Hired Blades

Lazy Serpent-2

“Fine by me,” Bear says.

The others shrug. The plan is accepted. When the thieves regain consciousness we question them separately. They give up the name Cole Baren after a short while. The guys know of him. He’s a moderately successful fence with a wide range of contacts in the local underworld. If you want something done but don’t know who to turn to, you go to him and he conveys the request for a reasonable fee. This means we know nothing about the real employer.

It’s almost noon by the time we finish questioning the thieves, so we’re about four hours from the city. If they send an army after us on horseback they will catch us up, but if that was their plan they could do it anyway. You can’t go off-river on a boat. The thieves’ death really would gain us nothing. We untie them and toss them in the river without cutting their throats. We see them make it to shore before they disappear into the lush greenery.

We spend the afternoon in peaceful tranquility. True to its name, the barge floats lazily in the early summer heat surrounded by the cacophony of life. Animals come to the river to drink, birds sing, screech, chirrup, and coo as they criss-cross the sky, hunting for the unfortunately abundant insects buzzing by. The water sloshes and splashes, accompanied by the gentle susurration of the trees. Near the rare settlements women wash clothes gossiping and chit-chatting while the kids squeal and laugh playing in the cool water. There aren’t any large predators in the river that would endanger them. Nature is gentle near the Grenolite River. If you’re unlucky, you could run into a bear or a wolf in the forest, but the most vicious, blood-thirsty animals around here are the mosquitoes. Even most of the snakes aren’t poisonous and the venomous ones are brightly colored, easy to spot and avoid.

We sit on the deck enjoying the peacefully noisy scenery, talking to pass the time.

“So, you’re the captain of a barge,” I observe brilliantly. “How did that happen?”

“Why, just because I’m a woman I can’t be a captain?” she asks with pretend indignation.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant,” I answer sarcastically. “Women should just stay in the kitchen, doing… hey guys, help me out here, what do women do in kitchens?”

“Have s*x on the table,” Blade answers, and we all laugh.

I catch Dancer looking at me and I blush at the memory. Yeah, he knows his way around a kitchen. Fortunately, no one notices my embarrassment because Blade turns to Captain with a look that would melt any lesser woman into a puddle, leans closer to her, and whispers loud enough for all of us to hear “I could show you how it’s done.”

A shiver runs down my spine from only watching him, but Captain is made of sterner stuff. She waves Blade away as the naughty boy he is.

“I know how tables work, thank you very much, I have a son.”

“You do?” Bear and I ask in unison.

“Where is he?” I ask, looking around.

I did not see any sign of a kid.

“He’s all grown up now.”

I look around again, checking the sailors this time, but none of them behave like they’re the captain’s son. She sees my calculating expression and answers the question I didn’t ask.

“He settled on dry land. Mostly dry, anyway. He lives in Swampsmeadow, has two kids of his own. I visit them whenever my job takes me nearby.”

She glances at Blade, waiting for the news of her being a grandmother to sink in. It’s probably a turnoff for most men, but Blade’s not one of them. He looks at her like he’s ready to eat her up, and she blushes and looks away.

“So how did you become the captain of a barge?” I ask again before the heat between the two would get too uncomfortable.

“My father was a captain, so I grew up on the river then I married another captain when I was eighteen. When he died, I took over the Serpent.

“Sorry for your loss. How did it happen?”

“Pirates.”

Silence settles over us. I shouldn’t have asked. How do you move on from a subject like this?

“Yeah, pirates are though. That’s how I got this,” Blade says, indicating the scar across his face.

I know for a fact that he got it far away from any body of water and the blatant lie throws me. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Being able to lie convincingly is a valuable asset in our line of work, and we are encouraged to practice in stress-free situations so we can do it well under duress. I feel silly. To make things worse, my odd reaction spikes Captain’s interest, and she scrutinizes both of us.

“Why are you so surprised?” she asks at last.

“We don’t talk about that night,” I lie using the truth. “We lost good men.”

Actually, that was when I lost my husband. I look away, watch the scenery. Is it just me or did the forest become grayer, the birds more solemn? I let out a sad sigh. It’s probably just me. Life goes on. For the living, anyway.

“How did the four of you meet?” Captain asks.

It sounds like a genuine question, not just something to carry the conversation. Blade answers.

“We were recruited from the streets at a young age and we trained together…”

I let the melody of his voice and the tranquility of the river soothe me. I pay barely enough attention not to contradict him later. He manages not to mention the Fort as he talks a bit about our training and upbringing. Most of us lived on the streets before the talent seekers found us. They roam the towns and whenever they find a street kid with potential, they ask if they want to join. Most of us were happy to have somewhere to go. We received years of incredibly thorough training and worked off the tuition later. After that, we became free mercenaries, but I never declined any job coming from Control, so in a way I still work for him. Who am I kidding, I’d die for him, the Family and the Fort. We all would. But we would do it from our own free will and probably would ask to be paid.

Blade skips almost every aspect of our training and focuses instead on funny anecdotes and soon everyone chips in. We all have strange, ridiculous, or embarrassing stories. Captain apparently enjoys herself and she seems flattered by Blade’s constant compliments. The sailors join in, telling about their adventures, and it’s not long before the stories become dirty. It’s okay, though, Captain and I are both accustomed to this. Women, who don’t spend most of their lives in male company would be offended, but we both know it’s not a sign of disrespect, on the contrary, it means they treat us as equals, and there’s no higher compliment than that.

We tie up for the night at a tiny village, and the sailors go out to drink. They invite us along, but we’re on the job, we stay sober and on board. We’re tired from the previous night, so we assign the shifts of guard duty and go to sleep. We change every two hours. Bear has first shift.

Dancer and I look at each other with a shy smile.

“Should we…” he starts, then looks away, clears his throat and starts over. “Would you consider… spending the night?”

My heart flutters and I suddenly don’t remember if I was trying to breathe in or out.

“It would be a shame to waste the opportunity,” I answer.

It sounds way sluttier than I intended, but it’s true. Dancer is similarly amazing in bed as he is in a fight: controlled, unpredictable and breathtaking. But what is even more important, I trust him. With him I can be sure there’s no trick or ulterior motive, we both know it’s not a trap so we can relax, let loose and have fun. Trust is incredibly rare in our line of work, so our nights together are exceptional in more than one way.

I wake up when he leaves the cabin, but I go back to sleep immediately. If he’s guarding my back, I’m safe. It feels like only five minutes pass when he comes back. It’s Blade’s turn. This time I really don’t know how much time goes by because I wake up to shouts. Something’s wrong. I run on board wearing only a shirt, but with weapons in both hands. Dancer has pants on. He got dressed when he was on duty.

I see about twenty armed men on shore, trying to get on board. Blade cut through all but one rope tying us to the pier. The Lazy Serpent stands at a sharp angle to the shore, making boarding difficult but not impossible. Some of the attackers manage to come on board and we fight. One on one we’re better than them, but if they swarm us, we’ll be seriously outnumbered. The raiders work on pulling the barge back to shore and turning it to a more convenient angle. If we want to prevent that, we’ll have to cut the last rope soon. Unfortunately, none of us knows enough about sailing to judge which is the greater hazard, letting the assault team on board or floating uncontrollably down the winding river in the dark. Luckily Captain woke up too and comes up before we have to decide. She’s quite the sight. She wears an honest-to-goddess white nightgown and looks like a vindictive ghost. More and more sailors appear, summoned by her voice as she shouts orders left and right. I don’t understand any of them, but thankfully they do. They release the last rope and guide the Lazy Serpent to the middle of the river. The most determined attackers wade into the river, but they stop when the water level reaches mid-thigh. The river is cool and they wouldn’t stand a chance climbing on board, so why suffer such inconvenience? Thank all the gods, they don’t have bows so they just shout angrily. We did our part, now it’s the sailor’s turn to keep us alive. We’re lucky Captain knows the river so well she could stir the barge in her sleep.

I can’t be sure, but this did not feel like an everyday attack. I’ll ask after I get dressed. Bear and most of the sailors are also in their underwear. I look around once again for any danger then decide Blade and Dancer can take anything that comes our way in the next few minutes so I retreat to the cabin.

Everything is calm when I get back. The crew has complete control of the boat. They use paddles and poles to propel us forward. “Can we travel during the night?” I ask Captain.

“It’s needlessly risky,” she answers. “The river widens out shortly and we can anchor there. If they attack again we move on, otherwise, we stay until sunrise.”

“What’s the minimum personnel you need to get us moving?” Blade asks.

“About third of the crew.”

“They should stay on board just in case, but the others should have some rest.”

“Not my first attack,” Captain replies, annoyed.

“Was this a normal attack?” I ask mostly because I want to know but partly to prevent an unnecessary fight between her and Blade.

Captain is in charge of the barge, Blade did not question her competence, but she’s stressed out and tired, while Blade rarely takes it lying down when people snap at him.

“What do you mean by normal?” Captain asks, still irritated. “We don’t get attacked often, but it happens from time to time, that’s why I hire soldiers.”

“Not what I meant. Was this an average group of assailants?”