Dagger of the Assassins (Battle for Glory Adventures Book 2) Page 4

  Fierce pounding on the front door echoed through the shop. "Open up! City Guard!"

  "Hurry!" I shouted at Kahlan and Meike. Elky and I stood ready to go. "Get your clothes."

  The two women ran up the stairs. I nervously watched the front door from the bottom of the stairs, while Elky stood outside the back door to keep watch. The City Guard hadn't figured out our place opened onto two streets yet. I was confident one of our friendly, helpful neighbors would quickly advise them of the fact.

  Boom! Boom!

  "Leave the rest," I shouted up the stairs. "They're using a battering ram."

  The two women came racing down the stairs as more ram horn blasts echoed up and down our street. I waved them past me, urging them to hurry. Elky took the lead, and they followed. I brought up the rear as we ran down the street, and then took the first side street leading away from trouble.

  "Do you want to chance going out a gate?" Elky called back. "I doubt the gates have been notified to look for us."

  "No. Let's try to get out of the city unseen," I said. "I don't want them knowing which direction we are going."

  That meant going over the city wall. It wasn't much of a wall, but still a twenty foot drop. The city had a dry moat around it, which would slow us down a little. Fortunately, the threat level in that region remained low, so they only manned the wall with a skeleton crew.

  Our hasty passage caused a minor uproar. We didn't make it three blocks before I heard City Guard horn blasts. They continued in hot pursuit. Elky turned right at the next street, and ran straight into another City Guard patrol.

  "Other way!" she cried, after knocking half of them down with her shield's magic.

  I took the lead. I felt confident we could outrun a heavily armored patrol. To make it tougher on them, I turned up a street and headed up a steep incline. That hill would kick their butts. We doubled our lead on the way up.

  "Shit!" I cried, topping the hill to find a flatbed ox cart in the middle of a tight intersection, blocking our street. The cart was piled high with empty beer barrels. "Move it, old man! Hurry."

  He flipped me the bird. Who taught the mobs to do that?

  "Here they come," Elky shouted. "Which way, Cormac?"

  We had shops to either side of us. Passing through shops and homes provided a good way to create havoc and slow our pursuit. But then I realized the cart had stopped, probably to spite me. Stupid old man was going to be sorry.

  "Duck under the cart," I said. "Elky, take the lead."

  Elky made a better lead in those circumstances, because I could outrun them all by quite a bit. Kahlan and Meike could keep pace with the Amazon. I waited for my ladies to crawl under the cart to the other side, before I turned to the driver and grinned.

  "Turnabout is fair play, you old fuck," I said, wagging my brows.

  Two City Guard patrols came charging up the hill. I could see the fury in their eyes. I taunted them by smiling brightly, before pulling my sword and bringing it down on the ropes holding all those big-ass wooden kegs piled high in the cart.

  I almost didn't get under the cart fast enough before the kegs rolled off the cart, bounced on the hard-packed dirt street, and began their avalanche down the street. I barked a laugh, wondering how many of those Guardsmen just pissed their pants. The driver started cursing to impress a spited whore.

  Elky led us a merry run through the tangled streets of Tartha’s poorest quarter. The population turned from mostly human, to mostly goblins, orcs, and pigmen. A couple of goblin street gangs gave chase, but didn't have the heart to really chase us to ground.

  "Whoa," Elky cried, coming to a stop after we burst out onto a wide avenue.

  Atop a low hill, I could finally get my bearings. The city's Fisherman's Gate waited to our west, at the end of the avenue. It opened out to a fishing village that occupied the space between it and the Rysan River. The river wasn't commercially navigatable that high up in the Wykar Mountain foothills, but still deep and slow enough for fisherman to ply their trade.

  Beyond the river, and most of the land I could see to either side, I saw a patchwork of farmland, grazing pastures, and some trees. Forests encroached a lot closer north and south of the city. Multiple City Guard horns sounded, sounding like a fox hunt or something. Quite a few people gave us suspicious looks.

  "What are you looking at, mister?" Elky snarled, hand on hilt.

  The twenty-something looking young man hurried away. Obviously, he was more lover than warrior. Elky gave his retreating back a contemptuous snort.

  Meike looked at me, like it was my fault. "She's not exactly a people person, is she?"

  "I disagree," I said, with a grin. "Elky is an excellent kill people person."

  "Which is a perfectly viable type of people person," Elky finished. She winked at me. "Love you."

  "Love you more."

  "Let's not get into that argument again," Kahlan said, but unable to hide her smile. "Someone lead the way."

  "I will," I said, spying just what we needed. I ran over to a pair of saddled horses tied to the hitch outside a shop. They weren't war trained steeds, but simple palfreys. Good enough for what we needed. "Kahlan, you ride with me. Meike ride with Elky."

  I got the healer up into the saddle, untied the horse, and watched Elky mount her horse. Meike climbed up behind her. I rode behind Kahlan, so I could ensure she didn't fall off. Then I reined my beast around and started kicking. We shot out of there with an equine cry of startlement.

  Kahlan cried out in fear, while I shouted at the top of my lungs to, "Make way! Make way!"

  Talk about causing chaos. We tore down that sloping street, headed for the gate. Our frantic passage forced men, women, and children to dive out of the way. Some got knocked aside. Hey, they needed to pay attention and move with purpose. Not my fault.

  "The portcullis is coming down," Kahlan said.

  "I see it," I said.

  I never planned to ride out the gate, but acting like I wanted to caused further distraction and turmoil at the gatehouse. The city's warning bells began to ring.

  "We've really outstayed our welcome in Tartha," I said. I gave the healer a little nudge. "I bet it was something you said."

  Kahlan shook her head woefully, so I copped a feel. Her breasts felt wonderfully firm, and I could play with them all day and night. She swatted my hand away.

  "Do you ever think of anything else?"

  "I do, excuse me for trying to help you generate some healing mana."

  "Uh huh," she said, slanting an annoyed look back at me. "If you get us all out of here alive, I'll generate mana with you all night long."

  "Wahoo! I accept your challenge," I said. "Quest to Make Love to Kahlan all Night Long. I'm winning better than Charlie Sheen!"

  "Who is that?"

  "A ninja wizard dragon from my world."

  Two blocks from Fisherman's Gate, I turned down a side street. Our race became a fast crawl. It's not the people refused to make way, but a lack of space to do so. I kicked the horse to greater efforts, but there was only so much he'd put up with. After about three blocks he'd had enough and started bucking.

  "This ride is out of gas," I said, sliding off and pulling the healer down with me. Elky and Meike dismounted next to us. "Follow me."

  Pulling up my HUD map, I studied the area as we continued forcing our way down the twisting, turning streets. I found the stretch of wall closest to woodlands, without going all the way to the southernmost gate.

  A few minutes later we emerged on Wall Street. That street followed the wall all the way around the city. I didn't see any stairs up to the catwalk. Anywhere.

  "How the hell do the guards get up atop the walls?" I asked.

  Meike looked at me like I was stupid. "The stairs are in the guard towers."

  "Oh. Makes sense," I said, and shrugged. "How much mana do you need to lift all four of us up and over the wall?"

  "Fifty points. Kahlan?" The healer reached out and they clasped hands. I couldn't se
e the transfer, but it was obvious in Meike's expression. She smiled. "Come with me."

  We ran to the base of the wall, surrounded Meike, and got a good hold on her. And then she spoke a short chant, and it felt as if I became weightless. We rose up slowly, floated over the wall, and then came down a little less gently.

  The spears and arrows followed shortly thereafter, when the few City Guards on the walls arrived. I led the way toward the forest, while Elky hung back with her Shield of Isis to protect our backs. And I still didn't have the foggiest idea of our ultimate destination, but first I had to evade whatever pursuit the Tartha City Guard mounted.

  Chapter 7

  Cormac

  We hit the ground running, and didn't stop for a good hundred hours. Okay, it felt like a hundred hours. We entered the forest before any pursuit came out of Tartha. I started feeling good about our chances, and then heard it.

  "Is that?" Elky asked.

  "I'm starting to hate that damned City Guard ram horn," I grumbled when another one sounded the pursuit. "The sons of bitches are probably on horseback, too."

  We traveled upon a game trail, but the woods were open enough for horsemen. The game trail could handle horses, too. So I turned off the trail and headed for the densest areas I could find. Briars and brambles slowed horses down, and sometimes stopped them. As the forest grew thicker, I realized we had started down a gentle slope. I smelled the moisture in the air before I saw it.

  The Rysan River.

  The river ran almost due west as it tumbled out of the mountains. I'd seen a map in Tartha showing the river veered more to the south-west three days ride west of the city, right where a series of five cataracts started.

  "It's too wide to swim," Kahlan said immediately.

  "I heard it is quite treacherous with undercurrents," Meike added a little too quickly.

  I glanced at them and smiled. That smile gave them no comfort. We had to get across one way or another. And soon. The City Guard's horns sounded even closer.

  "I'm sure the City Guard has trackers after us," I said. Looking up and down the river, I spotted a small fishing village upriver. "Inventory anything you don't want to get wet."

  "I am not going to swim across that river," Kahlan said.

  "We're just going to wade and try to throw off the trackers," I said, while inventorying my sword, belt knife, and throwing daggers. I even inventoried my boots.

  Elky put all of her weapons and leather armor into her inventory, stripped down to just a red tunic. Kahlan inventoried her white priestess dress, so that she stood before me in a white tunic. And Meike cached away everything but her elven undies. And that did not include a bra.

  "Calm down, boy," Elky said.

  I took Meike by the hand, and headed for the water. Kahlan held the sorceress's other hand, and who also held Elky's hand. And that was how we entered the water. I led us downriver, just a few feet off shore, for a few minutes, while slowly moving away from the shoreline. I didn't turn back upriver until we were in deep enough to stop any trackers from seeing the river bottom. Then I moved much quicker upstream to the village.

  Without any of us going up on shore to leave tracks, I helped my ladies into a small fishing boat. Fifteen feet long, and five wide, it had a single sail and oars setup like a rowboat. I pulled it away from shore before climbing inside.

  "Everyone lie down and stay down."

  I covered them with the sail, and then I took the oars and put my back into it, pointing us at the opposite shore. I listened to the approaching horns, and I stopped rowing before they reached the river. We made it about a third of the way across the river, so well out into the current. As soon as I stopped rowing, the boat turned downstream. I then draped some of the sail over the side to make us look like a boat lost on the river.

  "All they will see is a boat adrift on the river," I whispered as I squeezed in between Kahlan and Meike.

  "What about waterfalls?" Elky asked. "We can't see anything laying here in the bottom."

  "Don't worry. I saw a map of the river and the next waterfall is a good fifteen minutes downriver, and it's so small I think we can survive it."

  "What?"

  I winked at her.

  Elky punched my arm with a muttered, "Bastard."

  I so wanted to peek over the side and see if my plan worked, but the chance of being seen proved too great. We laid there in each others' arms for the longest time. Every minute felt like a lifetime.

  The City Guard's horns stopped sounding. I waited longer. Then I spotted trees towering on the shoreline, but on the opposite side of the boat. I never expected the current to carry us across the river, but that might be too great an opportunity to miss, so I popped my head up and looked around. No pursuit in sight, and we were skirting the shoreline because the river took a dramatic turn.

  Scrambling to the oars, I took control and took us to shore. Elky jumped out and hauled the bow up on dry ground. I helped the other two out, before shoving the boat back into the current. As I turned back to the women, Elky's weapons and armor just reappeared on her, then Kahlan's wet tunic vanished and left her naked. That lasted all of two seconds, before a new under-tunic appeared, followed by her dark green dress. Meike's soft leather ranger outfit appeared on her body, along with a bow and short sword.

  "How come you fight with a short sword, instead of a curved elven sword?" I asked.

  "I was only trained in magic as a child," she said. "I didn't learn to fight with a sword until I'd been on my own for a good hundred years. Humans taught me to swordfight."

  "How old are you?" Elky asked.

  "Three hundred and eighteen," she said. "But I have a birthday coming up. I expect to be treated like a queen that day."

  I stared at her a moment. "How long do elves live?"

  She shrugged. "Eight hundred to a thousand years."

  "Humans rarely reach fifty," Kahlan said. "I'm almost halfway there."

  Elky and I shared an uncomfortable look. Our avatars looked twenty-something and ageless. Though, I wondered if we would age, and then be reset to youthful default whenever we died? That might be interesting, but only time would tell.

  I remained in my loincloth and boots. Meike and Kahlan didn't really care for my "Conan the Barbarian" look, but I noticed a little smile play across Elky's lips. I actually preferred running around half naked like a crazy man, especially in the heat of the day.

  "I'll take the lead," Meike said. "I have a hundred times more woodcraft experience than all of you combined."

  Elky followed the elfmaid, while I brought up the rear. I tried to concentrate on my job, watching our rear for pursuit. Mostly, though, I watched Kahlan's butt wiggling before me up the trail. Daydreams filled my head, remembering the silky smoothness of her warm skin, and the firmness of the underlying flesh of her buttocks. And you know that reminded me of her breasts.

  "Maybe we can generate some mana during our first rest stop," I whispered to her.

  "Shut it, pigboy," Elky said.

  Meike shook her head, but remained silent, but Kahlan slanted an amused look back at me, and gave a little nod. That's all I needed. The naughty fun thoughts remained in my head, but I found I could keep a little better watch behind us.

  The sorceress and healer impressed the hell out of me by finding all kinds of wild vegetables, tubers, and greens along the trail. They collected more herbs for seasoning food, brewing potions, and medicinal purposes. The forest was their garden. Elky and I contributed by killing edible game along the way.

  Our inventories kept everything fresh.

  I think Meike and Elky kept us moving without a break just to keep Kahlan and me from coupling. We moved quickly and silently northward, paralleling the foothills. Meike didn't call a stop until twilight, when she found a nice campsite next to a gurgling brook. A thick blanket of dead and rotting leaves covered the ground, nice and cushiony to sit and sleep upon.

  While Meike and Kahlan dug a fire pit, and cleared all flammable mate
rials away a good ten feet, Elky and I cleaned the squirrel she killed, and the rabbit I got. I thanked God we had meat, because I couldn't get that first camp Elky, Kahlan, and I stopped at, where the women were kidnapped while I scouted ahead. I did not want to leave them alone to go hunt or scout ahead like that again.

  "We covered more ground than I thought," Elky said, looking into space. "I think we're about twenty-five miles from Tartha."

  "That's all? I feel like I've walked a hundred miles today," I said.

  So I pulled up my HUD, checking my map. Zooming out, I did an estimate of distance. Elky was better at it than me, but twenty-five miles jived with my guesstiment.

  "I see a trade road ahead that goes up into the mountains, through a pass, and to a city called Jeddia," the Amazon continued. "Beyond that is an area just called the Steppes. The Sultanate of Markhah is just a little south of it."

  "We're not going to the stupid desert," Meike said. "Imagine today's walk, but it's twice as hot and no shade anywhere. Oh yeah, and there's that whole no water situation, too. Not going to happen."

  Something occurred to me, and my heart started pounding. "Maybe… Since the assassins are after me, maybe tomorrow we should split up. I'll go up into the mountains to lead them astray, while the rest of you head in another direction."

  "No, no," Elky said, rather adamantly. Her determined look bore into me. "We're in this together, so we stick together."

  "Yes, they might want you the most, but all of us have prices on our heads," Meike said.

  "Don't even think about sneaking off in the night," Kahlan said, giving me an elbow to the ribs. "Remember, I've tagged you. We all share a link with everyone else, so there is no escape for you."

  I'd forgotten about the healer's tag, and Meike probably had her own magical homing spell on each of us, too. Casters were all sneaky like that.

  "So we're going to spend the rest of our lives on the run?" I asked.

  "Not necessarily," Kahlan said. "Laryn said the Order of the Sacred Death was coast to coast. Why don't we head northwest to the city of Laavik? It's a port where we can book passage across the ocean to another land."