Freelance Heroics (9 page)

Gavi slumped against the ground. “But I’m not any good at any of this.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Cóstan. “I think you may be almost there.”

The whistle sounded and the gong was struck, and struck again and again as trumpets blared. In the distance the announcer was saying something, whipping up the crowd into an even greater frenzy, but Gavi wasn’t listening. As the bindings disappeared, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the sky. Cóstan appeared above her and extended a hand.

“Thank you,” said Gavi as she rose. She watched as the Gate of Life opened, and Mazik and Raedren ran out, or at least hobbled with as much speed as they could manage. They practically fell all over each other to get to her, if only because their legs weren’t working well right now.

“That was amazing!” said Mazik, throwing his arm around her. Raedren gave her a thumbs-up as he steadied himself with his staff.

“Huh?” said Gavi as Mazik ruffled her hair. “But I lost.”

“Ah, well, yeah, that sucks. But what a fight!” said Mazik. “You were
this
close. That was badass!”

“But we still lost,” said Gavi. “That—”

“That means Plan B,” said Mazik as he turned to face the Guildmaster’s Council. He paused to wave to the announcer, and gave him a thumbs up.

“Plan B.” Raedren scratched his beard. “Running away?”

“The other Plan B. Shhhh!” said Mazik.

“What a contest we were treated to today!” boomed the announcer, his face red as his voice carried across the arena. “Now that the wager has been decided, I would like to invite our esteemed guests from Houk’s Adventuring Guildmaster’s Council to say a few words to today’s combatants!”

The guild leaders stopped in the process of getting up to leave. They looked between each other and whispered.

“Please, don’t be shy!” said the announcer.

Warmaster Evii stepped to the fore. She rested her hands on the wall and raised her voice. “On behalf of myself and my colleagues, I would like to praise everyone who fought today. Both our own members and the challengers fought bravely and well. We will continue to serve the people of Houk as we always have. Thank you, and may the gods—”

“Just a minute!” said another voice. A man stepped forward to stand beside Warmaster Evii.

“I know good fighters when I see them, and we would be fools to let these three go!” said Guildmaster Oluuf Jas’Shaeur of Collateral Damage. He was having trouble fighting down his grin. “My guild and I will take them under our wings, and train them into adventurers the city can be proud of!”

“We accept your invitation!” said Mazik. The crowd cheered. Not everyone understood what was going on, but a Houkian can always tell when someone’s being taken advantage of, and they approved. It’s how most of them made their living.

Warmaster Evii stared at Guildmaster Shaeur for a long second, and then turned to the crowd. “We welcome the newest members of Collateral Damage, and look forward to their future as they help us serve this great city.”

The crowd was still cheering when Warmaster Evii and the other guild leaders left, a few of them shooting Guildmaster Shaeur dirty looks on their way out.

“See?” said Mazik, back on the arena floor. “I told you not to worry.”

“You planned this out, didn’t you?” asked Gavi.

“Of course! I wasn’t sure he’d actually do it, though.”

Gavi sighed. “Tell us about these things next time, won’t you? I damn near killed myself trying to win.”

“Would you say you fought harder because you thought we had to win?” Mazik waved his hands as Gavi opened her mouth to reply. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I only talked to him earlier today, so I didn’t know. I didn’t want to distract you. I’ll tell you next time.”

Gavi sighed. “Fine. I’m too tired to argue. Let’s just go.”

“Great! In that case, can you do me a quick favor?” asked Mazik. “Please help me stay standing. I think my legs are about to give out.”

“Oof!” said Gavi. She wrapped her arm around Mazik’s waist while Raedren grabbed his shoulders. “What makes you think we’re in any better shape? You’re the only one who didn’t lose outright. Come on.”

“But my adoring fans . . .” said Mazik, waving at the departing crowd. No one waved back.

“Come on,” repeated Gavi, maneuvering him toward the still-open Gate of Life. Mazik stumbled on the first step, bringing his face close to Gavi’s.

Gavi felt her chest tighten. She pushed Mazik upright to hide her embarrassment.

I really need to talk to someone about this
, thought Gavi. Kalenia’s face popped into her mind, and she shook her head. She jabbed Mazik in the side. “I said walk!”

Mazik met Tomar in a dark alley. It was the dark alley right next to Mazik and Raedren’s apartment, but Mazik felt only a dark alley had the appropriate ambiance.

“How has work been?” Mazik shoved his hands into his pockets and rubbed his legs. It had been two days since the contest at The Pit, and his wounds hadn’t healed yet.

“Horrible, as usual.” Tomar was wearing a jacket, and had a grocery bag slung under his arm. “Rose has been managing us less, though. Hardly pays attention to us anymore. I think we’re going to get a new manager soon.”

“It could only be an improvement . . . is what I’d like to say, but who knows.”

“At least I’m not getting kicked in the face.”

“Hey, that face-kicking-in gig just made you a lot of money,” said Mazik. “Speaking of, gimme.”

Tomar reached into the grocery bag and pulled out a plain brown moneybag. “Here.”

Mazik hefted it a few times. “Looks good. I’ll give this to Rae and Gavs in the morning.”

“Wait, what? I thought you were the one who placed those bets.”

Mazik shook his head. “I only put money on us winning the whole thing. Gavi and Rae were the ones who bet on us beating the odds. I just had you enter their bets too.”

“That makes no sense,” said Tomar. “If you seriously thought you could win the whole thing, why didn’t you bet on winning just three matches as well? You missed out on a lot of money.”

“Who said I was confident? If they had brought more guys like that last one, we’d have been screwed.” Mazik shoved his hands back into his pockets. “Gavs probably did better against him than any of us would have, even if he was going easy on her. He would’ve whooped my ass.”

“That makes even less sense.”

Mazik laughed. “Hey, I never told you to bet on us! It worked out, though. But to answer your question, I only bet on us taking it all because I didn’t want to win anything unless we won everything.” He shrugged. “I wanted to give myself a little extra incentive to push forward, or something like that. Though I would’ve put money on us getting into a guild if that was an option.”

Tomar sighed. “That’s ridiculous. Remind me never to take gambling advice from you again.”

Mazik patted him on the shoulder. “I understand. You should treat yourself to something. Hey, I know! Why don’t you use all that money you just won?”

“You’re my least favorite person.”

Mazik grinned. “Have a good time at work tomorrow.”

“I don’t even know why we’re friends.”

“Niiiight!”

Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren ran along the main road south of Houk. The traffic between Houk and its neighbor Jihnsruck never slowed, as goods and people flowed between the eastern world’s richest port and the larger nation to its south. While horses and carts clogged the main artery, their drivers yelling and jockeying for position, the three adventurers zoomed along one of the footpaths off to the side. Every few kilometers, a small, hand-painted sign read:
Casters To The Left, Walkers To The Right
.

The trio flew down the left side of the dirt-packed path. Though they had by all appearances been sprinting all-out for hours, they showed few signs of fatigue. Mana flowed through their muscles as trees flashed past in a blur.

Gavi held up a hand, signaling for the others to stop. The three of them pulled over to the right and slowed to a walk.

“What’s up?” Mazik raked a hand through his unruly black hair, restoring it to its usual level of disarray.

Gavi spun and continued backward. She pointed to a new sign. Right past it, the main road continued on while a smaller path split off to the right. “Is this where we turn?”

“No idea!” chirped Mazik. “Rae?”

Raedren pulled a map out of his backpack. “It . . . yes, this is it. If we turn here, it’ll take about half an hour to reach Saffir city limits, at the rate we’ve been going.”
¹⁶

“Great! I can’t wait to get there!” Gavi spun back around. She was humming, and there was a noticeable hop to her step.

Mazik looked at her askance. “What’s with you, Gavs? You seem . . . cheerful. It’s weirding me out.”

Gavi stuck out her tongue. “Hush, you. I’m just excited. I’m finally getting a chance to travel, so I intend to enjoy it. I’ve heard wonderful things about Saffir’s architecture.”

“You know we’re going there to work, right?” Mazik fanned himself with his dark gray robes. Summer was just beginning, but it was already hot, especially after all that running. “Shaeur said he’d heard about some big incident there, and that we might be able to pick up a quest or two.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we have to spend all our time beating people up.” Gavi led them down the side path. They stepped aside for an ox-drawn cart, then another. They ascended the hill. “We’ll have time for both.”

“Ehhhh, I guess.”

“What’s wrong?” Gavi cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you were in favor of traveling.”

“I was. I’d just rather make as much money as we can
now
, while we still have some in the bank.” Mazik shoved his hands in his pockets. “Though it’s not like we had a lot of choice in the matter.”

“You’re just bitter because Gavi’s having more fun than you,” said Raedren.

Mazik snorted. “Probably true.”

Gavi laughed as they reached the top of the hill. Ahead was a long, shallow slope, which afforded them an unimpeded view of the path.

It was packed. With carts, mainly, piled high with as many people and supplies as they could hold without buckling. People, horses, and fully loaded carts stretched as far as they could see, until the path disappeared around the corner.

“I feel like that’s not a good sign,” said Raedren.

“What are you talking about?” asked Mazik. “Where people are fleeing, there’s work for adventurers. Let’s go.”

“It would be better if you three left town for a while.”

Mazik, Gavi, and Raedren were seated in the Collateral Damage guildhall. Located in the part of Houk colloquially known as Adventurer Town, the guild’s headquarters was in a strip mall, nestled between an exercise parlor and a seafood restaurant. Inside, it looked like most guildhalls—which is to say, like an alehouse—complete with three long tables that could seat forty people, plus a few more seats at the bar along the right wall. The décor consisted mostly of vivid burn marks on both the interior and exterior walls. Some of them were intentional, and shaped like stylized starbursts. Most were not.

The three of them sat at the rightmost table, a mug in front of each. With them was their new guild leader, Guildmaster Oluuf Jas’Shaeur. Save for them, the room was empty.

Mazik took a drink. “So, did we do something wrong, or . . . ?”

Gavi ignored him and spoke directly to Shaeur. “It’s the other guilds, isn’t it?”

Guildmaster Shaeur nodded. He was a middle-aged man with thinning hair, overflowing eyebrows, and muscles visible even underneath his coarse overalls. On the back of his right hand was a tattoo of a stylized black explosion flanked by two vertical bars. It matched the starbursts on the walls.

“I don’t like paying that pack of petulant children any mind, but they can be very dangerous children.” Shaeur enveloped his mug with his thick, meaty palms. “They need a poking in the eye once in a while, which I’m more than happy to give ’em, but if we go too far, we’ll lose our turn on the council.”

“Which would be bad,” said Mazik.

Shaeur nodded. “So it’d be best if you three made yourselves scarce for a while. It’s not like they’ll forget, but if you’re not around to remind them of how you bested ’em, they won’t do anything. I’ll work on them in the meantime, try to win some of ’em over.”

“Well,
I’m
okay with taking a little trip.” Mazik turned to his friends. “Is leaving town for a while all right with you two? We’ll—”

“I’m in,” said Gavi immediately.

Mazik arched an eyebrow. “It would mean we’d be gone for a few months. Three plus, would you say?”

“Three on the low end,” said Shaeur. “Feel free to stop by and see your family, I just wouldn’t do any quests while you’re here. And the further afield you go, the better.”

“Still in,” said Gavi.

Mazik turned to Raedren. “Rae?”

He hesitated for a second, then nodded. “I’ve come this far. I’ll stick with it.”

Mazik turned to Shaeur and gestured toward his friends. “See? No problem. It’ll be a learning experience.”

Guildmaster Shaeur smiled. “Good. That’s the way an adventurer ought to be. Especially young’uns, like you. And fortunately, I’ve got leads on a few quests you may want to pursue. That, plus your guild crests”—he patted the tattoo on the back of his hand—“ought to help give you plenty to do while you’re gone.”

Gavi’s first impression of the city of Saffir was that it was a place under siege. Not actively, though it appeared to be preparing for the next assault when they arrived.

Outside the city proper, the buildings that had outgrown Saffir’s defensive walls were either empty or getting that way in a hurry. Gavi saw frantic adults carrying armloads of valuables as they rushed back through the gates, some leaving their homes unlocked in their haste. The few children she saw were scurrying between their parents’ legs, horsing around with the optimistic amnesia of youth. There were guards everywhere, herding the residents with dire proclamations and shouted curses. And, of course, there was the steady stream of residents leaving the city entirely—the stream they had been swimming up ever since they turned off the main highway.