Infamous Reign (7 page)

He motioned to his penis in case we didn’t understand that he meant himself. I was pretty certain that anyone on earth would have understood without the need for a mime.

“You’re clearly quite the catch,” I said. “But you need to come with us.”

“Did you not hear me? Agnes, come down here,” Alan called out. And on cue a voluptuous, young woman came down the stairs, just as naked as Alan.

“Isn’t she a beauty?” Alan asked, and slapped Agnes, who was presumably the sheriff’s wife, on the ass.

She giggled, and then he kissed her forcibly, grabbing hold of one of her large breasts and squeezing it.

“Alan, you can either stay here and try to fuck your woman in front of us, which I assure you is neither impressive nor advised, or you can come with us and make some money.”

Alan whispered to Agnes, who nodded toward Thomas and me before running back upstairs with another giggle.

“Any chance you have a red-hot poker?” Thomas asked. “I wish to blind myself.”

“Fucking funny man,” Alan snapped. “Now you said something about money.”

I removed the satchel from my shoulder and threw it over to him. He caught it one handed and looked inside. “Crowns? What is this shit?”

“It’s meant to be the crowns for the new king and prince of England. They need to be removed from sight and disposed of. They’re your payment for helping. I assume you know people who will do this and pay you a good price for the gold and such?”

“That’s a big price. What’s the job?”

I saw no reason to lie to him, but no reason to tell him everything either. “Buckingham took the princes from the tower. He plans to take them to France. The result will be civil war here. Again.”

“I heard Richard murdered the princes to secure the throne.”

“You heard wrong,” Thomas told him.

“Buckingham is a fucking idiot,” Alan said. “He couldn’t find fire if he set his own balls aflame. There’s no way he’s behind this.”

I decided not to inform Alan of Mordred’s involvement. At least not until he was too far involved to back out. “And yet, he’s involved in this. So, are those crowns enough to gain your services?”

Alan licked his lips. It was more disturbing than the sex show earlier had been. “I need to get dressed. Give me ten minutes, and I’ll find you down by the water.”

I nodded and ushered Thomas out of the house. The wind carried the sounds of loud sex all the way across the beach and down to the water’s edge, once we’d reached it.

“Does he really have time for that?”

“He can either get it out of his system now, and we’ll have a lot easier time of it, or he’s going to be even more insufferable to deal with.”

“He’s not exactly what good ladies dream of marrying.”

“No, he’s not, that’s true. But I didn’t hire him for his ability to be a gentleman.”

“What about his ability not to sell us out at first chance?”

“He’s been paid and handsomely. He’ll see it through to the end, even if it means making enemies in the process. He’s weirdly honorable like that.”

“Do you really think he’s keeping the village safe?”

I nodded. “For a fee, he’s ensuring every ship that goes out comes back. What the villagers probably don’t know is that he’s the one putting the monsters out there in the first place.”

*****

The ten minute wait turned into thirty, after which a thankfully dressed Alan emerged from his den of sexual gratification.

“Sorry,” Alan said without ever sounding like he knew what the word meant. “Sometimes you’ve just got to finish up, you know?”

Thomas and I ignored his comment, and together we walked back up toward the village, only to be met by an irate-looking sheriff.

“Where’s my wife?” he demanded to know.

“Exhausted,” Alan said with an exaggerated sigh. “Probably a little sore too.”

The sheriff’s face grew red with anger and he stepped toward the summoner, a dagger in his hand.

I interjected myself between the two men. “You don’t want to do that,” I told the sheriff.

“He fucks my wife and then he has the gall to rub my nose in it, why the hell shouldn’t I gut him like a fish?”

“I thought he kept your ships safe?” I asked.

“That’s not enough for me anymore. I may be old, but I’m not going to stand back and let him humiliate me like this!”

Part of me wanted to step aside and watch Alan get destroyed, he certainly deserved it. But there were bigger things at stake. “But you will, because I need him. So, put your knife away and we’ll pretend this never happened. Or, keep your knife out, and I’ll take it from you. I promise you, only one of those options will allow you to keep your hand afterwards.”

The sheriff stared at me with crazy eyes. “You think I’m scared?”

“I think you’ve reached the limit of patience. I think you’re drunk too. Maybe if you stopped the latter, the former wouldn’t happen.”

“I’m not drunk,” he assured me as the smell of stale alcohol reached my nose.

“Yes, you are. You’re also beginning to draw a crowd of people, who will kill you if they think you’re jeopardizing their livelihood. They may not like or trust him, but they like making money and having food on their plates.”

Some semblance of sense dawned on the sheriff and he quickly hid the dagger, allowing the three of us to pass into the village, where several people asked Alan if he’d be back. He assured them that he would, that their ships would be safe while he was gone, but that they should keep his payments aside until he returned. He asked one man, a farmer, if he could have his horse, and the man quickly agreed.

“I’m so loved,” he said with absolute smugness as I retrieved my own horse and led him out of the village.

When we were out of sight from the villagers, I passed Thomas the reins to my horse and then grabbed Alan by the throat, slamming him up against the nearest tree. “I want to make something very clear to you, you absolute bastard. I don’t care who you fuck or who you piss off, but if your behavior endangers our job, I will let anyone who wants to cut you into tiny pieces. Are we clear?”

Alan nodded and I released my grip, letting him drop to his knees, coughing and spluttering.

“One more thing,” I told him as I climbed up onto my horse. “If you have thoughts of betrayal, be assured I will remove your testicles and give them to the sheriff of that village as a keepsake.”

Alan nodded, but continued to smile. “You’re not much fun, are you?”

“Alan, I know a great many ways to enjoy myself. On the other hand, if you piss me off again, you will almost certainly not share my enthusiasm for the fun methods I choose to employ on you.”

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Alan asked as he climbed onto his horse and the three of us set off.

“We’re going to Eastbourne. When we arrive, I want you to find out where their ship is. Thomas and I will look around the village for signs of the princes. It’s not a large place, probably a bit bigger than Brighton, so it shouldn’t take long.”

“And if the princes are on the ship?”

“We retrieve them,” I said. “Without damage.”

“And once they’re safe?” Alan asked with a gleam of mischief in his eye.

“Then the ship and its contents are yours. No survivors.”

Alan’s grin grew wide. It was not pleasant, nor did it give me hope that he would behave professionally once the violence started.

Chapter
10

It wasn’t a very long journey, which was fortunate, as the English weather had turned increasingly unpleasant the closer we got to the village of Eastbourne.

By the time we reached the outskirts of our destination the cold wind was whipping into us with ferocity, and the rain was falling as if we were standing under a waterfall. I thought about using my magic to shield myself from the worst of it, but that was a frivolous use of magic, and one I didn’t need. Better to just get on with it. We climbed a sizeable nearby hill, using the elevated position to look down on the fishing village a few hundred meters away, as we remained hidden by dense forest.

“There are a lot of soldiers down there,” Thomas said. “They’re wearing civilian clothes, but they’re definitely soldiers.”

“Weapons?” Alan asked.

“Swords, halberds, and bows. No horses and nothing we should be too concerned about. I count twenty men.” A werewolf’s vision was substantially better than either Alan’s or my own.

“What about the ship?” I asked.

“There are several boats docked, most look like fishing boats. There are three small rowing boats sitting on the beach. I can’t see very far out to sea, though, the rain obscures my vision too much.”

“How close to the sea do you need to be to work?” I asked Alan.

“The closer the better. Too far away and I won’t have much control. And trust me when I tell you that you want me to be able to control it.”

“Thomas, go with Alan. The second those soldiers see either of you, they’re going to come running. I want as many of them away from the village as possible when I get there, just in case one of them tries to use the princes as a bargaining tool.”

“No problem,” Thomas said. “How badly can I hurt them?”

“Whatever you need to do. By the time you’re finished any soldiers will be dead, so won’t be around to tell any stories about what they saw.”

“What about the villagers?” Thomas asked. “I don’t see anyone out and about, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

“They’re probably inside several of the houses, out of the way. Buckingham wouldn’t want anyone to get away and inform the King’s men. Either that or they’ve all been killed. But then wiping out several hundred people is going to draw attention at some point, and they’re waiting for the crowns.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you don’t know if the villagers are dead or alive,” Thomas said.

“It doesn’t matter. If they’re alive then maybe a few of them can be saved once the soldiers are dealt with, and if they’re dead it won’t matter what happens,” Alan said. “Either way the plan is the same.”

He had a good point. “We’ll deal with the villagers when we need to. Both of you get to work. You won’t have long before those soldiers decide you don’t belong there.”

Thomas shook my hand and walked off. Alan got down from his horse and allowed it to wander into the woods.

I pointed to one of the row boats beside a small pier that stretched out a few dozen feet into the sea. “I’ll clear out any remaining guards from the village and wait on the end of the pier. If those boys are on that ship, I want them delivered to me as soon as possible.”

Alan nodded in agreement. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

I watched as Thomas and Alan made their way down the hill toward the sea. It didn’t take long for the soldiers to notice them. Someone shouted and soon after, a dozen or so raced to intercept them, just as Alan walked a few feet into the water and knelt down.

Thomas changed into his werewolf beast form and began killing the soldiers with impunity. Several more soon ran out of the village to join the fight, but no one got any closer to Alan while the mass of werewolf muscle and razor sharp claws and teeth stood in their way.

I allowed my own horse to wander freely into the woods, before running toward the village, making sure to keep out of the line of sight of any of the soldiers currently fighting for their lives. And losing.

As I entered the village, a lone soldier saw me, but never had time to draw his sword as a flick of my wrist sent a blade of fire into his throat. By the time I reached him, he was already dead, but I caught him from falling to the ground and making more noise, and then hid his body behind two huge, sealed barrels.

Two more guards stood around the side of a modest-sized house, their backs facing me. Both died before they had time to realize they were in any danger, and another died when he had the misfortune to open the door to the house opposite at the very moment I stepped away from the two bodies.

I wrapped air magic around all three bodies and dragged them into the two-room house, which already held a dead man and woman. Apparently, the slaughter of the village’s inhabitants had already begun.

I watched through the window of the house as several more guards left buildings and started off in the direction of Alan and Thomas. For a moment I wondered how Alan was doing, and then I heard a roar from the direction of the ocean. It was deafening and, even without seeing it, I was certain belonged to a predator the likes of which no one in the village would have ever seen before.

A summoner’s talent lies in using his element to control monsters. Where those monsters come from is a mystery summoners are not forthcoming about, but once they have merged with the element itself, they gain control over the summoned monster. How much control and how powerful the beast they can summon depends on their own limits of power, but even the lowliest summoner can control creatures that cause utter destruction. And Alan was more powerful than most.

In the distance, I saw something rise out of the ocean and crash back down, causing a massive wave. Another roar sounded and I knew Alan was trying to control the beast he’d summoned forth.

I opened the door slightly and peered out, trying to catch a glimpse of the monster, when I saw a figure step out of a nearby building, his back toward me, as he began shouting at several soldiers who joined him.

“Kill the wolf,” he said and pointed off toward where I knew Thomas and Alan would be. “Use those silver blades I gave you.”

The half dozen soldiers nodded and ran off to follow orders, as the man turned, giving me a view of his face. Mordred looked directly at the house I was hiding in. A flood of memories crashed into my mind. Memories of Mordred attacking my friend and king, Arthur. The memory of us fighting in France and me forced to choose between ending his life or saving Ivy’s. Of me being unable to do either. It was at that point that I lost my temper.

Chapter
11

The front of the house exploded outward shooting brick and wood everywhere. Nearby properties were instantly demolished by the force.

“Mordred!” I roared as I darted toward him through the plume of smoke and dust I’d created.