Rylan Blair had six mercs with him. Three of them tended the fire. Smoke was the one who had stabbed Wilson; and was now the one who tied their hands with rope. Tree was the archer. Turned out he was also a medic—which was just as well, since Wilson hadn’t brought one. A sinking feeling in his chest reminded him that this mission had been his call—and whatever was about to happen was therefore his fault.

Tree was tall, with a Hargon accent like Stiff’s, and had spiky brown hair. He cut out the arrows he had fired into Fortune and Pecs, then patched them up. Afterwards, he treated Wilson’s arm. ‘You have lost quite a lot of blood,’ the merc informed him. ‘I will sew up the wound, then bandage it.’

With his hands behind his back, and still no feeling in the arm, Wilson just let the man get on with it.

The last merc was a wild haired, middle aged woman. She was the one who arranged them into a circle, preparing them for whatever Rylan had in mind. She wore a chain mail vest, and leather gloves, giving the impression she was a warrior. She must be a good one, to run with The Blades.

‘There is no need to kick me, Mental,’ The Hoffmeister said to her, when she got him to shuffle over to the left.

Oh, great, Wilson thought. As if Rylan isn’t bad enough, his friend is called Mental.

Her boot landed in The Hoffmeister’s midriff, and he sagged over in pain, losing a hit point. ‘There was no need for that either, was there?’ She screeched at him. ‘You traitorous scum.’

‘Georg is not a traitor,’ Usa told her. ‘We’re mercs, free to sign up with whatever company we choose.’

‘Enough of this,’ Rylan declared.

His mercs finished off their tasks and left him the stage.

The mercenary captain wielded Fortune’s sword, Blueblade, the naked steel ominous looking in the firelight. ‘Most of you know my father was a mercenary captain—the most famous in Durnost. Cole the Maimer, he was called.’ Rylan put a hand to his puckered cheek. ‘Oh, I know all about maiming people. My father passed his skills on. Made sure that his three children were the toughest little bastards on the gods’ earth. We learned his lessons.’ A thoughtful look came to his face. ‘I always wondered why people were surprised when we killed him. Sal didn’t wonder. He understands people better than me. He says most people have no imagination.’

He shrugged, as if giving up on that line of thought. ‘Anyway, I’ve got me some questions. And I think you all know that I’ll get the answers I want, one way or another.’ He approached Fortune, kneeling down next to him. ‘Like, for instance, what does this sword do?’ He inserted his finger into the arrow wound in Eddie’s shoulder, and he screamed in agony until Rylan withdrew it.

Rylan stood, waiting patiently for Fortune to recover.

‘There are two others, just like it,’ Fortune gasped. ‘The red one gives bonuses against greenskins. The green one, against monsters. We only recently found the blue one. I don’t know what it does yet. I swear.’

‘He speaks the truth,’ Usa said.

That annoyed look crossed Rylan’s face again. ‘I didn’t ask you to speak, Bizra. But since you’re so keen.’

He nodded over to Mental, who appeared to be waiting for instruction. She used her fists instead of her boot this time, pummeling Usa in his torso and face until she was content with her work.

‘Tell me where in Gehenna the Apples are getting all these magic weapons.’

Usa sighed. ‘There’s no point,’ he said through swollen lips. ‘Stiff has got the game covered. You’re too late.’

‘No point? Sorry, Bizra, but I decide whether there’s a point.’ Rylan moved quickly, and stabbed Blueblade into Izil’s outstretched leg. The Alinko tried to hold back his cry of pain. It was a precision strike, causing only four damage. But a slight mistake and the younger brother might be dead from such a weapon.

‘Alright!’ Usa bellowed. ‘There are barrows that have remained hidden until now. That’s where the hauls are coming from.’

‘Barrows? You’re digging up burial grounds? What are they like, these barrows?’

‘I don’t know. Listen,’ Usa said quickly, as Rylan raised Blueblade again. ‘The first two were explored before I joined. The third I travelled to, but I never got inside. I don’t think any two are quite the same.’

‘How many more?’

‘One. I think.’

‘Good.’ Rylan turned to Wilson. ‘You must know more, gnome.’

‘Aye. I was there when we found the first one.’

‘How are you finding them?’

‘By accident. I was running away from a warg at the time.’

Rylan laughed. ‘Running away from a warg? Oh, this is more like The Rotten Apples I have heard about. So, you got lucky. Then the second? I can’t believe you got lucky twice.’

‘The second was the hillfort. Redblade had already searched it. But when Stiff killed him, he took his treasures.’

Rylan shook his head. ‘This Stiff doesn’t mess around, does he? The third?’

‘I don’t know. Only Stiff knows.’

‘Tsk tsk,’ Rylan said, nodding at Mental.

With some enthusiasm, she reached Wilson in moments.

A fist to the face, and he felt his nose crack. His vision blurred, and he felt himself drift in and out of consciousness. It occurred to him, in the slightly more lucid moments, that it might be no bad thing to pass out.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘You with us, gnome?’ Mental asked, patting him on the cheek.

His throat was thick with blood and he spat it out. He had three hit points left. Another punch like that and he really would lose his senses. The worry was, he’d never wake again. ‘There was a map in the first barrow. It doesn’t give precise locations. But we managed to find the third barrow. There’s one more left, somewhere out to the northwest.’

Rylan nodded at this. ‘You know, things would have gone so much smoother if you’d let Cap take over the Apples, instead of killing him. This unpleasantness would never have happened. All because you weren’t willing to share these precious weapons.’

Confused faces met this statement.

‘What?’ Rylan demanded. He approached Pecs. ‘Come now, Victor. You’re an honest man. My brother sent Cap to snatch control of the Apples from the inside. One of his better ideas. You’re telling me you know nothing about this?’

‘I don’t. He never confided in me. He took a leadership role in the order, true enough. Gave me—’

‘What? Gave you what?’

‘Gave me his spear.’

‘A magic one?’

‘Aye.’

‘Come on! A man gives you his magic weapon, and you think he wants nothing in return?’

‘He never asked for anything.’

Rylan went silent, thinking about it. ‘So he was preparing the ground for a takeover. Then he gets iced. Who killed him?’

‘An orc.’

‘An orc? No. Leonard Babler doesn’t fall to a random orc.’

‘We all saw it,’ Pecs said, looking around for support.

‘It’s true,’ said Usa. ‘He fell in battle. In Eisenberg. We were fighting—’

Rylan held up a hand for Usa to be quiet. Wilson really thought the Alinko should stop interrupting.

‘Pretty fucking convenient, isn’t it? And pretty fucking unlikely. Leonard ‘Cap’ Babler, one of the best the Blades have ever seen, is killed in this battle? While every single one of you grunts makes it out alive? You expect me to buy that?’ Rylan moved on to The Hoffmeister. ‘Georg. If you’re good for one thing, it’s speaking plainly. What happened?’

‘My memory is this. Cap broke from the shieldwall to kill the orc queen. In this, he succeeded. Stiff arrived, clearing the orcs that opposed us. But he couldn’t reach Cap in time. There were only a couple left, but he was already injured. And those orcs—when they hit you, it’s more than a trifle.’

Rylan sneered. ‘You fools. Stiff knew. Probably engineered the whole thing. A convenient way to rid himself of Cap before he lost his crew. How about that, Georg?’

The Hoffmeister frowned. ‘I suppose it’s possible. On the other hand, that battle was real. It could as easily have been one of us who fell. Or more than one. At least, that’s how it felt.’

‘He’s right, Rylan,’ Usa said. ‘If you say Cap was there to take over the Apples, then so be it. If he’d asked us, maybe we’d have switched over. But he didn’t.’

Rylan gestured at Mental. She used her boot this time. ‘Shut the fuck up, Usain,’ she told him.

‘You think you’re smarter than me, Alinko?’ Rylan asked him when she was done, his voice quiet.

‘No. Like you say, I’m just a grunt. I’ll probably never amount to much. But I have the right to take my skills to whoever is willing to pay my wages. You have no right to hold us against our will. Beat us. We’ve told you what you want. Just let us go.’

‘I.’ Rylan began. ‘Am.’ He strode over to Usa. ‘So.’ The tip of Blueblade went to the merc’s chest.

‘No, Rylan,’ Tree said.

‘Rylan. Stop,’ Smoke added.

‘Sick.’ He plunged it in.

Everyone was shouting now. Rylan’s mercs were rushing him.

‘Of.’ With one hand flat on the pommel, he forced it further. ‘Your.’ Usa coughed, then went limp.

Mental reached Rylan first, shoving him away.

‘Voice,’ the captain shouted, as his mercs grappled with him.

Izil screamed. A terrible, heart-wrenching noise. Murderous curses flew from his mouth. These were interspersed with more meaningless screams.

It was pandemonium, as Rylan shouted at his mercs, they refused to listen, and the Apples fought to free themselves from their bonds. Izil was restrained and held down by a couple of mercs.

Come on, Wilson told himself. Pass out. He didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want to see any more. But despite his efforts, he couldn’t escape.

Rylan had been dragged off. Later, Tree and Smoke had returned for Usa’s body, carrying it away.

Izil had screamed more curses at them, but they ignored him.

Exhausted, Wilson drifted in and out of sleep. Each time he woke, it was still night time, and he and his companions were still captives. Izil muttered incoherently to himself, too grief stricken to give in to sleep. There were always two mercs guarding them, and no chance of escape.

Wilson’s eyelids opened once more to see Tree crouching over Izil. He placed a cloth over his mouth and nose and held it there, until Izil lost consciousness.

‘What are you doing?’ Wilson hissed over.

‘We’re getting you out of here,’ came a whisper behind him. Smoke pulled Wilson to his feet. The gnome staggered, barely able to stand up. ‘Izil wouldn’t have let us take him away with Rylan still alive.’

Tree lifted Izil over his shoulder, while Fortune, Pecs, and The Hoffmeister quietly got to their feet.

‘Then why don’t we all kill him?’ Wilson demanded.

‘Even if we got lucky, and killed Rylan without losing our own lives, Sal would make sure we were hunted down. Now, chommie. I'm gonna have to carry you. We need to move fast.’

Wilson was too tired to argue, and suffered the indignity of being held over the man’s shoulder in silence.

‘What about Blueblade?’ Fortune whispered.

‘There’s no way you’re getting that sword back,’ Tree told him.

Fortune hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to give the weapon up. But he was in no fit state to challenge Rylan for it. He gave it up.

Tree and Smoke led their party past Urlay’s houses towards the bridge.

From his unusual angle, Wilson caught sight of booted feet and leather gloves coming up behind them. Mental. She had a battle axe strapped to her back. She drew a knife, and Wilson got ready to call out a warning.

But Smoke and Tree stopped for her, and she used her knife to cut the bonds of the Apples.

She came to Wilson last and caught his look. ‘I was keeping Rylan busy while these two set off with you,’ she explained as she sliced at the rope around his wrists.

‘It’s not that,’ Wilson explained. ‘You were the last one I expected to betray him.’

‘What he did was way out of order. He left me with no choice.’

‘You appeared to be enjoying yourself up to then.’

Mental grimaced. ‘You don’t know Rylan. He didn’t have that fire built just to shed light on things. He wanted to use it on you. I told him I’d work you over instead. Yes, I handed out some punches and kicks. But nothing you won’t recover from in a few days.’

‘I misjudged you then.’

The woman looked at him, as if surprised he would admit such a thing. ‘Misjudged is all I ever get, gnome. But I appreciate the words.’

‘Come on,’ Tree said. ‘We need to go.’

Smoke carried Wilson across the bridge, and they left Urlay behind as fast as they could.

MISSION COMPLETE

FAILURE: The wight of Urlay remains

None of your mercs improved their stats

No mercs levelled up

Fallen Apples:

Usain ‘Usa’ Bizra