“What about the half-elf?” Edge asked, gesturing at the magically bound woman who was squirming on the ground and grunting angrily, her eyes focused on the orcs.
The three orcs shrugged. “Don’t really know her. She was there when Ghazard brought us to this place. He said she was a good swordsman, but all she’s done is whine about her dead sister.”
“We felt bad for her at first since her sister just died,” Chester added. “But then she just got annoying.”
“Why did you guys kill her sister anyway?” Delvin asked.
“She attacked us out of nowhere. We had no choice,” said Edge. “When Ghazardblast gave you the job, what did he tell you to do?”
“He told us to wait in the trees and attack once he signaled,” Evastus said. He and his brothers gave Edge an embarrassed grimace. “But then they decided to use that freeze spell and that’s not our usual kind of job. We don’t like to kill someone that can’t fight back. I told Ghazard that and he said we only had to kill you if you broke free of the spell.”
Edge noted the way that the other two orcs moved when Evastus talked, their expressions matching his as he spoke. He was growing more certain about his theory with every passing moment. “Did he say anything else about his plans?”
“Naw. Ghazard’s the kind of boss that only tells you what you need to know. He was pretty nervous about this job, though. Said he’d been given very little time to prepare,” Evastus said. He frowned. “Have I told you enough? Can you heal up my brother now and let us on our way?”
“One last question,” Edge said. “When we let you leave, where will you go?”
Evastus blinked. “Huh.” He scratched his head and looked at his brothers who just shrugged back at him. “That depends. Where are we? Ghazard brought us here through a portal thingy.”
“Razbeck,” said Lenny. “Just northwest of Filgren.”
“Razbeck? Ughhh,” groaned the three brothers in unison.
“That’s a long ways from Khalpany,” said Chester.
Delvin pouted along with him. “Very far.”
Evastus sighed. “Can’t believe he’d bring us all the way out here and leave us behind.”
“So what will you do?” Edge pressed.
“Walk home, I guess,” said Chester.
“Long walk,” all three said.
“Maybe we’ll find a merchant heading to Khalpany and hire on with him, make some money on the way,” Evastus said, rubbing his chin.
“I guess,” said the other two.
Fist send Edge a thought through the bond. What if we were to hire them to join us on our journey?
I’ve been considering the idea, Edge said. But there is much we don’t know about them.
“Ooh! No!” said Rufus, who was listening through Fist’s side of the bond. The rogue horse was fully healed, but memory of the beating was still fresh in his mind.
I do not like it either, hissed Deathclaw. I doubt they could be trusted.
They could slow us down, said Squirrel, who had suddenly appeared on Fist’s shoulder. They don’t have horses. Also, two of them are already dead.
Something isn’t right with them, I agree with that, said Edge. But if they’re loose roaming the countryside, they might hurt someone. At least if they’re with us, they aren’t a threat to anyone else.
Edge realized that Lenny was frowning at him suspiciously. The dwarf couldn’t hear their mental discussion, but the tenuous new bond he had with Edge let him feel the emotions behind it. Edge was certain he would have plenty of opinions if he decided to go through with his plan.
We should just kill them, said Deathclaw. Then they will be a threat to no one.
I’ll do it, Squirrel offered.
We can’t do that now. Not while we’re having a peaceful conversation, he told them. Besides, killing them won’t be an easy task. The protections tattooed on their skin is like armor. I had to hit a precise spot in order for Peace’s blade to sink in.
The three orcs had their heads cocked and were watching the party’s silent conversation. “Uh, hello?” asked Delvin. “You gonna heal me now?”
I’ll feel it out before I make a decision, Edge promised and focused his attention back on the orcs. “Yes. Go ahead, Fist.”
As the ogre approached the wounded orc, Delvin pulled the sword out of his chest and held it out to Edge. The sword left his flesh with a soft sucking sound and blood spurted from the wound. Edge took Peace from him and wiped the blade before sheathing it on his back.
Fist held out his hand over the orc’s wound and began pouring magic into him. He started on the major arteries that Edge had severed, and the bleeding slowed right away. Edge, I think you and Squirrel may be right about these orcs. This body is technically alive, but it’s overly stable and the whole thing’s coursing with magic. It reminds me of the soulless bodies the wizards had us practice healing on at the Mage School.
Edge remembered those healing lessons from his time as a student. He hadn’t been able to use his magic to heal back then but it had been a fascinating and unsettling experience being brought to a room full of mindless living corpses. It was looking more and more like his hypothesis about the orc brothers was right.
While the ogre finished up, Edge stepped closer to Evastus. “I have a proposition for you.”
“Oh?” Evastus asked, his eyebrows raised.
Edge stepped closer and put his left hand on Evastus’ arm. “What if we were to hire you to guard us on our journey?”
All three orcs stared down at him in surprise. “You would hire us after we had been hired to attack you?”
“What the hell’re you thinkin?” Lenny whispered loudly.
“It depends on a few factors,” Edge said, ignoring the dwarf. “First, if we were to hire you, what would you do if Ghazardblast returned and ordered you to turn against us?”
Keeping his naming rune pressed against the orc’s arm, Edge reached through the bond and pulled Peace’s magic into the rune. He didn’t allow it to pull away Evastus’ emotions, but instead used the sword’s magic to listen to his emotions. Touching him with the rune didn’t let him see the orc’s thoughts like it would if he stabbed them with the sword, but in many ways this was preferable. He could still tell if someone was lying or not and this method didn’t leave him vulnerable to spiritual attack.
Immediately he learned that, unlike Delvin’s body, Evastus’ was as full of thoughts and feelings as anyone else. They were very busy feelings, but the orc was sincere as he replied.
“We’re professionals,” Evastus said, taking slight offence to the idea that he might double cross a client. “If you were to hire us, we would continue to protect you until the contract was over.”
“And the fact that yer friends with this Guzzleblast won’t change that?” pressed Lenny.
“No,” the three orcs said.
“But his name’s Guzzardblast,” Evastus said, then blinked. “I mean, Ghazardblast.”
“And he’s not our friend. He abandoned us,” said Chester. “So we ain’t very fond of him at the moment.”
“That’s right. He broke our contract,” added Delvin just as Fist finished his healing and stepped back. The orc felt at his chest and the faint new scar where the wound had been. “Thank you, ogre. You heal good.”
Edge could feel the truthfulness of Evastus’ statements. The brothers did seem to have a code of honor about this sort of thing. He let his hand drop from the orc’s arm. “Alright, second question. How much?”
“How long would you be hiring us for?” Evastus asked. “Are we talking days?”
“We have a long journey ahead of us. It could be months,” he said. “And it’s possible that your wizard friend will attack us again on the way.”
The three orcs looked at each other, or more accurately, they pretended to look at each other while Evastus gave it some thought. “Five hundred gold,” he said.
“Five hundred!” Lenny exclaimed. “That’s a garl-friggin’ ou
trage!”
Edge was just as staggered by the price. He was expecting something more along the lines of Academy rates. This was triple what graduates would be paid for this kind of work. He and Jhonate had saved up a tidy sum over the years, but paying that would just about drain them.
“That’s for two months,” said Chester, folding his arms.
“One hundred each additional month,” added Delvin. “And that includes our food and any healing we need.”
“We’ll fight for you, even against Ghazard,” said Evastus.
“Screw ’em!” Lenny scoffed. “I’d make a full suit of indestructible plate armor for that kind of gold. And I hate makin’ plate armor!”
All three orcs had their arms folded now. “That’s our rate,” they said firmly.
“Let me discuss this with my tribe,” Edge said and grasped the dwarf’s arm. He pulled Lenny to the side and Deathclaw and Fist moved closer to him. “I have the money. Barely.”
Lenny knew Edge’s situation well enough to understand just how big of a sacrifice this would be. “Yer gonna waste years of savin’s on these three wagon-pullers?” the dwarf whispered loudly.
“Your friend vouched for them,” Edge reminded the dwarf. “Does the price seem right for mercenaries of their caliber?”
The dwarf scowled. “If you was a prince hirin’ bodyguards maybe.”
“I’ll pitch in,” said Fist. The ogre had saved up more money than Edge had, actually. He and Maryanne were paid handsomely for their work.
“No!” said Rufus.
You’d give away our horde for one orc and two dead orcs? said Squirrel.
He’s got a point, Fist, Edge replied through the bond. I’m being stupid for considering it. You don’t have to join me.
I want to help, Fist replied, then said aloud. “By hiring them, we make sure they can’t be used against us later on.” The ogre smiled. “I doubt that wizard will be happy that we turned his own fighters against him.”
“Exactly,” Edge said. “Besides, this is only the start of a long journey and I have a feeling that it will only get more dangerous from here.”
“They will slow us down,” Deathclaw said.
“I don’t think so,” Edge said. “You didn’t see how fast they moved when we fought. I don’t think they will make us any slower than we already are while you’re tracking.”
The raptoid hissed. I still do not like this.
“Dag-blast it,” Lenny swore. “Look here. Sounds like yer set on doin’ this. Just don’t accept their first offer. Mercenaries expect their clients to haggle. Let me talk with ’em and get us the best deal.”
Edge nodded and the dwarf stomped over to stand in front of the trio. The three warwielders towered over his five-foot frame, but Lenny placed his hands on his hips and rebuked them like a father lecturing unreasonable children.
“Yer prices’re dag-blamed ridiculous. We’ll pay 300 for the first two months, fifty fer each month after, and you have to help hunt and do chores along the way!” he barked.
The three orcs blinked. “Our rates are standard.”
“Bull-puckey!” Lenny said. “We both know that there’s no such thing as standard rates fer mercenary work! ’Sides, you owe Edge a discount. You attacked us and beat up our rogue horse and he didn’t like that much.”
Rufus bared his teeth at them and reared up on his back legs as he cracked his huge knuckles menacingly. The effect was somewhat reduced by the words he said along with the gesture. “Yeah! Ow!”
The orcs didn’t look cowed at all, but Delvin and Chester leaned in to whisper something in Evastus’ ear. He grunted. “Fine. A small discount: 450 for the first two months, 100 for each month after.”
Lenny let out a rough laugh. “Are yer ears clogged, you big dag-gum lump-heads? 350 and 55!”
The process went on for several long minutes until they reached a cost of 410 for the first two months and 75 for each additional month. Evastus looked positively angered by the amount at this point and Lenny threw up his hands in frustration. He swung around and gave Edge a wink.
“It’s up to you, Son. These orcs won’t see reason!”
Edge approached them and held out his left hand once more. “I think we’ve reached a fair sum. What do you say, Bash Brothers? Do we have a deal?”
Evastus hesitated, but engulfed the man’s hand in his. “We’ll work for you, but you can’t tell anybody about the price break.”
“You’ll fight for us no matter who we’re up against?” Edge asked.
“We’ll fight anything that’s threatening you,” Evastus revised. “As long as you don’t betray us.”
“I can agree to those terms,” Edge said.
“Deal,” they said in unison.
With the power of Peace coursing through the naming rune on his hand, he knew that their promise was sincere. “Then welcome to our party.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sir Edge - Interrogation
Sir Edge stepped away from the three orc warwielders and approached the half-elf assassin. Though her arms and legs had been bound with Fist’s air magic she had managed to squirm off of the road and into the trees. He could hear her grunting and forcing her way through leaflitter and underbrush.
She heard his approach and redoubled her efforts to get away. Just as he neared her, she wormed her way over the edge of a trench in the forest floor. She slid into the trench face first and lurched to a stop in a tangle of briars.
Is she getting away from you? Deathclaw asked. Do you need my help to retrieve her?
Edge smiled wryly as he watched the assassin’s legs sticking up out of the briars, her feet kicking weakly. The intermeshed tangle of dry briar bushes must have been uprooted and washed into the trench during a rain storm earlier in the season. He crouched at the edge of the trench and grasped her feet in his hands.
With the enhanced strength given him by his bond with Fist, Edge stood and yanked the half-elf out of the briars. He swung her over his shoulders and let her dangle behind him as he walked back out to the road. One of the smaller briar bushes came up with her and was tangled in the hood of her cloak. The assassin struggled against the magical bindings, grunting in rageful protest.
“She’s determined. I can’t deny her that,” he said and dropped her in the dirt amongst his friends.
The bald half-elf woman was covered in dirt and leaves and her face and scalp were crisscrossed with tiny cuts from the brambles. She squinted up at them through eyes that were dazed. She must have struck a rock when landing at the bottom of the trench because a purplish knot was swelling on her forehead.
Edge looked her over carefully to see what he could glean from her appearance. Her black leather armor was well-made but nonmagical. She wasn’t wearing gloves and a quick glance with spirit sight told him that she didn’t have a black rune on her hand like the archer.
“Black rune or not, she is skilled,” Deathclaw told him.
Edge called over to the orc warwielders he had hired. “Evastus, what can you tell me about this assassin?”
The three huge orcs joined the rest of the party in peering down at her. “We don’t know her very well,” they said in unison.
“Just met her today. But the dwarf called her, Felyan,” said Delvin, his multiple facial piercings glinting in the afternoon light.
Evastus grunted. “She and Vern were together when Ghazard brought us and Belfae through his brick portal.”
“Oh!” added Chester, who was scratching his bald head. “And she hates all of you for killing her sister.”
Felyan blinked in surprise at their betrayal and fixed a glare on the orcs.
Lenny frowned down at her. “Fist, can you plug her ears?”
“I can.” The ogre sent magic into the earth beneath her head and tendrils of mud rose up and forced their way into her ear canals.
“So what do we do with her?” the dwarf asked.
“First we need to talk to her,” Edge replied. “She could be
able to tell us more about what we’re up against.”
“Oh yeah? Why the hell would she talk to us?” Lenny asked. “You gonna risk stabbin’ her with Peace?”
The dwarf knew well that there was a danger in using Edge’s sword to probe an enemy’s mind. The more he focused on accessing their memories, the more his mind was vulnerable to intrusion. Edge had ways to protect himself, but he knew nothing about this assassin. If she was skilled in mental warfare, she could find a way past his defenses. But that wasn’t the sole reason he didn’t want to try it.
Invading the mind of any unwilling person was something he tried to avoid if there was any way around it. The experience was intimate in a way that no one could understand if they hadn’t been through it themselves. Not only would the experience be traumatic to the person his mind violated, the memories he plumbed from them would be a part of him forever.
“I have another way,” Edge decided. He crouched next to the half-elf. “Fist, I’m ready to talk to her now.”
With a gesture, the ogre withdrew the mud from Felyan’s ears and the air gag in her mouth dissipated. The moment that her mouth was freed she tried to spit at Edge, but her mouth was too dry. So she settled on yelling at the three warwielders that were peering down at her.
“You filth!” Her voice was filled with venom. “You broke our contract!”
The three of them frowned back at her. “The Bash Brother’s never break contracts!”
“Bull-puckey!” she shouted back at them.
“Our contract was with Ghaster, not you,” Evastus said. “The wizard broke his end of the deal, so we’re working for these guys now.”
“I like them better than him already,” added Delvin.
Edge reached out with his left hand and clutched her arm. The moment that the rune on his palm touched her, he let the power of his sword suck away all of her physical discomfort and emotion. As the sword did so, he mined those emotions for information. Her feelings were overwhelmingly fear and rage, but they were intermingled with sorrow. All tension left her features.
Sir Edge Page 21
