Chapter 7
Now Gisela understood what Xaydin had been trying to tell her.
The atasweres were not at all what she thought.
At first sight, they were twisted and horrible—hard-to-look-at ugly.
They had wings and strange body parts that stretched out beyond belief.
The majority of them had writing all over their bodies, including their bald heads and eyelids.
And they all had bald heads. Even the children and women.
“They also tattoo inside their mouths,” Masakage said as they slowly rode their horses into town.
She flinched as she imagined how much that had to hurt. “All this to keep a contract?”
He nodded. “They are the ultimate bureaucrats.”
Yes, they were. But the weirdest part was that other than their garish appearance, everything else looked normal. They sat with friends, went about errands, had families.
Just like any other species she’d ever seen.
And they stood out even more than she had among the trolls and ogres. Were taller, too. There was no way for them to blend in with any other group.
Something made even more obvious by the ones who turned to stare at them as they made their way toward a rundown stable. By the glares and anger, she could tell that they knew who Xaydin was and they weren’t happy about his presence in their town.
That level of hatred made the hair on her arms stand up. She didn’t like being the center of attention and especially not when it was hostile.
As they neared a stable in the center of town, an ataswere came out to greet them. Unlike the others, he didn’t have as many words on his flesh. His wrinkled face was blank, as was most of his bald head.
“You’re not dead yet?” he asked Xaydin.
Xaydin snorted at the question. “Not from lack of trying.”
“I’d imagine.” His gaze went to her and Masakage. He studied them for a second. “Are you planning to sign a contract instead of breaking one for once?”
Xaydin gave him an amused smirk. “Not hardly. They just came along for the ride.”
“Since when do you keep company with others?”
Xaydin smirked. “Since I haven’t found a way to shake them off. No matter how much I abuse them, they won’t leave.”
The ataswere laughed before he took the reins of her horse. “I’m Athgar, my lady, and you are?”
“Gisela.”
“Nice meeting you.” He turned his attention to Masakage. “You seem familiar.”
“Masakage of Tenmaru. And I have a lot of siblings. You might have run across one. Most of us travel a great deal of the time.”
“Perhaps.” He walked their horses into the stable so that he could tie them up and remove their saddles. “How long will you be here?”
“I’m looking for the ataswere who deals with Queen Meara.”
Athgar screwed up his face. “That won’t be easy. She has a number of us she contracts with.”
Of course, she did. Why would her mother make this easy on anyone?
“This would be an older ataswere. Back when she made her deal with the Licordians.”
Placing Masakage’s saddle on a rail, Athgar let out a low whistle. “Start at the tavern. They might know. But an ataswere that old will take some time to find.”
“Always do.”
Again, Athgar laughed. “True…and I should probably let you know something.”
“What?”
“There’s a contract out on your life.”
Gisela widened her eyes.
But those words didn’t faze Xaydin at all. “What else is new?”
“Still, be careful. The High Guard is due in any moment. They’ll be doing their usual sweep.”
“High Guard?” she asked.
Xaydin passed her a less than pleased grimace. “They patrol the kingdom, looking for those who don’t belong here.”
“And if they find you?”
“They’ll do their best to kill me on sight.”
She nodded. “Good to know. Same for us?”
“No. They usually escort foreigners off their shores. Besides, you’re here to help guard an ataswere, and him…” Xaydin smiled as he looked at his brother. “As I said, he’s just along for the ride…like a bad canker sore.”
Gisela had to bite back a laugh at the offended look on Masakage’s face. She should be appalled, but it was a very unexpected comment.
Athgar said nothing as they left him and headed down the dirt street to the largest building in town. It was four to five times bigger than any other structure.
“Why’s the tavern so huge?” she asked.
“This is where most contracts are made. Some ataswere can be summoned, as is the case with the one we’re seeking who went to Licordia to make the contract decades ago, but most stay here. So if you want a contract, you have to come to them to create it so that they don’t have to risk travel.”
“Really?”
“Safety in numbers. They don’t like venturing out into the world where they don’t blend and are easily identified. Tends to make them targets for those wanting to break a contract they might be holding. Here, it takes a skilled tracker to figure out who is who.”
“Which is what you’re good at, I take it?”
“Exactly. And it makes me an easy target as they will be sending word out to the demon I’m after and summoning those who want to kill me.”
That made sense to her and terrified her. “So that he can go into hiding.”
“No. So that he can find friends and come hunt me.” He stopped and turned to face her. “You asked how I found them. I don’t have to look. Athgar is sending word, right now, to the demon I seek. All we have to do is wait and they’ll assault us in the tavern. Or outside it when we leave.”
She wanted to say it was cheating. But given the fact that he’d just summoned ataswere assassins after him, how could she? It was a bold move.
“And this always works for you?”
“Not dead yet.”
But that only confused her. “If that’s the case, then why don’t they all attack you now?”
“They’re a nation of bureaucrats and lawyers.
Everything to the letter. It’s why they’re so frustrating.
In order to kill me, they have to have the proper paperwork and credentials.
This isn’t Thassalia or Vaskalia where anyone can kill someone they don’t like.
Their citizens don’t start fights or break their stringent laws.
The only ataswere who can come for me is the one I’m seeking and those he contracts with to help him eliminate his threat.
The rest will stay out of his matters. It’s why they’re eye-balling us with hatred, but aren’t moving in to stop us. ”
“That is so…” She couldn’t find words, so she settled on, “messed up.”
“Yes and no. At least here you know who your enemies are.”
There was a lot to be said for that. She’d spent her entire life on high alert. Watching every shadow and waiting for the next attack.
Sadly, she could tell Xaydin had done the same. It was a hard way to live, and no one should have to go through it.
Without thinking, she took his hand.
Xaydin almost jumped at the unexpected contact. The softness of her hand was unlike anything he’d ever known. Or that he could remember.
Before he could think, he gave her hand a light squeeze and turned to smile at her.
A smile she returned bashfully as she bit her lip and quickly glanced away.
Yet her hand remained in his.
Masakage put more distance between them. What are you doing?
Xaydin fought the urge to glance over his shoulder at his brother. She’s reaching out.
Maybe. Just be careful.
Always. He wasn’t a young, naive fool. He more than understood what was at stake. How quickly friends turned to enemies.
Often over nothing. Petty jealousies. Imagined slights that were never intended. Creatures used those and more to justify hate so that they could tear down a friend or lover.
Xaydin would never understand it. Even now, with Gisela reaching out to him, a part of him was wary. Good things never lasted.
Bad things went on forever.
Or at least they seemed to. He hated that most of all. It was why he chose to live alone, away from the world. Away from family and friends. That way, he couldn’t be hurt.
While it could be lonely, it was safe, and safety was something he’d had too little of in his life.
But as he walked with her hand in his, he knew that it was something much more than a light caress. She trusted him. That was so rare in his world that he wasn’t even sure what to think about it.
And as they reached the tavern, she released his hand so that she could place it on her sword. While he was glad to see her caution, it saddened him that she had the same instincts he did.
She was a princess. She should have been sheltered and taken care of like the others of her ilk. If he hated Meara for no other reason, it would be for this.
But then who was he to talk? His mother had been just as bad. She’d birthed them and then vanished. All the years they’d been tortured in Meara’s court, his mother could have come and freed them.
She’d chosen not to.
If anyone could have negotiated with the bitch-queen, his mother would have been the one.
Instead, she turned a blind eye and left them to suffer.
Pushing that out of his mind, he led them to a table in back where he could watch the door and not worry about anyone sneaking up on them.
Gisela turned her chair so that she could watch the door as well. “Want me to turn into a dormouse and see what I can find out?”
Xaydin gave her a droll stare. “Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Just trying to help. Since you know…there’s no reason to hide what I can do.”
“There are lots of reasons to hide.” Masakage jerked his chin toward all the stares they were collecting. “Wish I could turn into a dormouse.”
Xaydin tossed a handful of peanuts that had been left on the table at his brother. “You can do better than a dormouse. You can vanish.”
He flashed a smile. “Very true.” Then he scanned the room. “Wonder if any of them could use a fortune or two.”
Before he could respond, Masakage wandered off to hustle business.
Xaydin ordered them drinks.
“You still mad at me?” Gisela asked.
“I don’t know. I want to be, but I know it’s not your fault. Although, that being said, you should have been the one who told me.”
“Would you have told me if you were in my place?”
“Would depend on how churlish I was feeling.”