Thraxas Under Siege by Martin Scott

Author:Martin Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Literature & Fiction
ISBN: 9781416555735
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2008-08-25T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

I make it to the Avenging Axe in record time, pulling up outside the front door and leaping from the wagon like a hungry dragon going after a plump sheep. The first person I run into is Makri, carrying a tray of tankards.

“Sarin’s here,” I mutter, and head for the stairs.

Makri isn’t far behind me as I burst into my office, though she’s taken a diversion to pick up her axe. My sword is in my hand, ready for action. The outside door is open, and Sarin the Merciless is standing by the couch, looking down at the still-sleeping Hanama.

“Does your locking spell ever keep anyone out?” demands Makri, and raises her axe. I get myself in between them.

“Makri. Wait till I know why she came here before you kill her.”

Sarin regards us with her cold eyes.

“No one is about to kill me.”

Sarin’s a tall woman, with her dark hair cropped short, which is very unusual in Turai. Unlike almost every other woman in the city, from the market workers to the senators’ wives, she wears no make-up of any kind, and her man’s tunic is plain and undecorated. For some reason she has a liking for earrings, and there must be at least eight silver rings pierced through each of her ears. She wears a short, curved sword at her hip, and she’s pointing a small crossbow at my heart.

“Don’t you know it’s illegal to carry a crossbow in the city?”

“And yet I never seem to get arrested,” says Sarin.

She gazes first at me, then at Makri. There’s a peculiar deadness to Sarin’s eyes which is slightly unsettling.

“I’ve been looking for something that belongs to me,” she says. “It wasn’t there. But I believe you were.”

She holds out her hand.

“Give me the Ocean Storm.”

I’m staggered by the audacity of this woman, having the nerve to march into my office and demand I hand over a stolen item like she has some rights over it.

“Why would I give it to you?”

“Because I’m pointing a crossbow at you.”

“So you are. Maybe you’d like me to roast your insides with a spell?”

“You can’t,” says Sarin, flatly. “You don’t have the power. And I don’t like long conversations. Give me the Ocean Storm.”

“I’d like to, Sarin, but I just don’t believe it belongs to you.”

“I made an agreement with Captain Arex.”

“Too bad for you someone else got there first.”

“Too bad indeed. Hand it over or I’ll kill you.”

Makri suddenly makes a move. She hurls her axe, moving so quickly that the spinning blade knocks the crossbow from Sarin’s hands before she can pull the trigger. Sarin curses and pulls her sword from its sheath. Then she coughs, puts her hand to her head, and sinks gently forward on her knees, sweat pouring from her brow. The sword drops to the floor.

“Oh come on,” says Makri, and looks frustrated. Sarin continues to sink, ending up on the floor, her breath coming in short gasps.

I turn to look at Makri.

“What is this? Is there

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