Chapter 8

"So, just what is going on with you two?" Demeter asked as they strolled on the street next to the wharfs.

"What do you mean?" Nilsen responded innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean," Demeter scolded. "You and that too-tall woman walking along behind us. She hasn't said half a dozen words to you all day and from the looks she's given you she'd rather slit your throat than listen to the words coming out of it. What'd you do? Jump in her bed when she wasn't expecting it? Maybe you threw her out when she jumped into yours? The only thing that's for sure is you did something to piss her off. That's one angry woman there, and that's a lot of woman to have mad at you. If it weren't for that band around her neck I wouldn't want to be within a mile of you; it wouldn't be safe."

"Yeah, well, neither of those if you must know," Nilsen sighed. "Yes, she's angry with me, and with very good reason, I'll admit." Looking back over his shoulder he spoke up just to make sure Lavender heard him, although he was sure she had heard every word they said even if she did give the impression neither of the two men existed. Cerberus trotted along beside her ignoring them both as if to say, "You're both acting like idiots; I have no time for this."

"I said I was sorry until I was blue in the face but she's just being pig-headed about it. Yeah, I fucked up, and no I don't want to tell you what I did. Let's just say it was stupid and thoughtless."

"So, tell her to get over it," Demeter said with a shrug. "It's not like her feelings are all that important. Tell her to get her attitude adjusted or you'll sell her big butt to someone else."

"It doesn't work that way in my family, Dem," Nilsen said, shaking his head. "She may never talk to me for the rest of our lives but I'm not going to sell her bond, although I did offer to transfer it to anyone else she wanted. By the way, I'd watch out whose butt you were calling big. She may not be able to touch me, but she can still beat the crap out of you if she wants."

"You wouldn't let her do that, would you?" Demeter said looking back at Lavender with a worried look.

"Well, I wouldn't want her to kill you, or maim you permanently, but other than that, sure, if you keep making rude remarks about her anatomy," Nilsen said with a grin. "Especially since her bottom is perfectly proportioned to the rest of her."

"Well, er, if you say so," Demeter said still looking back. Just for a moment he could swear Lavender looked at him and smiled; it wasn't a comforting smile.

"Anyway," Demeter continued after turning around, "she's your problem, thank goodness. So what are we doing down here anyway? I thought you two were still working out together at the Academy?"

"We are," Nilsen answered. "Today Makro asked me to come down here and see if one of our courier ships has come in. We sent a packet back home with that information you gave us and we're expecting something back soon; in fact we expected it by now."

"Yeah, about that," Demeter frowned. "While I don't like what's going on around here I don't feel real good about giving you that information. For better or worse, Salas is still my home and I don't feel comfortable supplying information to a foreign government."

"Sorry about that," Nilsen said. "Don't want to make you uncomfortable but nothing you gave us is really secret, is it? I mean, for the most part it's all over the street. Everybody knows what's going on. Hell, your dad doesn't even try to refute it. I mean, if it's something they don't want anyone to know about maybe they shouldn't be doing it.

"Besides," he shrugged, "as distasteful as what is happening here, so long as it doesn't impact Jeevel it's not like we're going to interfere with it."

"Be that as it may I still feel..." Demeter's words petered out as three thugs in dark cloaks with hoods drawn up materialized out of a side street in front of them. One in front, obviously the leader pointed at them and shouted, "There he is! Get 'em!" With that all three pulled swords from beneath their cloaks and started forward. Glancing back Nilsen noted that Lavender had closed up next to him with Cerberus taking the other side. More importantly he saw there were at least three more thugs behind them, also with swords drawn.

"'Ware behind!" he shouted to Lavender just as she twirled to engage the ones attacking their rear.

"You mind the front, little man," she grunted. "We'll take care of this scum." Soon he was too busy to worry about what was happening behind him. Trusting his shield to guard his back, he concentrated on the three hoodlums in front of him.

Normally he wouldn't have worried all that much with only three opponents in front of him, but the street was busy and the crowd around them panicked the moment swords were brought out into the open. He found his sword and sword-breaker in his hands and his body at a ready position but he didn't remember how either came to be there. A quick glance to his side confirmed what he had already thought: Demeter had his long knife out but no sword. His friend almost never carried it around town and was now at a serious disadvantage.

"Just stay out of my way, you candy-assed poof," he teased as his friend backed up a step clearing Nilsen's side for action. "Looks like I'll have to save your butt again!"

"What do you mean 'again', you stone-brained barbarian?" Demeter huffed. "You haven't done it once yet! I can't help it if that damn thing is too fucking heavy to carry around everywhere. Now, where do you want me?"

"Back home and out of my way," Nilsen snorted. "Other than that just stay outside of where I'm swinging." Demeter took another step back as Nilsen squared to face his three opponents.

The first thing he noticed was that these three didn't have the nervous shifty-eyed look one would expect from common street thieves. Each one looked determined and even anxious, more like a warrior before battle than a thug during a robbery. So it's not just a common mugging, he thought. He wasn't surprised; six jumping three in the middle of the day would be almost unheard of. Assassination or maybe kidnapping, then.

Seconds later he could be sure of only one thing: If it was a kidnapping he wasn't the intended target. Simultaneously, the three charged forward with swords raised. Coming up on the balls of his feet Nilsen kept still until they were almost upon him. When they were close to slashing range he moved suddenly to the side and engaged the one furthest to his left. Using his sword-breaker he lifted the thug's sword point up slightly as his own sword slashed in at belt level. Almost too quickly to be seen he was suddenly down to two opponents as an arm and the hand holding a sword thudded to the ground, severed at the elbow. The man stared dumbly at the spurting stump but Nilsen paid him no mind. He may have remained standing a second or two longer but shock and blood loss quickly rendered him unconscious and shortly afterwards, dead.

It happened too quickly for the other two to react, not that they would, of course; they were professionals after all. Well, maybe a glance or two anyway; it wasn't every day you saw a seasoned assassin get cut down by little more than a boy. Not much of a glance though, as Nilsen continued moving around the still standing assassin, using him as a shield until he toppled to the ground. This position gave Nilsen a one-on-one with the nearest attacker who hesitated slightly, possibly to allow his comrade time to come around so they could confront him simultaneously.

It would have been a good plan, probably not successful, but then they didn't know that at the time, but in theory it would have been the best thing to do. What it didn't take into account was the extremely large dog standing silently to one side, pink froth already running down his jowls. In fact he stood so quietly and still the assassin only glanced at him in passing as he stepped around to flank Nilsen. What he didn't expect was Cerberus moving just as he passed by. Head moving deceptively slowly Cerberus almost casually leaned forward and clamped his jaws around the forearm of the would-be slayer, the teeth cutting through flesh like a sharp knife through warm bread. The bone offered only slight resistance as the huge animal continued to exert force on the doomed appendage. The grisly sounds of snapping bone could be heard above his high-pitched shriek as the pain blasted into the hapless man's consciousness. Releasing the arm with a small snort Cerberus stepped back as the assassin dropped to his knees cradling his partially severed limb.

It could be that the quick elimination of two of his cohorts unnerved the final thug, but it wouldn't have made much difference either way. Nilsen took a step forward and feinted toward the man's groin with his sword. When the sword dropped to cover the point, the sword-breaker quickly struck and thrust through the eye and into the brain behind it; death was for all intents and purposes instantaneous.

Barely breathing hard Nilsen, still in a fighter's crouch, looked around. Besides the two dead men before him and the one kneeling, whimpering and holding his arm Nilsen could see the others had been busy. Well, Lavender and Cerberus anyway. Two were laying at Lav's feet and another on his back, his crushed neck making it obvious who, or what, had killed him. Lavender stepped over the bodies in front of her on her way over to Nil. She had almost reached him when the kneeling assassin howled and pulled a long slim dagger from beneath his cloak rearing back and striking at Lavender's unprotected back. Without thinking Nilsen leapt forward and collided with his shield-maiden, which felt pretty close to what it must feel like hitting a stone wall, causing her to stumble. It was enough that the assassin's knife didn't find its original mark, instead plunging into Nilsen's exposed side. The pain blossomed in Nilsen's abdomen and then he felt no more.

Lavender felt someone pushing her and then as she started to regain her balance a piercing pain erupted in her side. I'm struck, she thought, slapping her hand against her side. As quickly as the pain started it ended and a bit puzzled she looked at her hand, expecting to see it covered with blood. It wasn't and she looked around trying to figure out what had happened. What she saw horrified her.

Nilsen was laying face down in the street, the hilt of a dagger sticking out of the left side of his body. Yowling like a wounded mountain cat her eyes fixated on the still kneeling assassin as a wash of red-hot heat flushed through her body. Without thinking she brought her sword around in a backhanded swipe as the assassin futilely tried to ward off the blow by raising his remaining good arm in front of his face. The sword didn't even slow as it sliced through the meaty part of the forearm and continued on into his skull at about eye level, topping his head like a melon.

Dropping her sword she fell to her knees next to Nilsen's prone body and began wailing, "Please no, gods, no!" as she gently caressed his hair with a shaking hand. All she could think about were her last angry words to him and how she would give her own life just to take them back. Wallowing in self-pity she almost didn't feel the rough shaking of her shoulder. Looking up through tear-stained eyes she recognized Demeter and after a few moments realized what he was saying.

"We have to get him home, Lavender," Demeter said, almost shouting at her. Somehow he had obtained a sword, probably from one of the assassins, and was standing over her in a guard position.

"Too late," she sobbed. "He's dead!"

"Don't be stupid," Demeter said crossly. "Even I know your salidin will change color if he dies. He's still very much alive. Try feeling for him. I've been told people who are bonded can feel where their master is. Try it."

Lavender shook herself just a little and then tried to concentrate on feeling for Nilsen. Surprisingly in just a second or two she could feel him. Very warm, very close, and not particularly feeling all that seriously injured, not that she was an expert in what being seriously injured felt like.

"Yes," she said her heart all most bursting with relief. "He lives."

"We need to get him home, and quickly," Demeter said with a snarl. "Jarrah needs to see him right away. I wouldn't trust him to any of the butchers around here."

Lavender declined to mention that Jarrah had come to Salas to study under these "butchers," but let it pass since she agreed he needed to get home as quickly as possible. "How?" was all she grunted.

"I see a carriage over there. Let me go grab it before it can get away," he said rushing off. Moments later he returned leading the horse by the bridle, a very angry and scared-looking driver behind them.

"Can you carry him?" Demeter asked. Without answering, Lav scooped Nilsen up in her arms, careful to avoid the protruding dagger hilt, and stepped into the carriage. Nilsen was a big, solid man as far as shorties go, but he felt like feathers in her arms. Demeter let loose the bridle and bending down picked up Lavender's sword and Nilsen's sword and sword-breaker before leaping into the carriage himself as Cerberus jumped in and curled up on the floor. Giving the driver instructions on where to go, the carriage took off down the street leaving the bodies of the would-be assassins behind them.

Looking down at the ash-gray face of her charge, Lavender felt tears welling up in her eyes. She hadn't cried since she was a baby, she reminded herself, as she tried to blink them away. Leaning down she whispered in his ear, "I am so sorry; I failed you, my Lord."

"You didn't fail me," he answered back faintly. "It's my fault; I should have finished the stupid bastard. Not your fault."

"What did you think you were doing, you fool!" she railed after the first shock of hearing his voice passed through her.

"He saved your life," Demeter said gently from across the carriage. If he thought that was going to lessen her pique he was sadly mistaken.

"Saved my life?" she bellowed. "Saved my life? You idiot! You moron! You blue-eyed fool! I am there to save your life! You arrogant ass..." the diatribe continuing the entire way back to the house as Demeter cringed against his cushion, trying to make himself as small as possible.

It wasn't until they pulled up in front of the townhouse that Lavender began repeating herself. Demeter was alternately horrified, impressed, and ultimately just plain damned happy he wasn't on the receiving end of that scolding. Seconds later he looked up and saw what awaited them on the steps of the townhouse: all four of Nilsen's sisters, and a number of servants and a few guards. One look at Makro's face made him think it might have been easier if he had been the one with the knife in his ribs. Makro was a study in barely-contained fury; Jarrah wore her normal frown that looked little different than it usually did, until you looked in her eyes which Demeter would have described as the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. Avoiding that look, he glanced over at the twins and almost decided to run for his life. He had seen Makro angry before; he was used to Jarrah's imperturbable and aloof nature, but he had never seen the twins angry before, really angry. He did now and quite frankly it scared him.