After the battle, Horatio ran back over to the fallen assassin from the Cult of Brax, who was still lying on the ground, groaning. He was too injured to have gotten away during the fighting.

‘We have got to find out why this guy was after us!’ he announced to the group. ‘It’s one thing for monsters to attack us–that’s just normal; it’s in their nature. But a Braxian specifically hunting us? What’s going on?’

‘Maybe they don’t like that we rescued Wyvera from that pimp,’ said Egea. ‘We are accumulating something of a reputation for do-gooding at this point…’

‘Could be,’ granted Wyvera, nodding her head in the dark. ‘I know that the Cult have investments in most brothel-houses. At least, they were invested in the ones that I worked at…’

‘No, it can’t be that,’ said Primus. ‘That is too minor a matter to send a professional assassin to murder us over. There is something else going on here.’

Horatio’s frustration got the better of him and he tried again, roaring into the man’s face: ‘Tell us why you were sent to hunt us down!’

‘Never!’ said the man.

‘That approach is not working very well, is it?’ said Ceres.

Horatio’s cheeks heated with a strange mix of embarrassment and irritation. ‘Well how else are we going to get it out of him? Don’t you know any spells for making someone tell the truth, Professor?’

‘No,’ said Primus.

‘We could torture him?’ suggested Egea.

‘No!’ said Ceres.

‘Torture…?!’ Horatio didn’t know if he was capable of torturing someone, even if their lives were apparently under threat.

‘Ouzo has a way,’ said Ouzo unexpectedly.

They all turned to the Wolf Clan druggist, who had not said anything in a long time. Horatio had almost forgotten that he was there.

‘Huh?’ he said. ‘You do?’

The Wolf Clanner shrugged. ‘It is not quite torture, but it is a way. You are wanting me to try it?’

‘Yes,’ said Primus straight away. ‘If you have a way, wolf, try it now. Time is of the essence.’

‘Okay then, master.’

The druggist walked over to the prone assassin as Horatio stepped out of the way, intense curiosity about what in Gard the Wolf Clanner was about to do creasing up his forehead.

Ouzo knelt over the assassin so that his muzzle was close to the man’s face, pinning his arms down, in much the same posture that Horatio had taken when he had tried interrogating him.

‘Okay Mister Assassin,’ Ouzo said to the man. ‘You tell us why you were sent to kill us or Ouzo will have to use a wolf trick to make you speak.’

‘Never,’ the assassin repeated with bitter defiance.

‘Alright then,’ said Ouzo. ‘Do not say Ouzo did not warn you.’

The Wolf Clanner leaned right in close to the man’s face. The man was so beaten and broken that he barely managed to squirm in protest.

What is he going to do? Horatio thought.

As the rest of them looked on in horror, Ouzo leaned in close to the man and…

…licked his face.

He stuck out his huge, wet wolf’s tongue, a deep shade of purple in the dark, and licked the man’s face.

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He did it again. And again, making a series of horrible sucking, slapping, slurping noises that echoed around the clearing.

The assassin began to scream, high and piercing. Horatio wasn’t sure if it was from pain, disgust, or because Ouzo was tickling him.

When the man then started to laugh uncontrollably, he knew it was the latter.

Horatio exchanged a glance with Ceres, who looked concerned, and yet…was that a smile playing at her lips?

Ouzo let up his licking just for a moment, to let the assassin draw breath.

‘Alright!’ gasped the assassin. ‘Alright, Brax take you! I’ll tell you, damn you all to Hell! Just stop licking me!’

‘Good,’ said Ouzo, and sat up.

‘Why were you hunting us?’ Horatio tried asking the man again in a more level tone.

‘The whelp was right…’ the assassin breathed, panting from the effort of laughing. He had tears running from his eyes now that shone in the moonlight, mixing with the blood on his cheeks. ‘I am a Braxian assassin. I was dispatched to kill everyone in your travelling party by my masters.’

‘Yes, we’ve already worked out that much,’ said Primus impatiently. ‘But why?’

For a moment the assassin didn’t say anything, holding his mouth shut in determination.

‘I will lick you again…’ threatened Ouzo.

‘Alright, alright!’ the assassin said at once. He groaned with dejection. ‘Look, I don’t know all the details, I just make the kills–that’s the part I enjoy. But it’s something to do with some girl you’re tracking.’

‘Olivia?’ said Primus.

‘That’s the one. The bosses don’t like that you are tracking her, for some reason. They want to make sure that we get to her first, and only us.’

‘Why?’ repeated Primus.

‘I don’t know.’

‘I will lick you again,’ reminded Ouzo.

‘I honestly don’t know!’ the assassin said desperately, his voice cracking and going high. ‘I swear on the True God Brax, I don’t know!’

‘Don’t swear by Brax,’ said Ceres. ‘He is the father of lies, and not the True God. Swear by Qind, or yourself.’

‘Fine, I swear by myself then! I don’t know why I was sent to kill you. I just follow my orders. I don’t know why the Leader is so interested in her, or you.’ He glanced at Ouzo. ‘Honestly, I really have no idea why he would be interested in you, or anyone you associate with…’

‘He is telling the truth,’ said Primus to the group. ‘He genuinely doesn’t know anything else. But this greatly disturbs me. Why are the Cult of Brax interested in Olivia? What has she done? Why is she travelling North?’ He appeared to arrive at some kind of resolution, his jaw setting tight. ‘We must leave at once!’

‘What?’ protested Egea. ‘It’s the middle of the night, and we’ve been fighting assassins and monsters for most of it! We’re tired, old man!’

‘Silence, merchant!’ Primus’ voice went loud with fury and his eyes glowed with fire, for a moment lighting up the night. Horatio had never seen him this angry before. ‘I am the leader of this travelling party, you are in my payment, and it is me who determines the pace of our travel! We leave now! If you don’t come with me, I will go by myself, damn you all!’

Horatio got the impression that the mage had been restraining himself from showing the full force of his anger and power in their earlier disagreements. But now it was breaking through the defences of his self-control.

Primus went to get his pack from the boys’ tent, leaving everyone else in stunned silence. After a moment, they followed suit, setting about retrieving their gear and packing up, on this occasion not making any further argument with Primus.

‘What should we do about the assassin?’ Horatio said after he had packed and stowed away the tents, eying the fallen man. His eyes were closed and he had finally passed out–apparently Ouzo’s licking had been too much for him.

‘We can leave him here to die for all I care,’ said Primus.

‘Professor!’ Ceres exclaimed, undeterred enough by even his latest eruption to hold her tongue about this. ‘We can’t do that! Does Qind not teach us to love our enemies? He may have attacked us, but he was only following orders, and even he doesn’t deserve to be left alone in the dark to die by himself, or be eaten by monsters.’

‘I don’t care what you do with him,’ snapped Primus, ‘you idealistic girl, so long as you come with me now.’

Horatio suddenly saw where this was going. Without thinking about it any further, he went over to the man, bent down, picked him up by placing a hand under his head and his legs, and scooped him up, before slinging him over one shoulder to carry him like a sack of potatoes. The man was unfortunately heavy, especially when Horatio was carrying his weapons and the tent-bag too.

‘What about me?’ said the girl who had warned them about the assassin. ‘Can I come with you too?’

‘Whatever,’ said Primus. It appeared that he had given up caring about who joined their ‘band’ as well. ‘I don’t mind, as long as we get going now.’

He began walking off through the forest again, and the rest of them made to follow him, the girl included.

Just as they were setting out, another group of monsters fell upon them.

Battle2