Tricks of the Blade, page 6
The woman laughed, looking to the Alchemist. He nodded once, then the woman removed her face. Aerrus and Linet watched in horror as she tore at her skin, ripping long stretches of it into wet, squishy bits that curled up in a pile on the rug at her feet. No, not her face...a mask!
The woman beneath looked nothing like Valendri, except for a vague similarity of head shape and hair color, a canvas for the Alchemist to work on. He beamed with pride. "An excellent simulacrum, no? A thing of gum and plaster and paint, and a little low alchemy. The illusion doesn't quite convince close up, but it gets the job done. This poor dear has worn it for a week waiting for you."
"Speakin' o' which," she said, holding out an expectant hand covered in crumbs of flesh-colored makeup.
The Alchemist pressed two gold coins into it. "You see what sort I'm forced to work with? No matter, though I'm disappointed I only snared two of you. Confident lot, aren't you? Lock them up, we'll use them to draw more out of their forest nest, and be rid of the king's pet birdies once and for all!"
"So, I'm cynical and paranoid am I?"
"Yeah, I never said you were wrong though." The cell was too small for them to pace in, so after kicking the bones of the previous occupant out of the way Aerrus leaned against the wall with arms crossed while Linet examined the corroded bars for any flaw that might let them escape. "So Valendri's really being held somewhere else?"
"Or she was never kidnapped at all. For all we know she's working with the Alchemist. But then why the elaborate disguise? I don't understand any of this, except that they'll probably string us from that balcony to lure more from the Lodge."
"Then they don't know us very well." Linet yanked at a bar, more out of frustration than any expectation that it would yield. "Dammit, it was too easy, I should've seen it!"
Over the next hour news of their capture spread throughout the castle, and sounds of celebration echoed up from the courtyard. They were left alone in the cell as the men below drank and sang while, judging by the noise they were making, the woman who'd tricked them danced for their entertainment.
"Figures," said Aerrus, "a party in our honor and we aren't even invited."
Linet was about to provide a snarky reply when the door to the stairway creaked open and someone crept into the chamber holding a small rushlight in one hand and something long and heavy in the other. It was one of the guards: a short, bearded man in ill-fitting armor. He set down his weapon—a sledgehammer, oddly enough—and stood before the cell, regarding the pair but saying nothing.
Aerrus held out his hands, saying, "Something I can do for you, fella?"
"Who...who are you?" The voice was oddly pitched, as though trying hard to sound lower than natural. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, you new to this party?"
Linet rose from where she'd been sitting, sensing something odd about this guard. "What do you mean, who are we? Who are you? No offense, but you don't seem well matched to the mercenary profession."
"No." The guard set down the light, removed their dented helmet. Long, dark hair tumbled out. He—she pulled at the beard and it came off in handfuls.
"Oh, not this again," Aerrus groaned.
But when the disguise fell away this time, it was Valendri standing before them. The real Valendri. "Gods I hated that beard! Itched every moment of every day."
"It's you!" Linet exclaimed. "Finally! But I don't understand, why would the Alchemist—"
"The Alchemist, gods rot him, has no idea I'm here. The beard was my own doing. Not as fancy as that devilry he concocted, but it worked."
"But why are you here?" Aerrus demanded, frustrated. "What is going on?"
"It's Morrik," she answered, bile dripping from the name as she spoke it, "he's not hunting the Alchemist, he's in league with him! He waited until the king was away, then hatched this scheme to get rid of me. And you, it seems."
"Your own father?" asked Linet with a look of disgust.
"Stepfather!"
"Whatever."
"The bastard hates me, and the feeling's mutual. He tried to have me kidnapped, but the goons he sent were...subpar. I managed to wrench the whole plot out of them, along with some fingernails. They were going to use me as bait, and when I was killed in the rescue attempt—I guess that's where you came in—use my carcass as a prop to show how the king can't keep order, an excuse to depose him. I guess if they couldn't get me, a fake would do. I got here just yesterday, blended in with the mercs to take care of the Alchemist myself before dealing with Morrik. I never got close until...strange feeling, seeing your own face looking back at you, I almost gave myself away."
"Incredible," Aerrus said. "Well, can you get us out of here? We'll capture the Alchemist together and you can have the credit. Your family squabbles are your own affair."
"He's keeping the key to the cell on him; I doubt I can get close enough to swipe it. But then," she hefted the sledgehammer, "anything can be a key if it's heavy enough."
"You're likely to knock the whole tower down around us," Linet said with worry.
"Stand back." Valendri swung the hammer at the wall where the bars were driven into it. Aerrus and Linet winced at each loud clang, sure it would bring the guards from their revels below or the Alchemist from above. After three blows the dilapidated stone gave way, and they scrambled free of the cell just as a section of wall collapsed. They snatched their bows and arrows from a pile in the corner of the room, leaving their clumsy armor disguises behind.
"What in all the seventeen hells is that racket—argh!" A guard barged into the chamber to investigate the hammering, and Aerrus instinctively sent an arrow hissing within an inch of Valendri's face, splitting several rusted mail rings over the guard's chest and penetrating into the filthy linen underpadding. He fell back and tumbled down the stairs.
Valendri stared in wide-eyed shock. "N-nice shot. Please don't do that again."
"Quickly now," Linet said as she finished hooking a quiver to her belt.
Rushing back up the tower stairs to the Alchemist's chamber, they encountered two more guards. Aerrus punched one and left him dazed, and Linet shot the weaselly man they'd met earlier in the side where his brigandine was missing plates. Valendri marveled at the skill while the man collapsed, spitting curses.
"You shot me! You bastards, you shot me!"
Linet poked and wiggled the protruding arrow, making him grimace in pain. "Oh, hush, you big baby, you'll live. And you might as well stay down, you're about to be out of a job."
Valendri gave the guard an extra kick for good measure as she passed by. "More mercy than I'd have shown, lickspittle."
At the top of the stairs Valendri halted them. "Good job. If you two can hold off any more goons, I think I can get close enough to take him, er, into custody."
Linet frowned. "You sure?"
Valendri nodded. "Trust me."
Her odd new allies left behind, Valendri strode onto the chamber balcony. "Boss! 'ay, Boss!" She'd heard the decoy woman's voice only briefly, but maybe it was a close enough match.
From the far room a plaintive answer came. "Oh, what is it? And what is all that to-do down below?"
"The men are drunk and fightin,' and I've had enough of 'em. Come out here and let's talk some business."
The Alchemist emerged bleary-eyed, apparently having been interrupted while napping. "Business? What do you mean, woman, speaking to me like that?" He tossed her a nasty glance and walked over to the balcony, looking down. "I don't see any fighting, what are you—wait."
He turned back, rubbed at his red eyes. The decoy woman had worn Valendri's face for so long, at first the Alchemist hadn't remarked at seeing it again. "Where did you get another...? You. It...it's you! What are...? Guards! Guards!"
Valendri smiled at him as no guards came. Without his tricks and alchemical weapons he was just a pathetic old man. "Those rangers want to take you captive. Gentle souls, but they should still prove useful. Thanks for introducing us."
The Alchemist's face twisted up in impotent fury. "You...you're a venomous snake, just like your father!"
"Stepfather."
He sneered. "Whatever."
Valendri delivered a powerful kick, and the Alchemist tumbled off the balcony.
Aerrus and Linet charged into the chamber upon hearing the cry to find Valendri standing alone on the balcony. Aerrus peeked over the edge, already guessing what he would find. "How'd that happen?"
Valendri shrugged. "We struggled, he tried to throw me over. Had no choice."
"Uh-uh."
Below, the Alchemist's broken body made it clear to the remaining mercenaries that they were all indeed out of a job, and any inclination to fight they might've had evaporated.
"Rejoice," Valendri said with a grin, "you're freed, that traitor Morrik has no other allies of significance, and within a week the king will have a brand new cryptarch!"
Aerrus and Linet shared a look that said much, little of it encouraging. "Great," they both said.
Thank You
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Reprints by permission:
"Demons of the Mount " Copyright © 2015 by Eric Lewis. Originally Published by Short Fiction Break at www.shortfictionbreak.com.
"Justice Enough " Copyright © 2017 by Eric Lewis. Originally Published by Electric Spec, Volume 12, Issue 2, May 2017 at electricspec.com.
Copyright © 2020 by Eric Lewis. Published by Mannison Press, LLC at Smashwords.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
First Edition 2020.
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Editing by Morgan Schafer at Mannison Press, LLC.
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About the Author: Eric Lewis
By day Eric Lewis is a research scientist weathering the latest rounds of mergers and layoffs and trying to remember how to be a person again after surviving grad school. His short fiction has been published in Nature, Electric Spec, Bards & Sages Quarterly, the anthologies Into Darkness Peering, Best Indie Speculative Fiction Vol. 1, Crash Code, and other venues detailed at www.EricLewis.ink. His debut novel The Heron Kings is due out in early 2020.
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