Jalia At Bay (Book 4) (3 page)

4.
              
Justice

Adon Taldon was having the best day of his life. He and Twist Falfit had set up their stall many hours earlier piled with the fruits of their labor and they were having a day to remember. Adon was a tall heavyset man, who resembled a bear more than he did a human. His companion, Twist, was by contrast, thin and short. However, he was a superb fighter, if superb meant cunning and capable of doing anything to win, no matter how foul.

The stolen donkeys had been snapped up almost as soon as the market opened by a group of traders on their way to Slarn. Adon traded the donkeys for the fancy clothes he and Twist were wearing.

Daniel had packed his trade bags with spices before leaving Telmar. Those bags were in a special pile Adon had no intention to sell. He planned to share them out with Twist later that night. He would fob his young nephew off with a few trinkets. One of the reasons he had insisted that Dell keep his pointless watch on the trail was so he would not find out how much the goods they stole were actually worth.

Jalia’s throwing knives had been traded to two mercenaries who were guarding the traders going to Slarn. They purchased them for a couple of bottles of strong liquor they had carried with them from Brinan. The mercenaries had wanted to buy the horses as well, but did not have anything that Adon wanted. They had offered him gold coin, which made him laugh.

To stop them from creating a fuss at his stall he had thrown in the dagger he took from Daniel. The men stopped complaining when he had showed them how sharp that dagger was. It looked worthless when in its sheath, but the blade inside had an unbelievably keen edge.

There had been a woman traveling with the traders, though she was not part of their group. She traded a tiny crystal glass bottle of perfume in exchange for Jalia’s ring. Adon was sure that by giving that bottle to a certain young woman, he would finally get her to part her legs. If Atalla had been anyone else but the village leader’s daughter, he would have raped her a long time ago. Adon licked his lips in anticipation of delights yet to come.

Even Jalia’s gold coin had proved to be useful. He had traded half of it to a tinker for a set of spade and fork blades. He would be able to trade those back to his villagers for food later in the year. Adon hated the idea of having to work for a living.

The only disappointment so far had been the swords. A typical villager had no use for such things. A fork or an axe could be just as effective in the hands of a skilled practitioner and could also be used in the fields on a daily basis. You could not chop wood with a sword.

The only potential taker for either of the swords was the ten year old running around the room waving an toy oak sword his father had made for him. The child’s name was Balan and he was Atalla’s youngest brother. Adon considered giving the boy one of the swords in the hope it would buy him influence with the boy’s father. However, the possibility the child might hurt himself with a real sword had stopped him from going through with it.

The doors to the Lord’s House flew open with force enough to smash loudly into the wall. Everybody in the room turned in shock as Jalia and Daniel strode in.

Jalia scanned the room with the practiced eye of the thief she sometimes was. She saw their swords on a table. Two men stood up behind that table and Jalia had no trouble deducing that these must be Adon and Twist. A thought occurred that she should have asked Dell to describe them so she knew which was which, but then Jalia was never one to worry about spilt milk.

“If you are going to rob either me or Daniel, you should make very sure that we are dead,” Jalia told them cheerfully. “Oh sorry, that advice is a little late, isn’t it?”

“That’s a problem we can fix right now,” Adon said, sneering at this girl who dared to stand in front of him in her woolen underskirt.

Twist picked up Daniel’s sword and grinned evilly.

“I’ll take the man, Adon. I know you prefer to cut little girls.” Twist’s laugh was every bit as evil as his grin. He took his knife from his belt and waited for Adon to move.

“That’s only because he’s unarmed,” Adon said as he picked up their table and flung it to the right, blocking the only other exit from the room. “But as she’s nearer to me than you, I’ll sort her out for you.”

The villagers scattered to the walls. The exit at the back was gone while Jalia and Daniel blocked the main door. The bystanders had little choice but to back away and hope they didn’t get caught in the fighting.

Adon pulled a long wicked knife from his belt and hunkered down into a professional knife fighter’s stance while Twist stepped towards Daniel swinging his knife from side to side while keeping the sword pointed at Daniel’s heart. The people who had not managed to get close enough to the wall on Twist’s side scrambled and pushed against those that had.

Balan did not understand what was going on. His view of Daniel and Jalia at the door was blocked by a group of adults and Jalia’s tone of voice had not appeared threatening.

When the adults began pushing him towards the edge of the room, he wriggled past them and ended up standing between Twist and Daniel, still brandishing his eighteen inch long wooden sword. He faced Twist who advanced on him with a very real sword in his hand and panicked, stepping back into Daniel, who held him by the shoulders to stop him falling.

“Do you mind if I borrow your sword?” Daniel asked the boy gently as he plucked the sword from Balan’s hand. “If I damage it, I promise I will make you another one that’s even better.”

Daniel picked the boy up and turned to give the child to a woman behind him. She took the child and screamed in horror as she saw Twist attack Daniel’s undefended back.

Jalia knew she was in for a fight as she sized up her massive opponent. He wore a thick leather jerkin and trousers, making him a difficult target for a knife. Leather was almost as effective as amour against bladed weapons. What would be a killing sword stroke often failed to penetrate thick leather, and even when it does causes only a minor wound.

Leather was even more effective against knives, even a powerful slash was unlikely to penetrate. If she had been in possession of her throwing knives, Adon would already be dead. Their sharp points would slice through leather as if it was not there when thrown with sufficient skill and force. The knife she had in her hand was designed for cutting and had a blunt tip made worse by her practicing with it during the day. Given that the man she faced was the size of a small mountain, there was a strong chance that any throw she made wouldn’t penetrate his rib cage, let alone reach his heart.

Going for a neck throw was impossible. Adon did not appear to actually have a neck and he had hunkered down with his chin pressed tight against his chest. He had a longer reach than Jalia and the only protective clothing she had was Dell’s jerkin, which was good quality, but not made for warfare.

Jalia recognized a formidable opponent when she saw one and this man was definitely one of those. She ran towards him when he pushed the table away to give herself room to retreat later. Jalia knew she was going to need it.

Daniel swung round and dropped to the floor. The roundhouse swing of his sword in the hand of Twist whistled over his head, stirring his hair as it passed. Daniel used the flat of the toy sword to slap Twist hard on the calf. Twist gave out a yelp and jumped backwards given away the advantage he had gained.

Swords are a powerful weapon in the hands of a skilled practitioner and Twist appeared to Daniel to have had some training. Twist also wielded a knife in his other hand as many swordsmen did. The knife is typically used in a slashing manner, keeping the opponent far enough away to allow the sword to come into its own. Twist knew enough to use the combination well. There was no way that Daniel could turn the fight into a wrestling match.

The wooden sword in Daniel’s hand was nicely balanced. The oak was seasoned and very hard. It was polished and as blunt as the average side of a door. If Daniel allowed Twist to hit it edge on with his sword, it would probably be sliced in two. Daniel’s only hope was to make sure that the blades made contact flat to flat.

What happened next could best be described as an exhibition sword-fight. Twist swung his sword viciously and Daniel stepped into a position where he could push the steel sword away with his wooden one. Daniel often followed through with a strike to the side of Twist’s head or torso. The toy sword did little more than to anger Twist. But an angry swordsman was a fool by definition and Twist might give Daniel the moment that decides a fight; if he got angry enough.

Jalia ducked and dived across the other side of the room. Dell’s jerkin was sliced in two places and Jalia suspected she was bleeding from one of those cuts. She did not have the concentration to spare, or the time to look, as she defended herself against Adon’s relentless attack.

Adon was no fool and did nothing so stupid as to charge at her, or to allow himself to be constrained in movement by the people and furniture around him. Jalia had spun chairs at him in the hope of driving him off balance, but he always stepped back and collected himself. He was slowly boxing her into a corner of the room and what she needed was a moment of inspiration. Then an idea occurred to her.

Jalia dropped to the floor on her bottom as if in defeat. She scrabbled back along the floor causing villagers sheltering in the corner to bolt for safer locations.

“Please don’t kill me,” Jalia begged in a small frightened voice as her back came to rest against the corner of two solid walls and there was nowhere left to retreat.

Daniel heard Jalia’s words and ignored them. He did not attempt to look around or to try to help her.

Twist snarled in annoyance. He would never hear the last of it if Adon killed the armed girl while he was still dancing with this unarmed bastard. Especially as the bastard in question had been holding him at arms-length with nothing more than a toy sword. Jalia’s words encouraged Twist into making a stupid move.

Twist flipped his knife in his left hand so he was holding it by the tip of the blade. Then he threw it at Daniel. Daniel was stepping aside before the blade left Twist’s hand, the whole move having been telegraphed by the flip. He did not close in because the knife was heading straight for the people standing behind him. Daniel felt he had no choice as he slashed his toy sword through the air, knocking the knife onto the floor.

Balan had seen the knife flying towards his head and the certainty of death was already in his mind when Daniel knocked the knife down to the boy’s feet where it slid along the floor to bump its hilt against his toes.

Daniel felt the oak toy split as it hit the knife. When he lifted up the sword, he found there was only a six inch spike beyond the hilt, less than half an inch thick at the hilt and tapering to a splinter. It certainly could not be used to block a sword any longer.

Adon bellowed in triumph. Twist gave a feral grin and attacked.

When Adon saw the girl fall to the floor, he thought that she must have been trying to trick him. It was only as she carefully placed her knife on the ground and spun it so that its hilt faced him that he was certain he had won.

Jalia had put up quite a fight and Adon’s blood throbbed in his ears as he looked down at her. To his left, he heard the splintering of Daniel’s toy sword and adrenaline overtook his ability to think. He lifted his head and bellowed, thumping his fists against his chest in joy. He was on his third thump, when the knife Jalia had placed on the floor exactly in the right position to be picked up and thrown, went straight through his throat, severing both windpipe and jugular.

Adon tried to scream, but all that was heard was a bubbling sound as air from his windpipe mixed with the blood squirting from his severed artery. Bright red blood sprayed around the room in all directions. He collapsed to the floor and died.

Twist rushed at Daniel swinging the sword in a vicious roundhouse stroke that would have cut Daniel in two had it connected. Daniel stepped forward so quickly that the two men bumped other chest to chest. Twist looked up into Daniel’s face. It was the last thing he saw as Daniel stabbed the point of the broken toy into Twist’s left eye.

Twist staggered as his body caught up with his brain, which had concluded he was dead. He fell away from Daniel. Daniel spun towards Jalia and saw a spray of blood coming at him from Adon’s throat. He stepped smartly towards the villagers, who immediately backed out of his way.

“Do you always have to be so messy?”

Jalia was in motion, having pulled the knife from Adon’s throat in passing and moving to where her sword waited at the other end of the room. The blood spurting from Adon’s throat came to a stop and Daniel stepped forward to retrieve his sword from Twist’s lifeless hand. He backed towards Jalia with his sword held in front of him, in case any of the villagers felt they owed Adon or Twist their support. Nobody in the room moved so much as an inch.