Майкл Салливан - Deep Magic. Fourth Collection

He sighed. “Scream?”

She smiled cruelly. “You’re not as fool-brained as you look, then. The women will scream, and the entire camp of mercenaries will rush in to end us. I’m good with a blade, but I’m not that good.”

He took a deep breath. There had to be another way. “We’ll slip the women a note,” he suggested. “We’ll tell them to prepare for rescue.”

She turned and started walking in the direction the mercenaries had gone. “I take it back, you are as fool-brained as you look.” He hurried to catch up with her as she continued, “Ignoring the complications of actually getting a note to the women, it would undoubtedly be confiscated by the mercenaries, dashing our plan to bits.”

“I just don’t want to kill them,” he admitted, slowing alongside her as her eyes scanned the trail now far to their right.

She snorted. “Yeah, I got that. What I don’t understand is why ?”

“Because killing is wrong?” he suggested.

She flicked her gaze to him. “These men have doubtlessly killed many innocents,” she countered. “They’ve kidnapped those women to likely be sold into servitude. They have earned their deaths.”

How could she be so callous? He shook his head. “Well that’s not really for us to decide, is it?”

She stopped walking and turned to fully face him, hands on hips. “Do you want my help, or not?”

Did he? He was quite sure working with Anna was the only way he could save those women, but at what cost? Who was he to decide who lived or died?

Reading his expression, she sighed. “I made a mistake coming back. If you somehow survive, seek me out in the next burgh.”

She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her sleeve. “Wait,” he breathed. “If it’s truly the only way, we’ll go with your plan.”

She gave him a sharp nod, seemingly satisfied.

Despite having a plan, his stomach twisted into knots far more painful than the ache of his bruises. He suspected Anna did not plan to kill all of the men on her own. She’d want him to do his share. The only question was, could he do it? He tried to imagine himself with a blade poised over a sleeping man. Could he puncture flesh and end the man’s life?

He wasn’t sure. The only thing he was really sure of, was that he didn’t have much choice.

KAI GREW INCREASINGLY nervous as night fell. They’d tracked the mercenaries throughout the day, and had ended up in a small clearing where the men stopped to make camp. The women were forced to sit around a tree with their backs to the trunk, then were bound with heavy ropes.

Kai watched from the concealment of dense shrubs as the night wore on, and the men curled up in their bedrolls one by one. Eventually there were only two men left to stand guard.

“Are you ready?” Anna whispered, creeping up to his side.

He clenched the pommel of the unfamiliar dagger at his belt. He would have preferred to try his hand at Anna’s bow, but stealth was of utmost importance. They couldn’t risk any of the men screaming before they died. The bow had been left hidden in the brush some distance away, along with her pack.

He shivered. The men would all have to die. If they didn’t, the women might suffer an even worse fate. He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded to Anna.

She watched his face for a moment, then replied, “Good. Don’t worry about the two standing guard. I will take care of them. You sneak in from the far end and begin dispatching the men in their beds.”

He nodded a little too quickly. He was going to be sick.

“Remember,” she added, “just a clean slice to the throat. Silence them before they can scream. We cannot avoid some of them waking up, we can only hope there will be few of them left to fight us.” She seemed to think about her words. “If you can, go for the big ones first.”

With that, she darted off into the night. He could barely hear her footsteps as she disappeared into the darkness.

His palms slick with sweat, he began to make his way around the clearing. The men’s bedrolls were spread out, none sleeping too close to each other. It shouldn’t be too difficult to reach the farthest ones without waking any of the others. The difficult part would occur once he reached them.

He couldn’t help but feel he was sacrificing a small part of his soul in helping the women. He could only hope they’d be grateful for it.

ANNA TOOK DEEP, steady breaths, carefully picking her way across the ground so as not to step on any branches or dry leaves. Her daggers rested at her belt, ready to be unsheathed and driven into the nearest throat.

Two men stood guard, one near the women, and one on the other side of the camp, nearest the path. She’d take out that one first, as the one near the women would be tricky. She couldn’t risk any of the women screaming while Kai was vulnerable amongst the sleeping men.

She paused near a tree and watched as her primary quarry shifted his weight, constantly flicking his gaze around the forest ahead of him. His bald head reflected the moonlight, showcasing various scars. While he was clearly not new to his trade, he wouldn’t expect any threats to come from behind.

She darted behind another tree closer to her quarry. Slowly, she unsheathed her twin daggers, waiting for just the right moment.

The man yawned, stretching his arms over his head, and she leapt, thrusting her right arm over his shoulder seconds before dragging the dagger across his throat.

He made a soft gurgling sound, and she caught his body as it fell to the ground. She let him down gently, careful to not stain herself with the blood welling from his throat, black in the moonlight.

A shiver crept up her spine as she cleaned her dagger on his shirt, then quietly dragged him to the cover of a nearby shrub. She didn’t like killing, but she liked these men preying on the weak even less. She’d been weak once, and no one had bothered to save her. These women would not suffer the same fate.

With the dead man as hidden as he was going to get, she turned her attention to the rest of the campsite. Perhaps she should help Kai with the sleeping men, leaving the guard beside the women for last.

Forcing her thoughts away from the corpse she left behind, she crept onward to find Kai.

KAI KNELT BEFORE the man sleeping furthest toward the edge of camp. The man’s sickly sweet breath permeated his nostrils, making it difficult to breathe. Or perhaps it was just the panic constricting Kai’s lungs. He had his dagger ready. He already should have slit the man’s throat to move onto the next. He needed to kill as many as possible before one awoke.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and poised his dagger. Sweat dripped down his brow as his hand began to tremble.

He couldn’t do it.

He withdrew the dagger and prepared to creep away. He would simply find Anna and tell her they needed a new plan. Perhaps if these men were trying to kill him he would be able to fight back, but to murder someone in their sleep? It just seemed wrong, no matter how deserving the victim might be.

He began to stand, then nearly screamed as his would-be victim’s eyes fluttered open. The man stared up at him for a moment, confused, then began shouting. Kai knew he should have silenced him right there, but instead he stumbled backwards.

“You fool!” Anna’s voice hissed, as an arm wrapped around his bicep. “Run, now!”

He wanted to obey her, but his feet didn’t seem to be working. Roused by the man he should have killed, the mercenaries all climbed from their bedrolls, glancing around. The man who’d started the shouting was now on his feet, advancing toward them while brandishing a small hatchet.