Erak paced around the vestry, looking for something to lash out at. His angular face was flushed with anger. Enlightened One Stoll looked just as angry, but his was more a glowering mood as he studied one of the maps Gabriella had drawn during her scouting trip.
"That wasn't just someone taking exception to a member of the Faith, or even the Swords being here. That was a targeted attack, Gabriella. Somebody wanted to kill you specifically." Erak said.
"And I can make a guess as to who."
"Goran Kell," he said. His lips were still thinned and white, as if he was ready to bite at someone and Gabriella felt momentarily honoured that he felt as she did. "Who else have you annoyed recently?"
"Not as much of Pontaine as I'd intended. Yet" She grabbed a piece of parchment and a charcoal stick and started trying to draw the assailant's face before it faded from her memory. "The man didn't look like someone from this area, though. Too pale."
"Kell hired one assassin," Stoll pointed out, "so he won't have compunctions about hiring another. After all, you've come to find his oh-so profitable Golden Huntress and to hunt him."
Erak nodded. "And you're the one who chased down the assassin he hired."
"Then we must be onto something. We must be closer to finding the Huntress than we know…"
"All right, what did this man look like?" Erak said.
Gabriella returned to the drawing. "He was bald," she said. She finished her drawing and held it up. It was a good likeness, she was sure.
Stoll took it. "You've got a real skill for this, you know. If you'd stayed living in Pontaine you'd probably be a famous artist by now."
"Fame doesn't interest me." She was pleased all the same, She had always loved to draw as a child and it still gave her a thrill when someone got pleasure from a picture of hers. "Does he look familiar?"
Stoll shook his head. "No. But I'll pass this around town later and see whether anyone recognises him."
"I suppose that will have to do," Gabriella muttered. She caught Stoll's expression and reddened. "I mean no disrespect to you efforts, Enlightened One. It's just a little frustrating."
"I can imagine."
"There's something else I'd been meaning to ask you." She handed him a copy of the map she had drawn earlier. "Do you know who lives here?" She pointed to the last location she had visited on her scouting trip. The soldier-at-arms who had pursued the fugitive from the Brotherhood Dreamweed den had returned earlier, and pointed to that place on the map as the place the man had gone to.
Stoll studied the page for a moment. "That's Warrigan's farm."
"Warrigan?"
"He's a gamekeeper with a small farm run from his cottage. He's one of several gamekeepers in the vicinity who owe fealty to Lord Aristide. He comes to church perhaps once or twice a year, at the major holidays."
Erak grunted. "One of those 'just-in-case' types?"
"I'm afraid so."
Gabriella took the map back and studied it. "Then why did someone think that taking word of our visit was so important?"
"Well, he is Aristide's man… And any of the Lords in Pontaine would be keen to keep an eye on visitors from the Empire. Still, it seems that you've both had quite a productive day despite the, er, negative aspects of it."
"You could put it that way," Gabriella agreed, putting the map back on the table. "Which reminds me, we have a guest. Would you like to hear his confession tomorrow, Enlightened One?" Since she had never found a Healer, they would need to wait for the man to sober up the old-fashioned way.
"Why not?" Stoll said magnanimously.
The man from the Brotherhood's little Dreamweed den was in a novice's cell with a soldier-at-arms on guard outside. The Brotherhood man had sobered up by morning, which was unfortunate for him, as the agony from his smashed jaw was no longer dulled.
"Remember me?" Gabriella asked brightly. "And this is Enlightened Brother Brand. And I'm sure you know your local Enlightened One."
"Hello, Collin," Stoll said with a smile. "I must say I'm disappointed to find you being brought to me under such circumstances."
The young man looked at Stoll and winced. "It's all right, Enlightened One. I just…" He trailed off. "I dunno. Look, I'm sorry, all right?"
"Remorse is good," Erak commented. "And it's not too late to see the light."
"How d'you mean?"
"You tell us things, and we help you see the error of your sinning ways."
"What things?"
"Firstly," Gabriella began, "when I found you at your little den, you said the other Brotherhood members from the area were — "
"They're gone."
"That was it."
"I meant what I said. They're not here." The prisoner grimaced with every word. He hadn't been cleaned up at all and the dried blood on his face cracked and flaked off as his expression contorted. "Look, there used to be a Dreamweed place at the north corner, in the old tannery. The guy who ran it disappeared a couple of months ago. We thought maybe he'd been nobbled by the Faith, or by Aristide, so we set up a new place in that shop you found us in."
"I'll be checking that."
"It's true that the tanner has disappeared," Stoll put in. "His whole family were just gone one morning."
Gabriella thought about this. "A strange thing, especially if he was indeed involved in seducing people to either Dreamweed or the Divine Path."
The prisoner was nodding eagerly. "He just went. No word to the Brothers. No word to the…"
"Needy?"
"And, if it means anything to you, there were some real heretics in town: the Church of Syrall."
"Never heard of it."
Stoll spat. "Syrall was some hermit from the Sardenne a hundred years ago. He preached that the Lord of All was really the Lord of Nothing and just a myth to hide people's true natures from themselves."
Gabriella felt sick at the thought. Anyone who looked at Kerberos could see the Lord for themselves.
"Well, they were certainly no friends of the Brotherhood." The prisoner said. "They had a place in a waggoner's shed next to the bakery. They disappeared too, before we could finish them off."
The news didn't surprise Gabriella. The Brotherhood and the Faith did worship the same God, after all. An attack on that God was an attack on both factions.
"All right…" She turned to Stoll. "You can hear his confession in private. We'll check out the tannery and this Church of Syrall thing. Then perhaps one of us should have a chat with Warrigan."
"Perhaps I can help you with that?" Stoll suggested. "He and I do know each other a little. It won't seem odd if I say hello and ask how he's doing."
"Good enough," Erak said happily. "Between the three of us, we should get our answers quickly enough."
Gabriella couldn't help but agree. The Lord was with them and it showed.
"Enlightened One," she said quietly, out of the prisoner's hearing. "Find out if he knows the location of the Golden Huntress. It's supposed to be a source of Dreamweed as well as fallen women, so if he's been in need of a new source since the tanner left…"
"I'll do my best," Stoll promised.
The Brotherhood man's information about the old tanner's Dreamweed den had been correct. Gabriella and Erak had broken into the old tannery and found that it hadn't been used for some time. Thick dust coated the floor and here were footprints, other than their own.
"This place hasn't been used for months," Erak said.
"No… Come on." The pair paused to judge which of the nearest houses to approach and began knocking on doors and asking about the old tannery. It wasn't long before they found an answer. A sad-looking woman with lank hair said she had known about the immorality there, though obviously she had never been inside, being female.
"My brother used to go there," the woman admitted. "But I haven't seen him in a couple of months."
This was unusual. In rural communities, few people tended to move around much unless they joined a mercenary band. People grew from their roots and those roots tended to remain planted in the same fields.
"You have no idea at all, where he went?"
"Only what I heard one of his friends say. Then he disappeared as well."
Gabriella gave her a sympathetic look. "Tell me what you've heard."
"He said he was going to his freedom. Somewhere there was no Final Faith."
"Freiport?" Erak said.
"Not according to Joca. He said he was going to a place far from the Final Faith. I think that he said it was south of here."
"Now I know he was dreaming."
The woman looked offended. "He wasn't dreaming. He had a map to where he was going. He called it his map to freedom, and it was definitely south."
"Do you still have a copy of this map or did you ever see it?" The woman hesitated and Gabriella knew her answer. "What did it show?"
"I don't remember many details."
Something that the woman had said did strike a chord with Gabriella, though. She had heard the word 'freedom' used as though it referred to more than just the usual concept once before.
"Did Joca know a man called Scarra? Karel Scarra?" Gabriella asked.
"Not that I know of. If he did, he never mentioned him to me."
"Goran Kell?" The woman shook her head again and Gabriella thought hard. What was that rank that the Brotherhood had given to Kell? "Did he ever mention a Bishop?"
"Yes," the woman said, sounding surprised. "He did once say something about a Bishop getting him his freedom."
Gabriella knew that the woman deserved some punishment for having known about the Brotherhood and their Dreamweed den and not reporting them, but she had clearly suffered enough. She needed the Faith's help to help herself.
"Will you do something for me?" she asked. The woman nodded. "Recite the Prayer of Atonement each day, from the next Tenthday until the one after." The woman nodded again, more gratefully this time and Gabriella knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would do just as she had been told.
The Church of Syrall in the old waggoner's shed had a strange octagonal altar and a portrait of an old man on the wall.
The Church was deserted and had been for some time. A few fragments of rotted scrolls lay in the corners. Gabriella wasn't sure whether to be happy about that, or troubled.
"All gone."
"Could they have been warned that we were coming?"
Gabriella laughed mirthlessly, and used a fingertip to draw a line in the thick dust. "Dust and decay, Erak. Nobody has been in this place in weeks. Not running from us," she said to herself, "but just disappeared into thin air."
"Could it be true, what that woman said?"
Gabriella looked sceptical. "A land to the south bereft of the Faith? I suppose if it was a Brotherhood stronghold, perhaps… But here's a thing. Joca mentioned a Bishop to his sister. A Bishop holds the same rank in the Brotherhood as an Eminence does for us. He would be the highest ranking man in a particular area."
"This area, in Kell's case."
"Exactly. So the Bishop for here is Kell, and Scarra said Kell had gone to Freedom. If it's an actual place, it must be south of here?"
Erak nodded thoughtfully. "We still need to find the Golden Huntress. Even if Kell's not there and its not this Freedom place, there must a link onwards from there."
They walked back to the church. While Erak went through to see how Stoll was getting on with the prisoner and to keep the Enlightened One informed with what they'd learned, Gabriella went into the vestry and looked for the copy of her map to Warrigan's place. There was no sign of it, though she distinctly remembered putting it down on the table before.
"Gabe!" Erak burst into the vestry with a shout. He had drawn his sword, and Gabriella drew hers instinctively, before even asking what the threat was.
"What is it?"
"Where's Stoll?"
"Isn't he with the prisoner?"
"See for yourself."
They went into the cloister where the door of the cell was hanging open. Gabriella looked inside and was shocked to see that it was completely empty. There was no sign of either the prisoner or Stoll. "He must have sobered up quicker than we expected."
"Or was faking it," Erak suggested grimly. "Not every man responds to alcohol the same way."
"He might have taken Stoll. Perhaps as a bargaining chip," And then she was running through the church.
"Enlightened One!" She called out. A couple of altar boys looked round. "Have any of you seen Enlightened One Stoll?"
"He left about half an hour ago," one of the boys said.
"Who was with him?"
The children looked at each other then back at her. "No-one."
"Did he say where he was going?" Erak asked.
"No."
"Damn!" Gabriella ran the length of the church and took the steps down to the plaza in one jump. Erak followed, as she ran round to the stables and threw a saddle onto a horse. "Taken Stoll, my arse, Erak!" She threw a saddle to him.
Erak rushed to his mount. "What do you mean? You think Stoll — "
"Either he let that lad go, or he left him alone and didn't keep an eye on him. Either way, one of them took the map, and is going to Warrigan's cottage."
"Why?"
"The Brotherhood man must have known something that we're not supposed to know and so must Warrigan."
"The location of the Huntress?"
"Could be. Either Stoll must have thought he could get to Warrigan while we were searching the tannery, or the prisoner thought that. Either way, its where we have to go."
"Why would they need the map? They both must know the way."
"To stop us from following so quickly. They won't be expecting me to remember the way."
"And whichever one went there probably got there already"
Gabriella had finished saddling her horse and mounted. "Then we'll find an empty cottage."
Gabriella remembered the way well enough. Her and Erak's horses' hooves bit at the earth as they pounded along the path between Solnos and the escarpment that separated it from the outlying lands of Fayence.
Gabriella felt a mixture of gut-churning dread and blinding anger. How could an Enlightened One have betrayed them? There was a horse tied up outside the cottage when they reached it. Gabriella and Erak dismounted where the cart-track turned towards the building.
"We're in luck," she said. "It looks like our man is still there."
"Or he's dead."
"I hope not," Gabriella said grimly. "There's a lot of questions I'd like to ask him."
She led the way, keeping low. Gabriella had no intention of inviting arrows towards Erak or herself. They rustled through the long grass in a crouch, expecting at any moment to either hear a cry of alarm, or feel the heavy punch of an arrow smashing through ribs.
Neither thing happened and Gabriella rose to press her back against the wall next to the cottage's door.
Cautiously, she pressed her ear to the door and heard Stoll's muffled voice.
"Do you really need that? Brand and DeZantez will be here shortly!"
"You took the maps," a rough voice said.
"A gamble for a little time. DeZantez has been here before. She scouted the whole area. Just grab what you truly need and get out to the Huntress. I've already dealt with one potential leak, but I must implore you — "
Gabriella kicked the door in, drawing one sword as she pushed through into a cramped room filled with stout furniture and the smell of peat-smoke. Stoll and Warrigan spun round. Warrigan was a solidly-built man, who looked like a brawler.
"Sister DeZantez," Stoll gasped. "I was just… questioning Warrigan. I remembered you mentioned he might be of help to us. He's admitted to running the Golden Huntress."
Warrigan glared and reached towards a sword hanging from a belt on a wooden stand. Erak darted through the back door of the cottage and kicked it away from him.
"Warrigan, you will be returning to Solnos with us, to confess."
"To confess to what? That I run an inn? That's not illegal."
"You don't run an inn any more."
"You want to shut my place down. Why?"
"Because you encourage and profit from sin and immorality."
"Sin and immorality? You mean the enjoyment of simple pleasures of the flesh? Pleasures, I might add, which harm no-one and make life more bearable. God gave us this flesh, you know. And the ability to feel any pleasures it feels. He must have had a reason."
"God gave us the means, the right and the obligation to create and nurture future generations to spread His word and to carry mankind to the point where he can become one with God. Reckless pleasuring for fun is a perversion of that intent and, more practically, a diversion from it."
"Oh," Warrigan drawled sourly, "I see. Yet Makennon gives her blessing to the marriage of Kalten's son when everybody knows the bride has one in the oven already. The happy couple having had their reckless pleasure. And the Faith shows their support for that."
"God created us imperfect, so we would learn and strive to better ourselves. Occasionally individuals make mistakes, but mistakes are a thing to be taught from and to learn from. They're part of the striving to better ourselves. There's a world of difference between erring and simply by being human — which can be forgiven — and systematically urging people to go astray. Exploiting people's weaknesses and mistakes, rather than teaching them how to not make those mistakes."
"You learned that speech in the seminary I suppose?"
"Yes. That doesn't make it untrue."
"And what do you think? If you're allowed to that is."
She smiled. "I think we do people a favour. How embarrassing must it be to be so unattractive that you have to pay for something most people enjoy for free?"
"Enlightened One Stoll gives special dispensation, you know. He takes a cut every time Travis Crowe brings in a wagon of something interesting from Turnitia or Freiport."
"Travis Crowe?"
"He's a smuggler. Allegedly."
"Sounds like an interesting fellow."
"He likes to think so."
"Perhaps I'll ask him about his friends."
"He won't tell you."
Gabriella didn't answer. Instead, she turned to Erak. "Get him out of here."
When Erak pushed Warrigan out of the cottage at sword-point, Gabriella re-sheathed her sword and regarded Stoll for a moment. He edged toward the door and she stopped him, with a hand on his chest.
"Just a moment," she said. "That was brave of you." Gabriella chose her words carefully, not rushing through them. "Good work, Enlightened One. Unfortunately while you were away, the prisoner escaped."
Stoll looked appalled. "Escaped?"
"He must have waited for you to leave, then stopped pretending to be drunk and picked the lock on his cell. He's long gone."
"I see…"
"Now let's get this sinner back to town, and send for a Confessor from the cathedral at Andon."
Outside, Erak had tied Warrigan's hands and put him over his horse's saddle-bow. Stoll mounted his own horse and Gabriella pulled Erak a couple of steps aside.
"Erak," she whispered.
"What about Stoll?"
"Neither of them know we're onto Stoll. Let's keep them separate."
"You're plotting something?"
"The Lord gave us wits to use. It would be wrong to let them lie fallow."
"What now?" Erak asked. He had settled into a pew in Solnos' church. Gabriella was conferring with a Healer, who poured the contents of a paper sachet into a water jug held by an altar girl. The Healer left the church and the girl went through an interior door.
"Now Warrigan sleeps for a couple of hours and wakes very refreshed."
"And talkative?"
"Is Stoll secured?"
"The Healer promises me that the draught we gave him will keep him out for at least a day."
"Good. I wonder whether he released the lad, or…"
"He'll tell a Confessor. We'll send a message to Andon, reporting what we've learned. The goblins said to be on the loose, Stoll's betrayal, all of it. Request a Confessor and a new Enlightened One for the parish."
"I'll take care of that."
Now that they were alone, Erak got to his feet, and hugged her. "My father always said the same thing, you know."
"What thing?"
"That the Lord gave us these wits to use."
"You must remember to pass that one on."
"I have a list." He tapped the side of his head. "In here. Most of it's farming stuff, I'm afraid. Not much use to a young Sword."
"Even a young Sword has to eat."
Warrigan woke feeling more refreshed than he had in years. He had dozed off after the simple meal brought to his cell by a pretty altar girl and was vaguely surprised. He had been convinced his dread would keep him awake all night.
He was even more surprised to find that the sleep had done him good. He felt more awake and alert than he had in days. If he wasn't locked in this poky little room that smelled of stale bread and stale robes, he thought he could probably do more with the day than he ever had. He glared at the cell door and that was when he noticed a piece of parchment lying at the foot of it, sticking out from under the wood. When he reached down with a calloused hand to pick it up, it caught on the door and the door jerked inwards slightly.
He stared at it in disbelief and glanced down at the parchment.
'Get out quickly,' it read, 'the two Swords have been dealt with — Stoll.'
Warrigan tugged experimentally at the door and it juddered open. There was no sign of guards outside. Satisfied, Warrigan wasted no time in following the note's advice. He crept through the empty church as silently as any ghost, and hopped down the steps to the deserted plaza.
Gabriella and Erak watched from a darkened archway as Warrigan hurried along to the inn on the corner of the marketplace and had a hushed conversation with a man on the doorstep. The man disappeared after a moment and soon returned on a pale grey horse. He dismounted and handed the reins to Warrigan.
Warrigan galloped off and Gabriella stepped out to watch him. Already, a dozen soldiers in the tabards of the Swords were materialising silently out of the shadows, leading horses. One handed a set of reins to Gabriella, who mounted immediately. Erak took another. Within a few moments, they were clattering out of Solnos, at just the right distance to keep Warrigan in sight without the sounds of the hooves alerting him to their presence.
Gabriella led the group, while Erak brought up the rear, with the soldiers in between. As they moved out on to the road leading south, Erak was only partly surprised to see another rider off to his right. This one was veering away to the west. Erak galloped up closer to Gabriella and told her what he had seen.
"Might be a rearguard for Warrigan," he suggested. "If he is, they might have a shortcut planned where the rearguard can catch up and tell Warrigan if he's being followed."
"He must have seen us."
"I'll take two men and go after him." Gabriella nodded, and Erak wheeled his mount around. Pointing to two soldiers and beckoning them to come with him, he rode after the other rider. Gabriella and the remaining ten men stayed on Warrigan's trail.
As Erak and his two men gained on the rider heading west, Erak began to think there was something familiar about him. He was dressed in black, with shaved head and a topknot. With a start, Erak realised he matched the picture Gabriella had drawn of the man who had attacked her in the alley.
For a moment he considered sending one of the men back to follow her and tell her that here was a chance for revenge. Better sense quickly prevailed; she had a more important job tonight and he wasn't going to give this bastard a second chance at her life. He spurred his horse onwards, the two soldiers keeping pace with him.
Warrigan led them south to a trail that led up to the top of the escarpment, then headed east until he descended into a natural bowl with a small lake at the centre. A stream led past several buildings and a horse corral.
"The Golden Huntress," Gabriella said to her soldiers.
It was a two-storey affair that seemed to have been converted from a sprawling farmhouse. She kept her distance for the moment, observing the den of ill repute. There were only a handful of horses in the corral and from what she could see through the windows of the Huntress, the place didn't look like very full. Perhaps it was simply too early in the day. Drinking, gambling, smoking Dreamweed and whoring were all things most people seemed to do late in the evening.
"Your orders, Enlightened Sister?"
"Let's knock on their door."
Travis Crowe woke with a scream dying in his throat. It was mercifully dark in the room, but he was still blinking the green and purple spots out of his eyes as the whore next to him sat up.
"What's happening?" she asked.
He caught his breath; it was a difficult chase. "Nothing," he said at last. "Just a bad dream."
She reached under the sheets and gripped what she found there. "Couldn't have been that bad. You paid enough for the whole eclipse and there's still a while till sun-time you know."
He stared into the darkness for a moment, concentrating on getting his bearings. "You know all the right things to say to a man, don't you?"
"We learn pretty fast in this business."
Crowe grinned. "So, how much more have I bought?"
The girl leaned on one elbow for a moment, just looking at him.
"Don't go anywhere," she said, rolling off the bed. She disappeared through a door, and reappeared a moment later, with another girl. This one was a little shorter, but just as pretty and just as naked. Good enough for Crowe. "This much," the first girl said.
Crowe leaned back and grinned, certain that this was shaping up to be one of the best days of his life.
Despite all his best efforts, the assassin's horse was outpacing those of Erak and the soldiers. The man didn't seem to have noticed that he was being followed, but his mount wasn't carrying so much weight. The Knight and soldiers were armoured, while the assassin was not and their horses began to tire sooner than his.
Erak was debating with himself as to whether to give up and rest the horses — at least the assassin couldn't try again if he had fled town — or ride them to death to get at the murderous bastard.
The decision was unexpectedly made for him, when a flurry of arrows thudded into his mount's neck and he was hurled painfully to the ground as it fell.
The inside of the Golden Huntress belied the decrepit exterior. Once through the doors the setting was as plush as any in Miramas or Volonne. There were ten gaming tables on the ground floor, with a highly-polished bar along one wall. Silk was draped from the walls and coloured lamps hung from the ceiling, swathed in the smoke from Dreamweed. Opposite the bar, a wide staircase swept up to the first floor.
Men paled and women screamed as the armoured Swords stalked in and Gabriella kicked over a gaming table. Strong-looking guards in leather jerkins rode from their seats or entered through doors, with hands on swords and maces.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight's entertainment is cancelled, by order of the Anointed Lord. Warrigan!"
Warrigan was carrying a saddle-bag through an interior door and looked around. "What?"
"You were expecting Kurt Stoll?"
Warrigan glanced sideways at the patrons in the main room, who were mostly frozen like mice under the gazes of cats.
"If you've come to renegotiate the arrangement we had with Enlightened One Stoll — "
Gabriella shook her head. "Kurt Stoll was never as Enlightened as he liked to think. But it was nice of him to help us trick you into leading us here." She grinned. "I have Stoll I have you, and I imagine I'll have this Travis Crowe you mentioned next."
"Feel free to take Crowe," Warrigan said. "It'll save me paying him for his latest delivery. But I'm walking out of here."
"Under escort."
"There are less than a dozen of you," Warrigan said in a low voice. "Not too much trouble for the Huntress' men. They might spend their time protecting the girls from thoughtless drunken pigs, but they're well train — "
Everyone hit the floor as the doors burst open, almost coming off their hinges as a dead horse crashed through and into the saloon.
Warrigan drew a sword. "What are you joyless fanatics doing now?"
"That wasn't us," Gabriella managed to say, drawing her two blades. She had barely released the words when a swarm of wiry figures with leathery hides and grotesque scars and tattoos flooded into the Huntress. They were barefoot, bedecked in weapons and their teeth were filed to points. Their reptilian scales and red eyes were far from human.
"Goblins!" someone shouted and then all hell broke loose.
Half of Gabriella's men were felled before she could cut down her first goblin. She slashed one with both swords and back-stabbed another. Gamblers and whores were cut down as they tried to get past the melee and reach the doors. Some of the more eager goblins sliced off fingers or ears and swallowed them even as they moved onto their next target. Gabriella was too busy to feel sick, so she concentrated on trying to regroup with her shrinking number of soldiers.
A goblin jumped at Warrigan's back and he turned to fight it off. Gabriella kicked it in the head and one of her men speared both it and Warrigan.
One of the Huntress' guards leapt to the back of the room and pushed with one palm. A wave of tables and chairs immediately hurled themselves into the morass of people and goblins. Gabriella made a long slide across the floor and came up with each sword in the gut of a goblin.
A goblin shaman gestured at the human who had made the chairs move and the man exploded into shrieking flame. Gabriella wasn't about to give him the chance to do the same to her; she scooped up a fallen knife, the hilt slick with greenish blood, and hurled it into the goblin magician's neck before he could notice her.
He fell but there were still many goblins in the Huntress and as they rushed across the room, Gabriella backhanded one with the pommel of one sword and ran a second goblin through with the other. She ran up the stairs after a female goblin and plunged both swords into her back. The first goblin recovered, spitting out teeth, and came up after her. She kicked him in the face and he fell to his hands and knees, before scrambled up after her. He made a grab for her, but she twisted her hips and threw him off. He slammed into a door and, when Gabriella rammed a knee into his gut, they both fell through it.
The room was designed for dubious pleasures and was flooded with the scent of Dreamweed. A man wearing a pair of leather trews and an open grubby red and black shirt, was helping the first of two women wearing only paint to climb out through an open window. They paused and looked on in surprise as Gabriella fenced briefly with the goblin before pitching it back out of the room, with a gaping wound in its chest.
The two slatterns hesitated and Gabriella gave the nearest one a shove towards the window.
"Don't stop. Climb out and run."
They made a quick getaway as directed. The man didn't climb out, but lifted a broadsword from beneath the bed. He was a little taller than average. His shoulders were broad and his collarbone, visible through the open shirt, was covered with the pink scarring that only flame could give. He had a youthful, angular face, betrayed by silver stubble. His eyes were clear and penetrating, the right one underlined by a scar, and his unnaturally white hair was tied into a ponytail by a leather thong.
"You're not Crowe, by any chance?" she asked, remembering what Warrigan had said downstairs.
"Might be." He looked at her askance. "You don't look like a whore."
"Is that meant to be a compliment, or an insult?"
"Just an observation. This is a brothel. I'd kind of expected to meet whores in it."
"Then you'll just have to be disappointed."
"Not necessarily." He hefted a leather pouch, which jingled. "I don't know how much they pay members of the Order, but I doubt it's so much that a little extra wouldn't come in handy."
"You can put that purse away, before I shove it so far down your throat you'll be dropping silver into the privy for a week." She pushed past him and glanced out through the window. "Come on, we're getting out of here."
"Good plan. Didn't expect gobboes this far out of the World's Ridge. I mean, God's hairy bollocks, but it wasn't the night I had in mind — "
Gabriella slapped him. "That's for the blasphemy. Just be glad I'm taking the mitigating circumstances into account."
He lifted the broadsword and levelled the wide point at her throat.
"And you just be glad that I'm taking the gobboes, and the need for as many blades as possible when running into said gobboes, into account." He lowered the blade, and nodded at the swords in her hands. "I hope you know how to handle that cutlery of yours."
"I'll bet you do."
She glanced towards the wall beside the shattered door as a creak came from the other side. She leaped across, burying one sword into the wall up to the hilt. When she pulled it free, the blade was slick with bile-like greenish blood and there was a loud crash from the landing. The plasterboard wall exploded inwards, a war-axe tearing through it. Gabriella dodged, using her swords to force the axe down into the floor. She kicked out at one of the muscled arms holding it, breaking the elbow loudly, then ran the creature through.
Crowe wasted no time in heading for the window but, before he could dive out, a lanky, snarling goblin swung into the room from the guttering at the edge of the roof outside, and caught the broadsword's edge in the face for its trouble. It disappeared with a burbling scream.
Crowe leapt out of the window and Gabriella followed. They dropped onto the awning that covered the Huntress' main door and from there jumped carefully to the ground.
"Let's get out of here." Crowe said as they reached the ground.
"First things first." She ran back into the barroom, cut down two more goblins and then sheathed her swords. Then, finding a few spirit barrels suitable for her purpose, she grabbed a crowbar and used both hands to provide the maximum possible force, levering off the lids of the barrels. She kicked them over. Neat spirits sloshed out and flowed across the floor of the tap room.
Crowe sneered from the doorway, slicing the arm from one goblin and kicking another in the groin.
"You one of those temperance nutters, girl? Think you need to get rid of that stuff? Nobody's going to be drinking it for a very long time. Unless you're concerned about the souls of the gobboes."
As if summoned by his words, another half dozen goblins swarmed down the stairs and several others emerged out of a back room, leaping over smashed furniture in their haste to get at the two humans.
"Oh, I'm thinking about the goblins all right." Gabriella smashed the lid off another barrel and grabbed a lantern as she ran for the nearest door, shoving Crowe ahead of her. "Not so much their souls."
Crowe understood immediately. "Oh, right. Good one. I like the Faith better already."
Gabriella turned and hurled the lantern back through the Golden Huntress' shattered doorway. It flew in a perfect arc, landing exactly where it would have the most effect. A soft whooshing sound heralded a blue flame that rushed out across the floor. And then there was the first of a series of explosions as the fire reached the barrels of spirit.
As Gabriella and Crowe ran, the Golden Huntress erupted.
Every remaining shutter blew off the windows and the walls visibly bulged outwards. A few goblins were blown into the corral and the lake in screaming pieces as the building's roof collapsed and vented roiling black smoke.
Gabriella kept going, glancing at Crowe as he ran beside her.
"That won't be all of them," he said. "And the rest will soon be coming for us."
"Keep running." She shoved Crowe ahead of her and made for where the Sword's horses were tied. "Can you ride?" she asked.
"I'm a horse thief, among other things; what do you think?"
"Pick a good one. Fast and strong."
Crowe approached a strawberry roan, calming it with hand gestures and soothing sounds, before mounting it. "Well, it's been… interesting knowing you."
"Don't think you're leaving the custody of the Faith yet, sinner. A little confession is good for the soul and I'm not going to let yours stay bad."
"Even if it kills me? You don't need to answer that, all right, love?" Crowe dug his heels into the roan's flanks and set off. Gabriella rode her mare right out after him.
She had to keep ducking as they darted through an avenue of trees, but soon they were galloping across open ground and she quickly caught up with him. "God's — " He broke off as she drew within arm's reach with a warning glare. "Now comes the fun part." He jerked a thumb behind him. Gabriella looked back and saw a dust cloud closing on them.
"Goblins."
"Sorry pet. We should have lamed or killed the other horses."
"They're innocent animals."
"Not any more."
Erak's first thought had been that the assassin had stationed men along his route to throw off pursuers, as the assassin in Kalten had done. This idea was quickly dismissed when, with a screech, a goblin leapt at him.
Still half-stunned, he shoulder-charged it, knocking it to the ground, then stamped on its head as he drew his sword. As he finished it off with a quick cut, one of the soldiers was shot from his horse by another arrow. Both Erak and the other soldier spotted the goblin archer at the same time, and headed right for him. The soldier got there first, his sabre taking the goblin's head from its shoulders.
Three more goblins ran in from their hiding places behind rocks, but Erak had killed one before it even raised its weapon, and turned to parry a cut from another. The creature was strong but not well trained and he got his blade under its arm and cut wide, disembowelling it.
The soldier killed the last goblin with a vicious backhanded swipe from his sword.
Erak paused to catch his breath and looked around for the man they had been following. There was no sign of him anywhere; just the rolling hills, rocks and the occasional tree.
"Damn."
The man had got away, but by now Warrigan would have led Gabriella and her troops too far from where they had split up for him to catch her trail again.
Erak's own horse was dead, so he recovered the fallen soldier's animal and mounted that. There was nothing for it but to return to Solnos. If there were goblins in the area, they would need to be fought.
There was a bright side, at least, he thought. He was relieved that Gabriella hadn't ridden westwards. She might have been the one shot from her horse.
Something slapped at Gabriella's calf and her horse reared, shrieking with a surprisingly human-sounding voice. When she looked down, there was a clothyard shaft stuck into her horse's side, slapping against her calf as the animal ran. Another two arrows thudded wetly into its flank and the animal was already slowing. Gabriella focussed on the horse's face and noticed that the eye she could see was rolling in pain. But the creature was brave and kept going.
She patted its neck, suddenly feeling guilty for being a burden to it, and wishing it wasn't so hurt. As if it could understand her thoughts, its eye regained focus, but it was already lurching to one side and ready to topple at any moment. Gabriella knew its effort wouldn't last, as it was losing blood quite quickly now. She looked at the gear that was hanging from the flanks of Crowe's horse. "You any good with a bow?"
"For hunting game, maybe. Not for warfare."
"Thought not. You're good with that horse though."
"I bet there's a Final Faith Proscription against that too."
"Give me your hand!"
"What?"
The horses were thundering along next to each other, spittle from one flying in the face of the other's rider. Gabriella risked another look back and saw that the pursuing goblins were gaining rapidly. They were almost within the range of a throwing dagger now, let alone bowshot.
"Stretch out your hand!" she ordered. Crowe did so and she grabbed hold. "Keep your knees tight!"
Before he could ask what she meant, she had planted her feet on her horse's shoulders and leapt across to his horse. His eyes wide with fright, Crowe almost tumbled from his mount under her weight on his arm. The leverage was only there for a second and then Gabriella was crouching in front of him, on his horse's shoulders, and swinging her leg across the beast's neck so she could sit properly.
She let go of his hand so that he could grab the reins with it again, which left her facing him in an almost-embrace. Her horse tumbled immediately, landing hard on its neck. Gabriella ducked left, stretching out a hand around Crowe's hip. "Girl, I thought I was a little wild, but…"
"Don't get any funny ideas." She pulled the bow and quiver from where they hung from the horse's flanks
"Believe me, I'm out of ideas. Funny or otherwise."
"Lean right."
Crowe did so, though his eyes kept darting towards her face, which was uncomfortably close. Gabriella ignored him for the moment and leaned as far to the right as she could, until she was almost cradled in the crook of his left arm. She shoved her arm, with the bow, past his head, prompting an annoyed grunt and a sickening weave to the horse's course, then nocked and drew with her right.
The bowstring missed Crowe's ear by a finger's-breadth, but the arrow it loosed hit the leading goblin in the face. It screeched and fell from its mount.
Gabriella strung another arrow and loosed it. Then another and another. Three more goblins fell and the pursuing group slowed. In a few moments, they were out of sight and only a steadily rising dust could remained, where the remaining goblins were no doubt falling upon their less fortunate comrades.
"I think we're clear," Gabriella said at last. "Give it ten more minutes, then we'll slow and walk the horse down. Carrying both of us can't be easy."
"There is that." Crowe tensed and she quickly drew a dagger from her boot and wrapped her wrist around his neck, the blade against the artery of his throat.
"If you're thinking the horse would be happier carrying only you, I'd think again. You don't want to try that kind of leverage."
Crowe's eyes burned into hers. "I'm in no hurry. So… What do I call you?"
"Enlightened Sister."
"I meant your name, not your title."
She smiled faintly. "My name is Sister DeZantez in the Order of the Swords Of Dawn."
He blinked and rubbed a hand through his hair. "That's very long winded. Don't you Faith types have a shorter name? A given name?"
"Given names are for family and friends and we're neither, so I don't owe you one."
He shrugged. "I'm happy to be friends with any woman. My name's Travis."
"So I've heard."
He merely nodded. "It's as good as any, Dez. Did you have anywhere special in mind to go?"
"We need to get back Solnos. Our soldiers-at-arms, and Kannis' mercenaries, along with any others in the area, can hunt down any goblin stragglers." She didn't mention that she thought Erak would be disappointed if he didn't get a taste of some actual action. She looked on the bright side, though; if he had come south with her, he might have been the one shot from his horse and she couldn't bear that.
It wasn't going to be as easy as either of them had thought. They had dismounted as the sun emerged, to allow the horse to rest from the exertion of carrying two people. They had come to a shallow part of the escarpment overlooking the approach to Solnos, just to be sure of throwing off any possible goblin pursuit.
"Well, God-girl," Crowe said. "Thanks for the help with the gobboes, but I'll be going now. See you around, maybe."
"How long has it been since you went to confession?" Gabriella demanded threateningly, stepping in front of him.
Crowe feigned a look of surprise. "Does the Faith still do that? I must say, I'm shocked."
"Very funny," Gabriella said. "Been a good little monk who never puts a foot wrong, have we?"
"Can't say I've tried being a monk. I've tried putting my feet in some interesting places though. Are my eyes tricking me, or is that smoke on the horizon?"
"That's Solnos!" Gabriella immediately thought of Erak and wondered whether he was all right. It was one thing to think of him enjoying campaigning against a few goblins, but not so pleasant to imagine him on the defensive against an entire warband. Her mind kept throwing up images of a besieged church and, worse still, goblins rampaging through it in search of food and trophies. "We have to get back to town."
"No." Crowe held up a hand, then pointed at her. "You have to get back to town, Dez. You, not we. I don't give a monkey's toss for your roach-infested town and I care even less for spending time in the company of a Faith Confessor."
Gabriella narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't giving you a choice."
"And I'm not accepting any decision of yours, love. You got me out of the Huntress before the goblins got to me and I got you out of town before they caught up with us." He stood. "I'm sorry, Dez, but that's all there is to it. We're even."
She rose. "We're not even. You are my prisoner, Crowe."
"In your dreams, pet."
She grabbed his shoulder and spun him round. As soon as he realised he was turning, he threw his weight into it, whipping his fist up and out. Knuckles cracked against bone and Gabriella fell.
Crowe mounted his horse. "Give my regards to the Faith and don't be stupid enough to run into me again. I don't like to kill pretty girls, but I'd be a liar if I said you'd be the first."
She caught up to him ten minutes later, carefully walking the horse through the brightening day, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She had known the horse wasn't rested enough to ride yet and, for that matter, she expected that so did Crowe. He was just trying to get a good lead on her. It didn't work. The look on his face when he saw her was almost worth the pain in her jaw.
Gabriella marched up with surprising speed. Crowe didn't have time to react before she slammed the palm of her hand into his jaw, then spun and side-kicked him in the solar plexus so hard that he crashed to the ground several feet back. He roared in pain.
He started to swear, but she kicked again before he could get another word out.
"Don't say a thing, sinner," she snarled. "Not a bloody word!"
He glared instead. She flexed her fingers, vaguely hoping he'd provoke her again. Her jaw and cheek still throbbed and she could taste blood. "You know, my father says that any man who hits a woman is no man at all."
"I hit a Knight of the Swords," Crowe snapped back. "If you think being a woman exempts you, then you're touched in the head. You can't have it both ways."
"One way is all I'm interested in." That was when she hit him again. When he woke up, he would be in Solnos.