The Alchemist's Box (The Merchant Blades Book 1) Read online

  The Alchemist’s Box

  By Alex Avrio

  Kindle Edition

  www.Alexavrio.com

  @Alexavrio

  Facebook.com/alexavrio

  Copyright 2016 by Alex Avrio

  1 THE BIG GAME

  “SO, girl, are you in?”

  “I'm not a girl, Eressian. I'm a Captain of the Merrovigian Empire,” Regina said, grinding her teeth. She looked back to her stack of chips.

  Baron Ritter pushed all his markers forward nonchalantly. “Obviously not anymore.” He smiled shark-like teeth back at her. Just one of his rings would more than cover tonight's game. On her right, Ten’Daertha, Commander of the Guards to the Duchess of Korthi, was watching her closely. The brooch on her coat could pay a mercenary's wages for a year, the payment to have ten men killed. Regina turned to the Eressian baron, his self-satisfied look, the impatient drumming of his fingers on the table. Ritter seemed to have profited greatly from the conflict between the Eressian and Merrovigian Empires, despite being on the losing side in that bloody war. He lit his cigar in an enveloping cloud of thick blue smoke. Regina could feel her hands getting clammy. She lifted the corner of her cards, checking again.

  “So, are you in?”

  Regina frowned. The others leaned in expectantly. Ten'Daertha had already pushed her pile towards the center of the table.

  Regina’s hand reached towards her stack of chips. She was already far ahead on the night. In the Blue Rose it was rare enough to win. She should walk away. Leave this room with its blue velvet curtains and gilded frames of garden landscapes. Regina had saved her wages for a year, blood and sweat she'd shed to turn into gold, and still had to borrow to gain entry. Tonight was a bigger prize, the first step towards leaving the mercenary life behind and gaining a permanent position in the Duchess's household guard. She must show courage, that she could make decisions under pressure. One way or another Ten'Daertha would notice her. A bead of sweat ran down her neck. Regina pushed all her chips forward.

  “Show me what you've got,” she said.

  “Ladies first,” said the baron.

  “Full court,” Ten'Daertha said. She flipped her cards over for everyone to see.

  “Five ladies,” Regina said, unable to suppress a broad smile. She reached out to gather the bone markers.

  Ritter coughed politely. “I hate to disappoint a lady,” he said, with a chuckle, “but I find your celebration premature, Captain.” With a flick of his wrist he showed his cards. Regina stared in disbelief as the baron swept all the chips towards him. He tossed a marker at the attractive waitress standing behind him.

  “This is for you.” He smiled at her. “Would you bring us another round? Winning brings on such a thirst.”

  Regina was still staring at the center of the table. That was it. Everything gone. She couldn't believe how quickly. As Ten'Daertha rose and left the table, Regina got to her feet in a daze. A few paces away Ten'Daertha turned back.

  “Good game, kid. That was a brave call. The Mother just wasn't with you tonight.”

  “Thank you,” Regina said.

  “You've got steel in your veins,” Ten'Daertha said, taking the drink the waiter had brought for her. Regina's heart beat a little faster. “The day you want to leave your marauding behind, come see me.”

  “I hear there's a position available in the Duchess's guard, Commander.”

  “And you heard that where?” Ten'Daertha asked, smiling.

  “Word reached the streets,” Regina replied.

  “You're well informed. Another useful skill.”

  Regina's pulse was now racing.

  “Unfortunately, this year I've promised the position to my cousin's son. But something will likely come available next year.”

  Regina's smile froze. Next year!

  “Thank you, Commander. I might call on you next year,” Regina replied levelly. She bowed and turned to leave.

  “Captain Fitzwaters,” said an approaching waiter. “Mr. Gold will have a word.”

  Mr. Gold, the proprietor of The Blue Rose House, where the great and the good of Border Town indulged, was not known for his love of small talk. Regina had never been stupid enough to owe Gold money, to risk a meeting where you might not walk away with all limbs still attached. Discussion was dangerous. It was better to keep him uninterested in your existence. But with Mr. Gold, no one refused a meeting. She followed the waiter.

  2 THE CONTRACT

  IN Mr. Gold's office, Regina’s trepidation grew when she saw the tall, elegant woman with copper-colored skin beside him. Honesty, the brains behind Mr. Gold's money. Her floral perfume dominated the room.

  “Good evening, Captain,” Gold said, with a broad smile. “I hear you lost rather badly tonight.”

  Regina's back stiffened. “You'll find that I'm good for it,” she said.

  “My dear Captain, Mr. Gold never meant to imply that you can't afford to pay your debt,” Honesty said, “although one wonders what you will live on for the next few months.”

  “Please, take a seat,” Mr. Gold said, in a honey-covered voice.

  “No, thank you, I'd rather stand.” Regina surveyed the room. An ornate crystal chandelier caused shadows to dance on the colourful velvet curtains and thick carpets. The ornately framed paintings were of exquisite quality, as were the tastefully nude sculptures on the shelves of the bookcase. The lower shelves housed rows of black books, almost certainly ledgers full of the business's legitimate and not so legitimate accounts.

  “Suit yourself,” Mr. Gold said, with a shrug almost lost in the folds of a flesh regularly known to indulge in the many pleasures of his establishment. “Captain Fitzwaters, we have heard many good things.”

  Regina didn't reply. She knew she had a good reputation in the mercenary guild, but how had she come to Mr. Gold's attention?

  “We know you're one of the best in the business– if rather expensive.” Honesty paused for effect and then went on. “There is a box made of gold with the symbol of a snake on the lid. It has been offered for sale, and we have agreed to purchase it. We want you and your associate to collect it for us.”

  “I don't have an associate.”

  The doors swung open, and two marble slabs of men walked in, half guiding, half dragging another man to stand in front of her. The dragged man was dishevelled, unshaven with his hair in disarray. He wore a dark blue mercenary coat, hastily buttoned and threadbare at the cuffs.

  “You do now,” smiled Mr. Gold.

  Regina narrowed her eyes. She knew the man only by reputation. Kapitan Maximillian Jaeger, a former captain of the Eressian Imperial Army. He had a sterling reputation when he was in the military that had gone downhill in the years since the war. He disentangled himself from Mr. Gold's henchmen.

  “I will not work with that Merrovigian sow,” he spat, shooting Regina a look of pure hatred.

  Regina raised an eyebrow. With lightning speed, she punched him on the nose. Jaeger recovered quickly but the henchmen grabbed Jaeger’s arms and held him back.

  Mr. Gold and Honesty watched, detached. Honesty went over to Jaeger and said sympathetically, “Now, now, Kapitan. No reason to be like that.” She wiped his bleeding nose with her lace handkerchief. “They can let you go if you promise to behave.”

  He nodded. The men let go and Jaeger brought his hands to his face. There was a wet crunch as he reset his nose.

  “You broke it,” he hissed.

  “You were rude.”

  “Children, if you're quite finished,” Mr. Gold intervened. “Captain Fitzwaters will be leading the expedition.”

  Regina stepped back, feet wide apart, lookin
g at Jaeger, as she weighed up the proposition by the three fundamental considerations of the mercenary trade: what the job was; how it paid; and what chance it left her to make it out alive. What more would there be to it? It was undoubtedly not legal but, since the end of the war, law was a hazy concept.

  “With due respect, Mr. Gold, you haven't told me enough. About the job. Or my fee.”

  “My dear Captain,” Mr. Gold said, “I already mentioned it is a simple retrieval. I merely want you to get the box, pay the seller and bring it back to us. Kapitan Jaeger here will be your second.” Jaeger growled at that but said nothing more. “As for your fee, we have purchased your debt from Baron Ritter. Upon your return we will give you the debt note, along with the same amount in gold. How is that for a fee?”

  Regina was speechless. It would be as if tonight's card game never happened.

  “And Kapitan Jaeger takes my orders,” she said. Mr. Gold nodded. Regina looked at Jaeger. “We won't have any problems from you, Kapitan?”

  Jaeger scowled, looking like he wanted to draw his sword and disembowel everyone in the room. “There'll be problems, but I won't be causing them,” he finally said.

  Now that Jaeger had agreed to be under her command, honor dictated she should negotiate on his behalf.

  “What is Kapitan Jaeger's fee?” she asked.

  Mr. Gold smiled unpleasantly. “Kapitan Jaeger is in no position to make any demands,” he said. “However, we are generous. When you return with our box, his considerable debts will be forgiven.”

  For a moment Regina felt a pang of sympathy. Only the most desperate would borrow money from Gold, and only the suicidal would not pay him back. Honesty unrolled a parchment on the ebony desk and offered a pen.

  “This is the Merchant Blades contract. Once signed, you have taken the job and cannot go back, on penalty of death.” Regina knew how the contracts worked and always religiously studied a contract before signing it. Jaeger grabbed the pen; without even looking at the text, he put his signature at the bottom.

  “Captain?” Honesty prompted her.

  “I would like more time to read the terms,” Regina said.

  “I'm sorry, Captain,” Honesty said, “this is a one-time offer. You sign now or you pay your debt on the way out.”

  Regina took a deep breath. She could see how Jaeger had been ensnared into doing Gold's bidding. The job sounded too simple and the pit of her stomach warned her against making a rash decision. But the outcome had been decided the moment she'd entered the Blue Rose House. She put her signature next to Jaeger's.

  3 MR. VARGA

  THE following morning Regina woke early, had a hearty breakfast, and made her way to the mercenary guild. After the war many veterans, if they didn't turn to banditry or piracy, came together to look for a stipend that wouldn't get them hanged. Being former professional soldiers they quickly created order and organized the Guild, known as the Merchant Blades, the most lucrative option on the right side of the law, but tough, and dangerous. Clients, usually merchants, came to them when security, sentry or escorts were required.

  She stopped at the corner of the street to consider who she should try to recruit. She knew so little of what this mission would involve that it was going to be tough to recruit well. She felt a tug at her coat and looked down to see a street urchin, a little girl wearing threadbare clothes with a smudge of dirt on her nose and the red cap of a messenger perched on her grimy hair. The streets were full of orphan children and being a messenger was among the better fates that could befall a child.

  “Are you Captain Fitzwaters?” the girl asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Madam Honesty said that you have to go to The Crow Inn at midday and meet Mr. Varga.”

  Why did it have to be Varga? She gave the girl a copper coin, but as the girl turned away, Regina caught her arm.“I need a message running too.”

  “Where?” the girl squeaked timidly.

  “Find Sergeant Briggs and tell him to meet me immediately at The Crow.”

  “That's three copper coins,” the girl said.

  Regina counted four into the girl's grubby palm. “That one's for finding him quickly,” she said. The girl turned and shot off like she was on fire. Regina smiled as she watched the child go. She would have given the extra coin anyway. In this hard post-war world everyone, however old, had to make their own way, any way they could.

  The Crow was one of the better establishments in Border Town, such that you could be fairly sure that the meat in its pies was from a grazing animal. The inn wasn't busy at this time of day, and Regina chose a table in the corner with a view of the door and her back to the wall. Sergeant Briggs arrived half an hour later and sat down beside her. He was an oak of a man, with ruddy cheeks and a bushy moustache that made him look like a walrus. He should have retired long ago, but in these turbulent times he had neither the money nor anywhere to retire to. Regina almost always called on him when she took a job.

  “Morning, Captain,” he said, and waved the waitress over to take his order.

  “I hear you have a job for me,” the sergeant said. Having been in Regina's regiment during the war, he had fought in many battles with her. She trusted him with her life.

  “Yes. I have a contract with Mr. Gold.”

  Briggs's expression soured. “Nothing good comes from working with Gold. What's the mission?”

  Regina quickly related yesterday’s meeting.

  “This smells worse than the fish market on a midsummer's day.”

  “I know– the job was assigned, not chosen. Money's good.”

  “Famous last words. Who else is on this?”

  “The only one who's already signed is Kapitan Jaeger,” Regina said.

  Brigg's face darkened. “I'm not doing any job with that Eressian dog!”

  “I'm not happy about it either. He’s never been too choosy. But it's done, the contract is signed: he's on the team.”

  Briggs let out a resigned sigh.

  “Tell me what you know about him,” Regina urged.

  “Everybody's got a past,” Briggs said, taking a sip from his mug. “But his is murkier than most. He's one that was at the Battle of Hildenburg. Word has it he narrowly avoided court-martial.”

  Regina scowled. The Merrovigian Royal Army met a crushing defeat at Hildenburg, and the name was now infamous for the events that followed. The Eressian High command ordered no quarter to be given to enemy soldiers. Thousands surrendered only to be slaughtered in cold blood. It backfired on the Eressians: after that day Merrovigians fought to the death whatever the odds. The intense hatred Hildenburg fostered, the lust for revenge, added steel to the Merrovigian side. What could Jaeger have done in Hildenburg to appal even the Eressians to the point of near court-martial? How could she trust him? By necessity most mercenaries had put the war behind them, soldiers from both sides being obliged to work together on jobs. But some past wasn’t easily left behind.

  “Do you know how he managed to get into trouble with Gold?” Regina asked.

  “How do any of us avoid it but by the grace of the Holy Mother?” Briggs said. “Jaeger got unlucky. Lost his cargo to bandits in the Pagani pass.”

  Regina pursed her lips. The Pagani pass was notorious.

  “I guess it didn't help either that he bought a prostitute off Mr. Gold,” Briggs commented.

  Regina put down her drink. “He did what?”

  “Don't know all the details, but I can find out if you want.”

  Regina rubbed the bridge of her nose. Every brothel in Border Town and for many miles beyond belonged to Mr. Gold. If Jaeger had got involved, this was naivety and poor judgment. And she was stuck with him. As if on cue, Jaeger walked through the door and immediately headed for their table. He had a swollen nose and the dark circles from last night, but otherwise had scrubbed up well. He’d trimmed his hair, was clean-shaven, and, although the fabric was worn almost through in places, his uniform was spotless. Unbidden he sat. Regina guessed that he'd
also received a message to meet them. She introduced Sergeant Briggs. Jaeger managed a curt nod of his head. There was a tense silence, reaching uncomfortable, when Varga, a tall man with the gaunt face of an undertaker who's just discovered a plague coming, walked up to their table.

  4 THE MISSION

  THE barmaid nearly fell over in her haste to take Varga's order. She wiped the table with a practiced move and gave him a nervous smile. Varga ordered food and drink for everyone.

  “I don't want anything,” Jaeger said, through clenched teeth.

  “You'll eat,” smiled Varga. “We expect you fully fit for the mission. And I'm paying.”

  Jaeger's ears turned red, but he held his tongue.

  “Don't thank me, Kapitan, I'm sure it won't be long before your bones are in another fine mess, and we'll have to break them.”

  Jaeger's face turned the colour of his ears, but he didn't rise. Regina admired his self-control. Or was it lack of self-respect?

  Varga turned to Regina. “Enough with the entertainment. On to business. Who is this gentleman?”

  “Sergeant Briggs. He's on the team. Now, sir, let’s discuss the details,” Regina said.

  The barmaid came over with a large tray, put the drinks in front of them and left. When she was out of earshot, Varga spoke.

  “Mr. Gold has made arrangements to acquire and pay for an item, providing it is as described.”

  Regina took a slow sip from her drink.

  “Mr. Gold has been in negotiations with the Chief Alchemist of Pella. This is where you and a small escort will go to retrieve the item: a golden box about seven inches long, with a snake eating its tail on the lid. You will meet the Chief Alchemist. Providing the box is as described, you will pay him. You will bring the box back and place it in Mr. Gold's hands. Mr. Gold will receive it with the seal intact.”

  “That sounds fairly straightforward,” Regina said. “What's the catch?”