picking the unconscious guard up with ease. They took the men to the alley where they had hidden before, tying their hands and legs and gagging them. “There that should keep these two out of the way.”
Tianna went over and hit the other man with a quick chop to the neck, rendering him unconscious as well. “Just to be safe.”
“Good thinking.” Kara replied.
“Right, now let’s go inside the warehouse. Try to be as quiet as you can,” Tianna said as she sprinted across the open space once more, opened the door and peered inside. She had already ascertained that the coast was clear when Kara caught up to her. Quickly and quietly, they entered the building, heading towards the side that they suspected was actually used as a warehouse from Ara’s information. They hoped to catch the two inside guards there, away from the others.
They made their way into the warehouse, hiding amongst some crates while they waited for those on patrol to pass by. While waiting, Tianna found a box full of weapons, grabbing a few and handing some more to Kara, they were now very well armed for their mission. After a few more minutes, loud footsteps alerted them to the guards coming. Sinking into the shadows, they waited for an opportune time to pounce.
The two men on patrol did not seem to be paying much attention, instead they were talking about ale and women. That made them super easy to dispatch. Tianna snuck up on one, chocking the air out of him until he passed out, while Kara went for the more traditional approach of hitting her man over the head and knocking him unconscious. After securing the guards and hiding them from view, they continued on their way.
“That was easy. Now, let’s fine the Alenon before our luck runs out,” Kara said.
They encountered no one else as they searched from room to room until they came to what looked to be planning room with a large table in the middle of the space. Two men were in there, one snoring and the other absentmindedly staring at a ledger. Slipping the door back shut silently, Tianna decided to jam the door to keep the men occupied should they try to leave. “That only leaves one person.”
Kara nodded. “Alenon.”
Light came from a door at the back of the warehouse. Not even bothering with subtly, Tianna kicked the door open, startling an older man sitting behind a desk. “What is the meaning of this?” he blustered before stopping upon spotting an elf and a warrior woman with a war hammer. “So, it’s you. I have been expecting to see you two sooner or later. I must say this was not how I assumed we would meet. Where are my guards? You should not have made it to my office without an announcement of your presence.”
“Incapacitated,” Tianna said. “You don’t hire the best and brightest. Now we have some questions for you.” She moved forward, watching for any flinch from the man before her. Kara stood at the door, keeping an eye out should any other Black Jackets decide to come back to headquarters. They would not be caught unawares.
“Oh, I know why you are here. You have been asking questions about that other she-elf, Phinelope. You want to ask me why I killed her, don’t you? Are you here to avenge the death of one of your own? How touching.”
“Yes, I want to know what you so easily dispatched a good elf and avenge her. Among other things, like what does Delmar have to do with all of this?”
Alenon scoffed. “Delmar. You really should be threatening him. He is as much to blame for the elf’s death as I am, even though I will freely admit that I ordered the hit on her. She put her nose in places it didn’t belong. She called attention to things best left unnoticed. I run the Swamp, and I decide what goes on here. She became too much of a liability, so I had her taken care of. Nothing personal, just protecting the interests of my business.” He leaned back, crossing his arms and placed his feet on the desk as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Now Delmar, he is the one who slept with her and got her to do his dangerous dirty work while he kept his hands clean. He knew she would have a target on her back, but he sent her here anyways. She would have been much safer in his big house on the other side of the wall. He used her so he didn’t have to get his risk his own neck. If you ask me, he is the real villain in all of this.”
Tianna had been listening intently while Alenon spoke, mulling over all he said in her mind. Still, she always paid attention to her surroundings, so she was more than ready when Alenon grabbed a sword from under his desk and leapt towards her. She spun, and he went sliding past her, right towards Kara who was ready to swing her hammer at him. This time Alenon did the spinning, but he was human and not nearly fast enough to mount another attack on Tianna while dodging Kara himself. She had already pulled her bow and had an arrow notched and pointed right at his throat. He took one step towards her, and she let it fly, ending Alenon where he stood for she could hear others in the building now. They didn’t have more time to question him, and Tianna couldn’t let someone like this man live and ruin more lives.
“Well, I guess we got some level of justice for Phinelope,” Kara said from the doorway.
“Yes, but now what? We still have more questions about Delmar. Alenon may have been a murderous bastard, but what he said about Delmar rang true. Plus, what do we do about the rest of the Black Jackets? We cut off their head yes, but a new head will pop up to take Alenon’s place. They will continue to rule the Swamp with force and fear.”
“First, we need to get out of here before we have to fight our way out. Then we figure out our next move. We alone cannot take care of all of the Black Jackets by ourselves. They are part of a systemic problem her in Port Stone. Phinelope had the right idea of getting the city council involved, but it seems she did not get enough support. As to Delmar, I am not sure what we can do about him. Here in the Swamp, we can deal out justice as we see fit. We would be arrested for doing the same thing on the other side of the wall, especially to someone so high profile. Plus, we have no real evidence of his wrong doing,” Kara reasoned.
“You’re right. Sure, he has been buying up property here, but he could have been trying to help Phinelope. Just as it could have been her choice to live on this side of the wall. There are too many unknowns about their relationship. All I know is that I don’t trust the man.”
“Same here.”
With that, they began to sneak out of Alenon’s former office. They still had Black Jackets to deal with and so much more.
Chapter Six
The Aftermath
Before leaving the warehouse, Tianna and Kara tried to grab as many papers from Alenon’s office as they could. They wanted evidence to hand over to the sheriff of Port Stone, evidence of the criminal operation taking over the Swamp. Of course they didn’t expect much to happen. The law seemed to have forgotten the Swamp.
The new arrivals of guards could be heard in the warehouse, releasing their tied up colleagues and shouting about intruders. Their time was up. Tianna and Kara dodged Black Jackets to make their escape before they discovered Alenon’s body. They had avenged Phinelope’s death, but they knew they had not really made much of a difference.
The organization would regroup from the death of their leader. A new leader would assume command and probably start searching for Kara and Tianna sooner rather than later. Let them come. Neither woman was scared, though both planned to go through the wall once it opened again. They had done a small service to the world, but Tianna knew that there was still much left for them to do, even if they didn’t know exactly what that was at the mome
nt.
Tianna picked up Ara from outside, “Come on, little one. How would you like to get out of the Swamp and see more of the world?”
“Ara will go with you anywhere,” her familiar answered.
“Good. For starters, we will be staying in the other part of Port Stone, though one day soon, we will go home, I hope. I think you will like my home in the forest.” She turned to Kara, “Maybe you can come and visit as well.”
Kara smiled. “I would like that. Though for now, I will await word from superiors in my order. I feel that our mission here is not complete.”
“I fear that you are right. I, too, will be staying in Port Stone until I hear from Shea. There are many things that we do not know, questions we have yet to answer. We were originally sent here to help Phinelope with something, not to solve her murder. We have not done what we came here for yet.” Tianna sighed. She already grew weary of the city and missed the quiet of her forest. Still, she would not leave until she completed her mission for Shea. She owed the other woman too much to ever let her down.
****
With the gates in the wall still closed, Tianna and Kara had to sneak back into Port Stone proper. With the warehouse currently not a threat, they were able to cross the river and back track around the city, something that Kara seemed to prefer over scaling the wall. They had made it back into the city as first light broke. People on this side of the wall still stared at the unique duo, but both admitted that they felt safer here.
Not knowing what else to do, they posted their letters to their respective orders and then headed to speak with Delmar once again. He did owe them money, money that they would need if they were to secure lodging in Port Stone for the foreseeable future. As soon as his store opened, they went in and were shown directly to his office.
“Back so soon ladies!” He smiled at them.
“Alenon is dead. We found evidence of some of his wrongdoing and left an anonymous tip with the sheriff showing the proof of what the Black Jackets are, though we suspect nothing will come of it, especially not with the wall shut and people on this side pretending that the Swamp does not exist. Alenon admitted to ordering the hit on Phinelope, though I might add that he placed a lot of blame at your feet as well,” Tianna answered.
Delmar sighed. “Yes, I suspect he would. He considers it a sin for anyone to love me or for me to love them. Alenon has never been a fan of mine, though his distaste for me goes way beyond the normal sibling rivalry.”
“Sibling rivalry? You aren’t saying that Alenon was your brother?” Kara exclaimed.
“My half-brother. We never lived together or had much to do with each other, but once when we were younger, I reached out to him. Let’s say that things did not go well. He never forgave our father for leaving his mother, I think. We took vastly different paths in our lives, even changing the side of the wall we each resided on. But he was still blood of my blood, and that is why I could not avenge Phinelope myself.”
“Why didn’t you tell us all of this before?” Tianna demanded.
“Truthfully? I feared you wouldn’t go after him if I told you he was my brother.”
“There is still even more to this story,” Tianna stated.
“There is always more to any story, and I feel that you two are just at the beginning of yours. I am hoping that you both will agree to help me pick up where Phinelope and I left off, that you will agree to help the people of the Swamp have a chance at a better life. It won’t be easy work, but the elders in your orders tell me that you two are the brightest and strongest women that they know. Now, it is time for your real work to begin.”
“What if we don’t want to be part of whatever is going on here?” Kara asked.
“Oh I think that you both are already very invested on what is going on here, not to mention I’ve been told neither one of you would ever go against your Orders. The three of us will be getting to know each other quiet well,” Delmar said with a smile.
Tianna didn’t like the feeling she got from these words, but she knew that she would stay. For as he said, she would never disobey Shea or her Order.
They were all she had.
Author Biography
Sheri Velarde, lives in New Mexico with her spouse and their dog.
Being an avid reader since an early age, she has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She has been writing all her life, but only recently started to actually try to pursue her dream of writing for a living. She specializes in all things paranormal and that go bump in the night. Her heart truly lies in exploring unknown worlds or adding the supernatural to our world. If it goes bump in the night or has magical connotations, Sheri writes about it. She is currently writing more fantasy and horror in addition to romance.
She is constantly putting out new material with various publishers, so it is best to keep up with her on her website or on her social media links below.
In her spare time Sheri is an artist, independent comic writer/artist and freelance non-fiction writer. She and her spouse are avid gamers and can often be found playing board games or a session of Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, she is a nerd and proud of it.
Links:
Website/Blog: https://authorsherivelarde.weebly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSheriVelarde/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sher_V
Port Stone: Dangers of the Swamp (Port Stone Fantasy Book 1) Page 5
