Don't Feed the Trolls by Jacob Peppers

Author:Jacob Peppers [Peppers, Jacob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-08T22:00:00+00:00

***

The woman, known to her men as Oleander, a flower that was as poisonous as it was beautiful, watched the group of four walk away, frowning after them. The woman had challenged her, and that made her angry. It had been a long time since anyone had dared challenge Oleander.

“Thanks, Mum,” Kerry said, “that was a close one.”

Oleander let out a hiss, spinning on the two men. “Fools,” she snapped. “Do you realize how close you came to giving us all away?”

Kerry had the good sense, at least, to look ashamed, averting his eyes to stare at the ground at the unconscious man, the man who most certainly was not his uncle. Rock, though—a name the man had chosen, she suspected, because he thought it sounded tough but was more accurate than he knew as he was as dumb as one and no mistake—frowned. “We could have taken ‘em, boss.”

Oleander shook her head, considering—not for the first time—putting her blade to work on the big fool. “That so?” she said. “One of them’s a mage, you fool, not to mention the Bloody Butcher, said to be the best swordsman of our time, maybe any time. You two fools are just lucky I happened along when I did—and what possessed you to go knocking this one here out anyway? I thought I made it clear—the villagers aren’t to be harmed.”

“Soft thing to say for a bandit leader,” Rock whispered.

“What’s that?” she snapped, and the man turned away, avoiding her angry gaze. Oleander rolled her eyes. “It isn’t soft, you fool, it’s smart. We’re here for the job, nothing else. The last thing we need is to get the entire kingdom, maybe the king himself coming down here with his army.”

Rock was too busy looking sullen, like a child angry at being scolded but not stupid enough—not quite—to challenge her to answer. Kerry, though, winced. “He tried to get away, boss, this one. He broke out of the granary. It’s just bad luck he ended up runnin’ into their path.”

“Bad luck,” she repeated dryly.

“Uh…yes ma’am,” Kerry, always the pragmatist, said carefully.

“In my experience, Kerry,” she said, “a man—or a woman, if one’s lucky enough for the gods to bless her so—makes his own luck. Still, quick thinking with the uncle bit.”

His face flushed with obvious pleasure at that, and he nodded his head to her. “Thank you, boss.”

“Coulda taken them,” Rock muttered, staring down the alley in the direction they’d gone.

Oleander sighed, shaking her head. Something would have to be done about the man, soon. “I’m tempted to give you the chance, Rock, but I doubt if it’ll turn out the way you think. No, the mage is dangerous, the swordsman too, and that girl, the one who dared to challenge me, seems like she knows a thing or two about fighting. Best to take care of ‘em quiet.” After all, she had not always been a bandit leader, had only risen to such a rank by strictly following several rules she herself had devised.

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