Alex Bledsoe - Burn Me Deadly

“I love her,” he said with a nod to Nicky. “And it’s mutual.”

I chuckled. They had no idea how angry I was. “Nice. Where’s your gorilla Marion, anyway?”

Argoset blinked in surprise. “Marion? He has his own room. What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m not sure. I’m digging through this Lumina nonsense because it’s personal, but I’m also on retainer to find out why your boy killed Hank Pinster and burned down his stable.”

Argoset said nothing. I smacked him in the stomach again and said, “I know he did it.”

Argoset gasped at the pain. “You knew that man didn’t kill the moon priestess, too.”

He was quick; I had to give him that. “Touche. But I saw how Hank was murdered. There’s no one else within a week’s travel strong enough to do it that way.”

For a moment I thought I’d have to smack him again; then he blurted in defeat, “It was an accident. Really, I swear.”

“What happened?”

“Marion said he was going to ask around, see if anyone had seen Mr. Lesperitt. Usually the local blacksmith knows everyone, even the people who don’t live in town.”

“Why would you want to find me?” Lesperitt asked in a thin voice.

Argoset turned to him, one eye warily on me. “Because once Marantz killed your daughter, you were the only link to the eggs. Luckily, you came to us.” Then he sighed and shook his head. “I took Marion out of prison two years ago to basically stand behind me and provide the, ah

… scale I might lack. I’m not that intimidating, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. He went through military training, took his oath to the king, never gave me any indication he was capable of anything like that.”

“What was he in prison for?” I asked.

Argoset looked down. “He murdered a man over a woman. Killed him with his bare hands.”

My knuckles were white on my sword hilt. “No indication,” I repeated. “So when Hank told Marion he didn’t know this old man, your boy didn’t believe him.”

Argoset sighed. “No. He’s not… the brightest. He… well. You can imagine the rest.”

My sword’s blade began to tremble, making the light twinkle off it. “So a nice guy with a family died… and everything they had was destroyed… because your guy’s an idiot.” I glared at Nicky. “Is this okay with you, Princess? You approve of this sort of thing? Is this the new and improved Muscodia?”

Argoset looked at her, his head down. “It really was an accident,” he said.

She tried mightily to let nothing show, but I could tell she hadn’t known about this, and it genuinely appalled her. Maybe not as much as it did me, but I felt a little better knowing that she still had a functioning conscience.

I slapped Argoset with the sword again. Anger flashed in his eyes, and I really wanted him to make an issue of it. But he caught himself. “Where is Marion now?” I asked.

Argoset licked his lips and had to force the words out. “Following Miss Dumont,” he said, and flinched in anticipation of a blow.

I was too startled to hit him again. The thought of Liz at the mercy of the man who’d pitchforked Hank to the wall sent a chill of fury through me. “ That’s why you didn’t tell me this morning,” I said.

Argoset took a step back. “Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, Mr. LaCrosse. When I learned Mr. Lesperitt had told your wife the location before he told me, I sent Marion to secure the site. I didn’t want anyone else to die.”

I stepped toward him. “Or anyone to be held accountable for it. You were going to let people think that crazy guy from the woods killed Hank as well as Dr. Bennings. Your man gets off free as a bird.”

“I had to do what was necessary for the good of Muscodia,” he said, his eyes on my sword. He looked desperately at Nicky. “Veronica, you know me; you know-”

I jabbed at him. I didn’t run him through, just gave him a nice slash on his side. He winced and cried out.

“Eddie!” Nicky exclaimed.

I cut him on the other side. I began to feel incredibly calm.

“Eddie, please!” Nicky said.

I slashed him across his stomach. He was in the corner now, his arms wrapped protectively around his belly. I’d seen men do the same thing to hold in their own guts. Would Argoset actually have any if I really sliced him open?

Nicky grabbed my sword arm with both hands. They were small, but I felt real strength in them. “I know he deserves it, Eddie, but he’s my responsibility.”

I turned to her. She drew back from what she saw in my eyes. “So was Hank Pinster, Princess. And Laura Lesperitt.”

Argoset slid to the floor. The shallow cuts bled profusely and hurt more than if I’d sliced off a finger. He looked up at me in a mix of rage, pain and fear. I really enjoyed seeing that.

“If he dies, I’ll see you hanged, Mr. LaCrosse,” Nicky said in her best regal voice.

That got my attention. I turned to look at her. She was still afraid, but did not back down.

“If you kill an unarmed and injured man in my presence, I’ll see that you are executed for it.” Her lip trembled, and her face flushed, but she kept her head. “And if you kill me, too, you’ll be drawn and quartered, then hanged. We’re very thorough about treason.”

So she had a conscience and a backbone. I don’t think I would’ve killed Argoset in cold blood, but I’m glad I’ll never have to find out. At that moment the door opened slightly and Gary Bunson said, “Eddie? You in here?”

“Yeah. Come in and shut the door.”

He did so, then stayed with his back pressed against it when he saw Argoset bleeding on the floor.

I put my sword away without wiping off the blood. “Gary, I’m going to leave in a minute. I need these people to stay in this room.”

He looked at them. He did not recognize Nicky, but he knew Argoset was a big deal, and I clearly had the upper hand over him. “For, ah

… how long?” he asked in his whiny, uncertain way.

I slammed my fist into the door an inch from his head and glared with every bit of my righteous fury. “ Until I tell you different,” I snarled so softly only he heard.

He nodded rapidly. “Okay, sure thing, no problem. Keep the peace, that’s what I do, right?” He managed a weak, sick smile.

“Take care of him,” I said to Nicky, and she knelt beside Argoset.

“Did he kill my daughter, too?” Lesperitt asked softly. He hadn’t moved during the excitement. “Did he order it done?”

“No. A different man did that.” I walked over and stood in front of him. He’d pushed himself deep into the padded chair. I met his eyes. “Where,” I asked calmly, “did you send Liz?”

His lips fluttered soundlessly for a moment. Then he told me. In detail so I could find it.

“And you told that man”-I nodded at Argoset-“the same thing?”

He nodded.

“Thanks,” I said, and turned to the rest of them. “If any of you follow me,” I told him, “I will kill you. Neat, clean and fast. You’re not worth any more effort to me.”

None of them said anything. I left without another word.

I took Argoset’s huge ebony horse from the inn’s small private stable; it seemed appropriate. I told the boy who saddled him about Pansy and vastly overpaid him to retrieve her and put her up for a while.

It was almost dark, but I headed straight out of town without even stopping at Angelina’s. Liz had been gone overnight; realistically, anything bad that was going to happen had probably already happened and hurrying was pointless, but where she was concerned I was not realistic.

I had only my sword and boot knife as weapons; over the years I’d amassed a large pile of overt and covert death-dealers, including a miniature crossbow that folded down into a tube I could strap to my arm and a garroting wire with a little spring-driven mechanism that automatically tightened it, but I did not stop and gather any of these. Liz was in the middle of the Black River Hills with Doug Candora and Marion the pitchfork murderer, and I couldn’t bear the thought of doing anything else but rushing to her. I no longer even cared that she’d lied to me; I just wanted her safe in my arms again.