Freelance Heroics (25 page)

“
Crescent Slash!
”

Gavi crashed to the ground, the heavy swing overbalancing her as the spell fizzled. There was a small crackle of mana near the hilt, but that was it.
Even worse than last time
, she realized. Her sword had bounced off Jewels’s leg, right below the knee. As Gavi spit out leaves and dirt, the orck shape hobbled for a few steps, then continued running.

“Oh, screw this.” Gavi felt around for the holdout crossbow in the back of her belt, and was happy to find it still there. She drew it, unfolding it with the click of a button. It looked undamaged. She checked the arrow, cocked it, and then took careful aim.

Twang!
Jewels cried out as the bolt penetrated his leg—his
actual
leg—on a spot Gavi had struck several times. He stumbled as the bolt disrupted his Soul Change spell. Most of his glowing orck skin remained, but everything below his ankle—which was mid-thigh on his orck body—disappeared. He crashed to the ground, one leg suddenly much shorter than the other.

“I’ll take it from here,” said Mazik, who stopped beside Gavi. He pointed at the glowing orck, as Jewels struggled to rise. “
Mazik Blast!
”

Jewels screamed, and to Gavi’s surprise,
exploded
. Or rather, the orck shell encasing him exploded, leaving a crater of blackened soil and burned leaves. Jewels lay limp in the center.

“Wow. Glad we didn’t take him out when he was closer,” said Mazik.

“Help me up,” said Gavi.

Mazik pulled her to her feet, and the two of them jogged over to the crater.

Gavi winced. “I think you may have used too much mana.”

Mazik grimaced. “You’re telling me.”

The enemy leader was dead. His back and neck were a bloody mess, and upon flipping him over, his eyes were glassy and dull.

“My spell shouldn’t have done
this
much damage.” Mazik ran a hand through his hair. He was kneeling next to the dead man. “Maybe his passive defenses weren’t that good. That could be why your crossbow bolt tripped him up.”

Gavi had remained standing. “Maybe. Or maybe he lost control of that spell.”

“Hmm?” Mazik tugged a small ring off Jewels’s finger. Unlike the others he had been wearing earlier, it was cheap and partially tarnished, and the purple focus crystal embedded in it was cracked and dull. “Must be something he had from before all this. Here.” He tossed it to Gavi.

Gavi caught the ring. “What’s this for?”

“It’s a focus crystal.” Mazik pointed at the one she was wearing around her neck. “I’d like that back eventually. Though keep them both for now. That ring is pretty crappy, so use it as backup until we find you something better.”

“And by find, you mean loot,” said Gavi.

“Of course.”

“You know, I could actually
buy
one. That’s something we can do. It’s an option.”

“Meh! My way’s more fun.” Mazik grinned.

“Of course. What was I thinking?” said Gavi, though she was smiling.

Gavi glanced at the dead man again, then shook her head. She banished his face from her mind. While rescuing the hostages had felt good and defeating the orcks had felt triumphant, this didn’t—and she was starting to realize how embarrassing it was to have enjoyed those fights. But there were more important things to deal with right now.

Gavi began jogging back toward the orck camp. “Come on, we need to—hold on.”

The Blue Boar emerged from the camp, dragging Red Feathers’ corpse. Raedren slowly backed up behind him.

“Your friend said you’d want proof of her death,” said the Blue Boar, his costume squeaking with sweat and blood. “I said we should lea—”

“He was right, but we don’t need this much,” interrupted Mazik. He trotted over to Raedren and, without asking, opened the empty backpack he was carrying. Raedren handed it to him.

“Do you want me to cut it off?” asked Gavi as she accepted her sheath back from the Blue Boar. While she wasn’t looking forward to the idea, she had spent four years in the army, so she knew how to cut someone’s head off. Granted, she had been taught how to do it while they were still alive, but the principle was the same. Besides, this was something she knew might happen when she agreed to become an adventurer.

“Naw. Too slow.” Mazik aimed at the corpse’s neck. “
Mazik
—er, no.
Corpse Cutter!
”

There was a flash of light, and then the head separated from the body, its neck vaporized in a sickening flash of meaty smoke. Mazik kicked the head into the sack.

“Shall we go?” asked Raedren. His voice was unsteady. Gavi understood why—his whole body was shaking with the effort of holding off the other two orcks.

Gavi nodded. “I think we can go.”

Mazik laughed, and grabbed Raedren by the shoulder. He passed the bag to Gavi. “I agree. Here, hold this. Last one back to town buys the first round!”

Three days later, Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren shambled down to the inn’s common room for breakfast. Or lunch, really. Though it had been two full days since they returned to Saffir with the orck leader’s head, they were still recovering. That meant they needed plenty of rest and food—something their late-night carousing probably wasn’t helping with.

As they sat down with the glum silence of the moderately hungover, another chair settled beside their table, and a man sat down. Mazik looked up. Sergeant Redsna stared at him over folded hands.

“Ah, there you are.” Mazik stifled a yawn. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to come. Again.”

“Anything to keep you from barging into the guardhouse and ambushing me at my desk. Again.” Though his words were harsh, Redsna’s expression remained even and professional. “I have news on your payment.”

“Fuckin’
finally
.” Mazik coughed, then cleared his throat. “I mean, go on.”

“It’s the council’s judgement that the head you brought us is at least fifty percent likely to be that of the orck leader. They’re willing to issue remuneration in line with that likelihood.”

Mazik’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

Gavi pushed the hair out of her face. “Calm down. Let him finish.”

For once, Sergeant Redsna’s expression changed. He smiled. On him, it didn’t seem pleasant.

“Your pessimism is warranted. Because we can’t verify whether the head you brought us is from the orck leader, and because another group killed an orck they also claim to be the orck leader—and in that case, we have the entire body, which matches exactly the description we published, and we also have multiple witnesses who saw them kill her during the attack—the city council doesn’t feel it can issue you the full reward. You’ll get half instead.”

Mazik’s fist slammed the table, rattling scratched utensils. Raedren clutched his head and moaned. “That’s bullshit! Like we told you, that was a decoy. Red Feathers never left the camp, so she could stay close to her”—his looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear, and lowered his voice—“her boss. Did you talk to the Blue Boar about this?”

Sergeant Redsna nodded. “He’s one of the reasons you’re getting any reward at all. He may be a nuisance, but his reputation for honesty is unimpeachable.”

“What about all the valuables we told you about? Or the other bodies?” asked Gavi.

“And the people we freed.” Raedren accepted a beer from their usual waiter, and began the process of washing away his hangover.

“Those were the other reasons. The freed hostages and valuables, at any rate,” said Sergeant Redsna. “We didn’t find a headless orck body when we raided the camp again. That’s not surprising, though—the orcks had ample time to bury the body, or whatever orcks do with their dead.

“As for the human,” added Sergeant Redsna quickly; Mazik closed his mouth and let him continue, “we did find him. But since he was too dead to question, we have no way of verifying whether he was actually working with the orcks, as you claim.”

Gavi nudged Mazik. “Told you.”

“It wasn’t my fault! His active defenses were pretty good. I didn’t think his passive defenses would be so shitty.”

“Either way,” said Sergeant Redsna, “since the Blue Boar vouched for what happened, and because no one has been able to identify the man, you won’t be held liable for his death.”

Mazik sputtered. “You’re not going to hold us
liable?
Oh, how nice of you! And why was that even a possibility?” He slapped the table, each slap punctuating a word. “We were adventurers on a quest directly issued by the city! How could you even think of charging us with a crime?”

“Adventurers who entered the orck camp when it was forbidden.” Sergeant Redsna’s expression softened, and he lowered his voice. “Just like I warned you, they didn’t believe you when you said you didn’t know. Though between you and me, I think the council is upset that a bunch of adventurers showed them up. That’s why they’re giving the other group the full reward, and openly lauding them in the papers. Your contribution is being hushed up.”

“Oh, that’s just
lovely
.” By now, Mazik was boiling over, having worked himself up into a good rage. He felt Gavi and Raedren rest their hands on his shoulders.

“It’s okay. Half is pretty good, right?” Gavi squeezed his shoulder. “Besides, we’ve gotten extra from the museum and some of the nobles whose stuff was stolen. We’re making out all right.”

Mazik glanced at Raedren, who nodded. He started to argue—and then his shoulders slumped. “All right, all right.” He sighed. “Where do we go to collect?”

Sergeant Redsna laid a business card on the table. “One of our clerks will meet you at the Royal Jihns Bank downtown at fifteen o’clock. I can be there as well, if you’d prefer someone you recognize.”

“That’s okay. We’ll be fine.” Gavi took the business card before Mazik could reach it.

“Good. I have actual work to do.” Sergeant Redsna rose. He started to bow, but hesitated.

“Regardless of anything else, thank you for your assistance,” said Sergeant Redsna. “If you’re ever in Saffir again, come see me. I’ll tell you about any quests we have available.”

“Thank you.” Gavi bowed.

Redsna nodded. He completed the bow. “Have a good day.”

“Wait a second, Sergeant.” Mazik raised his hand. “A quick question.”

Sergeant Redsna turned back. “Hm?”

Mazik kept his voice low. “Did you learn anything about other humans ever successfully having worked with orcks?”

Sergeant Redsna checked for anyone watching them, then sat back down. “We haven’t. It’s not unreasonable, though. If the orck leader—whether the one you killed, or the other one—”

“I told you, that was a
decoy
to—”

“If she was truly one of the intelligent orcks,” said Redsna, talking over Mazik, “she could have struck a deal with the man you killed, just like any human could. Unheard-of isn’t the same as impossible.”

“No, that’s true.” Mazik leaned back, scratching his chin. “It’s just
extremely
rare, since it’s apparently never happened before. But even if he convinced Red Feathers, I find it hard to believe that she was able to convince all her warriors to ignore eons of killing instinct. Not with how confident he was that they wouldn’t attack him.”

“It made more sense when we thought he couldn’t be seen by anyone but her,” said Gavi.

Mazik bit his lip. “True.”

“We’ll keep our eyes open,” said Sergeant Redsna vaguely. He stood up again.

As the inn’s front doors swung shut after Sergeant Redsna, Mazik turned to his friends. “Well, even though they’re
screwing
us on the reward, I believe this calls for a celebration! And since you already found yourself a beer,” he said, shifting to Raedren, “I think you should get the first round.”

“Already?” Gavi rubbed her forehead. “Let’s get some food first.”

Raedren took a sip of his beer. “Sounds to me like you were the ones who didn’t think ahead.”

“No no, I insist. And you can get them”—Mazik leaned on Raedren’s shoulder and pointed past him—“from her.”

Raedren looked up. He was pointing at the cute redheaded waiter that Mazik had pointed out to him several days ago. She was dressed in a white apron, and was laughing at something a customer was saying while she loaded up her tray. Even Mazik, who had a girlfriend, had to admit that her smile was dazzling.

“No thanks. She’s not our waiter.” Raedren turned back to his beer.

“Aww, come on. You just helped save the town, and are about to get paid for it! Use the ‘hero’ angle to break the ice. I guarantee it’ll work.”

“I feel like you just insulted all women,” said Gavi.

“Hey,” said Mazik, “it would work on me too, if I hadn’t been there. Also, I don’t find beards attractive.”

Gavi snorted.

Raedren shook his head. “I’d rather not.”

“Why not?” asked Mazik.

Raedren shrugged. “It’s early. No reason.”

Mazik felt a surge of annoyance. His face scrunched up as he examined his best friend. “What’s going on, man? You’ve been refusing to talk to women outside of quests—to anyone, really, other than me’n Gavs, ever since we left Houk. I know social stuff isn’t really your thing, but you’ve always been willing to try if I offered to help. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“No way. I don’t believe it.” Mazik crossed his arms. “What’s going on? We can’t help if we don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Maz, let it go,” said Gavi.

“Rejected!” Mazik’s eyes remained focused on Raedren. “Well?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he repeated.

Mazik tapped his foot under the table. “Then go talk to her. If nothing’s wrong, why not?”

“Because I’m not doing it!” snapped Raedren.

Mazik pulled away, surprised. An uneasy silence settled over the table. Raedren kept his head down, staring into his beer. Gavi looked between the two of them, clearly unsure what to say.

It wasn’t that Mazik was surprised that someone had gotten mad at him. After his last job, he was used to that. It was that the anger was coming from
Raedren
. While some people may think that his perennially relaxed attitude was a façade, Mazik knew better. He had known Raedren for many years, and been best friends with him for most of them. Raedren didn’t
do
anger. Not at others, at least. Self-loathing, sure. Depression, guilt, and second-guessing of his own decisions, absolutely. But not anger. Not at others. Seeing Raedren get angry was like being attacked by a puppy.