12. Fenric #3
It wasn’t the most auspicious entry into Bjornkill as horses’ hooves thundered down the road.
Fenric grabbed Maxie’s arm and just barely jerked the boy out of the path of the riders.
He lifted his head, ready to shout at the morons for not watching out for pedestrians, but his curses died on his tongue and he swiftly angled himself and Maxie so no one on the road could clearly see their faces, blending in with the rest of the crowd.
Lance Carrington was in Bjornkill.
The bastard with the golden hair and twinkling blue eyes sat astride a white charger like he was a gift from the gods.
He was actually a demon. A monster who crawled out to prey on the vulnerable and weak.
And Fenric wanted to rip his stomach out through his nose.
Or possibly just feed him some of Maxie’s cooking. That would work, too.
But before he died the most horrible, painful death possible, there was some information Fenric needed to get out of him.
For now, Lance rode into Bjornkill with a dozen companions, all dressed in shining silver-and-gold armor.
Their brilliant red capes billowed out behind them in the wind.
As much as Fenric ached to do something right then and there, he couldn’t.
Lance and his fellow heroes were all armed to the teeth with swords, bows, and more.
He’d be overwhelmed in the blink of an eye.
Hapi had been partially wrong. There was someone he wanted to kill, too. It just wasn’t his main goal. He’d get around to Lance eventually, and he would savor every second of the bastard’s death.
“Fen?” Maxie’s nervous voice jerked him from his dark thoughts. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” He shook his head and forced a reassuring smile. “No, everything is fine. You just need to learn to watch out for idiots on horses.”
“Yes, of course. It was very thoughtless of me. I was just overwhelmed a bit.”
Fenric tightened his hand on Maxie’s arm, relieved that Maxie hadn’t asked about Lance. Maybe he didn’t know about the hero, which seemed impossible since all of Moorwood knew about him. It didn’t matter. There were more important things for Fenric to worry about. “I need you to do me a favor.”
“Sure! Anything! What do you need of me?”
“Go straight to the port and wait for Rain to show up with the others. Tell them I’ve gone to look into an interesting lead. I’ll catch up with them later.”
The young man’s brow furrowed, and his bottom lip stuck out a bit. “You don’t want me to help you look for a new place? Is it because I almost got myself run over? I don’t wish to slow you down or cause you trouble.”
“No, no! You’re no trouble at all. I swear. This is just a good lead I can’t pass up. Remember when we talked about each person having their own quest? This is mine.”
Maxie’s expression lit up again, and he seemed both relieved and excited. “Just tell me and I’m happy to help.”
“Maybe one day. You just relay my message to Rain and the others.” He released Maxie’s arm to tap him on the tip of his nose with his knuckle. “I can’t miss out on this lead, and it might require some stealth. You still need some more training.”
A lot more.
“Okay. You’ll come find us, right?”
“Definitely. Just stay out of trouble. Go to the port. Nowhere else.”
Without another word, Fenric darted into the town. He tamped down the twist in his gut about leaving Maxie alone in a new city, knowing that trouble was attracted to him like flies to shit, but he couldn’t risk losing sight of Lance. Maxie could mind himself for just a little while.
Bjornkill did feel a bit overwhelming after drifting about Pomor for nearly a month.
The buildings were tightly packed together down the street leading into the large town and appeared simply constructed.
People crowded the road as vendors with little carts sold their wares to anyone who paused long enough to check them out.
The air was filled with a great clamor of people shouting, animals bellowing, and carts creaking under the weight of their contents.
Ripe odors from humans mixed with the rich scent of cooked food, leaving Fenric’s nose burning.
Thankfully, the clot of citizens slowed Lance the Bastard down.
Pulling his hood up to cloak his face, Fenric wove through the people, keeping an eye on that big white horse and the ass who rode it.
The guy called himself a hero, but Fenric knew the truth of the matter.
He cared nothing for the people and would have been happy to trample everyone in front of him if it meant getting to his destination faster.
The only thing probably stopping him from doing just that was the risk of harming his horse.
After a few minutes, Lance finally turned off the main road onto a side street.
Fenric jumped into a nearby alley and stuck close to the shadows as he watched Lance toss the reins to a young boy and climb out of the saddle in front of a tall building with lurid red, yellow, and green paint.
The sign hanging from the front proclaimed the place to be The Secret Moon, but the purpose was no secret.
Lance Carrington had ridden straight to the biggest, most expensive brothel in all of Bjornkill, and it was very unlikely he was going to be moving from that spot soon.
Perfect.
That was just perfect for Fenric’s plans.