Freelance Heroics (43 page)

It took a minute for General Ordwinn to compose himself. When he lifted his head, he revealed a face more haunted and sunken than before, his eyes glistening with tears that threatened to overflow.

“Yes, I was sleeping with her.” The general’s voice was shaky, but grew stronger as he spoke. “We had been seeing each other for almost a year. But if you’re thinking I had anything to do with her death, you’re wrong. I
loved
her.”

The force in General Ordwinn’s declaration was almost a physical thing. It sounded like the truth, that he had loved the dead breeder as much as Mazik loved his own girlfriend.
But the best liars can make you believe anything
, Mazik reminded himself.

He hardened his heart and kept his spell ready. “What proof do you have? That you didn’t want her dead.”

“Why would I want her dead?” General Ordwinn sounded mad now, his defeated expression coming alive with anger. “If I wanted to stop seeing her, I would have talked to her, and she would have kept our relationship a secret. She said as much long ago. And even if she wouldn’t keep it secret, what’s the worst thing that could happen?
My wife could find out
,” he answered for them. “And she found out months ago. Why would I use my wife, of all people, to have Velius killed?”

“That’s . . . a good point,” Mazik admitted, and immediately winced.
You’re not making your interrogating position any better here, self.
But the general was right. The only reason Mazik could imagine Ordwinn plotting with his wife would be if Velius was planning to blackmail them, but Rhea’s betrayal had already destroyed their standing in the village. General Ordwinn had lost much more than his affair could have cost him.

General Ordwinn buried his face in his hands again. “But,” he said, his voice muffled, “I still blame myself for her death. I don’t know why Rhea decided to betray our people, if it was because of what I did or if it had been long brewing, but I’m sure she made a point of killing Velius because of what I did. She probably selected the night of the attack with that in mind.”

He laughed harshly, and looked up. “Did you know? In a way we were lucky. There are many nights where two or more trainers of Effami’s level stay overnight. If the Noble Hunt had attacked then, they would have had a better chance of capturing someone for their plans. They could have already won. But Rhea chose the night when Velius would be there, because of me.” His breath hitched, and his entire body shook. “It doesn’t feel so lucky.”

Mazik didn’t consider himself heartless. He could set aside his feelings, certainly. He had learned how to do that during his military service. If he hadn’t been able to do that, and to even laugh and enjoy a good fight, he couldn’t have become an adventurer. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care.

He had come in here with such conviction that Ordwinn had been in on it, or had at least hidden something potentially important. Now, he couldn’t help but pity the man—which, twistedly, made him even more suspicious. Mazik wasn’t sure if that was his logic or emotions talking, or his own personal insanity.

Gavi spoke for the first time since they had entered. Her voice was quiet, soft—more gentle than Mazik’s accusatory tones. For some reason, that made Mazik feel ashamed. Gavi knelt in front of the general and said, “What happened when your wife found out about the affair?”

He shrugged, both angry and disgusted with himself. “We fought. She asked how I could betray her like that. I didn’t have an answer. She asked how I could cheat on her after being married for so long. I didn’t have an answer to that, either. She threatened to have an affair herself.” He shrugged again. “I couldn’t say anything. It was all true. But I loved Velius, like I used to love Rhea, and I didn’t want to break it off.”

“Hold on.” Mazik held up a hand. “Do you know if she actually did have an affair?”

The general shook his head. “I don’t know. She was mad for a while, and there were times when she stayed at her friends’ houses—often, at first—but then she seemed to get over it. She said I could do whatever I wanted.” His smile was wry and bitter. “It was clear that she didn’t like Velius anymore, though she kept those feelings hidden from everyone but me. But she said she didn’t care. She might have done it, but I don’t know. I couldn’t ask.”

Mazik’s mind was whirling. He began pacing. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this before?”

General Ordwinn’s voice was sharp. “Would you have wanted to face Velius’s parents, as the old man nearly their ages who got their daughter killed?”

Mazik stopped, and locked eyes with the general. His expression was soft but firm. “No, I wouldn’t. But you still should.”

General Ordwinn wilted under Mazik’s gaze.

Mazik went back to pacing. “But damn, this is important information. You should have told someone.” He chewed his lip, then jabbed a finger at Ordwinn. “Don’t go anywhere, general. We’ll need some time to decide if we believe you or not. But for what it’s worth,” Mazik’s voice softened, and he lowered his head, “if you’re telling the truth, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“And if you’re lying, I’ll kick your ass myself,” growled Caspian.

They left the general where he was, at the dining table he shared with his wife, openly mourning her betrayal and the slaughter of his mistress. They hit the front door at a run.

Gavi ground to a halt with the general’s house still in sight. “Hold on, hold on!” Caspian was shouting. “I need to talk to his guards. Wait here.”

She glanced at Mazik, and he motioned her into a huddle. They lowered their heads until Gavi could feel his breath on her collarbone.

“So, about that.” Mazik nodded back at the general’s house. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That if she was having an affair, they might know something about her betrayal, or even be in on it?” Gavi nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

Mazik began hopping from foot to foot. “Ooo, here it is. The game’s afoot. Maybe this mystery stuff isn’t so bad. It can be fun, when it’s not mind-numbingly aggravating.”

Gavi laughed. “That’s true of most things, probably.”

“Could be,” said Mazik absentmindedly. He nodded as Caspian returned. “Hey, do we know if Rhea fancied women? It’d be nice to cut our suspects in half.”

A look of panic crossed Caspian’s face. “Uh, what?”

“Man, must be boring out here in the sticks. Variety is the spice of life, ya know.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” said Caspian. “She’s my old boss’s wife. How would I—”

Mazik patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.” He thrust his fist overhead. “Let the questioning begin anew!”

“And you’re just now thinking to ask this?”

Gavi stifled a smirk as Caspian sighed. The young Nijāst crossed his arms and scowled at the shopkeeper. “Yes Mis Maron, we’re only thinking of it now. I’m kind of new to this, and I’m figuring it out as I go. So? Did you hear about—”

“I understood the question,” snapped the woman. She rapped her fingers on the counter. “Give me a minute, my old brain takes a while to work. Hmm . . .”

It had been a full day since Gavi and the others had learned of General Ordwinn’s affair. Since then, they had spent every available minute talking to everyone they could, trying to discover who Rhea might have been sleeping with. Not that they were couching it like that, since they didn’t want whoever it was to find out what they were after—if there was anyone. Instead, they had been asking who Rhea had been spending time with in recent months, especially people she didn’t usually associate with. To find new people to question, or so they claimed.

In the past twenty-six hours,
²¹
Gavi had seen more of the Nijāst village than she had in the preceding four days. She had visited nearly every shop in town, which were mostly run by those who couldn’t fight, either because they were manaless or because they were elderly like Mis Maron. She was the matriarch of the family who ran the village’s lone tailor shop, and was minding the store while her son and daughter were defending the town.

It had been Gavi’s idea to focus on elderly Nijāst. What they needed was gossip, and nobody gossips like grandparents without much to occupy their time. Especially old women—in Gavi’s experience, the only thing old women love gossiping about more than a young woman was middle-aged, childless women or a scandal. Rhea fit the criteria, so it was practically assured that the village’s gossip machine would have been keeping tabs on her.

Which was true. Unfortunately, it hadn’t led to any useful information. As far as they could tell, Rhea hadn’t changed who she associated with in the months prior to her betrayal. She did the same work, visited the same places, and saw the same friends, all who still claimed to know nothing.

Mis Maron shook her head, rousing Gavi from her reverie. “No, I can’t think of anyone. Sorry, son. The old bag was boring, up until she betrayed us.” Teeth showed, her sentence ending in a growl.

Caspian didn’t comment on Mis Maron calling a woman several decades her junior an ‘old bag.’ Gavi thought that was probably wise. Instead he said, “That’s fine. Is there anyone else we should talk to?”

The old matron’s anger disappeared. She tapped her upper lip. “You might ask Dea. She lives near them, she might know more than me.”

Caspian bowed. “Thank you. Please pass my regards on to your grandchildren.”

“Such a polite boy.” Mis Maron focused on Gavi. “And what are you doing here? You’re one of those mercenaries, right? Has young Caspian been wooing you?”

Caspian’s face flushed, but Gavi had spent too much time as a waiter to be ruffled by this much. “No, ser. My partners and I are just helping with the investigation.”

Mis Maron clucked her tongue. “More’s the shame. You’d best capture the heart of some gal on your herēst, boy. We could use more girls like this one.”

After Caspian finished complaining to the old tailor—who laughed off his objections with bawdy glee—he bowed and excused himself. Gavi did likewise.

Outside, it was late afternoon, and the sun was already disappearing behind the western peak. There were no signs or sounds of fresh Noble Hunt attacks. It had been a quiet day in that regard. Gavi produced her rapidly filling notepad and opened it to the latest page. “Nothing from her. Next was Mis Dea, correct?”

Caspian nodded. Gavi wrote that down, then Caspian led the way.

As they traversed the tiny village for the umpteenth time, they passed the kennel. Gavi wondered how Mazik and Raedren were doing. Raedren was probably inside the big stone building, since she didn’t see him in the yard. He was still on guard duty, protecting the trainers and spellhounds, though Gavi assumed he was spending most of his time with Hyra. She wondered if he had told the trainer that staying in the Nijāst village was a deal breaker for him.

Probably not. Maybe we should add that to the list of things Maz or I have to ask women for him.
She considered this, but decided against it. She was happy to help break the ice, but this late in the game, Raedren was on his own.

As for Mazik, he was making inquiries elsewhere. They had decided to split up, to speed the process along. Last she had heard, he wasn’t having any more luck than them.

They were walking along the row of buildings which abutted the western cliff face, not far from General Ordwinn’s house, when Gavi heard someone calling Caspian’s name. They both turned to see a man waving and running toward them.

“Casp! Hold on.” The man slowed to a stop, then leaned over his knees and sucked in air. “Thanks. Hold on, let me get my breath back.”

Gavi examined the man. He was perhaps a year or two older than Caspian, which made him several years younger than Gavi. He was wearing more stylish clothing than the average Nijāst, which she had learned meant he was either an adventurer or an Adāst. From his familiar tone with Caspian, she wanted to guess the latter, though they had questioned many Adāst in the past few days and she didn’t recognize him. He didn’t have an accent, though for an isolated village none of the Nijāst had thick accents.

She keened the man, and found that he was a caster, with a mana pool similar to her own. She wondered why he hadn’t enhanced himself to avoid running out of breath.

“Okay. I’m good.” The newcomer straightened, then beamed. “How are you doing, man?”

“Been better, been worse.” Caspian shrugged. “Did you need something?”

The newcomer didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to Gavi and flashed a handsome smile. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Trafaul, a junior journeyman in the Adāst.” He bowed low. “How do you do?”

“I’m Ven, an adventurer from Houk. I’m helping with the investigation.” Gavi nodded at Caspian. “Did you have something you needed to ask?”

Trafaul pursed his lips. “I heard you two were asking about who Rhea was spending time with prior to the . . . the incident, yeah?”

Gavi wasn’t surprised word had spread. They had been talking to inveterate gossips. Caspian looked startled though, and didn’t hide it well. He said, “That’s right.”

Trafaul looked around, as if someone might be listening in. He pointed at a gap between two buildings. “Let’s get out of the way. Might not be good for this to be overheard.”

Gavi and Caspian exchanged a glance, and Gavi nodded. They followed Trafaul into the alley.

The Adāst man stopped to check the kitchen outbuilding to their left, then verified that all the windows were sealed. Once he was satisfied that no one could eavesdrop, he waved for them to join him beneath the stairs that led to the left building’s second floor.

Caspian huddled close to Trafaul, but Gavi hung back, taking up a position where she could see anyone entering the narrow alley. Which was good, because otherwise they would have been defeated within a minute.

The door to the outbuilding wrenched open, and Trafaul cursed. “No, you idiots, they’re not both—!” But Gavi was already moving, the world seeming to slow as she drew her sword.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Trafaul grab Caspian, but her attention was on the outbuilding. As she took up a combat stance, she watched as four figures emerged at full speed—a spotted snake, a too-large badger, and two humans with weapons drawn.