Akatika's Legacy Read online

  “Message for you, Sir.” The guard initiate said.

  “Please tell me they are giving me leave for the next week so I can get some decent sleep.” Tony said.

  “Not likely, but there is a pretty tall girl wanting to talk with you. She is waiting at the gate.” The initiate said.

  “Who is it?” Tony hoped that he hadn’t done anything to make the wrong impression on some tavern maid or the like. Sure, in days past that would have been fine, but now there was Ivy. He didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings of intentions where she was involved.

  “Didn’t get a name, but she is a tall girl with the most haunting eyes and a smile that makes your body tingle and takes your breath away.” The initiate replied.

  That had to be Ivy. He had fallen prey to that smile the first time they met and had yet to recover. Most who knew him would have thought it impossible for any woman to capture his attention along enough for more than a few moments, but Ivy had somehow tamed the hapless flirt.

  Tony thanked the messenger and ran to the gate. There he was happily greeted by the bright smile of what he considered to be a goddess in her own right. She had such a profound effect on him that he often smiled. A look that was seldom found on Tony and that most found unsettling on him.

  “Ivy, what brings you to the garrison? Miss me? I know I’ve missed you, and those absolutely stunning eyes you have. Not to mention the smile that could calm a tempest.” Tony said as he bowed and took her hand kissing it.

  This was how he always greeted Ivy. She couldn’t complain even if it always caused her to blush. Was there a girl out there that wouldn’t want to be treated the way Tony treated her? Well, she supposed he could overdo it sometimes.

  “I do miss you and hate that you have patrols at night now. I hardly get to see you, but that’s not the only reason I came. I need to talk to you. It’s about Gabby and Lafe.” Ivy said.

  “Let me guess… Gabby found out that Lafe is actually her brother and now they can’t get married and that he is secretly made of wood and has sawdust for brains.” Tony quipped.

  “Tony! I don’t allow him to talk that way about you I will not tolerate it coming from your mouth.” Ivy chastised.

  “Fine, what is it? Please tell me they don’t want me to do anything at their wedding.” Tony whined.

  “They don’t. They want to hire you.” Ivy said.

  “Hire me? I’m not a mercenary and I could get in some serious trouble accepting any money for guarding anything.” Tony replied.

  “They don’t want to hire you for that kind of thing. It’s something… else. Something that makes use of your other talents.” Ivy whispered.

  “I see. What does this entail exactly?” Tony asked.

  “They want to talk with you about it, I don’t know the specifics about it yet. They wanted me to set a time to meet with you.” Ivy said.

  “I can do that tomorrow. Tomorrow is my off day in the rotation. After evening bell and preferably where no one will listen to us.” Tony said.

  “I tell them to meet us at the White Squall Inn, it’s in the center of town so everyone should be able to get there about the same time.” Ivy said.

  “That works for me they have the best fish stew. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Tony asked with a sly grin raising his eyebrows up and down.

  Ivy sighed. “No, Tony, but good effort. I must be on my way, I only stopped by while I was running an errand. I have to get some brewing yeast for the apothecary, we are about out.”

  “Too bad. I will send you off with all my love and a heart that only beats around you and eyes that only see the sun when you are near.” Tony exclaimed.

  Ivy blushed as Tony kissed her hand. He would have given up sleeping to spend time with her but now that she was gone, he was going to go and pass out for a few hours.

  Chapter 7

  The air was filled with the sweet smell of pipe smoke. The smell was strong in the tavern, yet the air was almost clear of the smoke itself. Gabby had never actually been to an inn before. She had read there were two types of people who went to inns. The first were men who went to drink and play games of chance. The other type were travelers that have no relations in the town. Of course, the adventures stayed in inns as well when they weren’t off in the wilderness.

  The inn was packed with people. There was not an empty table to be had. The maids were busy passing out drinks and dinners while trying to dodge the too friendly hands of some of the patrons. She was also surprised at the noise of the place. It was hard to hear herself think, she didn’t know how they would be able to have a conversation in such a place.

  Gabby was standing inside the door looking mildly confused when Ivy popped up from a table tucked in the corner and ran over and grabbed her arm.

  “Lafe is already here and is waiting with Tony.” Ivy shouted.

  “I don’t know about this place. It's crowded how are we supposed to talk about anything?” Gabby questioned.

  “It will be fine once we get to our table. The noise helps block out others from hearing what we talk about.” Ivy said into Gabby’s ear.

  They walked arm in arm to the table to see Lafe and Tony trying there hardest to make it seem that they weren’t trying to stare one another down. Each was in an awkward pose; Lafe arms folded in a manner as to be perpetually flexing and showing what years of lumberjacking did to a man’s arms. All the while Tony casually leaning back in his chair his shirt almost all the way unbuttoned showing his muscular chest and stomach.

  Ivy sat down and sighed, “They have been doing this the entire time. Tony’s shirt gets more and more unbuttoned every time I look away.”

  “You two done flirting with each other?” Gabby asked.

  Lafe stood up and put a foot up on his chair and rested his hand on it. “What are you talking about?”

  Gabby apologized, “I’m sorry Ivy, this is out of hand. I didn’t think this was going to be an issue.”

  Tony started to roll a coin over the back of his knuckles while starting to flip a knife in his other hand and said, “There’s no issue here sweetie.”

  “Who you calling sweetie?” Lafe growled.

  “Whoever I want.” Tony spit back.

  “Boys!” Gabby yelled and slapped the table. Her hand hurt more than she thought it would, but she wasn’t going to let it show on her face. “This isn’t a pasture and neither of you are show ponies.”

  Ivy cocked an eyebrow, Lafe deflated a little, and Tony set up right. That worked almost as well as if she had slapped each in turn. Gabby and Ivy sat in their chairs as one of the waitresses came by with two mugs of mead. The maid left, relief clear on her face that she was tipped and hadn’t been groped for it.

  “Ivy tells me that you have need of my assistance.” Tony started.

  Gabby replied before Lafe could get the chance. Letting him speak would only serve to provoke Tony. “Yes, we need you to open a door for us.”

  “Open a door? What kind of door?” Tony prodded.

  “The kind that’s locked.” Lafe snapped.

  “Let me guess, you misplaced the key? I must say I am surprised at this turn of events.” Tony mused as he took a drink of his mead.

  “We wouldn’t ask you but you’re the only one we know who can do those kinds of things.” Lafe sounded condescending and annoyed. This was not going well.

  “I’m sure you’re not trying hard enough. Maybe if you ran and hit it with your head you could do it yourself.” Tony had almost shouted the last few words. This was not going well at all.

  “Settle it down, boys. This is a business meeting.” Gabby reminded them. “This is what is going on. We went exploring, well adventuring if you must know, and we need to get passed a door in the old monastery.”

  “The cursed one? That monastery?” Tony asked.

  “It’s not cursed. Well, not much anyway.” Gabby told him. “Only one skeleton that we found walking around. Lafe took care of him. Broke it into little bits.�
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  “There was a skeleton walking around?” Tony asked in surprise.

  “Yes, and I wouldn’t have mentioned it, but Ivy made me promise I wouldn’t leave that part out. We need you to unlock the door.” Gabby said.

  “You’ll get paid for it.” Lafe added.

  “I don’t know if you can afford me. This kind of job in a place like that will cost a full gold mark.” Tony said.

  “A full mark?” Ivy asked looking at Tony. “For Gabby?”

  “It’s fine Ivy. I understand where he is coming from. He’s scared of the curse and wants to price his services high enough so that it seems like he is willing to help but we couldn’t be able to afford him.” Gabby said offhandedly.

  “That’s ridiculous.” Tony scoffed. “If Lafe can go in there without wetting his trousers I can.”

  “Tony that was uncalled for.” Ivy scolded.

  “Leave him be Ivy, I can fight my own battles. We’ll see whose trousers are dry at the end of the journey.” Lafe teased.

  “I want to know what is behind this door before negotiating anymore.” Tony said sternly.

  “Some bags and maybe some coins. The kind of stuff you find on adventures.” Gabby tried to underplay the treasure hoping Tony would believe her.

  “I want half of whatever we find.” Tony said.

  “Not a chance.” Lafe protested.

  “As there are four of us in this party you can have one-quarter of what we find. First pick going to myself and Ivy followed by Lafe then you.” Gabby declared.

  “I get the leftovers…” Tony complained.

  “It will be more than the gold mark you asked for.” Lafe stated. “Be happy we didn’t find someone else.”

  Tony leaned back and put his hands behind his head. He looked contemplative. All at once he leaned forward and said; “Deal. When are we going to do this?”

  “We will need to get supplies, like a wagon, packs, rope, and torches. The normal adventuring stuffs.” Gabby listed.

  “I hate to ask it, but the girls need to know how to fight. Can you show them?” Lafe hesitantly asked.

  “I can, but it will have to be at night during my rotation. I am patrolling empty warehouses so if you meet me out on my rotation, we could use one of the buildings. I know some people that would look the other way for us using their building. They owe me a favor.” Tony explained.

  “How about we plan on doing this the first part of Naemiir. Right before the harvest festival. Everyone will be consumed by the festival preparations; we could go in and out freely. That gives up about five turnings.” Gabby said.

  “We have a time frame. Who is going to be gathering the provisions?” Tony asked.

  “Could you do it, Tony? People would get suspicious if one of us started to get the stuff.” Gabby asked.

  “I’ll do it. No one will think twice because of our pending wedding. They will think I am preparing for that.” Lafe interjected.

  “It looks like we have a plan. We should meet again at the end of the turning to finalize and go over the bits and pieces of the plan.” Tony said.

  “One last thing, I don’t think I going to go on this adventure.” Ivy stated.

  “Ivy, you have to. It won’t be that bad. It’ll be like the time we went into the caves by the docks.” Gabby reassured her.

  “You mean the time that I almost drown because the tide came in before we could get out.” Ivy said.

  “Don’t exaggerate. The water was up to our waist we weren’t in any danger.”

  “I was sick for the rest of the turning!” Ivy exclaimed.

  “This will be easier. No water at all an empty monastery with lots of interesting stuff. Like some rare flowers growing the smithy. You could bring them back for Gertrude you know she needs that kind of stuff. Besides, I need you.” Gabby said.

  Gabby knew what she was doing. She knew Ivy’s weakness, helping others. It was a harsh thing to do to a friend pushing against their weakness. It felt like she was sticking her friend with a knife. She figured Ivy would enjoy it once they got going but the getting going was the hard part and that’s why she attacked the one weakness.

  “We are going on an adventure and if one of us gets hurt we will need you to help us.” Gabby drove the knife home.

  ‘I’ll go.” Ivy said softly, “but only because you may need my help.”

  “Great!” Gabby blurted.

  Lafe rolled his eyes. When Gabby wanted something, she pushed and prodded until it was hers. It usually didn’t take too long, especially when she used her smile and batted the almost too long eyelashes of hers.

  Tony shrugged and looked at Lafe. Almost as if he was saying, your girl can go why not mine. He started packing a pipe with the leaf from a worn leather pouch and handed it to Lafe. He nodded taking the pipe and lit with a candle from one of the sconces.

  It had been custom in Gibron for as long as history could tell, once a business deal was put in place the contract was sealed by sharing a pipe. No one knew how it got started or who started the tradition, but it was something that had been going on for hundreds of years. It had been more popular, but the price of good smoking leaf had gotten too expensive for most people. Not many common people did this anymore, but the upper-class people shared the pipe and a drink.

  As soon as the maid came around Lafe had her bring some brandy. Lafe took the first puff on the pipe as Tony took the first drink from the brandy then they traded. The deal was made, and they were now honor bound to complete it.

  Chapter 8

  “Get up sweetheart. You’re better than this.” Tony prodded as he kicked Gabby’s quarter staff, rolling it to her prone body.

  “You’re right, I am.” Gabby said as Ivy’s quarterstaff took Tony’s legs out from under him, dropping him to the floor. “It was a setup. I was to distract you; Ivy was to take you out.”

  Tony groaned as Ivy planted the butt of her staff into his chest. It was strange to see someone look so admiringly at someone she had just assaulted, Gabby thought. Then Ivy was more in love with Tony than anyone Gabby had ever seen before. Ivy kicked him in the head, softly, well not too softly.

  “I’m your sweetheart, do try to remember so I don’t have to kick you in that pretty head of yours again.” Ivy scolded.

  Over the course of the two and a half turnings, they went from helpless to fighting chance. Half the training time was complete, and the basics were covered. Tony taught them what he could during his patrol and the girls practiced for most of the day with each other, Lafe filling in where he could during his off time.

  Gabby took to it fast, learning the basics of hand to hand fighting in a few days. She might not be able to take down anyone like a professional soldier, but she could give them a hard time. Ivy, on the other hand, was clumsy with fists and feet but she excelled at fighting with a staff. They had a long way to go before anyone would call them challenging, but everyone starts somewhere.

  Everything was happening so fast Gabby thought as she undressed for bed. It had been a particularly brutal night. Tony had brought a guard trainee with him. He said that it was a training drill for the new recruit. At first, it went well for the girls, they had teamed up and got the guard backed into a corner. That’s when the real lesson began. Backing a person into a corner with no way of escape turns them into a feral beast. The two of them didn’t stand a chance after that.

  She looked into the mirror, her ribs were puffy and dark blue, nearly black. She hoped that the swollen red eye she had, didn’t become a bruise by the morning. She could only tell her parents that she fell off a horse so many times. She winced as she pulled the silk bedclothes over her back. When had she been hit in the back?

  Gabby remembered fighting off and on with the trainee. Then they stopped for a small meal when Tony had apparently had some bread and pastries delivered. He hadn’t liked it much, after he tore the loaf in half, he started to argue with the girl that had delivered it. Once she left, he tossed the loaf to the trainee.
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  The back injury must have come after the meal. Tony was very aggressive and by that point wasn’t holding back. It was still all a blur, but she thought the trainee and Tony came at her at one point while Ivy sat and watched.

  They were becoming more confident and even believed they would be able to pull off the adventure. Supplies were piling up and soon they would be ready. A quick trip to the monastery and back with tons of treasure.

  They just had to conquer the paralyzing fear of encountering another undead creature. What were the chances of that happening again? It had to only be the one there, Gabby hoped, groaning as she climbed into bed.