Freelance Heroics (52 page)

“That we are. Just as soon as we collect our payment.”

“Shame.” Caspian jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I would’ve rather had you all stay until the end, rather than those turncoats.”

Everyone turned to where Caspian was looking at the several adventurers gathered around the kennel, their weapons drawn as they watched everyone who came and went.

Raedren understood what he meant. After the battle with Rhea and Boern, once he and the others had found a safe place to hide, they contacted Captain Sie and told her about Rhea’s death and Boern’s escape. With their employers gone, the mercenaries they had hired decided their job was finished, and the Nijāst quickly rehired them to push the Noble Hunt out—and, since Boern had paid them with embezzled Nijāst funds, most of them agreed to do it free of additional charge. Now they were staying to guard the village until the Nijāst were ready to leave, at which time everyone would be kicked out.

“Yeah, well, they’re already paid for,” said Mazik. “We would charge extra for more work. No question what’s better there.”

Gavi and Hyra embraced. “I’ll miss you all,” said Hyra.

“Us too,” said Gavi. “I wish we’d gotten to spend more time together, but I’m glad we met.”

Hyra gave Gavi a sly smile and tapped her chest. “Is that just because I taught you how to get better at casting?”

Gavi batted her hand away, playfully. “No! Well, yes, that too, but not
just
that.” The two women laughed.

Better get this over with
. “You have been getting better,” said Raedren, smoothly interjecting himself into the conversation.

Gavi held up a hand and spoke one of her spell names. There was a tiny flash of light, and Raedren thought he felt a small breeze. She smiled tightly. “It’s a little late to help with the whole Boern situation, but thank you.”

Mazik barged into the conversation, wrapping an arm around Gavi’s shoulders and, in the absence of a working right hand, tried to muss her hair with his cheek. “I think the one who came up with the plan that saved all of our bacons doesn’t need to feel guilty.”

Gavi protested meekly, her face flushed. “I’ll complain about whatever I want to, thank you very much.”

From the opposite end of the kennel came the sound of yelling, and then the spellhound currently known as Twenty-seven burst around the corner. It barreled into Mazik’s legs, nearly knocking him to the ground. Its tail was wagging fiercely.

“Goldilocks!” Mazik knelt down, trying to keep the excited dog away from his injured hand. Gavi knelt to pet the dog, who immediately turned his affections on her.

As Caspian turned to the sputtering trainer who had been chasing Twenty-seven, Raedren realized he had been left alone with Hyra. An uncomfortable silence settled over them. He knew what he needed to say, but he couldn’t deny the feelings he had realized when Boern tried to capture her. He had been trying to stifle those feelings, to force them away, but he had never been good at that. He just felt miserable.

He was saved from having to do anything when General Ordwinn appeared. “The general’s here,” he said stiffly.

“Excellent.” Mazik rose, wiping fur from his hands. Gavi kept petting Twenty-seven, so the dog leaned into her.

General Ordwinn bowed, then extended his left hand. “Mas Kil’Raeus. Nice to see you again.”

Mazik took his hand, pumping it twice. “General and/or Chief Ordwinn, thanks for agreeing to meet with us here to talk about our payment.”

“It’s fine. And General will do.” He nodded to everyone before turning back to Mazik. “I doubt I’ll remain chief for long. Not after what my wife did.”

Raedren wouldn’t have known what to say to that, and apparently no one else did either. General Ordwinn pulled a folder from his back pocket and cleared his throat. “Now, your payment. The agreed upon amount is—”

“Hold on. There’s a reason I asked you here.” Mazik rested his hand on Twenty-seven’s head. The spellhound licked him. “We want this guy as part of our reward.”

General Ordwinn stared at him for several long seconds, enough to make it clear that he was pausing for effect. “I think you underestimate how expensive our spellhounds are. This one would take all of your payment and then some.”

“I’m sure that’s the case
normally
, but I believe we’re dealing with extenuating circumstances.” Mazik stepped closer—trying to subtly invade General Ordwinn’s personal space, Raedren knew, to put the general on his back foot. “After all, you would have lost your monopoly on training Nijāst Golden Spellwolves if it weren’t for us. In fact, I would argue that, not only do we deserve to have this guy, you’re underpaying us.”

General Ordwinn snorted, and he and Mazik began arguing—
negotiating
, Raedren supposed, though it just seemed stressful to him. But Mazik was having fun, and Raedren didn’t want to do it, so he left him to it.

After a while, General Ordwinn grunted and tore a page from his folder. “Fine. Your payment will be ten percent of the original sum plus this spellhound. I’ll instruct Knapp to give you the cash portion once he guides you back to town.”

Mazik took the offered invoice and bowed. His grin was fierce. “A pleasure doing business with you, general. Please contact us if you need help again. If we’re in the area, we’ll come running.”

“As long as you don’t expect to get another spellhound without paying full price,” said General Ordwinn. “This is a onetime thing. And if anyone asks, tell them you
did
pay full price, understand?”

Mazik laughed. “But of course.”

Ordwinn closed the folder and returned it to his back pocket. “Is there anything else?”

Raedren realized that Mazik was looking at him. He shook his head. Gavi did likewise. “Doesn’t look like it,” said Mazik.

“Then I’ll be on my way.” General Ordwinn bowed. “Thank you for your assistance. I wish—” He hesitated. “I wish I had been more attentive of my wife, and less selfish, and that your help hadn’t been necessary. But thank you for stopping her. I—thank you.”

No one said anything. There was nothing to say. They watched as General Ordwinn left, his steps rapid as he left the kennel grounds. Raedren couldn’t imagine what the general was feeling, to have seen your wife betray everything and everyone you’ve ever worked for, and then to have thank the people who killed her. Even if he had cheated on her, Raedren didn’t imagine that was easy. They all remained silent until General Ordwinn was out of sight.

Mazik dropped to his knees and ruffled Twenty-seven’s ears. “Did you hear that, boy? You’re part of the team now. Welcome to Team . . . Team We-Should-Really-Think-Up-A-Cool-Team-Name.”

“Catchy,” said Raedren and Caspian at the same time. They both looked at each other, and Mazik laughed.

“Speaking of, why don’t you come with us, Casp?” Mazik rested his arm on the dog’s head. “You’re pretty good in a fight, and we seem to work well together. We could use someone like you in our many exciting adventures.”

Raedren frowned. He was thinking that it was rude to ask that in front of Hyra, but Mazik must have been on the same wavelength. “Er—I would ask you too, Hyra, but I know you can’t leave. Can you? I mean, if you wanted to, you’re welcome. We’d probably have to help you brush up your combat skills, but you’re a great caster, and we’d be happy to—”

“No, that’s okay.” Hyra waved at the kennel. “I need to get back to work. Before you leave, would you like me to teach you the commands we use for our spellhounds? I can write them down too, but it helps to practice them.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” said Gavi.

Hyra took a step back, then hesitated. She looked at Raedren. “Thank you. To all of you,” she added quickly. “Thank you for helping stop them. Like the General said, I wish it hadn’t been necessary, but—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” said Mazik. “Not like you could control what they did.”

Hyra nodded, and pursed her lips. She glanced at Raedren again. His heart was pounding as the words he needed to say bubbled up, but he froze. It was Hyra who ended up speaking first.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, and this time Raedren knew she was talking to him. She stepped closer, and his heart broke at the regret he saw on her face.

“I’m sorry he captured you to get at me. It’s just . . .” Hyra trailed off, and she gave him a wistful smile. “You’re going to make some woman very lucky. Thank you for not leading me on when you knew you didn’t want to stay. I really respect you for that.”

Raedren nodded. He didn’t know how she knew he hadn’t wanted to stay, or if she even did know—she could just be guessing—but he certainly didn’t know what to say. So he just nodded, his chest aching.

Hyra went up on her tiptoes and kissed Raedren on the cheek. Then she smiled again, still sad, still regretful. “I’m sorry, and thank you.”

Raedren stood there, still frozen, as she retreated to the kennel and slipped inside. He kept watching until the door closed, and for several long moments after that.

Mazik watched his best friend as Hyra left. He was proud, to be honest. Many a hopeless romantic would have deluded themselves into thinking there was still a chance, and fought to bring her along, or even tried to stay. But Raedren had remained steadfast. Mazik just wasn’t sure what lesson he was going to draw from this.

Maybe it’s time for Rae to take a new tack with dating
, Mazik considered. He chewed on that for a moment, then pushed it out of his mind for now. He turned to Caspian. “So, what do you think? Want to join us for a life of adventure, see the outside world, stuff like that?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Caspian. “Not now, at any rate. I still have another year until my herēst, and I want to repay my parents and everyone who raised me by finishing my service. But I’m already connected with you, so if I change my mind, I’ll give you a call.”

“I respect that,” said Mazik. And he did. He thought back to his first impression of Caspian. For someone he started off thinking of as a punk kid, Caspian was all right.

“So, should we go learn those spellhound commands from Hyra now, or come back later?” asked Gavi.

While she and Caspian discussed it, Mazik patted Raedren’s shoulder. His friend looked at him and nodded. They didn’t need to say any more.

The following day, Gavi, Mazik, and Raedren were on the road leaving Gernd, the Jihnsruckian border town where they first met the Nijāst. Knapp and his remaining Adāst had led them back there the previous day, without the knockout gas this time. Now the trio plus one was heading south, toward the famed city of Olihás, in Jihnsruck’s eastern neighbor of Cajival. It wasn’t long before the big Aulítra Festival was set to begin.

Gavi watched as Mazik walked in front of the group. He was humming merrily. “I’m glad ’ol what’s-his-name gave us those recommendations. Those’ll be nice when we get to the festival.”

“That’s true.” Gavi knew who he was talking about. They had traveled back to Gernd with most of the same group they arrived in the village with, and that included the adventurer from Olihás they met on the first day. Mazik had hounded him for festival recommendations until the man finally cracked. “I’m surprised you never found out his name.”

“Oh, I did. It just took so long I got used to calling him what’s-his-name.” Mazik looked at the ground behind him and laughed.

Gavi smiled as Mazik jogged in circles. Their new spellhound friend had been following Mazik everywhere since they left the Nijāst village. He seemed equal parts excited and unnerved by the wide new world he had been thrust into.

Raedren, who was walking beside Gavi, said, “What is it?”

She realized that she had been chuckling. “Oh, it’s nothing.” She nodded at the spellhound. “I was just thinking that he looks like Mazik’s golden shadow.”

The two of them watched as the dog followed Mazik. His tail was wagging and he had a big grin on his face, an expression Mazik happily returned.

 
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I hope you enjoyed my second novel,
Freelance Heroics
. Whereas my first book was the realization of a dream, with this one I had a more modest but no less important goal: to prove that I’m not a one-book author. After all, nobody wants to read a series that’s never going to get finished. Hopefully this puts some of that concern to rest.

This past year and a half has been a strange one for me, which is why it took me longer than I planned to finish this book. While I wrote
Wage Slave Rebellion
at night while working a stable office job, by the time it was published I had been laid off, and I didn’t settle down to another traditional job until recently. I spent the intervening time traveling, writing, and doing freelance work, which means I need to thank people for new reasons this time.

Thank you to everyone who let me stay with them while I was wandering. Thank you to my alpha reader Brian Hughes for letting me sleep on his floor for a month, and to Simon and Jeanmarie Rouswell for letting me invade their house for another. Special thanks go to Brian Housand for encouraging me to come visit him in Shanghai, because, and I quote, “Why not? What’s stopping you?” Good point, Bhous. It was super fun running amok in China with you.

Thank you to my aunt Nannine and uncle George, who let me stay in their house for a couple months. I think I wrote a majority of this book there. Thank you also to Jeremiah Ray, for being willing to live with me for a quick year in Denton, TX—and then forgiving me for moving out early. I gotta go where the jobs that keep me writing are. You know how it is.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the team who helped me put this together. To my editors, Jim Thomsen, Christina Tinling, and Katy Portier, thank you for cleaning up after my mess and making me look good. Ditto to my illustrator, Johann "Papayou" Blais, who put together another kickass cover for me. Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren look so cool!