Death and Honor: Book 2 of 2 Page 3

  Kaylin placed a small bottle in his hand. “Easy. What now?”

  “Did you save your meat?”

  She put something wet in his hand beside the pouch.

  “Good now we start the dogs’ training.”

  Hess kept the mastiffs tied to the rear axle of the first wagon. When Xander stuck his arm out of the cage they growled. He tossed his piece of meat to the left mastiff who snatched it out of the air. Kaylin’s went to the one on the right. Neither growled any more.

  * * *

  “One more day you little bastards.” They’d stopped for the night outside a small, two story traveler’s inn. “Tomorrow we reach Arbadha, the glorious city of my birth, and I finally get rid of you.”

  Hess laughed, dragged Sophia out of her cage, and led her by the arm toward the inn. For the last two weeks their pace had picked up and Hess hadn’t bothered covering the cages. When, Xander asked Sophia about it on one of their now rare rest stops she said they’d entered a country that allowed slavery.

  Xander grimaced as he watched Hess lead Sophia away. Tonight they would make their move and he didn’t want to leave her behind. Without Hess to oversee him the dimwit handed out dried meat without cooking. Xander leaned against the back wall and motioned Kaylin to join him. She snuggled up under his arm.

  “We’re going tonight, you ready?”

  “I’ve been ready for the last ten days. When do we move?”

  “After midnight, that idiot won’t wake up unless we yell in his ear. Once the dogs are out we’re home free.”

  They lay together, the picture of a happy couple. Kaylin dozed on his shoulder but Xander’s eyes stayed open, alert for anything that might change their plans. He hoped Sophia was okay. Xander couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her with Hess.

  A few hours later a lantern came bobbing through the dark toward the wagons. In the meager light Hess’s red, sweaty face gleamed. As the slaver got closer he saw Sophia beside him, Hess had her by the hair.

  Hess hung his lantern on a nail at the rear of wagon, unlocked the cage, and threw Sophia inside. Her face was a solid bruise and blood leaked from the corner of her mouth and nose. Xander helped her away from the door before Hess slammed it shut and locked it. Hess stalked back to the inn without a word.

  Xander took a scrap of cloth and wiped the blood off Sophia’s face. “Are you okay?”

  She whimpered. Xander brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Come on, talk to me. What happened?”

  Sophia sobbed and between breaths said, “Master Hess, he tried. But he couldn’t. Said it was my fault. He hit me. Dragged me back.”

  Xander got the gist and held her as she cried. It wasn’t enough to get away now. When she fell silent he said, “You’re okay now.”

  Her whole body shook. “He said he’d sell me to a whorehouse.” She sniffled again.

  “Don’t worry.” No, getting away wasn’t enough at all. “What room is he in?”

  “Seven, on the second floor. Why?”

  “No reason. You just rest.”

  After her crying spell Sophia fell into an exhausted sleep. A little past midnight Hess’s assistant snored in his seat on the second wagon. Xander took the dried meat and chewed in a little so the sleep powder would stick. When he dosed two pieces with a thick coating of the powder he went to the back of the cage. The mastiffs perked up when he stuck his hand out of the cage, eager for their evening treat. He tossed each of them a piece which they snapped out of the air. Kaylin joined him and they watched as the dogs fell over on their sides, sound asleep. They shared a grin and eased over to the cage door

  Xander gestured to the door. “Be my guest.”

  Kaylin picked the lock in seconds and they climbed down. The dogs never flinched. He reached back and helped Mary down then Jackson. Sophia came awake at all the movement and Xander motioned her to climb down.

  “Let the others out,” Xander said. “If I’m not back in half an hour start toward the city, I’ll catch up.”

  “Wait.” Kaylin grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

  Xander pulled free. “To say goodbye to our generous host.” He ran toward the inn, not giving her a chance to argue.

  He walked with slow silent steps toward the door. Xander had spent a good deal of time hunting and sneaking around back home so stealthy movement came natural to him. About three quarters of the way to the inn he stopped and wondered what he’d do if someone locked the door. Kaylin had the pick. Xander shook his head and kept going; he’d have to hope for the best.

  Xander ignored the front door and went around the back of the building. As he’d hoped the inn had a back door and when he tried the latch it opened. A banked fire provided enough light that he could make out where the kitchen work stations rested. Xander stood in the doorway and held his breath. The inn was corpse quiet. No one had noticed his entrance.

  A quick, quiet search of the kitchen yielded a six inch serrated knife and a thin bladed paring knife. If Hess locked his door Xander hoped he could force it with the thin blade. Carrying a weapon in each hand Xander eased the kitchen door open. The empty common room held nothing of interest save a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. Xander mounted the steps, keeping close to the edge to avoid squeaks.

  At the top, straight across from him, was a door with the number three glued to it. A hall branched ten feet to the right and forty feet to the left. A lantern at either end provided dim illumination. Xander turned left and eased his way down the hall until he stood before room seven. He tried the door, but as he feared Hess had barred it. Xander slipped the thin blade of the paring knife between the casing and the door and worked it up until he hit the bar. He kept pushing until the resistance vanished and a dull thump sounded.

  He tensed, ready to run. A slow count to thirty later Xander eased the door open. Hess’s snores echoed through the room. In the dim light of the moon the half naked slaver sprawled on the bed like a mountain of flesh. Xander gagged at the stench of sweat and spilled ale. He eased over closer, one cautious foot at a time.

  The closer he got the more Xander trembled. Here laid the man that made him a slave, that hurt innocent children for fun, that hurt Sophia. Standing over the quivering mound of flesh Xander found stabbing him in his sleep insufficient. He wanted Hess to experience fear for a change.

  Xander raised the serrated blade in his right hand then poked Hess in the shoulder with the paring knife, deep enough to draw blood. Hess’s eyes popped open. When he saw the knife in Xander’s hand his eyes widened. Xander smiled and slammed six inches of sharp steel into Hess’s bulging right eye. The slaver convulsed twice then went still.

  Knees weak, Xander made a quick search of the room. He found Hess’s coin pouch, light, but better than nothing. He peaked out into the hall. Someone staggered by half asleep and he shut the door. After a slow five count he peaked out again in time to see whoever walked by open the door to room four and step inside. Xander left Hess’s room, shut the door behind him, and retraced his steps back to the kitchen. He opened the kitchen door a crack, but everything looked the same as he left it. The cook wouldn’t start the morning bread for another couple hours.

  Xander found an old grain sack and searched the kitchen for anything useful. He collected half a loaf of day old bread, some dried sausages, and four apples, not much, but it would have to do. Beside the sink pump he found two skins and filled them with water. Last he grabbed a heavy steel cleaver and a second serrated knife. With the grain sack over one shoulder and the skins over the other he ducked outside and jogged back toward the wagons.

  In the dim moonlight he spotted the other kids gathered a ways up the road away from the still sleeping guard.

  “Where have you been?” Kaylin asked as soon as he joined them.

  “I told you I had to say goodbye. I got stole food from the kitchen in case it’s further to the city than Hess made out.”

  “We should get back in the cages.” The side of Sophia’s face had swoll
en while he was gone. She still clutched her satchel of healing supplies. “Master Hess will be upset if he finds us out.”

  “Don’t worry.” Xander put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Hess won’t be upset. Nothing will ever upset him again. We need to put some distance between us and the inn before morning.”

  “If we go with you we’ll get caught and be punished like when she escaped,” John said. The rest of the kids seemed inclined to agree with him.

  “Anyone that wants to come with us is welcome. If you prefer to stay here suit yourselves.”

  Xander took Sophia by the hand and started down the road, Kaylin beside him. He glanced back and saw the other kids standing around outside the inn. He shook his head. If they didn’t move they’d all get recaptured. He’d given them a chance at freedom. Now he needed to look after himself and his friends.

  They traveled at a steady walk until the sun colored the horizon. “We should get off the road,” Xander said.

  Kaylin nodded and they turned off the road and into the scrub growing alongside. “How far do you think we should go?”

  “Until we find a good place to hole up for the day, I’m beat.”

  Ten minutes of walking and they found a thick stand of palm shrubs. Xander pushed his way though and found a clearing in the center. Tight, but he thought they’d all fit. They sat in a circle and Xander handed out food. The girls had an apple apiece and he ate some meat and bread.

  They ate in silence for a few minutes then Sophia said, “Master Hess will be angry. Shouldn’t we go back? If we say we’re sorry he might not be too mean.”

  “I told you Hess won’t get mad. He’s dead. I stabbed him in the eye and left him rotting back in his room. You’re free. We’re all free.”

  “You killed him?” Sophia’s eyes got wide. “You killed the man that provided you with food and shelter for the last three months. If not for him you’d have died.”

  “Better to die than live as that pig’s slave. After the way he treated you I thought you’d be the first to dance on his grave.”

  “Oh, no, Master Hess only punishes me when I do something bad. He took care of me after I became a slave. Who will take care of me now? Don’t you feel bad about killing him?”

  Gods above, was she serious? “The only thing I regret was that I didn’t have the time to give him the death he deserved.” Xander shook his head. “Why don’t you get some sleep? We’ll keep watch.”

  Sophia finished her apple, tossed the core away, and curled up on her side. When her breathing became deep and regular Kaylin said, “When you said you wished you’d given him the death he deserved did you mean…”

  She let the sentence trail off, but he knew what she asked. Not in the mood to mince words he said, “I would have liked to roast him over hot coals for a few hours then feed his still screaming body to a pack of starving dogs.”

  Kaylin swallowed. “Oh.”

  Xander grinned. “Is that what you were asking?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was asking. Damn, remind me never to become your enemy.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Were you thinking of becoming my enemy?”

  “Of course not. You took care of me when I was hurt. None of the others cared. No one ever did anything like that for me before.”

  “No one? What about your mother?”

  Kaylin’s laugh sounded more bitter than amused. “My mother was a two silver a night whore that worked the King’s Port docks. The only thing she ever did for me was allow me to be born and the only reason she did that was she couldn’t afford the potion that would have gotten rid of me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Xander sighed then smiled. “Forget about it. My family’s gone, Sophia’s is gone, and you never had one. We’ll take care of each other now, be a new family. I always wanted an older sister and now I have two.”

  The look she gave was both curious and hopeful. “You want a thief and the daughter of a whore for a sister?”

  “Sure, you can’t control who your mother was. I’ve known noblemen whose children I couldn’t stand despite their high birth. The truth is we’re alone in a strange country. If we don’t keep an eye out for each other no one will, besides.” He offered a lopsided smile. “I like you.”

  Kaylin’s lip trembled. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him. She cried against his chest and he hugged her. When the crying stopped he asked, “What was that about?”

  “I’ve been alone for so long.”

  Xander gave her another squeeze. “You’re not alone anymore. You’re with me and if anyone doesn’t like it they answer to me.”

  She laughed and wiped away her tears. Seeing she was better Xander said, “We should try to rest.”

  Kaylin curled up on her side and Xander laid down beside her, his back to hers. He kept the cleaver out and ready. If anybody showed up, they wouldn’t take them without a fight.

  Xander slept poorly, his eyes popping open at the slightest sound. At dusk he gave up and pulled an apple out of the grain sack and set to eating.

  He’d finished half the apple when Sophia sat up and stretched. “Morning,” Xander said. “Or should I say evening. Hungry?”

  She accepted a slice of bread and a piece of meat without comment and ate. After the silence had reached an uncomfortable length Xander asked, “Are you all right?”

  Sophia looked at him and tears streaked her face. “I’m all alone again. First Mother died, then Master Hess died, and I’m alone again.”

  “You’re not alone. I’m here, Kaylin’s here. We’ll protect each other. You’ll see.”

  Sophia stopped crying and Xander shook Kaylin awake. When they’d all eaten their fill and drank from the skins they pushed through the shrubs and walked back to the road. “We should stay on the edge so we can hide if anyone comes along,” Xander said.

  They walked along the edge of the road for most of the night. They reached the edge of the scrub forest a little before moonset. The road continued down into a broad, flat plain stretching as far as they could see in all directions. About a mile away a multitude of lights glittered, the city of Arbadha at last.

  “I doubt they’ll let us in before sunup,” Kaylin said as if reading Xander’s mind.

  “We’d better go a ways back in the scrub and wait.” Xander led the others a short distance from the forest edge and, in a small clearing, they sat and shared the last of the food and water. They got damn lucky they didn’t have another day’s travel, without food or water the three of them would have been in sad shape when they arrived.

  “Why do you suppose they didn’t come after us?” Kaylin asked.

  “Maybe they did, but missed us.” Sophia sounded disappointed they hadn’t gotten caught.

  “We would have heard something if they’d come after us, hunters beating the brush, the dogs, something,” Xander shook his head. “I bet they rounded up the others and decided three ragged slaves weren’t worth the trouble especially since one of us is willing to kill for our freedom.”

  “Would you have killed more people of they’d found us?” Sophia trembled, this time with anger. “How many people have to die so you can be free?”

  Xander looked her in the eye. “As many as it takes.”

  Sophia didn’t appear to like that answer and stalked off by herself.

  “What’s her problem?” Kaylin asked.

  Xander shrugged. “What are we going to do when we get to the city? I’m a descent fighter, but I doubt anyone will want to hire a teenager as a bodyguard.”

  “I’m a damn good thief. I expect I can make a living in this or any city. We should team up if things go sideways on a job it never hurts to have some muscle to back you up.”

  “Suits me.” He already killed a man so cracking a few heads didn’t seem like a big deal. “I need a proper sword. I can’t scare anyone with a kitchen knife.”

  “A club might be better. I’ve noticed the guards look harder for a murder than a thief.”

  Xander
nodded, willing to concede to her greater experience. The two of them settled under a pair of towering palm trees to wait for morning.

  * * *

  The sun brightened the horizon after a couple hours. Sophia returned, looking calmer. “Shall we head out?” Xander asked.

  Kaylin gave them a critical look. “We’d better wait for another group to come along and go in with them. Three kids coming to the gate alone combined with your unique look, Xander, will draw way too much attention.”

  Xander couldn’t argue. Maybe he could find a leatherworker to make him a half mask. That would draw attention , but nowhere near as much as his scars.

  They got lucky when, half an hour later two carts loaded with fruit and vegetables, each pulled by a bay draft horse, trundled down the road past them. On the bench of each cart sat a filthy farmer in a worn tunic. Once they creaked past Xander and the girls followed along behind, if the farmers noticed or cared they gave no sign.

  When they reached the city gates, a pair of massive double doors that loomed twenty feet above their heads and looked about two feet thick, a quartet of bored guards dressed in baggy pants and open vests stopped them. One came toward the farmers while the rest leaned on their spears and yawned. Xander suspected the last attack on the city happened a while ago.

  The guard held out his hand and the first farmer dropped a silver coin into it. The other guards moved aside and the cart proceeded through the gates. While the second farmer paid his toll Xander dug a silver coin out of Hess’s pouch. When they took their place before the guard he babbled something in a language Xander didn’t recognize. He looked at the girls and they shook their heads.

  Taking pity on them the guard switched to the trade tongue and said. “A silver coin each outlanders.”

  “What?” Xander knew a rip off when he heard it. “You charged the farms one coin and they had a cart and horse. Surely a single coin is enough for the three of us on foot.”

  All the guards chuckled. “The farmers came here to trade. We did them no favors. They will also be taxed on every sale they make. This visit will cost them far more than the silver coin we collected.”