Eris glanced up and down the empty street.
“This is where he was going to meet us?”
Razer nodded and kicked aside a scrawny rat
gnawing on a hunk of moldy bread. “Yes.” He put a hand on the hilt of his
sword. “And who says it’s a man?”
Eris shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked up
at the broken windows looming above. “But something isn’t right.”
“Good instincts.” Razer nodded. He knocked on
a door coated in cracked paint that had once been red. The sound of a bolt
being drawn echoed through the room beyond and out into the street. The door
creaked open.
A hunched old woman with wispy gray hair and
filthy clothes peered out from the shadows. “What?”
“Is this De Margo’s?” Razer said.
The woman spat. “Yes.”
“We’re meeting someone here,” Razer said.
The woman nodded. “Names?”
“Razer and Eris,” Eris said.
The woman’s face crinkled and she regarded
the Witch Hunters’ weapons and armor. “Awfully well armed.”
“Necessary in our line of work,” Razer said.
“Can we come in?”
The woman nodded and opened the door fully.
She bolted it behind them and led them down a long hallway lit only by a
guttering candle. They emerged into a large circular room lit by high, wide
windows. The walls were draped in materials in shades of red, and the furniture
was upholstered in matching colors. Burning incense and fragrant oils barely
masked the scent of sweat. Women of varying ages in various stages of undress
milled, sat, or lounged around the room, talking quietly. A few stared at Razer
and Eris. Many sat, eyes staring unseeing from the effects of narcotics.
“Pleasant place,” Eris muttered.
“It’s a living, girl,” the old woman said.
“At least none of my girls are murderers.”
Eris frowned. “Sorry.”
“Is our contact here, madam,” Razer said.
The woman cackled. “Who said I was the
madam?”
Razer smirked. “You seem a bit too old to be
a working girl,” Razer said. “And you answered the door.”
She smirked back. “You’d be surprised at some
people’s tastes. But I am the madam.” She led them to a door along the wall
painted in blue. “He isn’t here yet. You’re welcome to wait in here.”
The room beyond was spacious and decorated in
blues. A single large bed dominated the center of the room flanked by a pair of
couches. Closer to the door stood a table set with two chair. A window on the
far wall allowed in sunlight filtered through thin blue drapes.
“Nice room,” Razer said. “My compliments to
the decorator.”
“Thank you,” the madam said. “Your contact
should be here soon.” She closed the door behind her. Razer put his ear to the
door, and Eris sat down at the table.
“Trap,” Eris said, drawing her flintlock
pistol and resting it on the table with her hand draped over it.
Razer stepped away from the door and nodded.
“But set by whom?”
Eris leaned back in the chair, her hand still
on the pistol’s grip. “Does it matter?”
Razer nodded. “I usually like to know who’s
trying to kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because then I can find out why.”
“Fair enough.” He thumb pressed down on the
half-cocked hammer until it clicked into fully locked position. “Remember,
they’re trying to kill me, too. I’d much rather kill them first.”
Razer glanced at the ceiling, pulled his crossbow
off his shoulder and primed it. “We’ll make it through this, girl.”
Eris mimed stretching and tracked his gaze to
a hair-line split in the paneling above. “I hope so, old man.”
Razer loaded a bolt and smiled. “Since when
have I guided you wrong?”
“Do you want me to answer that honestly?”
“No.” Razer raised the crossbow and aimed it
towards the ceiling.
Before he could fire, a pair of men in chain
mail and carrying maces stormed in. Eris fired her pistol at lead attacker,
striking him in the belly. The second stumbled over him as he fell. Eris drew
her long dagger and stood up.
Then the trap door in the ceiling opened. A
third assailant, armed with a pistol and a saber descended. Razer’s crossbow
bolt caught him in the arm as he landed, forcing him to drop the pistol. The
attacker howled and lunged at Razer. Razer parried with the stock of his
crossbow and danced away toward the window.
“These guys are good,” Eris said, ducking a
high mace sweep. “And they’re not Aragonian.” She lunged at her attacker with
her dagger, forcing him back. Once again he stumbled over his ally’s prone
form.
Razer dropped his crossbow and drew his
rapier to parry another saber swing. “I would guess they’re Destans.”
“Good guess,” his opponent said, swinging
towards Razer’s neck with the saber.
Razer ducked the swing and thrust his rapier
towards his foe’s stomach. The Rivedestan parried the blow then reversed and
swung down at Razer’s skull.
Razer leapt back and stumbled into a couch.
His opponent stepped forward for another downward swing. Razer rolled away and
kicked towards his assailant. The heel of his boot struck the Rivedestan’s knee
with a crunch. He cried out and fell to the floor.
Eris and her opponent danced around the room,
his mace breaking the table, the arm of the other couch, and tearing a hole in
one of the walls. He managed to stay just out of reach of Eris’s long dagger.
Backed up against the bed, she risked ducking inside his reach. The mace
smashed into the bed frame, splintering it, but Eris was close enough to plunge
her dagger into his thigh. He screamed in pain as red stain spread down and
over his pant leg. He fell over, shivering and growing paler by the second as
he writhed and clutched his leg.
“Poor bastard is going to bleed out,” Razer
said.
“Sorry,” Eris said, wiping her blade on the
bed. “I wasn’t aiming to hit a blood vessel.” She glanced at the other two, one
still clutching a mangled knee, the other writhing around a gut wound. “Other
guy is going to die of that gut wound. Yours will probably never be able to
walk right again.”
Razer rolled the Rivedestan he had fought
onto his back and placed his foot on the broken knee. The Rivedestan screamed,
and Razer released the pressure. “He can still talk,” Razer said.
“What makes you think I’ll talk,” the
Rivedestan said between sobs and whimpers.
“They’re not paying you enough not to talk,”
Razer said. He knelt down and smiled. “But I know a good surgeon in this town.
Maybe you won’t be able to fight or run again, but he’ll get you walking
again.”
Rivedestan snarled. “Why should I trust?”
“Because you tried to kill me, but I’m not
murdering you.” Razer sheathed his rapier and put his crossbow over his
shoulder. “Plus, why should I lie about a surgeon? I’m a Witch Hunter, a null?
Did they tell you our names?”
The Rivedestan grimaced. “Razer and Eris.”
“Now that isn’t fair,” Razer said. “You know
our names. We don’t know yours.”
“Lynne,” the Rivedestan said.
“Lynne,” Razer said. He offered his hand.
Lynne hesitated, then took it. “So who hired you?”
“It was…” Before Lynne could finish, a musket
blast from the trap door in the ceiling filled the room with sound, light, and
smoke. When Eris and Razer regained their senses, there was a hole in the top
of Lynne’s head, oozing blood.
“Dammit,” Razer said. He shoved a chair under
the trap door. “Boost me up, girl.”
There was a knock on the door.
“What was that about?” Eris said.
“Probably the madam checking on these
assassins.”
The knock sounded again. “I’m not the madam,
Witch Hunters. We have the same mutual acquaintance.”
“The Pilgrim?” Eris said.
“The same.”
“Forget it, girl,” Razer said. “We need to
catch the rifleman.”
“He’s already escaped, and the Rivedestans
have surrounded this place.” The door opened, revealing a meter-tall humanoid
with a canine face in covered in brown fur. It wore a fine tunic and breeches.
“I know the only route out of here that is still safe.”
“A goblin?” Eris said.
“I’m called Roku,” the goblin said, taking a
bow. “The Pilgrim sent me. I’ll lead you out of this brothel. These men were
hired by the Crown.”
“The Crown?” Eris said. “How do you know?”
Roku grinned. “I have my ways. Come.” He
beckoned. Razer and Eris glanced at each other and shrugged. They followed Roku
down a side passage off the main room. It led to a dead end, but Roku loosened
a low panel in the wall. Although the passage beyond smelled of filth and was a
tight fit for Eris and Razer. It led to another alley on the opposite side of
the building that they had entered through. Once through, Razer and Eris
stretched and cleaned themselves off.
Roku pointed to the south. “I suggest you
leave via that street. They have reinforcements approaching from the north.” He
sighed. “Sadly, I must depart. I hope we meet again soon.”
“Wait,” Razer said. “Why help us?”
“There is an ancient war, Witch Hunter. The
Pilgrim seeks to end it. And for that he needs allies. Let’s just say, your
skills match his needs.” Without another word Roku dashed down the alley and
vanished into the shadows.
“What should we do?”
“Head south, get back to the House, and
wait,” Razer said. “Doubtless we’ll hear back from the Pilgrim eventually.
Until then, we’ll have plenty of missions to undertake.”
