2. Rorax
“That’s a kill, Spine Cleaver.”
Rorax opened her eyes to find a long blade pressed against her throat. She grunted as her eyes followed the cutting edge up to the face of a familiar, grinning idiot. “Even though you cheat, Volla, I’m still beating you seventeen to eight.”
“No,” Volla huffed as she sheathed her sword. “We don’t officially start counting until we leave the country.”
“We started counting the minute we passed the borders of Koppar. Sahana has the official rules we wrote in her bag, go ask her,” Rorax said smugly, closing her eyes again. “Now, go away. I want a few more hours of sleep.”
“Nope, it”s time to get up, Grumpy.”
Something grimy and heavy tapped lightly on Rorax’s forehead.
“Tell me you didn’t just put the bottom of your nasty shoe on my face.” Rorax’s lips curled over her teeth, and she peeled one eye open again to glare. “What the fuck do you want?”
They were scheduled to have a free day today to gather anything they needed in Sahloo before they crossed the Lyondrean border again tomorrow morning. A free day meant more sleep, and Rorax wanted as much as she could get before she went back to sleeping on the forest floor in Lyondrea.
Volla grinned unapologetically down at Rorax, her curly blonde hair draping down around her face. “Come on Grumpy, didn’t you miss me?”
“Not at all.”
“Liar.”
Rorax rolled her eyes, pulling her sleeping roll up closer to her chin. “You’ve only been gone for two days.”
“More than enough time to miss me, Spine Cleaver.” Volla winked and plopped down on the empty bed behind Rorax, her weapons and armor clinking softly. Volla carried a longsword and a shortsword with her everywhere.
Rorax had opted for the floor, suspecting there were bugs in the mattress, but since Volla had just pressed her nasty, probably shit-covered boot against her face, Rorax kept her mouth shut about the bugs. In fact, Rorax hoped they bit Volla in the ass.
“Did you get him?” Rorax mumbled, scrubbing her hands over her face as Volla unstrapped her weapons from her back.
Volla and Jia had left two days ago to assassinate a wayward officer in the House of Alloy’s army. He had been a low-level officer, and it was a task that was usually below their unit’s scope, but they had been the closest in the area and Sahana had volunteered, sending Jia and Volla to give them a chance to be alone for a few days before the unit left on their new mission.
Volla grinned. “Oh yeah. He had a lot to say, too. Jia threatened to shove a shard of ice up his ass, and he gave us everything.”
“Congratulations,” Rorax mumbled, rolling onto her side, and giving Volla her back. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Volla jabbed her boot into Rorax’s spine, and Rorax lifted her middle finger over her shoulder.
“Here, I brought you something. There’s a little passage about you in here,” Volla said. Rorax peeked over her shoulder to see Volla waving around a rolled-up newspaper.
Rorax rolled her eyes. “Just read it to me.”
“It’s one of the rankings the Valitlinn Press does every year.” Volla cleared her throat. “‘Ranked at number three on our list of ‘The Realms” Most Deadly Warriors’ we have listed, the Spine Cleaver. Nothing is known about this elusive warrior other than she took part in the Siege of Surmalinn, has white eyes, and decapitates her victims. She is a known affiliate of the Heilstorms and has over 120 confirmed solo kills this last year alone.’ Damn . . . That’s the third article about you this month. Kiniera is going to be furious.” Rorax could hear the smile in Volla’s voice. “It’s good you finally paid Merosa to fix your rune. Blue is more your color anyway; the white is creepy.”
Rorax reached up and absentmindedly brushed her finger over the rune that had been tattooed on the skin of the back of her ear. She had it repaired after their last mission in Lyondrea a few moons past. This particular rune shifted the color of her eyes from white to make them appear light blue, and it had cost her a fortune to get it fixed.
“Who else is on the list?” Rorax asked, tucking her hand back into the warmth of her sleeping roll.
Volla hummed. “Sahana was ranked number one, again. And a random man I haven’t heard of from the House of Death was ranked number two.”
“Did they say anything about their beloved Torch in there?”
Volla pursed her lips and looked the paper over. “No, I’m not even in the Deadliest Warrior rankings, which is horseshit since I could kill you with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back . . . Oh wait, here is something. They said some people hoped to see me in the Tournament of Houses again this year, but some people are calling for ‘new blood’ and they hope to see someone fresh win it.”
She scoffed, set the paper down on Rorax’s abandoned bed, and nudged Rorax’s back with her boot again.
“Come on, Grumpy.” Volla laughed. “I’m serious, get up. I need your help today. But before we go . . . I need to ask you a question.”
Rorax groaned from her bag, burrowing in deeper. “What?”
“Will you be my Maid of Honor tonight?”
Rorax jerked her head around to gape at the blonde so fast her neck twinged. “What?”
Volla grinned. “I asked you to be my Maid of Honor at my wedding tonight. Karan is going to officiate, and Jia wanted to ask Sahana to be her Maid of Honor . . . which leaves you for me.”
Rorax’s eyes widened as they traced over Volla’s face, looking for a lie, but she didn’t find one.
Volla had asked her before if Rorax would be her Maid of Honor when the day came. The answer had always been the same; of course. But now that the answer meant more than ever . . .
“No, sorry.” Rorax grinned up at the deep scowl on her best friend’s face. “I have plans. I’m actually very in demand for Maid of Honor. I’ve already been booked—” Volla kicked her again and Rorax grunted on impact. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it.”
Volla rolled her eyes, but there was a little smile threatening the corner of her mouth as she stood up. “Come on, we need to go find the right mushrooms for the Mating Draught. Sahana is going to take Jia to find a dress before she gets home, so we need to find them all before she gets back.”
Rorax was up in a flash, lifting herself out of her sleeping roll, pulling on her black training leathers, and attaching Glimr’s sheath to her lower back before quickly lacing her boots.
Volla threw Rorax a heavy cloak that she found draped over Rorax’s travel pack sitting at the foot of the bed. “You’re going to need that, it’s cold and rainy out still.”
“I probably wouldn’t need it if we weren’t going out at the ass crack of dawn,” Rorax grumbled as she fastened the dark cloak under her chin.
“What we do for love,” Volla sighed, pushing her way out of the small room, Rorax on her heels.
Jia was lounging in the kitchen, slurping at a bowl of milk and square shredded wheat cubes. Her dark purple hair was the color of rich grape juice, her phoenix eyes matching in the dark purple color. Her deeply tanned skin seemed to glow, even though it was an unholy hour of the morning and she’d probably only gotten an hour or two of sleep.
Volla bent down to kiss Jia on the cheek as she swept past, and Jia beamed up at her. Rorax grabbed some dried jerky and apricots off the counter to eat for breakfast and gently tugged Jia’s long purple ponytail as she followed Volla out. “Congratulations.”
Jia turned her starry eyes to Rorax as Rorax followed Volla to the door. “Did you say yes, then?”
“Of course she said yes. Rorax values her life too much to say no.” Volla huffed, pausing at the threshold of the open door, twisting her long blonde strands of hair into a ponytail at the top of her head. “How many draught mushrooms do we need to find?”
“Twenty. Ten for you and ten for me.”
“I’ll see you at sunset then, Wife.” Volla winked at Jia and stepped out into the still-dark morning.
Rorax closed the door behind them, chuckling at the ferocious red that bloomed over Jia”s cheeks.
It was raining buckets in Sahloo, the capital city of the House of Weather. This was their second and, thankfully, last night their unit was staying here. Tomorrow morning, they would be moving on, back to Lyondrea.
Rorax smiled up at the sky as water dripped down her face. The magick House of Weather was, predictably, all weather-related. If Rorax had the power to manipulate the weather, it might always be raining where she lived, too.
Volla nudged Rorax as they moved along the sidewalk and pointed at something across the street. “I need to learn how to do that with fire.”
Rorax squinted her eyes to see what Volla was talking about. Across the street was a man holding his hands a foot apart, cupping a ball of lighting between them. But it wasn’t just a ball, no he was twisting lightning around, the energy crackling in the shape of a baby rabbit. A group of little kids were gathered around the man, clapping and cooing in pleasure as the rabbit hopped in his hands.
“Oh,” Rorax hummed, “adorable.”
The Realms was the center of magick. All magick branched out from the center city, Valitlinn, so magick was common in the Realms. However, usually only a small amount was held by average civilians, like this man with his small baby rabbit. Anyone who held more magick in them was usually promoted to house armies or more powerful offices. Though, Rorax had to admit the number of hours of practice it would have taken this man to hone the skill necessary to create a rabbit out of lightning was impressive.
“That should be my new party trick,” Volla said, tightening her hood around her face against the rain as they watched lightning rabbit puff out of existence, the man sweaty and pale, but still bowing slightly at the children’s enthusiastic applause. Where the man had held only enough magick to keep the rabbit for a few minutes, Volla held enough magick to have it for hours.
“Your new party trick? You don’t have a party trick.”
“Yes, I do,” Volla said with an indignant huff.
“Roasting the eyebrows off anyone who flirts with Jia does not count as a party trick,” Rorax mumbled as they continued down the streets of Sahloo towards the market street.
Despite the rain, the market was busy this morning. Volla and Rorax had to squeeze in between people, pushing from stall to stall to find what they needed. Rorax bought some more dried fruit and a bar of oat soap she was going to bring with her to Lyondrea. Volla picked up some new bowstrings as a wedding gift for Jia, some food for dinner, and most of the Marriage Draught ingredients.
As they continued to shop for other various odds and ends, none of the vendors bothered to look under their hoods. Most everyone out today wore some kind of cloak to protect them from the rain, and Volla and Rorax’s accents were so well done the vendors treated them as House Weather natives anyway. The few that saw through their accents only ever gave them quick, furtive looks, knowing better than to ask any questions.
The vendor selling the Marriage Draught mushrooms only had fifteen mushrooms out of the twenty Volla needed. Volla grimaced at Rorax as she shoved the mushrooms into a small linen bag and tucked them safely in her cloak pocket. “I’m glad you decided to come. Looks like we’ll be making a trip to the Underground Market after all. I hope Angelo is there, he’s been saying how excited he is to see you in all his letters.”
Rorax rolled her eyes, pulling her cloak tighter around her body. “That charismatic little troll is excited to see everyone.”
Volla and Rorax made their way down to the familiar dark tunnels underneath the city. To access it, they had to go through a grimy, dilapidated bar and pay a few silver coins to the beefy guard at the door. He grunted as he counted Volla’s coins in his palm, before bending and opening the hatch down to the tunnels that led to the Underground Market.
Rorax went first, carefully stepping down the rungs of the moss-covered ladder before Volla followed. Instead of using one of the torches lined along the wall for customers to use on their descent into the market, Volla lifted her hand and a small fireball appeared out of thin air, cupped in her palm. The ball of fire illuminated the damp, mossy hall and Volla took the lead to guide them down.
Once they were well away from the trap door of the bar, and about halfway to the market, Rorax asked, “Who’s all coming tonight? Did either of you invite your families?”
Volla released a deep sigh as she continued to trudge down the deserted hallway. “No. There wasn’t time. And the last time I wrote to my family none of them bothered to answer. Not even my older brother. Both my parents and my sisters are still angry with me, and they wouldn’t have come if I asked anyway. We didn’t tell Ye-Jun because if Jia’s mother found out about us, she would pull her daughter out of the unit and force us to abandon the mission faster than we could say ‘fire’.” Volla looked over her shoulder and gave Rorax a lewd grin. “Maybe we should have invited Ye-Jun, though. Just for you. A good lay would do wonders for your temperament, Grumpy.”
Rorax huffed but was thankful Volla’s little flame wasn’t giving off enough light to show off her pink cheeks.
They stopped talking as the damp air started carrying the smells of incense and burning resin. The smells grew stronger as they got closer to the market.
When Rorax and Volla finally entered the room, Rorax had to hide her smile. It always felt strangely like home down here.
A large underground dome made from weathered and mossy bricks constituted the roof of a very large, circular room that housed the Underground Market of Sahloo.
The market, with all its rickety stalls and worn-down torches, housed sellers of various trinkets, potions, services, and weapons that were illegal or frowned upon by average society. Anything you couldn’t find in the open-air market above could be found down here—for an exorbitant price, of course.
Almost every major city in the Realms had an Underground Market. Sahloo’s was one of the smallest markets in the country, seeing as most of the residents here didn’t really need anything they could not find above ground.
As Rorax looked around, she recognized almost every single person there from past visits to the Market, which meant they knew exactly who she and Volla were—or at least who Volla was. Anyone who had any magick at all could feel the power nearly bursting from Volla.
Shifty looking sellers and buyers gave Rorax and Volla wary glances as they slid around them. Volla ignored them, focused only on a shop located on the southern side of the room. Rorax followed her closely and couldn’t help but to run her fingers over the top of her fighting leathers on her neck, thankfully finding the dark fabric was still covering the base of her neck all the way up to her hairline.
Volla bought the remaining mushrooms she needed for the Draught, and laid them out on her palm, counting them one more time. “That makes twenty. Come on. Let’s go before Angelo spots us. I will send him an official invitation once we’re above ground—K??n save me. Rorax is that a felidra?”
Volla pointed over Rorax’s shoulder and Rorax whipped around. In one of the stalls behind her, a merchant selling maps and rare pearls had what looked like a panther cub perched on the table next to him.
Two brilliantly colored wings poked up over the shoulders of the black cub; they were folded close to the cub’s back, but the vibrant colors were unmistakable, causing a sharp trill of fear that rocketed down Rorax’s spine.
“That man must have a fucking death wish,” Rorax muttered. “That thing has another six weeks before it’ll rip his throat out.”
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to see a short man moving towards them with angry, fast steps, all but throwing members of the crowd out of his path. His curly hair on the top of his head bobbed, his waist-long beard swayed back and forth, and his cheeks were ruddy and pink with anger. Volla didn’t need to send an invitation to Angelo, she was going to have her opportunity to do it right now.
A lazy smile crept across Rorax’s face. This was going to be fun.
“Vol-la Tor-vik!” yelled the short, stout man, drawing out Volla’s name into four syllables.
His hands, clenched into fists, flew to his hips as he glared from the mushrooms laid out in Volla’s outstretched palm into her guilty face. “Those better not be Marriage Draught mushrooms for you know who!” he bellowed, and not for the first time Rorax was amazed such a small body could produce so much volume.
Angelo, King of the Underground and one of Volla and Rorax’s oldest friends, looked like steam was about to start billowing out of his ears.
“Angelo . . .” Volla bit her lip, looking to Rorax for help.
Rorax ignored her friend’s plea, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “They are, and they’re for exactly the person you think they’re for, too.”
Angelo’s face went red as he spluttered angry, incoherent words before turning and motioning for the women to follow him.
Volla shot Rorax a betrayed glare, and it was all Rorax could do not to cackle.
Rorax could just barely make out Angelo’s angry muttering—something about inconsiderate, ungrateful House of Ice boneheads—as they trailed him into his office, just around the corner from the stall selling mushrooms on the south end of the dome.
Angelo’s office was surprisingly neat. There was nothing in it but a large desk, two chairs situated in front of it, and the large Underground Market sigil—two green king cobras with a white diamond between them—painted on the wall behind the desk. Even his desktop was clean of everything but a few pencils.
Of course, this wasn’t Angelo’s main hub of operations. He was usually stationed in the Realms’ capital, Valitlinn, and was probably here in Sahloo only once every six months.
Rorax sat down in one of the two chairs and finally let loose her grin, leaning back into her chair as Volla shoved the newly purchased mushrooms into the small linen bag.
“Angelo, I didn’t think you’d be in town. It’s Sahloo for gods’ sake, you hate it here. And besides, I asked her to marry me only yesterday,” Volla pleaded, pulling the strings tight and tucking the bag back in her pocket.
Angelo tucked his small body into his chair opposite Rorax and Volla and narrowed his eyes into angry little slits. “You didn’t think to send a message through the Underground? Or think that Sahana wouldn’t have wanted one more information briefing with me and Kiniera before you lot left to Lyondrea for months?”
He had a point.
“Well, who’s officiating the wedding? Sahana? You?” Angelo huffed, pointing a short, accusing finger at Rorax.
Rorax put her hands up in surrender. “Not me. Karan apparently.” Her smug grin stretched into a smile as Angelo threw his hands up in exasperation.
“Karan can eat limp lettuce and a sock,” Angelo harrumphed. “Two hundred years of friendship with the Torch just went down the drain. She doesn’t even invite me to her wedding. Her weddin’ to my niece no less!”
Rorax snorted at the word niece. Jia and Angelo were one hundred and ten percent not related.
Volla rolled her eyes. “Jia and I just got back from a mission. You can count this visit as me coming to invite you almost as soon as I could.”
Angelo glared. Gods above, Angelo was so dramatic andRorax loved it.
“Angelo,” Rorax croaked, trying her best to hold in her laughter, “they are getting married on our rooftop at sunset, be there and you can arm wrestle Karan for officiating duties.”
“Perfect!’ Volla beamed as Angelo’s scowl deepened.
He gave them both withering looks, eyeing them back and forth from under his bushy black eyebrows for nearly a whole minute before a little smile cracked over his mouth. “Alright, little lass, I forgive you. Now get yer ass over here!”
Volla unfolded her tall frame from her chair and bent down to give Angelo a hug. Volla was a few inches over six feet tall, and Angelo barely scraped five feet, making the small man appear even smaller as Volla embraced him.
Angelo patted the back of her golden head with his light brown hand. “My Torch is getting married. It’s a miracle. Never in my days would I have thought you could ever convince that woman, or any woman for that matter, to say yes.”
Volla pulled back to beam down at him, her pride showing through her eyes. “She had to beg me.”
“That’s my Torch. Always so humble.” Angelo patted her cheek, beaming up at Volla before turning his gaze over to Rorax, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “If I’m bein’ honest with ya, a small part of me thought the mushrooms were for you and the new Ice king!”
Rorax’s eyes bugged out, and Volla burst out laughing.
“I’ve tried to tell her, but she’s convinced that Raengar would only marry her in her dreams, Angelo,” Volla said, wiping a tear from her eye.
Rorax searched her brain for a change of subject and settled on the small cub with butterfly wings they had spotted a few minutes ago in the stalls. “Angelo, did that man out there have a . . . felidra cub on his table?”
Angelo gave her a knowing look before his face darkened. “It is. Apparently, it has a rune from a Life Witch on it that keeps it young and never lets it grow. Tis not the first cub to’ve shown up in the Underground Market in the last few months either. There is a rumor that if you see a felidra when it first hatches you can soul bond to it. Horseshit if yer askin me.”
“One tiny scratch and that rune will break, and that man becomes second breakfast,” Rorax said. “Seems like quite the risk.”
Angelo nodded, his eyes still dark as he bent down and opened one of his drawers, pulling out a paper and tossing it on his desk in front of Rorax. “Speaking of runes, I read the paper today. Congratulations on your ranking, Spine Cleaver.”
Rorax reluctantly grabbed the paper off the desk, reading over the words that Volla had read to her this morning.
Ranked at number three, we have listed: the Spine Cleaver.
“I know you said you have a meeting with Sahana later, but do you have any juicy gossip for us now?” Volla asked.
Angelo pursed his lips and ran his hand slowly over his beard. “With a possible war involving Lyondrea loomin’ on the horizon, business has been busy. Don’t tell Sahana, but the demand for Starsoot and Rathmore Venom has been through the roof, makin’ me a rich man.” A richer man, he meant. “But it’s been mostly quiet in terms of gossip.” Starsoot and Rathmore Venom were both drugs that were illegal under the Guardian’s Law, and only available through the Underground Market.
Volla’s disappointment was palpable. “That’s boring.”
“Now, now, let me think here.” Angelo tugged at the end of his beard in thought. “The Council of the Houses’ vote on whether the King of Alloy is committin’ treason and plottin’ with Lyondrea has been scheduled for next month.”
“Is there any word on if it’s expected to pass?” Volla asked.
Angelo nodded. “Aye, it’s expected to pass. King M??r has his claws in about half of ‘em, but Kiniera and I have been workin’ hard to undermine ‘em, and we predict that we will squeak it through.”
Rorax’s lips curled. “Good.”
“M??r is a reeking piss pot,” Volla agreed.
“He is, but even if the vote passes through the Council, the trial won’t be held until after the Choosin’.”
The mention of the Choosing had Rorax straightening in her chair. “Why not?”
Angelo shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “The Northern Guardian has deemed herself unfit to help preside over the trial until the Choosing is over. Complete horseshit if you ask me, we have two other Guardians that could preside just fine.”
Rorax and Volla shared a look.
“Oh! Speakin’ of the Choosing, the King and Queen of Ice put out a statement just last week saying every citizen is required to have their necks checked for the Contestar mark by a city official. They will be the last of the Realms to require such a thing, so hopefully the Contestar is found this time.”
Volla stiffened almost imperceptibly. Rorax clamped down on the urge to reach her hand to the back of her neck and brush her fingers over the silver mark. She was forever grateful that Angelo’s eyes were on her friend as she composed herself. “The sooner we find her the sooner we can start the Tournament of Houses. I have been looking forward to this tournament for years, it’s been too long.”
To her credit, Volla didn’t look too troubled as she groaned, “It better not happen while we’re in Lyondrea. I have a title to defend.”
“See, I’m mighty thankful you’ll be gone! It’ll make the betting much more lucrative,” Angelo chuckled, giving Volla a wink. “Now, you two wait here! I have to find you a weddin’ gift!”
Surprisingly agile, Angelo pushed out of his giant chair and went running out of his office.
As soon as he was out of the room, Volla turned to glare at Rorax, who just gave her an innocent smile. “Thanks for your help back there. On your wedding day, I’m going to tell him you want him to bring the goblins.”
The smile dropped off Rorax’s face. “You wouldn’t.”
Angelo had a pair of slobbering goblin pets he kept at his house that he liked to bring with him everywhere, even though they smelled like death and looked like it, too.
Volla gave her a smug grin that softened into a happy smile as she leaned back in her chair. “Despite him being the most dramatic soul in the Realms . . . I’m glad he’s coming tonight.”
Rorax snorted and stretched her legs out in front of her. “You’re mooning, Torvik.”
Volla shrugged. “I’m excited. I asked her this morning because I wanted to have one night to be . . . distracted. One night to be together before we cross the border again into Lyondrea.”
The smile on Volla’s face faded, and Rorax kept her own face solemn even as an excited bubble rose in her chest.
Lyondrea.
They were finally going back to Lyondrea, to not only spend time in the capital city but also the countryside.
She was finally going to be back inside the country that had kidnapped and continually held her brother captive for over a hundred years. Hopefully she would find a clue about him this time. A scrap of information, a whisper, anything.
Rorax rubbed her thumb over her ring.
Volla caught the movement, and she raised an eyebrow. “Tell me.” Those big green eyes never missed anything. It was annoying.
Rorax sighed, leaning back even farther into her chair. “I’m actually eager to get out to Lyondrea again.”
“To start looking for Darras, I suppose.” Volla’s face darkened. She reached out to pluck one of the pencils from Angelo’s desk and started rolling it in between her fingers. “This is the first mission I . . . the first mission I ever thought about saying no to. It makes me sick knowing Jia will be there, beyond enemy lines, but I know that even if I did say no, she would still go. Even if I refused and defected, she would go without me. After Ye-Jun and Kiniera’s latest report, Jia didn’t sleep for almost two weeks.”
Volla’s face went pale, and Rorax could have sworn that the pencil Volla was twirling in her fingers started to smoke.
“Those monsters Lyondrea might be breeding? They would be bred for only one thing. To kill, break, and destroy the Realms.”
The rumors of the Pits had become serious enough that the Council of Houses, made up of the kings and queens of the Realms as well as all three Guardians, had demanded that House of Ice give them control of the Heilstorms. Within that same week, the Heilstorms had their orders; Unit One was to infiltrate Lyondrea’s capital city, Allteria, and find out where the breeding pits were located for the monsters. The second, third, and fourth units’ orders were to focus on helping with the border skirmishes that had intensified over the last few months and find information on the movements and plans of the Lyondrea army while offering support where and when Unit One needed it.
Volla and Rorax sat in heavy silence for a long time before Volla tossed the half-burned pencil back onto Angelo’s desk and stood up. “Come on, let’s go find Angelo. I don’t want my wife to divorce me before I even get her to say yes.”