Assassin's Curse (20 page)

“Jane, good morning child,” the healer greeted her.
 
“What brings you to my doorstep at such an early hour?
 
Is someone hurt?”

“No, Mistress, it’s that other matter you asked me to watch for.”

“Oh, do tell child.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jane continued.
 
“A stranger just arrived at the inn this very morning and he had two young babies with him.”

“What did the babies look like?
 
Did you get a good look at them?”

“I’m afraid not, ma’am.
 
They were bundled up good and tight.
 
He asked for a room and took them both straight away upstairs.
 
Asked for the food to be delivered to the room for them all, too.”

“Thank you, Jane, you did very well.”
 
The healer handed her three coppers for her efforts.

“Oh, but wait,” Jane replied, remembering another tidbit of information.
 
“He did mention he wanted food for his girls and himself, so I guess they’re both little-girl babies.”

“And you said they were young?’

“Yes, ma’am.
 
They’re not yet a year old by the size of them.
 
He carried them both upstairs by himself.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” she said with a gleam in her eye.
 
“Please let me know if they do anything else.”

“Yes, ma’am; thank you, ma’am.” Jane took the coins and went hurrying back to the inn.
 
The coins were a welcome treat and more than she would earn in a week.
 
She was already thinking of how she would spend her well-earned coins while she ran back to the inn.

***

The healer bolted outside to the back of her house where she kept a small bird coop.
 
Inside the cage sat a number of carrier pigeons, patiently waiting for their mistress to send them on their mission.
 

Wild thoughts tumbled through her mind.
 
A man travelling with two infant girls,
it’s got to be them.
 
I don’t have to see them to know who they are and I don’t believe in coincidence.
 

She scribbled a hasty note, took one of the birds out, and attached the message to its leg with a leather cord.
 
She threw the bird into the air and watched as it whirled around before orienting itself and flying off in a northeast direction.
 
The healer strolled back inside her cozy house to heat water for her morning tea.
 
She knew from experience that it would be a day or two before she received a reply.
 

***

Jane hurried back to the inn and arrived in time to see the cook finishing the tray of food for Jeda and the girls.

“Perfect timing,” the cook called out as Jane came flying through the door.

“I’ll take it upstairs straight away,” she said.
 
She grabbed the tray, went immediately upstairs, and knocked on Jeda’s door.

“Sir, your breakfast is ready,” she called out.

Jeda opened the door to let the girl come inside the room.
 
His keen eyes noticed that she was flushed as if she had run a good distance.
 
“Jane, are you feeling ok?” he asked.

She set the food on the table.
 
“Oh yes, quite well, thank you.
 
I had to run over to see Mistress Ruby.
 
She’s our village healer.”

“I see,” Jeda replied. He kept his face serene, but alarm bells were going off inside his head.
 
“So Mistress Ruby is the village healer, and you’re not sick?
 
Is someone else feeling poorly this morning?”

Jane shook her head no.
 
“Oh, nobody is sick or anything like that.
 
I had to let her know you and the girls had arrived in town.
 
Mistress Ruby keeps track of all strangers coming into the village, especially ones with young babies.
 
Pays me three coppers whenever I tell her about new people in town.”
 
Jane beamed, showing Jeda her three coppers.

“That’s very generous of her,” Jeda said.

“I know.
 
She gave me these this very morning when I told her about you and your babies.”

“Why does Mistress Ruby want to know about strangers?” Jeda asked, studying the young girl.

“I’m not really sure,” Jane said, furrowing her brows in thought.
 
“I never asked her why she wanted to know.
 
She must be writing a book or something.”

Jeda smiled and patted the young girl’s head.
 
“Yes, that’s probably it.
 
Thank you for bringing the food upstairs so quickly.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” Jane said before heading back downstairs.

As soon as she left, Jeda checked the list that Gelda had given him.
 
There was no listing for a healer named Ruby in the village of Mount View.
 
Jeda thanked the gods for empty-headed serving girls and bundled up the food for a quick getaway.
 
“No rest for the wicked today, I’m afraid,” he told the still-sleeping babies.
 
He slipped down the stairs and out the door without anyone noticing.

Old Ben was getting ready to take off the mule’s harness when Jeda came running outside.
 
He looked up in alarm when Jeda grabbed the reins.

“Sorry, I’ve a change of plans,” Jeda told the old man, shoving a few coins into his hand.
 
“We won’t be staying after all.
 
Here’s payment for the food and feed.”

The old man stood scratching his head as Jeda grabbed the bag of feed for the mule and threw it in the back of the wagon along with the food he had carried out from the inn.
 
He quickly situated the babies back into the makeshift seat and slapped the reins to signal the mule to move, never once looking back.
 

“Well, don’t that beat all,” Old Ben said, watching the departing wagon.

Jeda drove the wagon quickly through the small village, but slowed as he passed the healer’s hut.
 
The two windows in the front were covered, but Jeda could see light seeping out from within the cottage.
 
There was only one reason that the healer would want to know about newly arrived strangers with babies in town.
 
She was one of those witches searching for the girls.
 
Jeda figured she had already sent off messages to her superiors about their arrival and he probably had precious little time to get away.
 
He thought for a moment before making up his mind.
 
He would have to delay their hasty getaway for a bit, but that delay should help in hiding their trail and keep the girls safe a while longer.

Damn these witches
, Jeda thought for the hundredth time.
 
He drove past a few more homes and turned into a vacant alleyway that traveled behind the houses.
 
When the wagon was out of sight of the main road, he stopped.
 
The girls were awake and content in the papoose, but Jeda gave them their morning milk to ensure they would be kept occupied and quiet.
 
He looked up and down the alleyway for any activity, but it was deserted.
 
It was predawn, the faint rays of the sun were just beginning to shine over the hills, and still early enough that the homes Jeda drove behind were silent and dark.
 
If he moved quickly, he shouldn’t have any problem from any nosy villagers asking unwanted questions.
 
The healer’s
hut
was
three houses
down from the parked wagon.
 
He jumped down and made his way silently toward it.

As he crept closer, Jeda spied the back door to the hut.
 
It was a sturdy door built of good, hard wood and well fitted to the frame.
 
Spying the latch, he knew it was barred from the inside, preventing any unwelcomed access and giving all the protection that the owner could need from unwanted break-ins.
 
Jeda never understood why people would pay so much attention to their doors and so little to their windows.
 
He glanced over.
 
The window was a simpler design, basically two planks forming shutters with an inside latch serving as a lock.
 
He inserted one of his blades between the two boards, lifted the latch, and gained entry to the back room.
 

The room was musky and dark and seemed to be used as a storage area for the healer’s herbs.
 
A soft glow emanated from the doorway leading to the front room.
 
Jeda silently crept forward listening for any telltale activity.
 
He heard movement and blended his frame to the wall.
 
He spied the healer making morning tea.
 
She did not look as he expected.
 
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had envisioned the members of the so-called Black Coven to be bent, old crones stirring cauldrons of noxious-smelling brews: evil personified.
 
This healer was in her late twenties, a bit slender, and easy on the eyes.
 
She did not wear the black robes he expected, but wore light-colored bedclothes from her nightly rest.

The scene made him pause before he remembered that this innocent-looking woman was part of the group hell-bent on capturing his girls for their own, evil purposes.
 
It was the reminder he needed and he entered the room to finish what he came here to do.

Unexpectedly, the healer whirled around as he silently approached her.

“Most of my patients enter through the front, but then you are not here for any of my services, are you?” Ruby asked.

“Correct.”

“The coven told me you were a dangerous assassin, but I had no idea what that meant until this moment.
 
Now you are here to kill me, but why, if I may ask?”

Jeda watched Ruby carefully and slowly moving over to a table while she kept him talking.
 
She was quite good at it, her eyes never leaving his in hopes of holding his focus.
 
It was an old trick that he had used often in his own missions; talk and distract the target while you moved to where your weapon was concealed.
 
It was a trick that would not work now.
 
Quick as the thought, he let go a blade that sank into the table she was moving toward.

“Stop moving or the next one goes through your eye.”

The woman stopped in her tracks, the first tendrils of panic showing in her eyes.
 
“Why would you kill me?
 
I have done nothing to you.”

“I hadn’t absolutely decided I would kill you until you told me everything I needed to know.
 
You have killed yourself in your effort to distract me.
 
Had you simply kept quiet, I might have believed you innocent.”

“Hah, I don’t believe any of that.
 
You are a cold-blooded murderer who stole the most precious gift in the world.
 
You may kill me, but my sisters will never stop until we have those babes back.”

“That is unfortunate for you, for though you might have told them I am here, you will not tell them where I go.”

“Wait, this does not have to end like this,” Ruby pleaded.
 
“I don’t want to die.
 
We can make a deal.
 
You can leave and I can report I made a mistake.
 
The coven will believe me and no one will follow you.”

“The problem is I don’t believe you.”

Ruby lunged for the table and Jeda flung another of his blades.
 
The blade struck her in her back and she sank slowly to the floor.
 
Jeda walked over to the table curious as to what she was so intent on reaching.
 
On the table was a mixing bowl with a powdered substance inside.
 
He took the blade he had previously thrown into the table and stirred the powder.
 
A pungent order flowed upward that Jeda immediately recognized.
 
It was the powder of a powerful herb called Darkshade that would have rendered him unconscious instantly.
 
Too much exposure could cause death and Jeda realized just how close he had come.
 
If the witch had reached the bowl and flung it in his face he would be dead now.
 
He quickly drew away from the powder and looked down at the witch.

Ruby was lying on the floor, moaning in obvious pain.
 
The throw of his knife was a deathblow, but not a quick one.
 
Jeda had planned on making her death look like an accident to prevent anyone from being suspicious of the stranger in town.
 
He could still do it, but it would take a few minutes more and he had to hurry.
 
He knelt beside Ruby, pulled the blade from her back and wiped it clean on her nightdress.
 
He took the dying woman’s head in his hands.
 
“This could have been much easier on both of us.”