The Chronicles: Three Sisters 03

- "Wait!" I snapped. "Moruith - is that Rymvi Shortfoot?"

- "SmallFoot." she corrected me. "Yes."

- "How many men does he have?" I asked Inisian. He was none too happy with me, because I was standing on his weapon.

- "Three." he said. "Two cousins, and another piece of shit."

- "Inisian?" I whispered.

- "Inisian!" shouted the man outside.

- "What?" said Moruith's son. At close range - face to face - I decided that the boy was no more than sixteen.

- "Can you kill four men?" I asked. "Because .... if you can't, they'll kill your mother - and my daughters."

He wasn't entirely stupid. Inisian thought about what I had said.

"Listen to me." I said. "We have to convince them that more than one of them will die, if they try to attack. Do you understand?"

Inisian looked confused. "I think so."

- "Follow my lead." I told him. There was just enough time to tell Yevna and Tanguiste what I wanted.

A moment later, I stepped outside, with the sword in my left hand, and the axe cradled in the shattered fingers of my right. It would not be immediately apparent that I couldn't do a damned thing with it.

There were four men outside. In better days, I would have laughed, and let Povilas and Guithrit deal with them. These were maggots. Worms.

- "Which one of you is Shortfoot?" I growled.

- "SmallFoot." hissed Inisian. I ignored him.

The foursome hadn't expected me, obviously. The leader was a rat-faced little shit.

- "I'm Rymvi SharpSword!" said the little rat.

I snorted. "I've yet to hear anyone else call you that." In that brief moment, I had time to assess the opposition. Rymvi was a weasel. He would not be the first man to take a risk. He would be more comfortable giving orders to one of his followers.

The other three were vultures. None of them would have dared to stand up me alone - even if they knew that I was one-handed. They relied on strength of numbers, and fear.

- "Who the fuck are you?" said Rymvi.

I had his measure, now.

- "Let me tell you something, LittleFoot. You can't give yourself a name, much as you'd like to. Other people have to give you your name. From what I can tell, the folk hereabout don't think much of you. 'LittleFoot' - or 'SmallFoot' - neither one is very impressive."

"Do you want to know my name?" I said.

Of course they did.

"I'm Veran One-Eye." I said, with a grin. "Yevna!" I shouted.

- "Yes, Father?"

- "When the shit starts, take out the runt with the big ears." I said.

- "Got him." Bless her heart - Yevna didn't sound like a ten year-old girl, that day. Runty Big Ears certainly didn't feel too safe, from the expression on his face. He couldn't see her, and had no way of knowing that my daughter was only 10.

- "Inisian, you take the moron on the left." I said. "Leave ShitFoot and the skinny fuck to me."

If they had been real warriors - or real men - then Inisian and I might have died right there. But SmallFoot and his confederates were tripe. They folded.

- "You'll be hearing from us!" shouted Rymvi, as they backed away.

I finally allowed myself to relax, and take a deep breath.

- "How did you do that?" asked Inisian.

I waited until we were back inside before I explained it to him. I didn't want Rymvi and his bunch to hear us, but the lesson would also be good for my daughters. I was pleased that they listened as attentively as Inisian did.

- "You harken to this man, son." said Moruith. "He's right."

- "Will ... will they come back, d'you think?" asked the young man.

- "Not tonight. But you're right to ask." Rymvi reminded me a little of Lanko Nadesti. He was a lesser danger, by far. But I had wounded his pride, just now. If he was to maintain his sway over the others, he would have to do ... something.

I explained the danger to Inisian, and to his mother.

- "He may try to ambush us. One at a time, most likely. Or they might attack your house when I leave." I said. "I'm sorry, Inisian. I didn't solve your problem. I just postponed it."

- "So ... what should I do?"

- "You have two choices. One is pack up and leave. Come with me and the girls when we go."

- "Go where?" asked Moruith.

I had to scratch my head. It hadn't occurred to me that she might ask that. "I don't know ... yet."

- "We can't travel with father the way he is." said Inisian. "What's the second choice?"

- "Hit them first." I said.

- "Hit them?"

- "Inisian, is there anyone else who could have murdered your brother? Anyone else living nearby who might have killed him?"

The young man shook his head.

- "Then we don't wait for them to attack us at a time of their choosing. We strike first."

- "We?"

- "That's right." I said. "Do you know where they live?"

***

Inisian told me - three times - that it wasn't my fight. But he gave in at last.

He wasn't sure, either, why I was bringing Yevna along, but he deferred to my judgment without comment. The young man knew the area well, and even in the growing darkness led us through the trees without hesitation. We probably covered between two and three leagues.

There was a house, in a small clearing, built up against the side of the mountain. It had three walls, made of loose stone, and a chimney of sorts, from which a plume of smoke was rising.

- "Who lives there?" I asked Inisian.

- "Svijo - the one you called 'Big Ears'. His sister, too."

- "That's all?"

- "No. They're all there." he said. "The skinny one is his cousin, who lives another three, four leagues further. When Svijo's father died, the cousin brought SmallFoot. I don't really know the fourth man. But they all live here now."

Even as I listened, a plan was forming in my mind. I quickly sketched it out for Inisian, and for my daughter. We moved a little closer, until I found the perfect place for Yevna. She had cover, from where she could watch the door without being seen.

- "You know what to do?" I asked Yevna.

- "Watch the door." she said. "If one or two come out, do nothing. Three, I throw a rock. All four, I scream and run away."

- "And where do we meet?"

- "Down by the creek." she answered.

It wasn't a foolproof plan, but it would serve.

I crept around the house, with Inisian. I let the younger man go ahead - he was more nimble, and had both hands. I had the sword cradled in my near-useless fingers, and Conwoion's dagger in my left hand. It was the weapon with which he had killed my son.

Inisian knew exactly what to do. He climbed up on a big boulder behind the house. Carefully - quietly - he gathered some of the loose thatch, and put it over the chimney. Then he piled the wet grass we had gathered on top of that.

It didn't take more than a moment for the plume of smoke to die away to a few thin trickles. Most of the smoke from their fire would be trapped inside the house.

That wouldn't be enough to kill, or even incapacitate them. But they would have to come investigate what was blocking their chimney. In the dark ... where we waited for them.

We heard SmallFoot's voice, from inside the house, ordering someone to go see what was wrong. We didn't hear the reply.

- "Because I said so!" shouted SmallFoot.

Yevna didn't scream. I didn't hear a rock thrown, either. I put the sword down.

Two men were coming around - we could hear their voices.

- "What d'you think it is?"

- "The fuck should I know?"

When they came around the corner, completely unsuspecting, I grabbed the first man around the neck with my right arm. My fingers were crushed, but there was nothing wrong with my arm. I stabbed him with the dagger in my left hand.

I pulled my man down, stabbing him again. The second fool turned to run. Inisian leapt forward and buried his axe in the fellow's back. It was noisy - the man let out a piercing cry as he fell forward. Inisian planted his foot on his victim's back, and levered his axe free. Then he buried it in the back of the man's skull.

Two more stabs took care of my opponent. I don't think he was even armed.

Inisian stood there, breathing heavily. It was excitement, rather than exhaustion. He had the good sense, though, to wait for me, and not go haring off on his own. I calmly transferred the dagger to my right hand, and picked up the sword.

Together, we went towards the door.

- "What do you think happened?" we heard a voice saying.

- "I don't know!" shouted SmallFoot. "Go see!"

- "Are you guys a'right?" called the first voice.

- "No - they're not." I said.

It's true that I could have held my peace, and possibly gotten close, to stab one or the other of the men standing just outside the door. But that might have started a scuffle I couldn't control. I might have ended up facing both of them, for a moment - and there was no way to know what the girl might do. Better to draw them away from the door.

SmallFoot's mouth was open. Next to him, the runt with the big ears - Svijo, I guessed -looked like he was seeing spectres.

I waited. Rymvi SmallFoot didn't disappoint me. He was a natural coward - a rat - but a cornered rat. He couldn't see a way out of this unless he killed us. Naturally enough, he identified me as the greater threat.

With a shout, he launched himself forward, sword raised high.

My father taught me to fight. Most men, he said, never learn to use a sword properly. They treat it like an axe, and try to chop at their enemy. Nine times out of ten, they aim for the shoulder and neck, in a great sweeping cut. SmallFoot was no exception.

I raised my left hand, and blocked his weak blow. With a clang, his sword bounced off mine. The impact shook my arm - but not all that much. I jabbed the point of my weapon into the little rat's face, and felt it scrape against his cheekbone and the top of his nose.

Rymvi squealed, and staggered back. Inisian was upon him a moment later. His first blow sheared off most of SmallFoot's hand and shattered two of his ribs. From then on it was just butchery, as the injured man fell, and Inisian continued to strike him with the axe. Two - three more times.

- "He's done." I said. "He's done!"

Inisian reacted like a dog called off the prey. Now, he was panting from his exertions.

Svijo never joined in the fight. He had fainted - or collapsed.

- "Come out, girl." I called. "We won't harm you. It's over. Inisian - could you unplug the chimney?"

It took some time before the girl emerged. I could understand her hesitation. She probably expected to be raped, or murdered. Or both.

- "Help me drag your brother inside." I told her.

We decided to spare Svijo. Not for any merit on his part, but for the girl's sake. She might not survive the winter alone. But I suspected that her lot had just improved. From the assortment of bruises on her scrawny body, and the harried expression on her face, it seemed Svijo had done little to protect her from the attentions of the other three.

I left her with strict instructions.

- "When he awakes, you tell him that he owes us his life. You both do. If I ever see him within half a league of Inisian's house, I'll kill him. You understand?"

She seemed to understand. As we left, I turned to Inisian.

"Will that be enough? We can still kill him, if you think it would be safer."

- "No - he won't be a problem. She'll keep him in line."

- "That little thing?"

- "She's tougher than he is." said Inisian.

Yevna didn't come out of hiding until I called her. I was a bit surprised.

- "You stayed where I told you." I said.

- "Yes."

- "Weren't you tempted to come out?"

- "Yes." she said. "But then I thought that you wouldn't take me along next time."

I smiled. "That's good thinking, Yevna."

***

We spent the winter with Moruith and Inisian.

And the next winter, too.

*****