Hunter's Bounty (Veller) (40 page)

It was a strange sensation, like being stretched thin and th
en pulled through a keyhole. When she came out the other side she was dropped the ten feet to the stone floor below, the impact driving the air from her lungs and leaving her dazed. Before she could get to her feet or even take a breath Scarlet grabbed her arm again and yanked her through the nearest wall. This passage didn’t go as smoothly as the floor and she felt herself come to a sudden stop as if someone or something had grabbed her right leg causing her to fall face first onto the floor. The floor may have been wooden but it wasn’t any softer than the stone. She tried to get to her feet but found that her foot was still inside the wall. To see her leg suddenly end at the face of the wall was a bit unsettling. She tried to pull it free but there was no movement. She even tried wiggling her toes but she couldn’t feel them either.

“It’s no use.” Scarlet said with a
melodic laugh as she pulled one of the many chairs over and sat down in front of her. “It’s not stuck so you won’t be able to pull it free. Aside from actually cutting your foot off, the only way out is through me.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?”
Kile asked.

“Simple. I could free you… should I feel like it, but at the moment I don’t.  At least this way I know you can’t go… feral on me.”

“They’re going to be looking for me.”

“Of course they are, they think you escaped, but by the looks of this place, I don’t think anyon
e has come down here in quite a while, so we have a bit of time.”

“Time for what?”

“For the poison to take effect.”

“Poison, what poison?”

“Look at your hand.” She laughed.

Kile
had been so concerned about her foot that she hadn’t felt the scratch on the back of her hand.

“Don’t worry about it too much.
It's not the same stuff that I used before, although it’s still lethal, it takes a little longer to kick in, I say about an hour, possible two for most people, but you, you’re not like most people. You were able to fight off the Bari, although you shouldn’t have been. How did you do it? How did you survive the Bari serpent’s poison?”

“
Bari serpent?”

“That poison should have killed you
. It did kill you I saw you die. How did you defeat the poison?”

“How the hell should I know?”
She exclaimed as she pulled at her leg again.

“I suppose it really doesn’t’ matter
now.” Scarlet said shaking her head. “After today, nothing will matter. You see, Ravenshadow has just given me your contract. I kill you and I’m set for life.”

Scarlet got up from the chair and turned her back on Kile as she walked the length of the room, running her finger over the dusty tables.

“You see, you’ve outlived your usefulness.” She laughed.

Kile tried to free herself from the wall but the more she
struggled the more it hurt, it was like trying to pull her own foot off, it just wouldn’t budge. She looked around the room to see if there was something, anything that might be used to pry herself free, although she didn’t really believe that was possible from what the assassin had told her. She could already feel her heart racing, was that the Maligar creeping in again or was it just the effects of the poison? She had heard of animals that had chewed off their own feet to free themselves from a trap. Would she do that under the control of the Maligar? Without even thinking would she chew off her own foot? The thought of such an act made her nauseous to say the least. She had to maintain control. She can’t let the madness overtake her again. What was the phrase that Scarlet had used? She couldn’t let herself go feral.

Kile
closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the dusty room, the damp floor, the smell of jasmine and a hint of lavender. There it was, the smell of lavender and leather, faint, but getting stronger. She reached out with her edge, stretching as far as she could, searching the rooms, the halls, the floors until she found minds that would listen to her; mice in the pantry, a cat in the kitchen, a dog in his master’s office, pigeons on the window sill, even the horses in the street. She opened her eyes.

“So that’s it.” She said, taking a deep breath. “He no longer needs me alive.”

“Why should he. As I’ve said, you’ve outlived your usefulness.”

“So he’s given up trying to frame me?”

“It served its purpose for what it was worth. He delayed the hunter’s long enough, shifted the power struggled, and kept the west blind, all while seeking justice, or at least his version of justice.”

“At least he could think outside
the box, can’t say the same about you.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Scare asked as she turned to face Kile.

“I’m just saying you’re not very… original.”

“I’ll have you know that I am one of the greatest assassins the guild
has ever known and will ever know. You should consider yourself honored to have been dispatched by me.”

“Please, I haven’t seen anything
too impressed me so far. I mean, I’ve seen the aftermaths of... what?... five targets, and I didn’t see anything different, they were all done the same way right down to the burning of the houses to cover your tracks, and even then you weren’t very efficient at it.  Where’s the originality, where’s the flare.”

“Originality? Flare?” She shouted as she moved towards Kile.

“Look at me. You have the opportunity to kill me for a second time, and the best you can come up with is poison… again. You’re not very imaginative for an assassin.”

“Maybe I’ll have to show you how imaginative I can be.” Scarlet said as she
produced a thin bladed silver knife. Scarlet took a step towards her and that was when a small grey mouse slipped through the crack under the door and ran across the floor, passing between Scarlet’s legs and coming to a stop beside Kile.

She
wasn’t sure if Scarlet was surprised by the mouse’s behavior, or she was just scared of mice, but she stared at the mouse, and the mouse stared back. It wasn’t long before another one entered the room. This one came in through a small crack in the wall behind the bookshelf and was joined by a large brown rat. The mouse came up to Kile the rat approached Scarlet who slowly backed away.

“This place is infested.”
She replied as she stepped back from the rodents. “Maybe I should just leave you to the rats.

“That is one possibility.” Kile replied. “At least it’s… kind of… original.”

“I’ve seen it done before.”

Kile looked past Scarlet to see
Erin standing in the center of the room, her sword drawn and pointing in the assassin’s direction. It was about time she had gotten here, although Kile couldn’t tell how the lady hunter had entered the room without making a sound. She was, however, surrounded by a few mice of her own so there was no mystery on how she had found her way.

“It would seem that I underestimated you.” Scarlet remarked as she turned to face
Erin. “I thought I would have more time.”

“Did you really think that we wouldn’t have Kile under surveillance?”

“I had hoped that bringing her down here would have made for a longer search, but no bother. Now I have the opportunity to deal with both of the female hunters.”

Before
Erin could respond, Scarlet struck first, or at least tried to as Erin quickly sidestepped the attack. Their weapons clashed and Erin spun in lower to counter, but her blade sliced through the air as it passed right through the body of the assassin, leaving Erin vulnerable. She jumped backward, barely avoiding Scarlet’s blade and collided with the table, sending the chairs toppling over. Scarlet tried to capitalize on her opponent’s miss-step but Erin easily knocked the blade aside and counter, only to cut through the air once again.

“You wanted originality.” Scarlet
laughed. Her voice whispering through the air as her body reformed behind the hunter.

“Watch out.”
Kile screamed.

Erin
had just enough time to get her sword up as Scarlet’s blade came in low. She turned to face the new attack and Scarlet’s body dissolved once gain, being carried on some unseen breeze.

“The problem with hunters is that they never truly learn to use their edge.”

Scarlet’s voice was like a harsh wind as it cut through the air, and
Erin had no way of telling which direction she would attack from next.

She
came in behind her again and this time Erin wasn’t able to get completely out of its way as Scarlet's blade cuts a clean line on her left thigh. Erin staggered back and tried to counter but there was no one to counter against as Scarlet body dissolved back into the air once again.

“I can keep this up all day, can you lady hunter.” Scarlet taunted.

There was nothing Kile could do as she watched the exchange. Her edge was all but useless in this battle as the mice were no match against an assassin that just wasn’t all there. Her only chance to help Erin was to distract Scarlet long enough to give Erin the upper hand. If they could capture the assassin, it would go a long way in proving her innocence.

She
pulled herself to her feet, or to her foot, as she balanced herself on one of the chairs that had recently fallen in her directions. She fell into her edge and let her feral senses take over. It was all a matter of timing, and when the timing was right she pushed the chair with all her might and watched it slide across the floor.

It happened so fast that none of them understood it, until it was all over. The ethereal form of Scarlet maneuvered her way behind Erin once again and the chair slid into the space of her body as she took form. Erin spun around to defend herself, but there was nothing to defend against.

“NO!” Kile cried.

Erin slowly backed away. Kile fell to her knees. Scarlet stood motionless in the center of the room.

“I didn’t… that wasn’t
…”

“Kile, it’s all right,
you had no choice.”

“She was my last chance.” Kile said shaking her head.

“Don’t be so sure, even if we had been able to take her in, I doubt if she would have helped you, or if the council would have even listened to a member of the assassin’s guild. Now let’s see about getting you out of there.”

“How?
I’m kind of attached to the wall and she was the only one that could get me out and I just…”

“You did what you had to do, and for that I’m grateful.”
Erin said as she knelt down beside Kile and ran her hand over the wall where the young girl’s leg was still attached. “It’s not one of my specialties, but I do know the skill.”

Erin
got up, took a deep breath and cleared her mind. She stood in front of Kile and took hold of her hands. “Just relax” she told her as she fell into her edge

The feeling wasn’t as disturbing as when Scarlet had done
it. With Erin in control it was more like floating, but all her parts floating in different directions, and then she felt herself being pulled back together until she was solid once more and was able to set both feet on the ground.

“Ow!”

“What? Are you alright?”

“Yeah… it’s just my foot fell asleep.”

Erin picked up her sword as Kile hobbled over to where Scarlet stood.

“That is just… wrong… so… wrong.” She said as she walked around the assassin.

Scarlet had completely solidified around the chair and was stuck standing up, her arms hanging limply at her side, her head lolled back.

“You… can’t… do anything for her… can you?”
She asked.

“I’m afraid not.”
Erin said as she came up beside her. “It’s not quite like a leg stuck in the wall. It’s a little more complicated.”

“So much for my chances of proving my innocence.”

“Come on, we should get you seen to.”

“Oh, that’s right. I was poisoned again wasn’t I?”

***

“Are you sure she used a poison, because I can’t detect any in
your body.” Daniel said as he stepped away from the cot.

“She said she did, and I thought I felt it, but… I don’t know.”

“Well, either way you appear healthy enough.” He replied as he placed his things back into his bag.

“Great, I’ll be healthy for my execution.”

“Don’t say that. Master Adams says there is little chance of that happening.”

“No, he just says I’ll probably spend the rest of my life in Blackmoore, and since I’m healthy, it should be a long life.”
She said as she slumped back in the cot, then she saw the look on Daniel’s face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to depress you as well.”

“How can I not be depressed, I mean, I kind of feel responsible.”

“I don’t know why you feel responsible, you didn’t do anything.”

“That’s just it, I should have helped you. I should have
gone with you to the Tally house. I should have helped you solve this problem, instead…”