Hilda and Kana: Treasure of the Bandit Queen - Part 4

Part 4

While Hilda searched the forest for her herbs, Isha and I moved the chest off the road. We kept a careful eye out for taker wasps but none seemed near. That didn't mean my nerves stopped twanging, though, and I jumped at every shrill bird cry and cracking branch.

"We are safe, Mistress," said Isha in a low soft voice. We set the chest inside a hollow tree where it was hidden from three sides, and she came to me. Her long narrow fingers touched my arm and some of my tension disappeared. She stood on her tiptoes and placed her lips to mine, a chaste kiss which somehow bared my soul.

We stood like that for some time, until Hilda returned. "Aha!" she cried holding up a large mushroom and a grey scraggy moss. "Look what I found."

"The Red Fungus?" I asked.

Hilda paused. "Well, no. Couldn't find any red. Found blue instead. Almost as good. And I did find White Moss."

"So what's the plan? We need the supplies at least and I'm not leaving the treasure if I can help it." And there was of course my shield. I felt naked without it.

"The horses will be gone," said Hilda. "Wasps in their brains by now. But we can probably move the cart by our self if we must. If we get it away from the wasps, we can work out what to do from there. Bury the treasure maybe. Stash the cart somewhere quiet. Hike to the nearest village and vomit coins from our asses until someone gives us a few new horses."

"How do the herbs work?"

"We burn them," said Hilda. "Better dried but they'll smoke up good enough as is." She kicked open the chest and took out a handful of hay. In a few deft movements she wound it into a simple torch, shredded the herbs and pushed the pieces into the centre. "We'll go up wind. Light this up. The smoke will mess up the wasps. We go in, kill anything in our way and still standing, and drag the cart out."

"What about this?" I said and kicked the chest shut. That much gold on open display made me nervous, even hidden as it was. It would probably be okay for a few hours but...

"I can watch it, Mistress," said Isha softly. "I don't have my knife so I can't fight the wasps."

I nodded. Here Isha would be safe, and I didn't like the thought of her facing taker wasps unarmed. In Malat, if a taker wasp hive was found inside a building, even a small one, the whole building was burned and those nearby demolished. They were not to be underestimated.

"No point in delaying this," said Hilda and hefted her great sword so it rested against her shoulder. "Let's get a move on."

I straightened my silver scale armour, flicked my sabre a few times to work out my wrist and nodded. "Let's go."

The wild is Hilda's territory as much as the city is mine. I followed on her heels as she led us around fallen trees, along narrow streams and down near invisible animal tracks. Finally she stopped and pointed ahead.

"That's the nest tree," she said. I couldn't see the nest from where I crouched and couldn't see the cart either, but I trusted Hilda. "Taker wasps don't set guards but there will be slaved animals around here, hunting and gathering."

"Let's do this."

Hilda withdrew a flint and tinder from her leathers and made a spark. She blew it gently, coaxed a small flame that quickly subsided into glowing embers, and then tipped the embers into the straw torch. It burned slowly and badly, an acrid black smoke that billowed and followed the wind. The smoke wafted toward the wasps, following twisting contrary paths. At first I thought nothing was happening, but then I heard it. A deep buzzing started, low at first but louder every second. Hilda's herbs had awoken the taker wasps. Now I just had to hope the herbs disabled them too.

She passed the torch to me and I held it in my right hand, my sabre ready in my left. "Go," she whispered and ran forward. I followed.

We rounded the tree just as insanity descended on the hive of taker wasps. Dozens of black and red shapes buzzed in the air, attacking each other, nearby trees and even open air. They made sounds like arrows when they impacted bark and some even tried to burrow inside. I waved the smouldering torch like a magical ward and the insanity of the wasps redoubled when they came near.

One crazed wasp barrelled towards me on a corkscrew path. I slashed at it but such was its motion that I only managed to take off a wing. That proved enough, and it twisted away, its crazy flight rendered doomed by my amputation.

Hilda reached the cart and the horses. Both bore bloody clots in their mains, a sure sign that a wasp had taken up residence in each. She didn't waste time on sentiment. With great chops of her great sword she cut both beasts down and dragged the cart free of the corpses.

I moved to join her, and we hauled the cart towards the narrow ridge that led to the road. It wasn't high, perhaps only half a foot, but it would be our greatest challenge.

A roar stopped us in our tracks and an immense brown bear prowled into the clearing. It bore an old wasp wound at the side of its head but that wasn't all. Three more taker wasps were worming there way inside, stinger-tails wiggling as they burrowed. Its eyes were wild, crazed by pain, waspes and my torch.

I let go of the cart and moved to intercept. Hilda stayed with the cart, cursing as she drove it forward. My torch bellowed out toxic black smoke, and I tried not to breathe any in. The bear swayed as the wind blew a particularly thick cloud straight into its face. It clawed the ground and roared again. Its breath stunk of death and carrion; taker wasps weren't known for being picky eaters.

My heart hammered as I darted forward and shoved the burning torch into the bear's face. For a split second the flames licked its fur and the fumes filled its nostrils. It slashed at me, an immense paw topped with claws the size of daggers. I danced to the side, just in time, and returned the gesture with my sabre. The steel bit deep but the bear was immense and old. Dark red blood spilled onto its fur but it showed no sign of stopping.

Again I waved the torch in its face and again the smoke addled its mind - truthfully doing far more damage than my sword. It staggered towards me and tried to bite. I jumped back, torch staying as close to its face as I dared.

"Just a moment more!" shouted Hilda. "Almost got this fucking, city-shit thing up the ledge."

I retreated, buying time. The three extra taker wasps were well ensconced now, the entry wounds just oozing holes. A tree root caught my foot and I tripped back, falling. The bear saw my weakness and tense to charge. Its left set of legs tried to power it forward but its right stayed in place. The unbalanced motion flipped the beast, sending it rolling along the ground. Seeing my chance I dived back to my feet and drove my sword into its left eye. The blade sank half its length before I pulled back. Against any normal beast, that would have been a death sentence but the bear had four taker wasps in its brain.

Somehow it clambered to its feet, head lolling, limbs shaking.

"Up!" shouted Hilda. "It's up."

I threw the torch at the bear's face and ran for Hilda. The torch bounced and skidded away. The bear tried to follow but this time its left-side limbs didn't work. It collapsed, twitching, just as I reached the cart and pushed it the last few feet to freedom.

Back on the road our task was simple. It was flat and easy travel for a cart. More, it was downhill. Hilda and I spent more time making sure the cart didn't run away from us than pushing it forward. It barely took us any time to reach where we'd left Isha and the gold.

There I abandoned Hilda to see to the cart and walked into the forest. "Isha!" I cried. "We did it. We got the cart. I had to fight a bear but it was nothing."

I reached the hollow tree and looked around. The chest was there but no Isha.

"Isha?" I cried as loud as I could. There was no reply.

A queer sensation settled in my chest. I kicked the lid of the chest open. The gold was gone, all dozen bars. In their place lay a scroll of paper, held closed by two copper bracelets. I recognised the bracelets; they bore a pattern of curling vines and looked perfect against Isha's skin.

My hands shook as I removed the bracelets and unwound the scroll. The outside was a page from the Bandit Queen's pay book. The inside bore an elegantly scribed message, written in the coloured inks found in the Bandit Queen's stash.

"Thanks for the gold, Mistress," it read. "I enjoyed our time together, but all good things must come to an end."

It was signed, "Isha." A lock of silky black hair fell slowly to the ground. I fell with it.

---

Kana fell silent, eyes focused on the crackling bonfire. She nursed on the potent drink.

"Bad business," muttered Hilda. "She tricked us, of course. Isha I mean. She went to the Bandit Queen's tower to rob the place, but we caught her mid act. So she pretended to be a slave and waited until she could steal the gold."

Hilda raised the grave doll and held it high. "Hear that, ghouls and ghosties, this one's a tricky character; I'd watch her closely. That business with the taker wasps? Planned from the start. She saw the signs, used Shadow Cant to make the monster, cut her own rein and drove the cart right into them. Then she pretended to be stuck under the chest and got us to take it with us. When we left to rescue our cart, she took the gold and ran for it."

"She kept the ankle chain," said Kana, without looking up. "She kept that."

"Aye," said Hilda sombrely. "I suppose she did."

A rustling in the woods broke the melancholy silence. Branches cracked and an unseen man shouted, "Damn wilds!" A slashing sound followed and a figure stumbled into the clearing, holding a long, whippy and fairly impractical sword. He muttered under his breath, straightened his back, sheathed his sword and bowed at the waist. "Ladies."

Hilda laid a hand on the hilt of her great sword. "Barnabas."

He sighed. "Must you threaten me so, Hilda?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was invited."

"Invited," said Hilda, the word slow and cold. She rose to her feet in much the same fashion. The steel of her sword was dark in the night.

"Now, now," said Barnabas. "No need to be hasty." He backed up and raised both hands in a conciliatory gesture. "See." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a folded square of paper. He flicked it at Hilda, who caught it out of the air.

"Barnabas," the note said. "If you are reading this I am dead. I'd be grateful if you would come to my funeral. Hilda and Kana should be performing the rites in the forest south of Gods' Rest. Search for the fire and it shouldn't be hard to find. Isha."

Hilda looked up. "She invited you?"

"Well of course. That is what the note says."

"She invited you," said Hilda again. "They hung her broken body from the gates of Gods' Rest and she invited you. We saw her body. The things they did to her. Why!" She jabbed a finger to the north, where the looming shadow of the One True Mountain covered a patch of stars. At that mountains base still hung Isha's body.

"I truly don't know." Again he backed away, such that he almost returned to the trees. "All I know is what the note says."

"You knew her," said Kana in barely more than a whisper. "She worked with you."

"On occasion, yes. I wouldn't say we were close, but our partnership has proved mutually profitable on a number of instances."

"Sit."

"I, um." He looked at Hilda, still erect and brandishing blade.

"Hilda," said Kana. "Let him sit."

"Fine," she muttered. "City-shit fools. We kill men like him who come to our funerals." Despite her protestations, she returned to her seat by the fire.

Barnabas approached carefully but finally settled on an available log. "How does this work? I have to say, I've never engaged in funeral rights quite this rustic. And as I'm sure you know, I am something of an expert on cult."

"Barnabas the Apostate," muttered Hilda.

"I really wish people wouldn't call me that."

"We drink and tell stories," said Kana. "So the spirits of the dead know their new companion."

"Ah," he said nodding. "Alcohol is important to many rites. I brought this." He produced a large metal flask from under his coat and held it out. "It is a fire berry wine from one of the towns high on the White Bear Mountains. It is rather strong and quite fascinating really. See, they seal it in metal caskets and bury them in the snow over the winter. Come first thaw, they dig them up and check for ice around the casks. If there's ice that means the wine heated enough to melt the snow and that means the fire berry poison was burned out. Next they-"

"Will you shut up," said Hilda. "Just give it here." She took a gulp and swirled the liquid around her mouth. After a few seconds she spat it onto the fire where it whooshed up in flame. "Strong enough, 'suppose. Some for Isha." She splashed the doll. "And some for me." She took another gulp herself, then passed the bottle onto Kana. "Now, where were we?"

"You've started?" asked Barnabas.

She sent him a dark look. "Yes. We've told two stories. First, when we met Isha in Agartha and then when we met her again near the towers of the Bandit Queen."

"Next would be the time in Ko," said Kana softly. "No plan, no grand scheme. I just saw her in the street."

"And almost killed her as I recall," said Hilda. She sighed. "That was a fun day."

"Not fun. I was just so angry. I wanted to hurt her, really hurt her. Not like fun with a whore. I wanted to hurt her inside so it just kept on hurting."

"Yeah, betrayal feels like that. I've felt it before."

"You wanted to kill her?" said Barnabas. "I always thought you and her..." He petered off at Hilda's withering look.

"I didn't kill her," said Kana. "I really wanted to. I wanted to rip her apart. I wanted to take my sabre and just start slicing. But I just couldn't do it. It was the ankle chain. I saw it on her and all that rage turned to misery. I let her go. Untied her ropes and she escaped through the window. Didn't even say goodbye."

"I just wish she'd still had some of the gold left," said Hilda with a rueful shake of her head, "but that girl spends money like most people piss water. Oh, she can live on a few pennies a day, but give her a fortune and it will be gone in a week. It was a year until we saw her next. A whole year and then she just turned up one day with an offer."

"That's how she worked," said Kana. "In and out of lives like a hummingbird. That time was a scam. She got too deep and needed our help to get out. Should I tell that story?"

Hilda shook her head. "It would be a good story but it's not your turn. It's Barnabas's here."

"Ah, well," he said and drew a handkerchief over his forehead. "I can't speak about most of our dealings, you understand. Our clients paid a lot of money to make sure we never spoke."

"I knew this was a mistake," said Hilda. "I don't know what she was thinking inviting you. How did she even know we'd be doing this? And here of all places."

"She was good at playing with people's lives, wasn't she?" said Barnabas with a forced chuckle. "Living pieces on the game board. There is one story I can tell. You were both there for it, so there's no problem."

"The Still Waters heist?" asked Hilda.

"The very same."

The End

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