Mercenary Little Death Bringer (11 page)

“She is here,” the goblin said, “that is
why.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said
angrily, “What does me being alive have to do with anything?”

“If he does not rectify the problem, someone
else will,” the goblin said, “you cannot be allowed to finish.”

“Finish?” Favian asked, “Finish what? The
Academy?”

The goblin bucked his body upwards as he
tried to reach for a knife, but Favian stabbed his knife into the
goblin’s throat before he could finish the movement, killing him.
“We have to go,” I said seriously, “There might be more.” Favian
cleaned his knives on the goblin’s shirt and put them away before
he hopped up onto Ice. I remounted Fire and made sure my daggers
were in place. “How did they get in here?” I asked him angrily.

He pointed to the brand on the human’s right
arm, the brand one received once they completed the Academy. “They
attended here when they were younger,” he said.

“So other mercenaries and guards are after
me?” I asked in shock, now starting to feel fear.

“It seems so,” Favian said. We walked the
horses in silence a moment as he thought and then he said, “We need
to get to Macon quickly.”

I nodded my head and we asked the horses to
trot, weaving through the trees and looking for potential threats.
I didn’t understand why mercenaries would be after me. I hadn’t
done anything on my missions that could have upset anyone. Favian
and I had only done three missions so far. The first was a simple
guard mission where we had protected a young prince as he traveled
from one city to the next and we didn’t even encounter any problems
then. Our second mission had been to thwart a group of bandits that
had been terrorizing a small farming village and we’d only killed
three of the bandits before the other six ran off, never to be
heard from again. I had gotten a severe cut on my leg and had had
to be rushed to a healer before I bled out, but nothing else had
gone wrong. The third mission was to track down and kill three
rogue ogres which had started eating humans. That was our most
difficult mission and one that had almost killed Favian as he had
tried to protect me and not paid attention to his back.

All of those had gone well in mercenary
standards so I didn’t understand how I could have gotten enemies if
I’d done everything right.

We finally made it back to the main grounds
to find the students in chaos. As we approached Master Sean ran to
us. “Favian! Marin! Are you both alright?”

I nodded my head. “Yes, sir.”

“Cesar heard Fire scream and we tried to find
you two, but we didn’t know where you had gone.”

“We were attacked by archers initially, but
managed to get away from them only to run into a trap with three
others,” Favian said, “We must speak to Macon immediately.”

Master Sean nodded his head and held his
hands out for our horse’s reins. “Go, I’ll tend to your
mounts.”

We dismounted and ran to the building to find
Father and Mother arguing with Master Martin and Macon. “Father!” I
yelled.

Father and Mother turned and then something
hard hit the back of my head. I tried to see who had hit me, but
the hit was perfectly executed and it knocked me unconscious.

~~~~

CHAPTER SIX

“Let me out!” I yelled angrily from where I
was chained to a stone wall in the darkest dungeon cell in the
Elves’ kingdom.

I’d woken up an hour earlier to find myself
chained and alone in the dungeon. Having played here a lot as a
child it hadn’t taken me long to figure out where I was. The dirt
beneath me was cool and clean and the chains on my wrists and
ankles were warm against my skin. I didn’t know how they had gotten
me from the Academy to the dungeon without me waking up, but no
matter how it was done, I was thoroughly pissed off.

“I demand that you let me out!” I yelled
again. I jerked against the chains, hoping they might be old and
the bolts would be loose, but no such luck. These chains were
enchanted and I had no chance of breaking them. Luckily there
weren’t any rats at the moment to pester me.

I looked around the cell and spotted the
bucket that I was to use as a restroom and sighed loudly. “Couldn’t
you have at least given me a bigger bucket?” I asked no one.

The chains were long enough that I could walk
around, but since I couldn’t walk out of the cell I simply used the
bucket and then sat back down against the wall. It wasn’t
embarrassing like some would have thought since I had been in worse
situations and had had to use worse areas as restrooms.

A reflection of light appeared against the
outside of the cell, which meant that someone was coming with a
torch in my direction. I listened for footsteps, but of course the
elves had silent footsteps and so I couldn’t hear anything.

“Are you done yelling?” Kato asked from the
doorway.

“No!” I screamed at him, “Not you too! Please
Kato, let me out of here. How can you let them torture me so?”

“They are protecting you Marin. You would see
that if you weren’t so busy being angry that they knocked you out
and brought you here,” he said as he opened my cell and stepped
inside. One of the maids was with him, holding the torch while Kato
held a long silver tray which had food and drink on it.

“Is this my last meal?” I asked crossly.

“Calm your anger. It’s not becoming of a
lady,” Mother said as she stepped inside the cell behind Kato.

I stood up and jerked at the end of the
length of the chains. “I’m not a lady!” I screamed at her. “I’m a
fighter! I’m a mercenary!”

“You are in no shape to yell at me,” she said
with a straight face. “I’m sorry that you are upset, but yelling
will not change your current situation.”

“What will?” I asked her.

“You agreeing to drop out of the Academy and
not pursue the life of a mercenary,” she said straight-faced.

“No,” I told her adamantly, “Never.”

“You have proven that females can attend the
Academy as well. You have proven that women can be mercenaries. You
have proved your point,” she said angrily.

“I never wanted to prove a point. That is not
the reason I joined at all,” I told her honestly, “I only wanted to
live my life. I am not a lady. I am not made to wear dresses and
prance around the castle. I am made to fight and kill and maim. I
am a killer,” I told her, “and chaining me up down here won’t
change that. Nothing you do will change that.”

“You choose your life,” she said, “You can
choose to be a lady if you want.” She had an incredibly sad look on
her face and I felt awful, but I would not back down from this.

“Why do you want me to be something that I’m
not?” I asked her painfully. “I thought you loved me for who I
am?”

A single tear slipped down her cheek and she
said, “I love you for who you are, but who you are is getting you
attacked. I will not let you continue to put your life in
jeopardy.”

“Listen to her, Marin. She is only looking
out for your well being,” Kato said.

I glared at him. “If she told you that you
couldn’t be a guard anymore, that you had to sit around the castle
and do nothing, would you?”

“I would,” he said honestly.

I rolled my eyes. “Not if she ordered you to,
but if she asked you to.”

Kato smiled. “I have been alive a lot longer
than you. You are not going to catch me in a question like
this.”

“Please, Mother. If you do love me then let
me out.”

“No, not until you understand,” she said
angrily. “Leave her the food and let us make our exit,” she ordered
in her Queenly tone.

Kato handed me the tray of food and I let it
drop upside down on the ground. “If you will not let me go then I
will not eat,” I said as I sat down against the wall and crossed my
arms over my chest.

“You must eat,” Kato said.

“You must let me go.”

“Leave her be, Kato. She will change her mind
in a couple of days when the hunger is gnawing at her innards,”
Mother said as she turned away.

They left me and my stupid female emotions
took over, making me cry again. I sobbed loudly as I sat, chained
in the underground of my home. How was it possible to have so many
tears in one’s body?

I couldn’t believe that she was actually
keeping me prisoner. My heart was twisted with a mixture of anger
and sadness that left me feeling completely betrayed.

I waited until I heard them shut the door at
the other end of the tunnel which led out of the cells and up to
the castle. I waited a moment longer to be sure and then stood up.
A benefit to playing in these cells was being able to hide things
here and find escapes while no one was watching me. I crawled along
the wall, running my hands along the stones in search of a
particular one that wasn’t actually secured. A rat squeaked in
protest when I got too close to it and I hit it with the back of my
head, pushing it away. I did not feel like getting bitten
today.

I finally felt a stone move and smiled.
Bingo. I started to tug on the stone, but then I heard the door
open to the dungeon and crawled back to the center of my chains and
sat with my head bowed trying to look miserable. It wasn’t very
hard to do.

My cell door opened and a torch was placed in
the holder near me. “Refusing to eat?” Favian asked. It pained me
that he was here and not unchaining me even more than Mother’s
visit had pained me.

“I refuse to live as a lady. I will only live
if I’m allowed to be what I am, not something she wants me to
be.”

He sat down cross-legged in front of me and
said, “That’s not the true reason why you’re down here, you know.
That’s just her side agenda. The real reason you’re down here is to
protect you from the people trying to kidnap you. We are using all
of our resources to locate the ring leader while you are safe in
Elven territory.”

“Then why am I chained?” I asked bitterly as
I showed him my wrists.

“Because we know you’ll just run back to the
Academy to complete the training if we don’t keep you chained
up.”

“You’re going to go back, aren’t you?” He
didn’t respond, which was answer enough. “So you’re going to go
back, complete the program and become a mercenary while I’m held
prisoner. Then when I am finally let out I’ll not be able to
complete the program and have no job and no partner.”

“We’re still partners, Marin,” he said
seriously.

I looked up and met his eyes. “If we were
still partners you would help me out of my captivity.”

“You haven’t been kidnapped. You’ve been
grounded,” he said, “And it is well within a parent’s right to
ground their child.”

“You wouldn’t allow this for yourself!” I
yelled at him. “You would demand that I let you free and be furious
with me if I didn’t.”

“I know,” he said with a sigh, “But I cannot
free you. I have to ensure that you’re safe and protected and this
is the best way.”

He stood up and I whispered, “Don’t do this,
Favian.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and grabbed the
torch from the wall.

“Favian! Don’t do this to me! Don’t abandon
me!” I cried.

He set the torch back and squatted down in
front of me, holding my face between his hands. “I am not
abandoning you. I am protecting you! You’ll understand sooner or
later. I must protect you.” He put something bitter inside my mouth
and held my face with his hands, forcing me to swallow. “If you
won’t eat, I’ll force nourishment down your throat. Sleep, Marin
and be safe. All I ask is that you’re safe.” He kissed my forehead,
grabbed the torch and left, closing the cell door behind him.

I tried to gag up what he had given me, but
it was futile. “Favian!” I yelled. “Favian don’t leave me!”

No matter how much I cried, he did not
respond. He had left me alone. My partner had abandoned me. I cried
until the medicine he had given me took effect and then fell into a
drugged sleep, dreaming of those that had betrayed me.

* * *

“Rise and shine,” Kato said as he set a new
tray of food on the ground in front of me. “Time to eat.”

“I’m not eating,” I mumbled as I sat up
groggily. I looked up at the window and stared at the darkness
outside. “Is it the same night or the second?”

“The third actually,” Kato said, “Favian
wanted to ensure you got plenty of rest. Now, eat up.” He pushed
the tray of food towards me and I flung it to the side with my
hand, sending it end over end and spreading the food throughout the
cell.

“I’m not eating. And you tell Favian to stay
away from me or he won’t like our next encounter,” I said
cruelly.

“Do not be so hard on your friend. He only
cares for your safety as do the rest of us.”

“None of you care for me. If you cared you
would let me out of these chains and free me.”

“What if it was Favian in your place? What if
someone was trying to kill him and he wanted to go confront them?
What would you do?”

“I would go with him and watch his back,” I
said immediately without any thought, “I would not put him in a
dark, dungeon cell.”

Kato shook his head sadly. “You better eat
what food you can salvage or you and Favian will have that
confrontation. And I know you don’t really want to fight him.”

I watched him leave and then listened for the
door at the end to close. I had to get out. I had to get out now
before Favian drugged me again.

I crawled back down the wall and found the
stone again, this time quicker since I remembered approximately how
far down I had gone. It would have been much easier if I could have
woken up during the day and had sunlight, but life was rarely easy.
I tugged on the stone, back and forth, back and forth until it
finally came completely out of the wall. I reached inside slowly,
running my fingertips along the floor until they hit a small piece
of cold metal. I pulled it out and quickly unlocked my chains with
the key. I stood up and stretched, letting my small freedom relax
me.