Twenty-Four

Marcus thundered down the stairs, reluctantly leaving Alissa behind to see what was happening. It was the dead of night; everyone had been long asleep when Marcus had visited Alissa in her room, but now there was a flurry of activity as the maids and servants ran about as a few soldiers from elsewhere in the village burst through the front door. Water ran out of the gaps in their armor as the three soldiers pushed into the room. Mud fell from them, splattering onto the wooden floor below.

It looked to Marcus like they had all fallen on their way here.

“What’s going on?” Marcus shouted across the small foyer as he closed the gap between them.

One of the soldiers stopped to talk to him while the other two went on and started to round up the servants and maids rushing about. “The mine collapsed. You need to get out there and help.”

“Help with what?” Marcus asked him. It was the middle of the night; surely, they didn’t have anyone working the mine in the dark. “And you know I can’t leave Lady Dresden here alone.”

“Half the village went into the mine; we need everyone to help dig them out!” The soldier screamed at him, spittle flying from his snarling mouth as a large vein throbbed across his forehead. “You are a slave! You will listen to me when I give you an order!”

Marcus scowled at the man’s words. He didn’t appreciate the tone he was taking with him. He could understand if he had a few friends trapped inside, but no matter how much he screamed, Marcus wouldn’t run out to help them and leave Alissa to fend for herself. Even when the soldier placed his hand on the hilt of his sword to make his point, Marcus refused to budge.

“You are not my master,” Marcus growled, his voice dripping with venom. He had over two feet on the man and over one hundred fifty pounds and did not feel threatened as he stepped up to the armored soldier. “You best just get back out there and not worry about what I’m doing.”

The water-logged soldier glared up at him, his eyes narrowing before flickering to either side of him. Marcus kept his eyes on the man as the sound of steel slowly slid out of leather scabbards. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up as his skin prickled in anticipation, his heart thudded in his chest, and his breaths quickened.

Things were degenerating quickly, and Marcus didn’t like the direction this was going.

“This is your only warning,” The soldier he was facing said, his sword still firmly in its sheath. “Get your ogre-fucking ass outside. NOW!”

“Or what?” Marcus pressed another step forward, never taking his eyes off the man.

“Or I’ll skewer you with this,” The soldier grinned maliciously while patting his sword. “And when we’re done with you, and you’re lying in a pool of your cold blood,” He took a step closer to Marcus, craning up to look into his eyes. “We’ll skewer that bitch upstairs, but it won’t be with these…”

All Marcus heard was the crack of bone as his balled fist struck the man in the face, smashing his nose like an overripe tomato and sending him crumpling to the ground. There was a moment of nothingness as a loud ringing filled his ears and the edges of his vision blackened, then a stinging slap hit him on the back, bringing his senses back into extreme focus.

Another blow hit him in the shoulder, the sword slicing through his course tunic and leaving a shallow cut from his deltoid to the top of his tricep. Marcus whirled around to face the two soldiers to his back; one was already in mid-swing, aiming low in an attempt to hamstring him. He kicked out with his heavy boot, the toe hitting the man’s wrist and shattering it. The shortsword clattered limply to the ground.

“Argh!” The soldier screamed as he clutched his arm closely to his chest. It only took a moment for the other one to take his place, lunging at him with his sword in both hands.

The foyer they were standing in wasn’t very large. It had enough room for a small sofa and a potted plant in desperate need of water. It did open up into a larger room where the staircase led up to the second floor, but the soldier lunging at him was between him and that extra space, leaving him nowhere to dodge and with only one choice.

He clamped his hand around the incoming blade, the two edges biting into his palm as he twisted his wrist. The metal warped slightly before snapping off in his hand, leaving the soldier holding onto half a sword with a jagged end coated with Marcus’ blood. The fact that his weapon had been broken in two only fazed him for a split second before he pulled back his sword arm, starting a downward swing with his shattered sword.

Marcus was standing there with the pointy end of the sword in his hand and a burning pain radiating from his bloodied palm. The soldier gnashed his teeth as he swung his broken sword, looking up at him with wide, wild eyes. Marcus didn’t like the look in his eyes; they were desperate and full of fear, which would make people do anything to survive.

Without thinking, Marcus jammed the half of the sword he was holding up into the soft flesh underneath the man’s chin. He felt very little resistance as the cold metal chewed through his skin, the muscle, then the roof of his mouth, and into his skull. A hot warmth covered his hand while, at the exact moment, the incoming sword slipped from the soldier’s limp hand, and the man’s body crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Marcus looked down at the man’s body, and his stomach churned. He had never killed anyone before. It was something that he had expected to happen at some point but hadn’t thought it would be tonight. He thought that he would have been inundated with guilt and regret, ashamed of himself for snuffing out another life, but he didn’t feel that at all. All he felt when he looked down at the body was anger and worry, anger at the man for making him have to kill him and worry about what this would mean for Alissa.

There was no way that this would be ignored.

“YOU BASTARD!” The final soldier screamed out as he lunged at Marcus while he stood there, looking at the man he had killed. The soldier had switched his sword to his off-hand, holding it clumsily as he closed the distance between them. At first, Marcus had moved in anger, punching the first soldier before he could control himself. Then he had disarmed the next man, wanting to possibly salvage the situation before things got out of hand any further, but he should have known better.

He was a slave, considered less than human and worthless in every sense of the word. Even as the personal guard of a high-born lady, his life was not something these men feared taking. And it was time he realized that.

Marcus took one step back and backhanded the soldier’s hand holding the sword. His awkward grip failed him as Marcus’ hand shattered his fingers, sending the sword tumbling end over end through the air until a loud thunk reverberated throughout the room along with the soldier’s screams. The armored man doubled over as he held his shattered hand close to his chest, his already broken wrist resting right underneath it. He wasn’t a threat to anyone any longer, but Marcus didn’t care as he wrapped his fingers around the man’s throat and lifted him off of the ground, squeezing until he no longer moved.

Only then did he drop his body next to his friend’s on the hard floor with a heavy thud.

It always amazed Marcus how exhausted he felt after fighting. Against the monsters in the forest, he had very nearly died, and once it was over, he felt like he was close to it. After he had killed all of the abominations that had attacked their camp, he had passed out from exhaustion, and now, even after fighting for less than a minute, all he wanted to do was go back to bed and close his eyes. But he knew he couldn’t.

Looking around, he noticed the terrified gazes of the few servants and maids around him. They had all backed away as far as they could, and he was sure that a few had already escaped outside to alert anyone they could to what was happening. Marcus could understand their fear. He was a slave killing soldiers, something that shouldn’t have been possible. It was only a matter of time before more would come for him.

Stolen novel; please report.

Marcus thundered back up the stairs, pushing one plump maid to the ground that was too slow to move out of his way. He felt guilty about that, more so than when he had killed those men, but he didn’t have the time to be gentle. If he were lucky, the other soldiers would be too busy digging through the collapsed buildings to come here immediately, but he didn’t know how bad it was outside, and there was no telling how long he actually had.

He didn’t bother knocking as he barreled into Alissa’s room. He was starting to panic. He was angry before, but now that anger was gone and replaced by fear. What that man said caused him to lose himself and do something he couldn’t take back. He wasn’t afraid for himself; he could handle whoever came for him, and if he couldn’t… then it wouldn’t matter in the end. But Alissa…

“Marcus, what is happening?” Alissa called out as he closed the door behind him a little too loudly. “Where did those wounds come from?”

“I…” Marcus started before taking a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. “I killed them…”

“…who?” Alissa asked, her voice colder than what he would have expected to hear.

He turned around to face her. She had slipped into a simple black dress with short sleeves covering only half of her upper arm and a hem stopping short of her ankles. It was not meant to be worn out in public, at least not for a woman of her standing, but was many times more elegant than a commoner could ever hope to afford. “The soldiers… the ones escorting us. The mine collapsed. They came to gather everyone to help them, and I told them no…” He moved to the bed, sitting beside her, making the piece of furniture groan in protest. “I’m sorry…”

“But how?” Alissa asked askance as she gazed up at him from the edge of the bed. “How were you able to harm them?”

Marcus took in a sharp breath as he registered her question. Franklin had told him to tell absolutely no one about how he broke through the slave seal’s bindings, not even Alissa. Of course, now it didn’t matter all too much. Everyone was bound to hear about what happened. So, he decided to give Alissa an abridged version of what happened with Franklin and how and why he lost his temper just a few minutes ago.

“And then he threatened to stick you,” Marcus said those words through clenched teeth. “After that, I just lost control.”

Alissa sat next to him in silence, her face morphing from one emotion to another, not one of them bringing him any comfort. He wished he could read her mind or that she would at least say something, but she continued to sit there as her eyes stared off miles away. Time was ticking away.

“I don’t have much time, I need to…”

“You need to what?” Alissa asked him, her stunning blue eyes burning with determination.

Marcus was momentarily stunned by the intensity of her question. “I need to run… They’ll hunt me down to the ends of the Earth…”

“And leave me here. Alone!?” Alissa growled back, finding that proposal ridiculous. “No. You will not. You will sit right here with me, and we will wait.”

“What?” It was Marcus’ turn to give her a questioning look. If he stayed here, they would most definitely kill him without question, and he had no idea what would happen to Alissa then. “I can’t do that, and you know it… No, you should come with me. We can go together.”

“Then we would both be fugitives,” Alissa told him with a tone of confidence that bellied the situation. “No, you need to trust in me, Marcus. Sit down. Next to me and wait, please.”

Marcus did his best impression of a fish out of water, drawing a sly smile from the young woman sitting next to him. He really had no idea what she was thinking and thought she was making a terrible decision, but he trusted her. He loved her. Marcus didn’t move from his spot on the bed. “Okay. What are we waiting for, then?”

Before Alissa could answer his question, a dozen heavy footfalls rumbled from behind the closed door, and then a heavy knocking rattled the hinges. Marcus couldn’t help but think of the police knocking on the other side, and he supposed the reality was close enough. “Alissa, there has been an incident…”

Thomas Mayweather came through the door as if he owned the place, and the look of disappointment on his face as he noticed Alissa was fully clothed didn’t get by Marcus unnoticed. Neither did the horror it morphed into when he saw Marcus sitting on the bed next to her.

“Alissa! Get away from him!” he shrieked in a very unmanly, nasally drawl. Hearing Thomas’ call of surprise, the half dozen soldiers who had followed him to Alissa’s room pushed in behind him, crowding the small room with muddy armor and naked steel.

“Sheathe your weapons!” Alissa ordered as she rose from the bed, putting herself between the sneering soldiers, the pallid Thomas, and a very confused and slightly frightened Marcus. “You will all stand down!”

“He’s killed some of my men; we are here to apprehend him,” Thomas exclaimed. His voice conveyed bravery, but he didn’t dare step past the short line of men before him. “Have you not seen the blood on him?”

“I have,” Alissa stood firm in front of them. “Think clearly about what has transpired. Do you truly believe he could have harmed anyone without good cause?”

Thomas mulled over her words; the sounds of creaking leather caused by the soldiers’ tightening grips filling the room around them. “What are you saying? There are witnesses who say he attacked my men without provocation.”

“And how would that be possible?” Alissa probed him, leading Thomas into a line of thinking that still eluded Marcus. “How can a slave act of their own volition outside of self-defense?”

“It is… it is not possible… unless…” Thomas mumbled to himself. Even the tips of the soldiers’ swords dipped slightly as her words sunk in. Marcus was still confused. “But how could he be defending you? You were asleep in your room.”

“Tell them, Marcus,” Alissa told him without taking her eyes off the men before her. “Tell them what was said to you.”

“Uh…” Marcus started dumbly. He had never been the most eloquent speaker. “They told me to come out and help with the collapsed mine. I told them no. That I couldn’t leave Al—Lady Dresden alone.” Then it dawned on him. The reason why Alissa was confident enough to wait for the soldiers to come to them. “Then they said that if I didn’t, they would kill me. Then, once I was dead, they would do the same to her.”

While technically accurate, the meaning behind the soldier’s words was a little different, but Marcus didn’t see the need for exact details. The short of it was enough to get the point across to all who mattered.

“As you can see, Marcus only acted in accordance with his standing orders. To protect his charge, which would be me, from harm.” Alissa helpfully pointed out once Marcus had finished speaking.

Thomas looked like he had sucked on a lemon, and Marcus thought he saw smoke seeping from his ears as the young man’s simple mind worked furiously to process what was happening. “How can I trust that the event played out how it tells it?”

“Marcus,” Alissa called out in an authoritative voice that instantly caught his attention. The way she spoke stirred something inside of him, and not just a slight tingling from the slave seal branded on his back. “Is what you said true? Know that if you were to lie, it would be going against a direct order from me.”

“Everything I said was the truth,” Marcus said, confident that he was no longer in danger. He stood from the bed, moving forward beside Alissa, towering over everyone there.

“Do you see? He only acted to protect me and was well within the laws governing such situations. Or do you believe a few commoners’ lives are worth the same as my own and that he should have rolled over and let me be killed?” Alissa punctuated her passionate statement by crossing her arms in front of her chest and glaring indignantly at them.

“Of—of course not,” Thomas shook his head before bowing it low. “Forgive me, Lady Alissa. I would have slain them myself had I known what was said. A woman such as yourself should be held with the utmost regard, not threatened with such violence. I will make amends for what has happened tonight. You have my word.”

“Very well,” Alissa said with a scowl, browbeating them further as she continued. “I will take any reparations you have in mind with grace and keep what has happened tonight between only those involved. Now, I am sure you have much to deal with besides these matters.”

“Thank you, Lady Alissa,” Thomas said with a flourish as he motioned for the soldiers to exit the room. “We will speak more of this tomorrow and set the terms for my recompense. Good night.”

Alissa said nothing as they closed the door behind them. She waited a long moment, not moving as she stared at the closed door before letting out a woosh of air between her pink lips. “See,” she laughed nervously. “All taken care of.”