Freelance Heroics (40 page)

“—where were you when your wife led the attack on your village?”

General Ordwinn openly winced at Mazik’s question. Meanwhile, Gavi had ripped a page out of her notepad and was twirling her pencil. They needed to find out as much as they could about Rhea’s motivations, and whether Ordwinn was in on it. She began writing down questions.

“I was here, in bed.” General Ordwinn pointed to the room he had emerged from. “It was late, and I always wake up early.”

“Did you not notice when your wife got out of bed?”

The general shook his head. “She didn’t come home that night. Usually she goes to sleep later than I do, but I always wake up when she gets in bed. That night, it was the kennel bell that woke me up.”

“What did you do when you woke up?”

“I grabbed my sword, woke up Vigilance—that’s my spellhound—and headed for the kennel. By the time I got there, the enemy had already escaped, and others were telling me Rhea was among them.”

Mazik glanced at Caspian. He shrugged and said, “It’s true that he showed up at the kennel with his spellhound and sword. Can’t verify where he was beforehand.”

Gavi slid a loose sheet of paper to Mazik. He glanced at it. “Why do you think Rhea did what she did?” He waved at the room’s decorations. “Does it have something to do with her apparent love of outside culture?”

General Ordwinn looked miserable. To Gavi, he looked like a frustrated, broken man. She couldn’t imagine he was faking it—but then again, deception wasn’t her forte. Mazik claimed to have met several people who could tell impossible lies with absolute certainty. She had never asked if he was one of them.

“I have no idea. She’s always liked collecting things when she goes to the outside, but that doesn’t mean she hated it here. She always seemed happy—or as happy as my wife ever got.” General Ordwinn tried to smile, but there was no happiness there. “I guess I was wrong.”

Mazik scanned Gavi’s list. “How do you think she was able to coordinate with the Noble Hunt without you or anyone else noticing? Did she have any private hobbies or strange behaviors?”

“No, nothing like that. She was usually here or at the kennel. She had a few friends she visited. For fun she liked to play cards.” He tried to smile again, and nearly got there. “She’s always been competitive.”

“How often were you at home?”

“Unless there was a situation and we were busy, I was here most nights. I checked in on the night watch occasionally, or visited friends, but other than that.”

“And we usually weren’t busy,” added Caspian. The general didn’t refute him.

“So you’re saying she either did it at the kennel, or in your home while you were probably here.” Mazik folded his arms. “Don’t you see why that’s a little suspicious?”

A spark of annoyance entered Ordwinn’s eyes. “Son, I know exactly how it sounds. When I’m not the one
being
investigated, I do any investigating we need around here. I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t. Maybe she did it after I went to sleep, or while she was answering nature’s call.” He shrugged, with a temper this time. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” Mazik picked another question. “When do you think she first made contact with the Noble Hunt?”

“I don’t know. On one of her trips, I suspect.”

“Did she have a divine magick?”

“Yeah. It was a medical spell, from Der—Dre—I forget the damn god’s name. It was for calming nerves. She used it to help control unruly hounds.”

“Do you think she converted to the Noble Hunt’s religion?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t use her divine magick around me, and she didn’t pray any more than was necessary.”

“What do your kids think about what happened?”

“We don’t have any kids. She can’t have any, though that never bothered me.” General Ordwinn glanced at Caspian. “Didn’t you brief these two?”

“I didn’t know what they were going to ask.” Caspian seemed to remember that Ordwinn wasn’t his boss anymore. “And I wanted to let them hear it for themselves. Just answer the questions.”

General Ordwinn grunted.

They asked if there had been any changes with his wife lately. He said there hadn’t.

They asked if she was dissatisfied with anything. He said no, nothing unusual.

They asked if she had seemed unhappy. He said no, he didn’t think so.

They asked questions until they ran out, and learned nothing of import. Either General Ordwinn was hiding something, or he didn’t know anything. Gavi didn’t know how to figure out which was correct.

Finally, Mazik stood up. “Okay, that’s all for now. You’ve been very—well, you answered them all.”

General Ordwinn grunted. “If I knew more, I’d tell you, but my wife isn’t dumb. If she didn’t want me to know something, she would make sure I never found out, and she doesn’t often make mistakes.”

Gavi pursed her lips. Something didn’t feel right. She felt like the general was hiding something, or they were missing something. “. . . do you still love her?”

The general looked surprised by the question. Gavi was surprised herself. He turned to examine her, looking at her closely for the first time.

Then he looked away, his eyes unfocused.

“I courted her once upon a time. Long ago,” he said finally. “We’ve been married for over thirty years. We’ve had a good life together, and I respect her greatly for everything she is, or I thought she was. Do I burn with the same passion I did three decades ago? No. But I certainly don’t hate her, nor regret our marriage. At least, until . . .”

He didn’t need to finish that sentence. Gavi and Caspian rose, and Gavi bowed. “Thank you for your time.”

General Ordwinn grunted and waved them away. “Not like I have anything else to do. Good hunting. I hope you’ll figure it out soon, so I can help put down these Noble Hunt bastards. My wife aside, I’d like to wipe a few of them off the face of the aegis.”

“And her?” asked Mazik. “If they let you out of here, and you had to fight your wife, could you do it?”

General Ordwinn looked at Mazik, and his gaze was steely—almost. “Yes. I could fight her, and I could capture her. But if you want to know whether I could kill her . . .” His voice was thick, and he cleared his throat. “I’ll have to get back to you.”

Mazik nodded. “Until we meet again.”

General Ordwinn remained where he was, sitting at the table alone, as the door swung shut behind them.

While Caspian was saying goodbye to the guards, Mazik and Gavi conferred. “Did we learn anything useful there?” asked Gavi.

Mazik ran a hand through his hair and huffed. “Shit, I dunno. I feel like the guy’s hiding something, but maybe that’s only because I want that to be true. Nothing he said gave any indication that he knew what she was planning, even though it’s mind-boggling that he’d be
that
ignorant. And what would he gain by staying behind? He can’t do anything while under house arrest.” Mazik shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. I think maybe he didn’t know. Maybe.”

“They could have had a falling out,” said Gavi.

Mazik grunted. “Maybe we should have just done stupid guard duty. I have a feeling this is going to be a pain in the ass.”

They were silent until Caspian returned. The young Nijāst looked at them optimistically. “So, did you figure anything out? Where do we go from here?”

Mazik jammed his hands in his pockets. “We need time to think this over. Let’s go see if Raedren has a girlfriend yet. Wanna come?”

Caspian looked puzzled, but shrugged. “Sure.”

“Great.”

Raedren stared up at the ceiling. It was an hour past sunrise, but he didn’t feel like getting out of bed. So he didn’t. He had the covers pulled up to his chin, and was staring at the ceiling, his mind wandering.

The door opened. Raedren’s eyes snapped shut.

After several days in the Nijāst village, they had fallen into a routine. While Mazik and Gavi spent their time on perimeter duty or questioning people about Rhea’s betrayal—though the latter was happening less often, he had noticed—Raedren spent most of his time at the kennel, with Hyra. It was only during the mornings and nights that he got any time to be alone, to think.

“Wake up, ya idiot.” The pillow disappeared from under Raedren. He groaned and rolled over.

“I’m not your girlfriend. Don’t make us get you up when we all know you’re already awake.” Mazik tossed the pillow at Raedren’s chest. “Making other people wake him up is
my
thing.”

“Of course it is.” Raedren pushed himself up by his elbows. “I’ll be out in a minute. Let me get dressed.”

“If you take too long, I’m gonna eat your breakfast.”

“Do it and I won’t save you the next time you do something stupid.”

“Oooo, morning Raedren is feisty!” Mazik pantomimed fear, then settled down. “Either way, hurry up. Your shift starts soon.”

Once Mazik was gone, Raedren dragged himself out of bed. He tugged on his trousers, then walked to the window and pulled the curtains aside.

Aside from the occasional shout or explosion when the Noble Hunt attacked, the Nijāst village was quiet. Too quiet for Raedren’s taste. He was a city boy, used to hustle and bustle of Houk, where there was always something happening, even if it was rarely anything good.

In the past, acquaintances had been surprised to learn that Raedren liked it that way. True, he enjoyed spending time by himself, preferably with a good book, and even when he had the endless possibilities of the big city around him, he rarely took advantage of them. But he liked having the option. More than that, he liked the feeling of so many lives around him. It made him feel safe, like he was part of something grand, and it even made him less lonely. Raedren didn’t need to take part in others’ lives to be comforted by them. He just needed to know they were there.

Some people say it’s easy to feel alone in a crowd. Raedren preferred it that way.

The Nijāst village had none of that. It made him uneasy. The other villages they had stopped in hadn’t bothered him, but they had only been passing through, and no one other than his friends had expected anything of him. Here, he felt exposed. Ever since their arrival, the locals had been watching him. It made him uncomfortable.

He let out a long breath, then finished getting dressed. He grabbed his staff from where it leaned next to the door, but stopped before opening it. He stared at the closed door for a long minute, mustering his energy for another day.

I wouldn’t be happy in a small village like this
, he told himself.
Especially one that’s cut off from the rest of the world. I made my decision. It’s right. Hold firm.
He took another breath, let it out slowly.
Hold firm, hold firm, hold firm.

The trio approached the kennel shortly before Raedren’s shift was set to begin. Gavi walked between the two men. All of them were silent, for their own reasons.

She glanced at Raedren. His face was blank, his eyes focused on the path ahead.

Were she someone else, Gavi might have thought nothing of it. Raedren was often silent. But this was different. She had known him since high school, and any gaps in her knowledge had been filled once they started risking their lives together. Raedren often looked contemplative, or mildly curious, or lost in thought, but those were different from the blank expression he wore this morning. This was more like how he looked before a battle. It looked like he had walled off his emotions, so he could confront the coming challenge as dispassionately as possible.

Gavi supposed that wasn’t far from the truth. She and Mazik remained silent, to give their friend time to prepare.

“Good morning!” Hyra greeted them as soon as they entered the kennel’s courtyard. She was standing on the front steps, with several spellhounds sitting at attention around her. One—the young male known as Twenty-seven—immediately broke ranks and trotted toward them. As Mazik did likewise and dropped to his knees to greet the dog, Hyra ordered the other spellhounds to follow her. The two groups converged in the middle.

“How are you doing today?” Hyra’s question was directed at all of them, but her smile was all for Raedren.

She was dressed up again, Gavi noticed. Ever since they had arrived, her clothing had gone from sensible tunics and trousers to stylish dresses, skirts, and blouses. Today she wore a sleeveless cream-colored dress with a brown belt around her midriff and light lacing on the bodice. It was short enough to emphasize her long legs, and fashionable enough to make Gavi wonder where she was getting these outfits in a hidden village. It was also completely ill-suited for her job. The skirt was already speckled with golden fur, as the rest of her outfit would be by day’s end.

“We’re good.” Raedren shifted, angling so the conversation included Gavi and Mazik too.

Gavi took the hint. She bowed. “Good morning. You look lovely today.”

“You think so?” Hyra twisted her hips, more leg showing as her skirt fluttered. She looked at Raedren, her expression inquiring.

Gavi couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought Raedren was blushing beneath his beard. “Er, yes. You look beautiful.”

“Who’s a good boy?” Mazik was whispering from knee-height. Twenty-seven’s tail wagged, steadily wiping away the chalk outline of the training area.

Raedren stepped away from the group. “I need to check in.”

“After that, would you mind helping me?” Hyra pressed her hand to his arm “I could use help training this group in protection, if you don’t mind.”

“Uh, sure. If they don’t post me somewhere else, yeah.”

Hyra gave him a dazzling smile. “Great. I’ll see you shortly.”

No one said anything until Raedren had left. Then Hyra turned to Gavi. “So, how have the two of you been doing? Are you still assisting Caspian with his investigation?”

Mazik stood, though he kept patting Twenty-seven. “Yeah, sort of. Not as much the past two days, though.”

“We haven’t been making any progress,” explained Gavi. “We’ve talked to General Ordwinn several times, and been all over his house, and talked to several others—”

“Tons of others,” added Mazik.