The Price of Faith (18 page)

Drake stopped a good few feet from Jez and swept a low, overly formal bow that should have been reserved for royalty. Jezzet doubted he ever bowed to anyone like that, even the empress, there was something mocking in the way he bent so low. He was impeccably dressed as always; elegant trousers dyed black with gold trim and high boots that reached up almost to his knees. He wore a black shirt also with gold trim from a material that looked a lot like silk but his jacket was as fine as any Jez had ever seen; deep, royal blue and cut so well it made him look the very definition of noble. His hair was the colour of dark oak and cut short but not too short, it teased the bottoms of his ears. A single gold tooth glinted at her from his mouth, catching the light of the sun.

“You look radiant in the afternoon light, Jezzet Vel’urn,” cooed Drake, his voice soft and velvety. The sun was behind Jez and just starting to dip, it bathed the entire balcony in hot, white light and she doubted it did anything good for her complexion.

She stared at him, doing her very best to give him the impression she really didn’t care but Drake ignored the hostile look and walked past her, taking up a position leaning against the rail of the balcony and staring back into the garden. He brushed his hair away from his face and watched Jezzet.

Damn but the man is pretty.

“You failed…” he started.

“You were trading slaves,” she interrupted.

“What…”

“Fuck, Drake. You weren’t just selling slaves they were noble. Taught from birth to be pliable and pleasing and you steal them from their families and sell them to… who? Where were you taking them? What the fuck were you thinking?”

Drake laughed, a loud throaty laugh full of mirth and more honest than anything else about the pirate. When he stopped he spoke with a hushed voice. “If I was trading slaves, why’d I hire you to protect them? Reckon my own men could have done a fair better job comes down to it.”

Jez looked at him sceptically. “To keep your name away from the situation.”

“Aye, that’d be the reason I hired you but if I were slaving why would I bother? Captain Drake Morrass gets linked to slaving and exactly who gives a fuck? Even a few noble bints. I might piss off a family or two, sure, but with the empress sucking my cock every night who the hell is gonna kick up a fuss?”

“Then why…”

“I wasn’t stealing those women, Jezzet… Or, well, I was but not for slaving.” Drake affected a smug smile. “I was saving them.”

“Liar!”

“Hard to believe isn’t it. True though.”

“Drake Morrass doesn’t do anything without a profit for himself,” Jezzet said though she was no longer so sure of her own words. Her mind was already working on the implications if what he said was true.

“Oh believe me, there was a fair sized profit for myself. Far more, in fact, than I’d have made selling those lovely, nubile cunts. They, or their families, were paying me to save them from the harsh life of a Soromo mistress. I was supposed to take them to Larkos where they could… well they could do whatever the fuck they wanted far as I cared. But that’s all over now because
you
saved them from
me
and gave them back to their magistrate husbands or masters or whatever the fuck they call them.”

If it was true than Jez had
rescued
the women from freedom and committed them to a life of slavery, exactly the opposite of her intentions. “So save them,” she said. “You say they were paying you to get them out. Find them and kidnap them again.”

Drake laughed and shook his head. “I said they paid me. Past tense. I made sure to get paid up front. Wherever those poor women are now is not a drop of concern to me. You feel that guilty about giving them over to their oppressors, you go save them.”

“I couldn’t…”

“Nah,” Drake said smiling again. “You wouldn’t. Jezzet Vel’urn is well known for being only out for herself.”

Jez took a threatening step towards Drake and he held up his hands in a placating manner. She was a good half a foot smaller than him and usually she was well accomplished at scaring men but Drake didn’t look in the least bit frightened, just amused.

“I didn’t come here to fight Jez. In fact I brought a peace offering.”

Drake’s hand went to the hilt of the long sword buckled at his hip. Before it got there both Jez’s short swords were out, one held in defence, ready to block and the other pointing at Drake, ready to kill.

“Don’t try it, Drake,” Jez said though a part of her hoped he would.

“You think if I wanted you dead I’d be stupid enough to attack you myself? In single combat?”

“Well I do hear you’re crazy.”

“Aye. I’ve heard that one too, also goes that I was birthed by O’tstetta, the sea Goddess and after she squeezed me out I turned right around and ate her.”

Jez snorted out a laugh. “Can’t say I’ve heard that one,” she still held her swords ready but she got the distinct feeling Drake had no intention of fighting her.

“Nah, I just made it up. Think I might pass it around a bit though, reckon it’ll take.” Despite the sharp, dangerous blades pointed his way Drake pulled the long sword at his hip from its scabbard and Jez felt her jaw drop. “You recognise it then?”

I bloody well should, it’s my sword!

“I lost it overboard,” she said. “How the hell did you rescue it.”

Drake grinned wide making him seem even more handsome. “Spawn of a sea Goddess.”

He reversed his grip of the sword and held it out for her to take hilt first. After a moment’s consideration Jez decided he was unlikely to try anything and re-sheathed her short swords before reaching out, desperate to be reunited with her long sword.

Just as Jez’s hand reached the hilt Drake flipped it away, the sword flying through the air and clattering to the stone floor of the balcony. At the same time the pirate reached inside his jacket for his hidden knife. Jez reacted just as fast. As the knife flashed out at her she dodged to her right and made a grab for Drake’s arm. He pulled away and jumped back a step, positioning himself between Jez and her long sword.

She crouched down into a ready stance but did not draw her swords, something told her she didn’t need to. “What are you doing, Drake?”

He grinned at her, his gold tooth drawing the eye as it glinted in the sun light. “Just having some fun.”

He rushed her, his hand a blur of motion as the knife flicked at her. Jez dodged once to her right, then ducked and span away. Drake didn’t let up but Jez was ready for the fourth strike. She caught his wrist and twisted. The pirate captain twisted with her and stepped in close. Jez found herself all too close to Drake, close enough to see the individual hairs of his perfectly groomed stubble, close enough to smell the earthy musk of his scent.

The blade of the dagger was close to her neck but not close enough to cut and her own hand was on the hilt, between the edge and her skin.

“See,” Drake said, his breath smelling of mint with a tang of rum. “Isn’t this fun?”

Yes.

Jez kicked the pirate in the shin, stepped away, span around with her hands still on the knife and stepped close again. By the time Drake had recovered from the shock of being kicked he found Jezzet just as close as before but this time the knife was at his neck and he did not have a hand between the blade and his skin.

“Has anyone ever told you, you’re very flexible, Jezzet.”

She grinned. “Many times. And he’s seen just how flexible.”

Without warning she gave a hard shove and Drake stumbled backwards, letting go of the knife and catching himself on the railing of the balcony. Jez walked over to her fallen long sword, picked it up and threw the dagger over the side of the balcony into the crystal clear waters of the pond below. She turned and stalked off down the pathway away from Drake.

“Thanks for the sword,” she called back, not bothering to turn around. She hoped he would curse or shout back but all she heard from Drake was the sound of his braying laughter as she walked away.

Waiting on royalty or nobility was an unfortunate necessity in Jezzet’s life these days but it was one she was becoming accustomed to. It still grated her nerves but she understood the why of it. D’roan, the nobleman from the untamed wilds who had treated her as his own personal slave for months, had delighted in schooling Jez in the ways of politics and the games those with power liked to play. It was a crude way to show importance, magistrate Hideo Rurin had summoned her and now she was here he was making her wait.

You could leave, Jez.
She turned and looked at the guards waiting by the paper panel that served as a door.
Not like either of them could stop you.
They were dressed in heavy robes buttoned right to left and each held a single curved sword across their backs. Jezzet had never liked the idea of keeping a weapon sheathed so, one of Yuri’s teachings he instilled in her with practical example.

They had used a plain long sword in that example and each had wielded a copy of the other. Jez had the weapon sheathed across her back, the handle poking out above her right shoulder and Yuri had his blade at his hip. They had drawn at the same time. If anything Jez’s reactions had been faster, if only marginally, than Yuri’s but every time Jez had been dead before her sword had cleared its scabbard and every time Yuri had painfully made his point. She had the scars to prove it.

One of the guards noticed her watching and glared. Jez blew the man a kiss and laughed as the fool blushed. She had to admit they were disciplined, all men in the Dragon Empire seemed to be disciplined. In the wilds folk rarely sat still and most guards were little more than thugs given purpose but here in Soromo they were trained warriors and attendants, able and willing to sit still on their knees for hours on end seeing nothing and hearing nothing unless their master required help.

Jezzet chose not to kneel on the mat provided her; she lounged, propped up on her elbows. It was a petty little insult to the magistrate but she didn’t care, she also knew such a blatant display of her breasts, even underneath layers of clothing, would make the man uncomfortable. The men of Soromo always seemed to become uncomfortable around that they that couldn’t have.

I miss chairs
. Jezzet decided as she waited. There wasn’t a single chair to be found in the whole damned empire, unless you counted the bone monstrosity they called a throne. Jez did not.

The paper panel door slid open and magistrate Rurin stepped through. He paused mid stride when he saw how Jez had positioned herself and his cheeks coloured. He coughed and pulled his purple robe close around him.

Such a subtle way to hide his arousal.
Jez grinned at him.

“Blademaster Vel’urn,” the magistrate said as he knelt on one of the floor mats and crossed his hands, hiding them inside his robes.

Been a long time since anyone’s used your full title, Jez. Last time was… never. I feel so appreciated.

“Call me Jezzet,” she said, noticing that the man never quite managed to lift his gaze to her eyes. “Sorry. Were you addressing me or my breasts?”

Magistrate Rurin’s nostrils flared but behind her Jez heard one of the guards gasp and the other surge to his feet. The only reason she didn’t kill him was he hadn’t yet drawn his sword.

“Father, you cannot allow this… this woman to talk to you such.”

“You should probably tell Rurin junior to sit back down,” Jez said. “Unless you can afford to lose another son.”

Magistrate Hideo Rurin took a deep breath and then waved at his son. “Sit down, Hachi. Blademaster Vel’urn is our honoured guest and will be treated with the up most respect.”

Jez doubted anything the man could have said would have made her more suspicious. Hideo Rurin had been one of the most ardent supporters in the
get rid of Jezzet Vel’urn
movement from the very beginning and now she was his honoured guest.

Careful, Jez. Something doesn’t sit right here. When in doubt, meet your enemy head on.
Another of Yuri’s teachings both in combat and in life. She was a woman and not a large one, men rarely expected her to stand toe-to-toe with them.

“What’s your game, Hideo? First you want to throw me out of your empire and now I’m a… shouldn’t the honoured guest gets snacks? Or at least a drink?”

“You did us a great favour, Blademaster. You brought back our wayward women.”

“Oh, that.”

The magistrate shifted a little, no doubt uncomfortable at the idea of treating a woman as his equal. “I would like to make you an offer, Blademaster Vel’urn. One I believe you will not be able to refuse.”

Jez almost laughed. “Let’s hear it.”

“I want you to leave. Tell the Dragon Empress you have enjoyed your stay but it is time for you to go. Tell her it is time for you to continue your travels, or to see another part of the world, or to go back to whatever backward place it is you call a home.”

This time Jezzet did laugh.

“In return I offer you life…”

“An interesting offer considering I could take yours right now, and no,” she looked over her shoulder at the two guards, “you couldn’t stop me.”

“I offer you your life and that of your lover’s. Refuse me and I will see you executed for your crimes.”

Jez fixed the annoying man with a stare as cold as the deepest sea. “I refuse. Whatever it is you think you can do to me, or him, I dare you to try.” It was perhaps a little over the top but Jezzet did not respond well to threats and this man was without a doubt threatening her. “Seems to me the only reason you want me gone so bad is because you’re scared so, no. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I offer you one last chance to reconsider, Blademaster Vel’urn.”

Jezzet stood and made her way to the exit. “Goodbye magistrate.”

“We have a hero in our midst,” the empress of the Dragon Empire declared with a smile.

Any of the Gods listening? I swear I’ll learn and remember your name if you stop this before it happens.

The empress gestured Jez’s way. “The Blademaster Jezzet Vel’urn.”