Death and Honor: Book 2 of 2 (12 page)

In the dim moonlight he saw her shrug. “The family’s lived here for years with no trouble. I bet they don’t even think the guards are necessary anymore. Do you want to take them out or avoid them?”

“We’ll avoid them. If they don’t walk by every so often even those idiots at the gate will notice. Besides if we can’t evade two men we’re in the wrong business.”

Xander pointed to the mansion they slipped like shadows through the courtyard, pausing once near the shed to let the guards pass. They circled to the left and on the opposite side from where they started Xander spotted a second floor balcony. “That’s our way in.”

Anika flicked the hook over the balcony rail. Xander tugged it and climbed up. He slipped over the railing and reached back to help his partner over. Anika coiled up the rope and Xander reached out and touched the door. It opened into an unoccupied bedroom, without a squeak, on well oiled hinges. They slipped inside and Xander shut the door behind him. “This is too easy. I think you’re right, something stinks.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“I find that much more tempting now than when you first voiced your concerns. Still I hate to go back and say we quit because the mission was going too well. Let’s keep going. If it’s a trap whoever’s waiting to spring it will get a surprise.”

Anika didn’t argue, but he saw she didn’t like it. They snuck across the room and Xander peaked out the door into an empty hallway lit a regular intervals by oil lamps. Xander pulled his back in. “If you were an old man where would you be?”

She thought for a moment. “In bed?”

“Right. How many bedrooms do you think this place has, eight, ten? We need more information. There’s got to be a few servants still up. Let’s find one.”

Xander led the way out of the empty bedroom and started down the hall to the left. They passed three doors, none of which showed a light under them. When they reached the wall at the end of the hall they turned back to check the right hand side. They were almost back to the empty bedroom when footsteps sounded from the stairs to the right.

The two assassins ducked back inside. Xander held his breath as the steps passed the door. He waited another second then stepped out behind a young woman in a black and white maid’s uniform. Xander clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her back into the empty room. With his left hand he pulled his knife and set it against the girl’s throat.

“Please don’t scream. If you scream I’ll have to kill you then find another servant to question. You don’t want me to have to go to all that trouble, do you?”

The maid managed a minute shake of her head.

“Good girl. I’m going to take my hand away and you will tell me where the old man is, right?”

She nodded this time and her tears tickled Xander’s hand. He took his hand away, muscles tense to clamp down at the least noise. “Master Shale lives on the third floor.” Her voice trembled. “There are three rooms, all connected. The staircase is behind the final door on the right.”

Xander took his knife away from her throat. “See, that wasn’t so bad.” She relaxed and he struck her across the back of the head with the hilt of his knife. She collapsed on the bed. “Sleep well.”

“You’re going to let her live?” Anika asked. Whether she was pleased, concerned, or curious he couldn’t tell.

“Why not? We’ll be long gone before she wakes up and she was helpful. Besides, no one paid us to kill her.” Xander checked the hall and found it empty. “Come on, let’s get this done.”

Anika followed him down the hall. Xander opened the door the maid indicated and found a set of wide stairs leading up. He took them silent as a cat. At the top waited a closed door, no light shown under it.

Xander looked back at Anika. “Ready?”

She nodded and Xander tried the door. It wasn’t locked. He pushed it into the room, just enough for them to slip inside. The moment they were inside lights blazed to life. For a moment Xander couldn’t see. He drew blind listening for attackers. When his vision cleared he found four armed guards surrounding a huge bed. An old man, all but invisible amid the pillows, lay in the center of the bed.

“You must be the ones they sent to kill me,” the old man said. “I thought you’d be older.”

“I get that a lot.” Xander evaluated the guards. Big men, dressed like the ones outside, carrying bared scimitars, nothing that concerned him overmuch. “Never from the same person twice.”

The old man chuckled. “You’re hardly in a position to make threats, veiled of otherwise. Why don’t you throw down your weapons and my men will escort you out of here?”

“I have a better idea.” Xander switched his sword from his right hand to his left and let his right hand fall by his side. “Why don’t you order your guards out of here and I’ll kill you as painlessly as I know how?”

Shale laughed out loud at this, but Xander stared back, unblinking. “You’re serious. You can’t think you can win.”

“I don’t know if I can win, but I’m not leaving until one of us is dead.” Xander twitched his wrist, a thin throwing dagger dropped in his right hand. He whipped his arm forward, burying the dagger in the nearest right hand guards’ throat.

“Guards!” the old man shouted.

The three surviving guards surged forward, weapons raised. Xander lunged to his right to avoid getting surrounded. He slashed at the nearest guard forcing him to raise his sword to block. When he did Xander kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over. He shoved the bent over guard into the others, putting them off balance. He seized the moment and slashed one of them across the back of the neck, killing him.

Anika drew her sword and the old man screamed again, “Guards!”

There were footsteps thundering up the steps. He was calling for reinforcements. “Barricade the door,” Xander said. “I’ll handle these two.”

Trusting Anika to do what he said Xander focused on the guards who had gotten untangled and back on balance. Xander blocked an overhead chop from the nearest guard then spun away from a thrust from the second. His riposte caught the guard on the inside of the forearm and laid it open to the bone. The guard’s sword fell from nerveless fingers. Something crashed behind him, but he ignored it and focused on the final guard. The man licked his lips and shot a glance at his bleeding partner. His hand trembled.

“You don’t have to die for him.”

The hesitant guard looked back at his master. Xander struck, driving his blade through the man’s chest, armor and all. Anika finished the wounded guard and they turned together to face the old man who had pulled his blankets up over his head like a child hiding from the monster under his bed. In this case the monster wasn’t under his bed but standing beside it and hiding wouldn’t do any good.

Xander grabbed the covers and ripped them off the bed. “Someone warned you we were coming, who?”

The old man trembled. “If I tell you will you let me live?”

A crash came from behind them. He needed to wrap this up in a hurry. “The door won’t hold much longer,” Anika said as if to reinforce his thought.

“You will die,” Xander said. “Talk and I’ll make it quick. If you make me drag it out of you I swear you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

The old man hesitated and Xander clashed him across the chest. “My son in law. He heard some of our rivals hired an assassin to kill me.”

“His name?” Another crash and the door splintered.

“Michael Orrin.”

“Thank you.” Xander cut the old man’s throat. “Let’s go.”

Xander smashed out a window and Anika hooked the rope to the ledge. She went down first and he followed as close as he dared. As he slid down the shouts of guards elsewhere in the compound grew closer. He hit the ground and Anika retrieved the hook. The wall waited a hundred yard dash away and no guards were in sight. Seizing the moment he grabbed Anika’s hand and they raced to the wall.

The moment they reached the wall the hook went up and over, Anika climbed, not even bothering to check the hook, and Xander followed right behind. They reached the top and shouts rang out. The guards had spotted them. Xander hauled up the rope and tossed it down the other side of the wall. Xander followed Anika down the rope, dropping the last six feet when she stepped out of the way.

Anika reached for the rope, but Xander said, “Forget that, let’s go.”

They ran for the jungle. If they made it the guards would never find them in the dark. They were halfway between the wall and jungle when Anika screamed and staggered. Xander caught her and half carried her to the tree line. A crossbow bolt stuck out above her left hip. It didn’t look like anything vital got hit, but she wouldn’t be running a marathon soon.

“How bad?” She clenched her teeth in obvious pain.

“You’ll live if we can get back to the ship.” Voices echoed in the distance. The guards had heard her scream. “Can you walk if you lean on me?”

He helped her up, but she collapsed again. “I can’t, my leg won’t hold. Leave me here.”

Xander ignored her. He wouldn’t leave her. He couldn’t lose another friend. “I guess I’ll have to carry you.”

“You can’t carry me the whole way back. You’ll never make it.”

“One way to find out.”

He scooped her up and walked as fast as he could deeper into the jungle. The guards thrashed through the undergrowth behind him. A hundred paces in he set Anika down against the trunk of a tree. Lanterns bobbed through the jungle behind him. Xander shook his head. The fools had spread out like they were searching for a lost kid rather than two assassins that would as soon kill them as look at them.

He leaned down beside Anika and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

Xander applied a coat of the liquid Grandfather gave him to the lens of his mask. The night became day and he saw the men searching for them as clear as if the noon day sun shown above them. Xander drew his curved knife and slipped through the jungle like a great cat stalking its prey. He grabbed the first guard in line and cut his throat before moving on to the next.

Xander paused, a third guard dead at his feet. Two men stood together without a lantern a short ways away. They had to be in charge. He stalked toward them, slow and silent.

“We’ve already lost two men,” the man on the left said. “We should return before they kill the rest.”

“Do you want to tell the mistress her father’s killers have escaped?” the other man asked.

Before the first man could answer Xander came up behind him and laid the blade of his knife across the man’s throat. “I can make it so you never need to explain anything again. Order your men out of the jungle and you can live.”

“If you could kill us all you wouldn’t be offering to let us go,” the man without a knife to his throat said.

“I’m in a hurry. You have ten seconds to give the order or your friend dies first.” Five seconds past and Xander pressed the blade harder against his hostage’s throat. “Five, four, three—”

“All right men that’s enough for tonight. We’ll start fresh in the morning.”

“Smart.” Xander shoved his prisoner toward his partner and melted into the jungle before he could turn around. He watched until the men started back for the mansion before he returned to his partner.

Anika lay half conscious against the tree, which was just as well. He notched the bolt then snapped it off, leaving three inches sticking out of the wound. She moaned and Xander flinched. It wouldn’t get any better carrying her back to the ship. He crouched beside her, lifted her across his shoulder, careful to keep the bolt from rubbing as he walked, and turned toward the beach.

It was a long night. Xander paused every quarter mile to rest. When he reached the beach the sun sat high in the sky. The boat waited where they’d left it. Xander staggered the last hundred yards, so exhausted he could only manage a weak shuffle, and deposited Anika’s unconscious form in the boat. He untied the boat, pushed it down to the surf, and climbed in. Xander looked down at his partner. She still breathed and that was enough for now. Teeth clenched he unhooked the oars and pulled for the ship.

Xander had no idea how long it took but at last he reached the side of the ship. With the last of his strength he hooked the ropes to the boat so they could haul it up. The last thing he felt was the boat leaving the water.

T
he rolling
of the ship and creaking of the hull greeted Xander when he woke. His body ached and his mouth tasted like he’d chewed a piece of felt for the past ten hours. He rolled out of his hammock and found a pitcher of water on the small stand. Xander gulped down a quarter of the pitcher on one go and sighed. That was better.

After he dressed Xander went up on deck. He figured he’d find the captain there and if anyone could tell him how Anika was it would be him. As he expected the captain stood at the wheel. The captain spotted him approaching and handed control of the ship over to a mate standing close at hand.

He met Xander halfway across the deck. “Did you have a good rest?”

Xander nodded. “How long?”

“About eighteen hours. I was getting worried.”

“I’m touched. How’s my partner?”

“The healer removed the bolt from her side. Nothing vital was hit and her blood loss was minimal. She should make a full recovery. If you wish to check on her she’s in the healer’s cabin two doors down from you.”

“Thank you.” Xander turned to leave.

“When she came to she said you carried her all the way to the beach.” Xander turned to face the captain. “That’s a hell of a thing.”

“If you can’t count on your partner, who can you count on?” Not waiting for the captain’s reply Xander went back below deck to check on Anika.

He found her asleep in bed, a middle aged man with a gray spattered beard sat in a chair beside her. The healer looked up when Xander entered and whispered, “You were my next stop. I’m pleased to see you up and around. How are you?”

“I’m hungry and my shoulders ache, but otherwise I’m fine. How’s she?”

“The wound was painful, but superficial. She should make a full recovery. If you’d like to sit with her I’ll send one of the ship’s boys to bring you a meal.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”