The Grim Company (4 page)

He caught movement out of the corner of his left eye and spun, dropping into a crouch. As he felt the steel pass harmlessly over his head, his right elbow rose and crunched into the cheek of his assailant, who flopped to the ground. He pulled his greatsword loose of its scabbard with his other hand as he completed the rotation, raised it just in time to parry the other soldier’s follow-up attack.

His opponent stepped back and blinked. ‘Fuck,’ he said.

‘Aye,’ nodded Brodar Kayne. ‘Let’s get this over with. I need to piss.’

Greatsword and longsword came together. Kayne hardly moved as he casually responded to the wild thrusts of the Watchman. In desperation, his opponent launched an overhead slash intended to cleave his skull. Kayne neatly sidestepped it and brought his own blade sweeping around at waist height.

The Watchman stared at the entrails spilling from the bloody mess where his midriff had been. He dropped his sword and moved to gather the glistening, snaking things in his hands, but then dropped them in disgust.

Always bad when that happens
, Kayne thought sympathetically. He raised his greatsword and cut the man’s head from his shoulders.

Wiping the blade clean on the corpse’s tabard, he sheathed it behind him and then walked over to the other Watchman, who was struggling groggily to his feet. He grabbed the soldier’s head and smashed it four, five, six times into the side of the warehouse. Holding the body upright with one hand, he took the dagger from the dead man’s belt with the other and let him fall.

He turned the dagger around in his hands. It was a fine enough weapon. The hilt and guard were plain, but the pommel was inset with a large ruby and the slightly curved blade radiated the soft blue glow that signified an enchantment of some kind. He sheathed it at his belt and was just starting back to the tavern when a cough got his attention.

‘Almost forgot about you,’ he muttered to the moaning lad. ‘Suppose I should thank you for this. Might be tough finding a merchant who’ll take it off my hands here in Dorminia, but it’ll fetch a tidy sum elsewhere.’ He hesitated for a moment, then raised a boot and placed it over the boy’s neck. ‘Sorry about this,’ he said. ‘More of those rotten bastards will show up soon. If they find you here, you’ll be wishing you was dead a hundred times over before the day is out. I’m doing you a favour.’

The lad’s face turned blue as Kayne’s boot pressed down on his windpipe. His hands flapped weakly. A pathetic gurgle escaped his lips. Grey eyes met his, wide with the terror of death.

They were begging him. Pleading with him.

Kayne looked away. He remembered that same look, eyes of a similar hue on a face much the same age. Recalled the mad agony as Mhaira’s wild screams hammered at his skull and the sickening stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils while he scraped his arms bloody on a cage that refused to yield.

He looked down at his forearms. The marks were still visible, though it hardly mattered a damn. There were other, worse scars to carry. The kind that changed a man forever.

Sighing heavily, the old barbarian removed his boot from the lad’s throat and hauled him upright, tossing him over his shoulder with an ease that belied his years. With a final grunt, he turned and loped away as fast as his creaking legs would carry him.

The Wolf was well into his cups by the time Brodar Kayne stumbled into the grimy tavern near the slums. The patrons of the smoky dive cast curious glances at him as he dropped his groaning burden to the ale-spattered floor. His back ached like a bastard.

He’d grown soft, that was the problem. They could be on their way east to one of the Free Cities by now. He doubted any of them could compare to this sprawling, stinking place – but they were well within the Unclaimed Lands, where no Magelord held sway and magic wasn’t contraband as it was in the Trine. The dagger at his belt would fetch a chieftain’s ransom from the right people.

But no. Instead he’d been unmanned by the bloody fool who was now writhing around at his feet.

Jerek had spotted him. He was sitting in the dingiest corner of the tavern, hunched over his beer, casting dark scowls at anyone foolish enough to meet his gaze. His bald head reflected the torchlight, giving him an angry red glow. His eyes narrowed further as Kayne stalked over.

‘Time to go, Wolf. I had a run-in with the local authorities. They’ll be all over this place like a rash within the hour.’ He waited expectantly as his friend slowly drained his cup and refilled it from the pitcher in the centre of the table.

Jerek looked up at him briefly. Then he raised his cup and drained it again. ‘Who the fuck’s that?’ he asked in his gruff, rasping voice, slamming the cup down and nodding at the youth across the tavern. His tone was almost conversational. An ominous sign.

Kayne sighed.
Might as well get this over with
. ‘The lad? He was about to be murdered by a couple of those bastards with the red cloaks. They told me to step aside. I weren’t that way inclined.’ He waited patiently for the outburst he knew was coming.

Jerek stood up suddenly. He wasn’t a tall man by Highlander standards, though he was plenty broad. Fire danced in his dark eyes as he stared at the boy. He stroked his short beard, which was black and shot through with grey. The stroking became a tug. His mouth began to twitch.
Here it comes
, Kayne thought.

‘
Fucking unbelievable!
’ the Wolf growled. He slammed his fists down on the table, upsetting the pitcher, which tumbled off the edge and spilled its contents on the floor. He reached behind him and drew his twin hand axes.

The Wolf gestured at the boy with a shake of his left axe. ‘That cunt? Who’s he? Nobody. Let him die. Makes no difference to us. You had to go and get involved, didn’t you? Thought we’d done well. Made it here alive. Looked forward to a night of drinking. Well deserved. Can’t say it ain’t, all the shit we’ve been through. Planned to get myself some pussy tonight, did you know that? Don’t look that way now, does it? Always the hero, that’s you. I’ve had it with this shit.
I’m fucking tired
.’

Kayne waited patiently for Jerek to finish his rant. The Wolf might be the angriest person he’d ever met in a world full of angry men, and he might be quick to draw blood when a calm word was all that was needed to defuse a situation, and he might have a tendency to alienate just about anyone who spent more than five minutes in his company, but at the end of the day he was the closest friend he had ever had. You take the rough with the smooth, as his father always used to say.

Jerek had stopped to draw breath for a moment. The old Highlander seized his chance. ‘Calm, Wolf. We’ll steal a couple of horses and ride east to the Unclaimed Lands. We’ll be there inside a couple of days. See this?’ He drew the glowing dagger from his belt and held it up. ‘Magic. Belonged to our friend over there. I reckon it will fetch us thirty gold spires. Maybe more.’ A thought occurred to him. ‘Didn’t you say you were desperate for female company? You’ve been drinking for the past three hours. Plenty of whores over in the corner there.’ He pointed to the opposite end of the tavern where a small group of scantily dressed women were attempting to solicit business.

Jerek scowled. ‘Fancied a drink first. Can’t a man wet his whistle? I’d empty this tavern’s cellar and still do ’em all raw and you fucking know it, Kayne. Impugning my manhood. The front on you.’ The Wolf’s grip on his axes tightened and his knuckles turned white.

‘Nothing meant,’ said Brodar Kayne hurriedly. ‘Just an observation. Let me have a quick word with the owner of this joint and then we’ll be out of here.’

He moved over to the bar, where a man with a monstrous boil on the side of his nose watched him suspiciously. Kayne rummaged around inside the pouch at his belt and withdrew two silver sceptres. He placed the coins down on the bar. ‘See that lad twitching around on the floor over there? I want a roof over his head for as long as he needs to get himself up and on his feet again. He’s got a few cracked ribs and his head will hurt like hell for the next day or two, but he’ll live. If the Watch happens to stop by here, you never set eyes on him. We understand each other?’

The bartender’s eyes went to the coins and then to the struggling youth. He shook his head and pushed the silver away. ‘My life’s worth more than your sceptres can buy, Highlander. If the Watch discovers me sheltering an outlaw they’ll burn this place down. I have a wife and a daughter—’

He was interrupted as the door of the tavern swung open and a rotund man wearing a blacksmith’s apron burst into the common room, sweat trickling down his soot-plastered face. He spoke in a high-pitched voice completely at odds with his appearance.

‘Important news, fellas! The city’s under lockdown! No one is allowed in or out of Dorminia until further notice. The order’s come straight from Lord Salazar himself.’

Brodar Kayne glanced across at Jerek. The Wolf was tugging at his beard again. ‘Since when?’ he asked the blacksmith. He had a sinking feeling.

‘Since just now,’ the man replied in his girlish voice. ‘Something big’s happened. Something to do with Shadowport and the war over those bloody islands.’ He rubbed at the bristling whiskers on the sides of his face. ‘There’s a group of Watchmen just south of here. They’re searching for someone. Apparently a pair of the bastards got murdered nearby.’

Shit
, Kayne thought.
How did they react so fast?
He turned to Jerek.

‘We’ll make for the harbour and find somewhere we can lay low.’ He felt a tugging at his trousers. The lad was struggling to pull himself up. Kayne reached down and hauled him to his feet.

The boy immediately bent over, his hands curled around his chest, drawing in ragged gasps of air. Then, remarkably, he straightened up. Pain was writ large across his blood-caked face, but there was a determined look in those steel-coloured eyes.
So. You’ve got some backbone after all
.

Jerek had stalked over and was now staring balefully at the youth. To his credit, the boy met the Wolf’s gaze and didn’t flinch.

‘My name’s Davarus Cole,’ he said, in a voice that held a curious strength in spite of his obvious pain. It was almost as if he was reciting some kind of speech. ‘I know a place north and west of here where we can seek shelter from the Crimson Watch. We’ll be among friends.’ He coughed and spat out a glob of blood. For a second he looked as if he would faint. Then he seemed to notice the two Highlanders watching him, and he shot the bloody spittle a hard glare.

Kayne scratched his head. This Lowlander was a strange one all right. ‘I’m Brodar Kayne. This is Jerek. Can’t say I have a better plan, so we’ll take you at your word. What is it?’ He noticed the boy staring at the belt on his waist. ‘Ah. That. I’ll be keeping hold of this dagger for a while, on account of me saving your life.’

Cole looked as though he was about to protest, but Jerek shot him a look that screamed brutal murder and he promptly closed his mouth.

Kayne reached over and gave young Davarus Cole a reassuring pat on the back. ‘Right then. Lead on.’

Crossroads

 

 

 

The city was abuzz with activity as Davarus Cole led his new companions through a winding maze of side streets. Fortunately, they encountered no Watchmen among the bustling crowds.

Fate smiles on me once again
, Cole thought in satisfaction. His chest throbbed and blazing pain shot through his skull with every laboured step, but at least he was alive.

He cast a quick glance behind him. The older Highlander was of impressive height, almost a head taller than Cole himself. He looked to be around fifty. Despite his advancing years, the man’s lean muscles were evidence that he’d lost little of his strength. His broad-nosed face was weathered and creased. An ugly scar began just beneath his left eye and ran diagonally to just below his cheek. The Highlander’s grey hair had receded slightly and thinned a little at the crown, but the mane still fell impressively to the nape of his neck. Silver stubble covered his face, but his deep blue eyes were undimmed by age.

All in all, Brodar Kayne looked exactly as Cole imagined the stereotypical Highlander barbarian would look – albeit one who was a score of years past his prime. Cole suspected that women would still consider him handsome, in a fatherly kind of way.

The same couldn’t be said of the silent figure stalking alongside him. Cole judged Jerek to be somewhat younger than Brodar Kayne, perhaps in his early forties. Shorter than his compatriot yet still a few inches taller than Cole, he was a burly man with the kind of countenance that gave children nightmares. His dark eyes stared out from a scowling face horribly burned on the right side. His head was hairless save for a short beard.

Jerek’s eyes met Cole’s own and bore into them. ‘Problem?’ the Highlander growled at him. His hands shifted slightly towards the twin axes on his back.

Cole cleared his throat. They had arrived at the Hook. ‘We’re nearly there. You see the crumbling building on the other side of the plaza?’