Chapter 14
The Mysterious Wanderer
Near the Ilyria-Adom Border
Although Duran was quite capable of making his way around in the country, they certainly did benefit from having a native Ilyrian with them. Crescenza had extensive contacts in the region, so they no longer had to avoid towns and could actually have lodgings for the night. Nothing luxurious or particularly reputable, but it was better than sleeping out in the wilds or in abandoned shacks.
However, the new addition did come with its problems. Despite having led a gang of male bandits, Crescenza seemed intent on banding together a 'girl's team' in the group, but Shaya wasn't especially receptive to the idea and Molly didn't seem interested either. Dru seemed to play along just to be polite.
If that wasn't enough, she also was constantly butting heads with Duran. The two of them seemed to be jockeying for the role of de facto leader and they rarely agreed on what to do. Dru was stuck playing peacemaker and all Toma could do was try to have Dru's back. Schwartz and Molly just acted as soldiers following orders, going along with whatever decision was reached. They would rarely venture an opinion, especially Molly, who would go out scouting as an excuse to be somewhere else whenever an argument broke out. And Goldie was completely useless as ever, the sullen load he'd always been. He couldn't even be bothered to take Dru's side during the arguments, yet Dru would dote on him regardless, which was good for him because otherwise no one would pay much attention to him.
There had just been another squabble, so pretty much everyone was in a bad mood. Nobody had said a word for over an hour when Crescenza decided to break the silence.
"We should reach the border tomorrow," she said.
"Not at this pace we ain't," Duran said.
Here we go again.
"You're the one who insisted we go on foot," Crescenza replied.
"Only folks with money got horses, beautiful, an' if we had a wagon, damn highway robbers'd think we had somethin' worth takin'."
"There aren't that many highway robbers."
"Well, we sure as hell managed ta find 'em."
"Please, you two," Dru intervened, "can we not do this?"
Shaya muttered something.
"What'd she say?" Crescenza asked.
"Something I'll not repeat," Dru replied, "but I daresay she may have a point."
Dru cleared her throat. Somehow Toma got a vague inkling of what it was that Shaya said.
Before this latest argument could begin in earnest, there was the crack of a rifle and a burst of dust and gravel as the bullet hit the road a few meters in front of them.
"Get down!" Duran shouted. "In the ditch!"
Toma took hold of Goldie and practically threw him over into the ditch on the opposite side of the road. Once he was down on his belly, Toma unslung his musket and unwrapped it—they kept their rifles wrapped in canvas covers to ward off the rain and to avoid any of the trouble that came with walking around in the open with weapons.
While he was looking for the shooter, there was what sounded like an owl's hoot, but no owl would be out this time of day.
Duran apparently recognized the sound, because he shouted, "You sonuvabitch! What the hell's the matter with you!?"
Another shot rang out.
"Stop shootin', dammit!"
A man's voice in the distance called back, "That was for callin' my mother a bitch!"
Duran spat back, "No, I'm sayin' a lit'ral bitch shat you out on the doorstep an' Mama Rosalie took pity on your ass instead a' drownin' you in the well, you goddamn whoreson dog!"
"Well, is she supposed ta be a bitch or a whore?"
"The whorest bitch in all damn Midgart!"
The man laughed.
"Alright, come on out! I'm done playin' with you!"
"Take another shot at us an' we'll start shootin' back!"
"I'll come out first if you're gonna be a baby about it! Hands up, no funny business."
"Stay down," Duran told the others. "Don't do nothin' 'less I say."
"This how Elbans normally greet each other?" Crescenza asked.
"No, jus' us, beautiful," Duran replied.
It hadn't even occurred to Toma that they were speaking Elban. Why were they speaking Elban?
Duran stood up with his hands up and walked out to the middle of the road. He was met by a man in a long coat and a wide-brimmed hat with two long rifles slung across his back.
As they got closer, the man in the hat said, "So, how've you been?"
Duran responded by punching the man in the jaw. The man returned the favor in kind, staggering Duran. Just as Toma was about to get up and help, Duran went in for another swing, but instead caught the man up in a mutual bear hug, the two of them laughing heartily. Toma was sure he wasn't the only one dumbfounded by this.
"You had me on a merry ol' chase, lemme tell you," the man in the hat said, still laughing.
"How was I s'pposed ta know you'd be comin' after us?"
"Well, after you made me blow my cover, what'd you expect?"
The man in the hat glanced over Duran's shoulder to everyone in the ditch.
"You gonna leave 'em there all day or are you gonna introduce us?" he asked Duran.
Duran broke off his embrace with the man and beckoned to the others to come forward.
"Come on out," he said. "It's alright." He then called out further down the road, "You too, Ranger girl! C'mon over here!"
Somewhat uncertainly, they emerged from the ditch. When Duran saw that Toma was still carrying his musket at the ready, he said, "Sling arms, kid. It's alright, I said."
Reluctantly, Toma shouldered his musket, but he continued to eye the man in the hat suspiciously.
Once they were all gathered, Duran motioned to the man, saying, "Ever'one, I'd like you ta meet an ol' frien' a' mine. Say, you still goin' by Marius?"
"Yeah."
"Marius," Duran repeated. "Well, let's intraduce you to the gang. Firs' there's Blondie here, Henri Joli or Aurelius dependin' on who you ask."
Marius offered Goldie his hand, which he accepted in his usual sullen silence.
"A pleasure, Monsieur Joli," Marius said.
"Next is the kid, Toma Marisco."
Marius shook Toma's hand, saying, "Marisco, from LeBlanc?"
"That's right," Toma said, more than a little surprised.
"I used to know a Marisco from LeBlanc durin' the war, an ol' good-for-nothin', but he had good taste in women. Married the Arias girl. Your mother by any chance?"
Toma only vaguely remembered that his mother's last name was Arias—as a woman's last name was so rarely used in Elba—and replied, "Yeah."
"How's she doin' these days?" the man asked. "Can't imagine she'd be happy knowin' her baby boy's way out here."
"She's dead," Toma said bluntly, "killed when Zadok attacked LeBlanc."
The man's face fell.
"Oh... I, uh, I'm sorry ta hear that. She... she was a good woman. Damn shame... damn shame..."
He patted Toma on the shoulder and then his pleasant facade was back on as Duran went on to introduce Dru.
"An' this is the lil' lady, Madame Drusille Joli."
Dru was going to shake Marius hand, but instead he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, saying, "Enchanted, my dear."
Surprised by the courtly gesture, Dru touched her chest and said, "Oh my. It's, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Marius."
Marius gave her a smile that made Toma instantly dislike him, not that he had the most favorable impression to begin with.
"Next is the notorious She-Bear," Duran said, "Shaya..."
"Merkanian," Dru said.
"Merkanian."
Rather than trying to shake Shaya's hand or kiss it—neither of which were likely to go over well—, Marius took his fist and tapped her on the shoulder, saying something that sounded like Adomite. Shaya grinned slightly and returned the gesture.
Moving on, Duran said, "Next is that terror a' the roadways, Moonlight Crescenza."
"One rogue to another," Marius said with a wink before kissing her hand.
Crescenza looked half-amused, half-annoyed.
"Slick as oil, this one," she said. She then told Duran, "Maybe he could teach you a thing or two."
"Don't even start goin' down that path, beautiful," Duran said. "He'll jus' break your heart."
He then went to Schwartz and said, "You already know the big guy an' Ranger girl."
"How ye been, Mick, me boy?" Marius asked Schwartz in Grelish as they shook hands.
"Trimble?" Schwartz asked in disbelief.
Marius scratched his chin and said, "Didn't recognize me with these whiskers, eh? An' it ain't 'Arry Trimble no more. I'm goin' by Marius now. Ye still Mick Weatherford or should I call ye somethin' else?"
"Schwartz. Elon Schwartz."
"That'll work," Marius replied, dropping his more affected accent.
"An' what should I call lil' Bobby Mumford?"
"Molly Wood. Try an' kiss my hand an' ye'll be eatin' my fist."
"Scary. An' here I come bearin' gifts."
He unslung one of his rifles and offered it to her.
"Thought you'd be missin' this. Ranger's not a Ranger without his Welner. Though if you had it before, you would've prolly taken my damn head off."
Molly didn't thank him but immediately went to inspecting the rifle. Speaking on her behalf, Schwartz said, "Thanks, Trimble, er, Marius. Don't think Wood's slept quite right e'er since she went without it."
"Still keepin' each other warm at nights, eh?" Marius teased. "Brin's a new meanin' ta comrades in arms, wot?"
Marius playfully elbowed Schwartz in the ribs. Molly glared at him like she wanted to put that rifle he gave her to use.
"Aw, now, 't'ain't like that, Marius," Schwartz said. "If anythin', she's taken a shine te Junior o'er there."
By 'Junior', he was referring to Toma. Molly flushed a bit at this and punched Schwartz in the gut for it. Dru and Shaya both gave Toma a look. Marius proceeded to make matters worse by looking thoughtfully at both Toma and Molly before saying, "I've seen worse matches. Dear Moll ain't quite got them good child-bearin' hips like Madame Joli, but I'll bet she could still give the boy a litter a' good, strong sons."
He laughed while Molly turned redder than Toma had ever seen her, more than at that fancy dinner or when she walked in on naked Schwartz. It was probably as much anger as it was embarrassment because she tried to brain Marius with her rifle then and there, only Schwartz caught it before she could swing.
"Steady on there, Wood," he said. "He's jus' havin' a go at ye. Don't need ye tryin' te kill 'im fer it."
Molly wasn't listening. She let go of the rifle and went at Marius with her bare fists. Schwartz tried to grab her, but she slipped past him and swung at Marius' face. He dodged easily and smoothly wove his way through each punch that followed. Before Schwartz could make another attempt to grab her and pull her away, Marius caught her fist, then twisted her arm behind her back. He swept her legs out from under her and pinned her to the ground. Her legs flailed as she tried to get free, but she wasn't going anywhere. Now Schwartz was going to move in to help her, but Duran got between them.
Putting his hand on Schwartz's shoulder, he said, "Hol' on there, big guy. Let 'im hannle this."
Marius was speaking to Molly in a voice so low Toma could barely hear him.
"Settle down, Ranger. Ain't no point gettin' so worked up. Jus' look where it's got you."
She kicked around some more.
"Careful now," he said. "I don't wanna break your arm. Calm. Down."
Molly seemed to realize there was no winning, so she stopped struggling.
"Attagirl," Marius said. "Now I'm gonna let you up. You gonna behave?"
If she responded, it wasn't to Marius' satisfaction.
"Lemme hear you say it. Are you gonna behave?"
"Yeah..." Molly grunted. "Yessah..."
"Alright. We're gettin' up."
Marius stood back up, pulling Molly to her feet, and then let go of her arm. She wisely didn't take the first opportunity to take another swing at him. It was only then that Toma remembered all the dead guards at Campo di Malo killed so quickly and effortlessly and he realized how outmatched someone even of Molly's skills was. Also, his dislike for the man was firmly cemented. Duran could get on Toma's nerves at times, but he had come to accept him. He couldn't see himself doing the same for Marius.
Marius patted Molly on the back and told her, "You got spunk, Poll, but you shouldn't take things so serious. You take things serious, then I gotta take things serious, an' we don't want that. Got it?"
"Yessah..." Molly replied in a defeated voice.
Duran put his arm around Marius to lead him away, saying, "C'mon, brother, folks're gonna get the wron' idea 'bout you. Not ever'one unnerstan's your sense a' humor like I do."
"Mr. Marius, I can't say I appreciate your behavior," Dru said reproachfully.
Marius gave her a theatrical bow and said, "A thousand pardons, Madame Joli. Your servant is accustomed to travelling with a rougher sort and I'm afraid I've picked up some bad habits along the way."
"You have travelled a long way in search of us, Mr. Marius," Dru said. "Might I ask what your intentions are?"
"Of course, Madame. I'm here to join you, to help you get where you're goin'."
"And I trust it would be ill-advised of us to decline your help."
"It'd hurt my feelin's somethin' fierce."
Was that supposed to be a threat? Toma really didn't like him.
"We would not have escaped Campo di Malo without your help," Dru said, "and for that we are grateful. The fact that you were able to find us shows that it's better to have you on our side than against it. Can anyone give a stronger reason why we should reject Mr. Marius' offer?"
Toma realized "I just don't like him" wasn't a very compelling reason. His gut may be right, but his brain couldn't come up with anything good enough to justify his objection, so he kept quiet. With his silence, though, an unexpected voice spoke up.
"Is there no depth you won't sink to?"
It was Goldie, who had spoken so little since Campo di Malo that Toma almost forgot what his voice sounded like. Dru gave him that concerned look she always gave him, the kind of look that would melt your heart if you weren't so busy wallowing in self-pity.
"Aurelius, I—"
Goldie wouldn't be consoled, however, snapping at her, "Are all you Redgravers so indiscriminate!? With this band of murderers, thieves and deserters, you're more of a brigand than she is!" He pointed at Crescenza. "And you would pin all our hopes on those savage Ostivaris! Say what you will about Zadok, but they at least have some modicum of civilization, not like some nation of sellswords who trades blood for gold as the single pillar of their entire culture! How can you stand it!? Do you have no pride!? No honor!?"
Toma clapped a hand on Goldie's shoulder, saying, "That's enough, Goldie. You're goin' too far."
More aggressively than he had even been before, Goldie swatted away Toma's arm and spewed out even more venom.
"Unhand me, peasant! I've had my fill of you lording over me! You, a miserable Elban rat! You act like you're my equal, like you're better than me!? You try to cuckold me right to my face!? If you want that little strumpet so much, you can have her! Mount her right here like the bitch she is for all I care!"
All it took was one good punch to lay him out flat. If anger translated directly to force, Toma probably would have cratered his face in.
"Toma!"
Dru rushed to Goldie's side, as much to check on him as to put herself between him and Toma.
"Toma, stop, please!"
"Stop protecting him, Dru!" Toma snapped. "You're always playin' the good wife for him, but what has it ever gotten you!? What has he ever done to deserve it!?"
"Toma, Aurelius isn't strong like you. He doesn't know how to deal with everything we've been though. He's just lashing out. He doesn't mean any of it."
"It sure as hell sounded like he meant it."
"Toma, you have to understand. This alliance means everything to me, to my people."
Goldie moaned. Blood from his nose was smeared down the side of his face and he had a busted lip. He touched his face and looked in disgust at the blood that stuck to his hand.
"Alliance..." he muttered. "There is no alliance..."
Dru held his hand and said, "Aurelius, you don't mean that."
He shook her off.
"Get away from me. Yes, I do mean it. If I live to see Tiberia again, I'm going to take twenty Legions and march them to Redgrave and burn every square millimeter of your wretched country."
Toma was just about to kick the teeth out of Goldie's head when Duran caught him from behind.
"Ease on up there, kid," he said. "You don't wanna do this."
Toma didn't fight him, but he didn't let the tension out of his body either. If Duran were to let go, he'd go right ahead and follow through on what he meant to do.
"How've you people managed to stay alive this long?" Marius asked.
"You jus' caught us on a bad day is all," Duran replied.
Some bad day.
"Well then," Marius said, "be glad it was me that found you an' not Zadok."
Having cooled his head a little, Toma relaxed his body a little and told Duran, "Let me go. I'm fine."
Duran let him go and Toma resisted the urge to go for the old fake-out. His anger had simmered down a bit, but he was pretty sure he'd never forgive Goldie for the things he said. Dru just stayed there knelt by his side. If Goldie was the sort to hit girls, she'd surely take it and keep on making excuses for him. Of course, in present company, if Toma didn't kill him for it, Shaya would.
Marius then said, "Well, I believe our young friend let slip a few things that were supposed to be secret. Should we pretend we didn't hear anything or is it time to come clean?"
Dru looked to Goldie, who only looked away. Dru sighed, stood up, dusted herself off and faced off against Marius.
"Let's hear what you think you know, Mr. Marius."
"Well, for starters, Aurelius isn't a common name 'less you're Aurean highborn, an' Duran tol' me 'bout his little ring, so that'd make him Prince Aurelius Aurelianus. An' since only royalty can treat with the likes a' him on even terms an' because he ever so helpfully idennified you as a Redgraver, Madame, you'd hafta be Princess Julia Drusilla. Clever a' you adaptin' your real name inta your assumed name so you wouldn't be makin' the same mistake you've been makin' with the young Prince there.
"So this alliance you were talkin' 'bout means Redgrave is tryin' ta get Aurea's help 'gainst Zadok an' marryin' you two off is ta seal the deal. An' given the direction you're headin', I'd say you've got those pretty brown eyes a' yours set on bringin' Ostivar inta the war. Could make for a bad time for Zadok if you can win over ol' Bloody Bulah."
Dru looked to Duran and asked, "How long have you known, Mr. Duran?"
"I knew 'bout Blondie from the start," Duran replied. "Hadn't quite figgered you out, though. I knew you was from one a' the trib'taries, jus' not which one."
"Then there is no point in hiding it from the rest of you," Dru said. "Yes, I am Princess Julia Drusilla of Redgrave and he is Prince Aurelius Aurelianus of the Aurean Empire. Our alliance could help give Zadok's other tributaries the courage to rise up against them. We're going to Ostivar because we need someone to slow Zadok's advance while we finalize the alliance."
"An' what happened in LeBlanc was on account a' you," Marius said.
"Yes," Dru replied, her eyes downcast in shame. "We met there to complete the first round of negotiations and for Aurelius and I to exchange our vows. From there, I was supposed to be escorted to Tiberia to appear before the Imperial Diet to confirm our marriage, but then Zadok attacked. If it weren't for Toma, we'd likely be dead by now."
She looked to Toma, still plagued with the guilt of what happened. Toma felt bad for her continuing to shoulder that weight, but she'd probably never let go of it for the rest of her life.
Marius clapped his hands.
"Well then, seems the bes' thin's ta see all those lives weren't lost for nothin'. Let's get you ta Ostivar then."
"Who are you really, Mr. Marius?" Dru asked. "You are no common man. That much is certain."
"Oh, I'm as common as they come, Princess," Marius replied, "but I have my own reasons for not showin' my hand jus' yet. Jus' know that I'm on your side."
"You're not acting from a position of trust, Mr. Marius."
Marius looked at the others and said, "Neither were you when you roped them inta this, but I don't see 'em leavin' you."
"We all have our secrets," Crescenza said, "some more than others, but we're going to have to rely on each other going forward, whether we like it or not."
Marius went over to Goldie, stooped down and extended his hand to him.
"Now's not the time ta be left out, young Prince," he said.
Goldie let Marius help him to his feet. He looked around and seemed to realize just how alone he was. Maybe that was how he always felt.
Haltingly, he said, "My... my words were not justified. I... I will not ask to be forgiven."
Still trying to hold on to his pride, but that was about all he had left at this point.
"We all say rash things from time to time, Aurelius," Dru said. "Come, shake hands with Toma. Let there be peace between you."
She might as well have been asking them to cut off their hands. Neither one of them was particularly willing to bury the hatchet, even for appearance's sake, and no amount of hand-shaking was going to square things between them.
"Toma, please."
Dru seemed to know she could get him to take the first step. Grudgingly, Toma held out his hand.
"Let's forget it ever happened," he said, though he wasn't likely to do any forgetting anytime soon.
Goldie took Toma's hand in his limp grip and replied, "It never happened."
With that, Marius clapped his hands again.
"Alright, all's well that ends well. Now that that's settled, are we ready ta head out? On to Adom and then, Ostivar!"