Heart of Dorkness

Scourge Nineteen - Assassin

I shift in my bed, then glare out of the window above me. The sun’s rising already, the sky is turning from black to a deep blue, with hints of a brighter light along the horizon. In a few minutes it will be bright enough outside to see and all the birds will be waking up.

I really should try to sleep some more, but I can’t.

Part of the reason is that I’m not that tired anymore. I did get a few good hours of sleep in. The other reason is that I’m sharing a bed with Esme. She’s clutching onto my shift, face pressed into my side and mouth half-open so that when she snores, it’s with all the force she can muster.

It’s a recurring complaint post-sleepover that Esme’s snores are unbearable. She still denies that she snores at all, of course.

I tilt forwards and look around the room. The doctor let us stay in his clinic overnight. There wasn’t anyone else that needed the beds, and if we didn’t stay here then we’d have to sleep with the boys in the barracks, and Teo said that that would be a bad idea.

To be fair, if any of the Lions tried something, I’m pretty sure any one of us could beat them to a pulp, but maybe it’s best that we just have our own space. Fewer broken noses that way.

Yawning, I try to extricate myself from Esme’s grasp, which is easier said than done. I need to pry her hand open, then shove her back down when she moves in for a hug.

It’s a good thing that no one can wake Esme up. If I bump her with my elbows and knees while rolling out of the bed, it doesn’t matter at all. I think banging pots and pans against her head wouldn’t wake her up from a deep sleep.

I wince as my feet touch the ground. Not just because my feet are all bandaged up, but because the floor’s all stone and it’s super chilly.

Felix and Bianca are sharing one of the other beds. They both pulled the longer straws last night. Felix basically doesn’t make a sound while sleeping, and she doesn’t move at all. Though she does wake up at the slightest noise.

“You’re up?” I whisper.

Her eyes are still closed, and she looks for all the world like she’s sleeping, that is, until her lips quirk up at the corner and she nods. She rolls off the bed, then stretches her arms up and up until her back pops. “Slept well?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I lie.

Felix grins and gestures at the door. “Come on, I bet they start with breakfast early here.”

We grab our clothes, and dress in a silent hurry before heading out. I can’t exactly go around without my trusty cloak. I have excuses for why my skin is the way it is, and for my eyes, but it’s always better not to raise suspicions in the first place.

As it turns out, Felix is right. There’s a chef in the barrack kitchens pushing loaves of barley bread into an oven while a large pot of beans simmers next to him.

Felix and I volunteer to help in exchange for an early breakfast and a single sausage link. Meat being as rare as it is, it’s something of a privilege to be allowed that much. We silently agree to split it in four between us.

Setting up mostly means carrying things to the mess where early risers are already sitting back and waiting for their food, including a few members of our caravan.

“Hey Teo,” I say as I set a bowlful of beans in front of him, then a loaf of fresh bread next to that.

“You’re awake already? Good. We’re not going to linger here for long. The stock we came to deliver was unloaded already.”

“Alright,” I say. “I’ll go wake up the others. When are we leaving?”

“As soon as the sun’s fully up,” he says. “I like waking early. Eating while walking gives me stomach cramps.” I’m about to head back to the kitchens when Teo reaches out and grabs my sleeve. “There’s a group that arrived at the outpost last night.”

“A group?” I ask.

He nods. “Followers of Altum. Just a small band of them.”

“The same ones we crossed?” I ask.

“No. This is another group. They arrived late last night, from the south. They started to ask questions of the guard.” He glances around, as if expecting someone to be listening in. “I think it might be best if we move on without interfering with them.”

“Alright,” I say. I’m not making any promises.

I move back to the kitchens, and deliver another load of food to a table filled with bleary-eyed guards. I meet Felix on the way back. “I’m going to wake up Bianca, and maybe toss some water on Esme’s face.”

“Good luck with that,” she says.

I chuckle as I move on. I really will need some luck to wake Esme up.

I hear something from the clinic, and I barge in while pushing the door open with my back. “Hey guys, wake up, we’re--”

There’s a big man leaning over Bianca, a fearsome scowl on his face and one hand wrapped around her mouth. She’s glaring back up at him, one foot kicking back into his thigh as hard as she can with what little space she has.

I step into the room and close the door with a dreadful click.

The man glances up, and I finally notice the knife in his other hand, one that he’s clearly trying to bring down towards Bianca. She’s holding him back with both arms, but he’s bigger, stronger than her.

My eyes meet the man’s eyes, and he hesitates. Then he screams.

A gout of flame pours out from around Bianca’s hands, burning into the man’s wrists.

“Bastard,” I growl.

Three black spikes hiss through the air, their trajectory ending somewhere inside his guts with three quick thumps.

The man screams and tries to rise.

That’s his last mistake.

Bianca pushes herself up and clamps a hand over his open mouth. “Burn,” she orders.

His eyes go wide, and I can see his cheeks and the entire lower half of his skull radiate a warm light. Licks of flame come out of his nose, and I can make out his ribs through his shirt as his insides glow.

Bianca shoves him off, and he thumps to the floor, the smoke pouring out of his mouth making the entire clinic smell like pork roast.

I scan the room, looking for more trouble even as more spikes form in the air around me, poised to dart towards anyone. “Are you okay?” I ask.

“I’m, I’m fine,” Bianca says. “I appreciate you asking.” It sounds rote, like some easy repetition of something polite to say. Basically, I don’t believe her.

“Who is he?” I ask.

Esme snores, long and low and rumbly.

Bianca and I stare at each other. Her lips twist, and we both start to laugh.

I kneel down next to the body, then, because I’m not that dumb, I poke his neck and check for a heartbeat, just in case he’s not a body yet. “I’ve never killed anyone before,” Bianca says.

“The books will tell you that it makes you feel all weird and stuff,” I say. “But I never really understood that. I guess you can feel guilty, if you want. But I wouldn’t bother. He attacked you, a sleeping girl, with a knife.”

“I could have restrained him,” Bianca says.

“With just fire magic?” I ask. I pull open his lapel, and tug out a small emblem on a set of beads from his inner pockets. It’s got the crossed-A symbol of Altum on it. “A member of Altum’s church? Or just a believer of his?”

“He wasn’t here for us,” Bianca says.

I look up to her. “How do you figure?”

“Inigo knew things. He’s here to silence him. We were just in the room too.” Bianca rubs at her eyes. “My first assassination attempt and it’s not even aimed at me.”

“Hey, hey, I’m sure the next one will be,” I comfort her.

We both start to giggle again.

“Am, am I doomed to have a tainted soul now?” she asks.

“Huh?”

“You know, to be reborn as a worse monster because I’d committed the sin of murder,” she says.

“That’s all propaganda. The monster you become will be warped based on the virtues and vices you have. Just killing someone isn’t a vice. Revelling in killing, and being violent, that would mean something, but this? Yeah, this won’t do anything to your soul, don’t worry.”

“You’re not so great at comforting people, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Bianca says.

“Sorry? I’ll work on it some more.” I point to Inigo. “We need to question him. And I want to check on Felix. Can you splash some water on Esme’s face, and keep an eye on the door? I’m going to get her and come back here, it’ll only take a few seconds.”

“And then what?”

“Then we wake Inigo up and ask him some pointed questions before running off. I don’t think I want to be in this outpost for much longer.”

***