Rob Scott - The Larion Senators

‘Did you hear me?’ he shouted again.

Marrin and Sera backed off a few paces, while staying near at hand, ready to assist the captain in any scuffle – not that either of them thought he would need help to subdue the younger, smaller man.

Garec lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘And you’d be dead before you took two paces. Pay attention, because I don’t have time to argue with you. I’ll kill you, your crew, your dog if I have to, and I will take your ship and sail it anywhere I please. Now, I am happy to pay for your services, and I assure you that neither of my friends is carrying anything explosive. Both of them have a bit of magic they can summon from time to time, but nothing that represents a threat to you or your ship. The only threat you need to be concerned with is me.’

Captain Ford stopped, considering Garec’s threat. He was not one to be bullied either, especially on his own ship and in front of his crew, and he silently cursed himself for agreeing to carry passengers, regardless of how much silver he stood to make. He had promised himself he would never get involved in politics, and apart from the occasional illegal passenger tucked behind a pallet of lumber or vegetables, he had never broken his vow. This was not going to end well. ‘Listen, you snot-nosed little brat-’

‘Pay attention!’ Garec shouted again, then lowered his voice. Without averting his eyes, he looked at Captain Ford and said, ‘You have one man working on the forecastle, one in the rigging. Sera and Marrin are flanking us, waiting for any sign from you that they should tackle me or heave me over the side. Tubbs is still below with Kellin and Brexan, and I promise you, Captain Ford-’ his voice rose ‘that I could kill all of them before you cried out a warning.’

Captain Ford laughed and took a menacing step forward. ‘That’s impossible, you pinch of grettan-’

‘Not,’ Garec interrupted, ‘if I start with you.’ Neither Captain Ford, Marrin nor Sera had seen the arrow appear in his hands, but he held it to the captain’s throat, a makeshift skewer. Rotating it gently in his fingers, Garec ground the tip into the leathery flesh until a trickle of blood ran under his collar.

Captain Ford’s hands were trembling. He tried to see Marrin and Sera, but he couldn’t find them. Finally, he said, ‘Stop.’

Garec lowered the shaft and said pleasantly, ‘Let’s go and get my friends. That’s a little boat they’re in, and I don’t believe either of them wants to spend all day waiting for it to capsize.’

‘Tell me who they are.’ Captain Ford hadn’t moved. ‘Resistance leaders?’

‘Yes, powerful ones.’

‘Magicians?’

‘Yes, powerful ones.’

Captain Ford felt the Morning Star beneath his feet and vowed to make the run to Averil in record time, even if it meant staying at the helm the entire trip. ‘What do they do for the Resistance?’

‘Espionage, mostly, no real military entanglements.’

‘Brexan and Kellin?’

‘The same, I guess.’ Garec shrugged. ‘Kellin was part of a military unit until she accompanied us south from Traver’s Notch.’

Captain Ford nodded, swallowing something bitter. ‘And you?’

‘I kill.’

‘Very well,’ Captain Ford said. ‘But I don’t take orders on my ship, Garec Who Kills.’

‘I have no interest in ordering you to do anything, Captain,’ Garec smiled, ‘and I am happy to take orders, swab decks, fillet fish, haul lines, polish brass, and dig ditches, just as soon as you stick to your end of our agreement and sail over there to collect my friends.’

Captain Ford turned away. ‘Marrin, Sera.’

‘Sir?’ they replied in unison.

‘Make your heading zero, six, five, and prepare to take on passengers.’

‘Very good, Captain.’ They were already moving away.

‘Thank you, Captain, honestly,’ Garec said. ‘If it’s any comfort, I don’t enjoy my role with the Resistance. Not ever.’

‘I don’t find that especially comforting.’

‘I don’t suppose it is, but I am telling you the truth.’

Captain Ford dabbed at the wound in his neck. He held up a finger, looked at the blood, then wiped it on his cloak. ‘That’s fine, Garec. Let me just say that I hope it haunts you for a hundred lifetimes.’

‘It already does.’ Garec started below. ‘I’m going for some tecan. Would you like some?’

Captain Ford was taken aback, but after a moment, he said, ‘Some of the rosehip, if you would be so kind.’

‘Right away.’ Garec disappeared below.

Hannah saw Hoyt stumble, but he kept his feet and they continued running through the serpentine coils of Pellia’s northeast district, a largely residential area with roads that looked they’d once been goat paths before being cobbled over when civilisation arrived.

‘You all right?’ Hannah wheezed.

Hoyt was pale and dripping sweat, too winded to answer as he half-ran and half-staggered through the twisting confusion of alleys. He was weak; his shoulder hadn’t healed, despite his efforts with querlis and Alen’s medicinal spells. He ran with his arm tucked against his ribs, making him look ungainly, disfigured. Hannah guessed the Seron who stabbed him had dipped her knife in something deadly, not magical, for Alen could disentangle even the worst magic a Seron could concoct. This must be bacterial. Hoyt’s fever had been raging for days, and though querlis brought his temperature down at night, during the day he could barely stand by himself. He was running now on pure will.

Halfway across a junction of five roads, he stopped and bent over, trying to catch his breath. ‘Do you see them?’ he gasped.

‘No.’ Hannah put a hand on his shoulder. ‘You should stop.’

‘We can’t, we have to catch up. Who knows what that horsecock will do with her?’

‘Erynn won’t let anything happen to her.’

‘Erynn?’ Hoyt looked up. ‘She’s the bloody nuisance who got us here in the first place. She’s a ninety-Twinmooner; you think the Seron are going to listen when she asks them to please keep their hands off the little girl? No, Hannah, Erynn is in this as deep as the rest of us.’

Hannah turned a full circle, looking and listening. ‘Which way?’

‘Down there, across the northern neck?’

‘No, we went there once already; it goes out to that little beach, and I bet this one does, too.’ Hannah pointed to her left, along a westbound alley.

‘That leaves these three.’

‘Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo.’ Hannah pointed east. ‘Let’s try this one.’

Hoyt wiped his eyes. ‘Remind me never to learn that language of yours.’

‘Come on.’ She helped him up. ‘The houses are too small along these others; I’m betting something as big as a warehouse is east of us, maybe even on the water.’

‘I’m going to kill that docker when we get back.’ Hoyt started running again. ‘His directions were ganselshit.’

‘Maybe Alen got lucky,’ Hannah said, trying not to give in to her fear that it was already too late, that Milla was right now on her way upriver, bound for child slavery in the bowels of Welstar Palace.

‘I hope so,’ Hoyt said, ‘because if Alen finds them, they’re all dead.’

The cobblestone road narrowed, and Hannah’s hopes fell: this was the wrong way. They’d have to double back all the way to the roundabout. There were too many ways to get lost in here.

‘Hoyt, this can’t be right,’ she said sadly. ‘We have to go back.’ The buildings had closed in on either side; it was too narrow now even for two carts to pass.

‘Wait,’ Hoyt panted, ‘look down there. Is it brighter, or am I dying?’

‘Okay, we’ll try it,’ she said. Hoyt wouldn’t make it all the way back to the intersection, not running, anyway.