Assassin's Curse (14 page)

He had no doubt that the guild would be looking for him by now, and knew he must prepare for any eventuality that came his way.
 
There would be no way he and the girls could survive for long on the run.
 
At one point he had thought about splitting the girls up and perhaps fostering one out to a good family, but the wave of anxiety he experienced when he tried to plan it crushed that thought completely.
 
The bond Miriam forced upon him ensured there would be no parting of ways from either girl, so he would have to find another solution to hide them all fast.
 
His current plan was to go to the southern reaches of the kingdom and hide.
 
They could settle in one of the hundreds of small villages down that way for a time and he could raise the girls in relative obscurity and safety.
 
Of course, if the guild were already on his trail, he would have to lose them before choosing any village to stay in.
 

Hopefully this Gelda will be able to help us disappear for a while.
 

The evenings were not chilly enough to require shelter, but they were cool enough that he did not want the girls to catch cold.
 
After the meal, he took the warm rocks from the fire and buried them beneath the spot he planned to sleep on.
 
The full night had fallen and the stars shone bright and clear.
 
The small fire had winked out and he scattered the ashes.
 
The girls were already sleeping when he wrapped them back in their papooses, cradling them to his chest when he lay down for the night.
 
He adjusted his cloak to cover them and marveled at the warm feeling of their breath on his cheeks.
 
He felt himself doze off knowing his body heat and the buried rocks would keep them all warm this night.

***

Mave smelled a hint of smoke on the cool, night breeze as the wagon bounced along the road.
 
He had not planned on stopping anytime during the night and had therefore let the mule meander along at his own pace.
 
The last thing he wanted was for the mule to keel over and die.
 
If they had been going any faster, he was not sure he would have caught the trace of odor.
 
Sometimes fate worked in funny ways.
 

Mave believed the smoke had to be from Jeda’s camp, but he didn’t see any signs of a campsite along the road.
 
He continued along the road, spying for any disturbance in the bushes and shrubs along the roadside that might lead him to his target’s campsite.
 
As suddenly as it had appeared, the smell of smoke was gone.
 
Somewhere along the last few hundred meters of road he knew Jeda had set up camp.

Boy, how stupid are you?
 
What were you thinking?

Tromping through the bushes and trees of the forest in the scant light of the stars looking for a hidden campsite would probably alert Jeda and get him killed.
 
Jeda was an extremely dangerous assassin and Mave would rather have all the advantage he could muster on his side.
 
His original thought of an ambush was still the best plan of attack.
 
He clicked on the reins and travelled on a few hundred meters more and parked the wagon alongside the road, setting the brake so the mule would not try to wander off.
 
There was enough forage along the road for old Jed to graze on, so he should be content for the night.
 
Jeda would recognize the wagon and mule as Clara’s and should come to investigate why it was here.
 
That would be all the distraction that Mave would need to spring his ambush.

“It’s a good plan,” he mumbled as he hid himself among the trees to wait for morning when Jeda would continue on his journey.

It would be a very short-lived journey if Mave had anything to say about it.

Mave lay camouflaged in the trees and watched as the sun rose to light the day.
 
It would not be long before Jeda appeared on the road. He had taken his swords out of their sheaths and fingered their handles in anticipation.
 
Being an expert swordsman, he took comfort in the feel of his finely wrought weapons.
 
He crouched further behind the trees and bushes of his blind as he heard the snap of twigs.
 

***

Jeda awoke early to get ready for the final stretch to Willows Peak.
 
He wanted to get there early enough so that he could introduce himself and the girls to Gelda while the sun was still shining.
 
No one liked to be surprised in the dead of the night, especially by those that brought danger.
 
He fed and cleaned the girls, wrapped them in their papooses, and ate a quick meal himself.
 
He set no fire this morning, so cleaning the campsite went quickly.
 
He wanted no trace of his passage.

Treading his way through the forest, he stopped short when he saw Clara’s wagon and Jed along the roadside.
 
At first, Jeda frowned at the wagon, thinking Clara had followed them from Rocher.
 
He did not want to think about the necessity of being ‘mean’ and telling her she had to go back.
 
It was too dangerous for her to travel with him and the girls, but he did not want to disappoint the only friend he had in the world.

Maybe she can travel with us to Willows Peak
, Jeda thought walking to the wagon.
 
What’s the harm in that?

As he neared the wagon, the familiar feeling of impending danger crawled up his back.
 
He looked into the forest beyond the wagon as he approached, but saw nothing.
 
He came abreast of the wagon and looked in the bed, but saw no one sleeping the morning away.
 
Senses on full alert, he made his way to Jed, standing silently with his ears alert.
 
Something had spooked the old mule and Jeda could feel that there was trouble nearby.
 
Whatever the trap was, Jeda was already in the middle of it and began his mental preparation to counterattack whatever was coming.

Mave watched Jeda pass his blind with the babies tied to his chest and back.
 
He walked to the side of the wagon with the two infants, looking in and around it for signs of anyone.

What’s so special about these two kids anyway?
 
I can’t believe that he gave up everything for them.
 
He doesn’t even know them, for the gods’ sake.
 
  

Jeda’s sixth sense flared the instant before Mave launched his attack.
 
He turned with knife in hand to face Mave, who sprang to attack.
 
Mave pulled up short when he saw Jeda was ready for him.
 

“How do you do that?” Mave asked, annoyed at being discovered.
 
“There’s no way you could have known I was hiding beside the road.”

“I smelled you,” Jeda lied.

“Well, it really doesn’t matter,”
Mave
replied with a sneer.

“What do you want, Mave?
 
Why are you following me?”

“Don’t play games with me, traitor.
 
You know why I’m here.”

“So the masters sent their guard dog after me: so much for the bond of trust we enjoyed.”

“From the look of things here, they were right.
 
You were supposed to kill the witch and
bring the babies back
.”

“Well, things changed.
 
I don’t expect you to understand.”

“I don’t really care what made you run.
 
All I know is that you finally screwed up and it’s up to me to fix it.”

“They sent you to kill me?” Jeda asked.
 
“I’m still a member of the guild and you can’t kill a fellow brother.
 
I have to go before the masters for trial first.”

“You’re right about that.
 
I can’t kill a fellow brother, so it’s a good thing you’re no longer one,” Mave lied in reply.
 
On seeing Jeda, he had decided that a final confrontation would be easier than trying to drag him back to Constantine for trial.
 
There was no sense in telling Jeda that the masters had not yet decided his fate.
 
The outcome would be the same regardless; the penalty for desertion was death, so he might as well end this problem now and for good.
 

“Your desertion was too much of a breach of guild law for the masters to ignore.
 
They have denounced you and banished you from the guild.”

That news gave Jeda pause, but not the total shock and outrage he thought he would feel.
 
He fully expected to face consequences for his actions, but now that he heard what the masters had decreed, he felt nothing but relief.
 
With no one else to lay claim to his loyalty, he could concentrate all his efforts on raising his two girls with no residual guilt to muck things up.
 

“Now that is good news.”

“What?” Mave asked perplexed.
 
“What are you babbling about and what’s with these babies?
 
Why are they so important that you would sacrifice everything for them?”
 

“Like I said, I don’t expect you to understand,” Jeda repeated.

“Ok, just stop with your incessant jabber and give me the babies.
 
I might even let you go.”

“I think I know you better than that.
 
You’d kill me the first moment I looked away.”

“Oh well, maybe you do know me,” Mave chuckled, fingering the handles of the two swords he had strapped to his sides.

Jeda had watched and studied Mave throughout his years at the guild.
 
Mave was a senior assassin and Jeda’s first teacher, and had inflicted his cruelty and sadistic teaching methods upon him for the first years of Jeda’s training.
 
Mave went out of his way to make life miserable for Jeda during his novice years and it was only when Jeda finally achieved the rank of apprentice within the guild that he had come out from under Mave’s direct control.
 
Things had steadily eroded between the two since that promotion.
 
They had never seen eye-to-eye since, and Mave harbored an unrelenting anger against Jeda, one that Jeda had never understood.
 
Instead, he chose to ignore the slights Mave threw his way, which seemed to incense the man all the more.
 
When Jeda achieved the rank of assassin, Mave no longer outwardly insulted him, but he was never friendly toward Jeda and never accepted him as a full brother.
 
Mave was bigger, stronger, and quicker than Jeda would ever be.
 
He was also a heartless killer and Jeda stood no chance against him, especially carrying the babies.

Jeda stepped back into a defensive crouch, and pushed both papooses to his back.
 
That at least freed his arm movements in front. He could only hope the babies would be safe from injury back there.
 
He drew out an additional throwing knife in preparation for Mave’s inevitable attack.

“Last chance to surrender,” Mave said, sneering with a predator’s grin.
 
“Though we both know you won’t take it.”
 
  

“Oh sure, take it and die, you mean.
 
But really, swords against knives?” Jeda asked.
 
“Hardly seems fair.”

“You chose your weapons long ago.
 
Now live or die by your choice.”
 

Mave launched his attack.
 
His weapons and his expertise outclassed Jeda and put him immediately on the defensive.
 
Knives were good weapons for close-in fighting, but Mave’s swords did not need to be close.
 
He used the weapons with deadly effectiveness and Jeda could barely keep up with the parries.
 
The first cut took him above his elbow.
 
It was deep and nearly paralyzed him with the pain.
 
The second took him high on his leg.
 
Jeda hobbled backward to stay out of range of the swords.
 
Blood was streaming down Jeda’s arm and he was quickly losing feeling in his entire arm.
 
He would soon lose his grip on his knife, so he threw the blade at Mave’s head.
 
Time slowed to a crawl as he watched the blade fly toward its mark.
 
Just before it hit, Mave’s sword came up and knocked the blade harmlessly away.
 
Their entire exchange took no than a few minutes, but Jeda was soundly defeated.