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

  Jaeger sipped from his drink, a frown etched on his face. Varga took out a folder from his leather bag.

  “If you follow our instructions, it's easy money, Captain. In here are the necessary details. Maps, contacts, reference letters. A proof of identity letter to show the Chief Alchemist in order to get the box.” He pushed the folder towards Regina. “Also a bank letter for the Chief Alchemist. We have deposited the gold in the Temple Bank; with this receipt he can withdraw it from the branch in Pella.”

  Regina quickly checked the contents making sure that everything they needed was included. She let out an involuntary gasp when she saw the amount on the bank letter.

  “Finally, there are also enough funds to hire three more soldiers for the escort, and other miscellaneous expenses. Get the necessary equipment. Tomorrow morning you set off.”

  “Tomorrow?” Regina exclaimed. “That's not enough time–”

  “That's why you're being paid well, Captain,” Varga interrupted. “If you're not up to the job, please say so. We'll find someone who is.”

  Regina took a deep breath. “There's no need for that, Mr. Varga. We'll get the job done.”

  Varga, like a crocodile waiting for prey to enter the water, looked at her coldly. “I hope so Captain. Mr. Gold has faith in you I'm sure you wouldn't want to disappoint.”

  A shiver ran down Regina’s spine. “I have an excellent reputation.”

  Varga didn't look back as he got up and left.

  The barmaid brought the food over and the three mercenaries tucked in, lost in thought. When they finished, Jaeger reached for the folder and studied the map and the other documents.

  “This is not going to end well,” he announced.

  “Why do you say that?” Regina asked.

  “Do you not think it curious that Gold and Honesty have acquired you and me, of all the mercenaries in the Guild, for this job? See how much money they plan to pay the Alchemist. How much they give for expenses. Persuasive amounts. And yet they put it all in hands of two people who can't afford to refuse.”

  Regina frowned. “I happen to be very good at my job,” she said.

  “So am I, and it’s a good job, so why are we both being blackmailed into it?” He paused for a moment. “Forget about me. For now that swine owns me, but why would you be offered such a hasty contract, Fitzwaters? Why not give you time to think about it? Because you’d realize something was off and back out.”

  “I’m sure there's something we're not being told, and this won't be as simple as Varga made out,” Regina replied, “but what job ever is? Briggs and I have worked together– we've not come across anything we can't handle. Unless you know something about this job that you're not sharing?”

  “I know that something stinks. Clearly Gold and Honesty want that box badly. And it must be even shadier than usual,” he said. Briggs rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

  “You might be right, but we've signed the contract,” Regina said. She turned to Briggs. “You haven't though. There's still time to change your mind.”

  “What, and miss all the fun?” Briggs said. She knew he wasn’t going to leave her on her own on with this questionable Eressian, who was waving the waitress over and giving her his hip flask.

  “Fill this with your best brandy,” instructed Jaeger, with his best cheek. “It's on Mr. Varga.”

  “Briggs, you go to the Guild and see who's available.”

  “Any preferences?”

  Regina gave him a list of good all-rounders. Briggs nodded at each suggestion.

  “Any contributions, Kapitan?” Regina asked with a hint of irony as the waitress brought back the flask.

  Jaeger took it. He shrugged. “No, Captain, these recruits will all be very capable. I'm sure I'll get on splendidly with a team of Merrovigians.”

  “What about equipment?” Regina asked, ignoring his tone.

  This time Jaeger made a few suggestions: all, Regina noted, valid. They swiftly divided the preparatory work, conscious of the tasks to be done before dawn, and made their way out of the inn into the bustling street. Jaeger suddenly darted to his right and roughly grabbed a street urchin by the scruff of his dirty collar. He gave him a cuff around the ear and dragged him back over to the other mercenaries.

  “What on earth are you doing, Kapitan?” Briggs exclaimed.

  The boy, around twelve but small for his age, was kicking and shouting, demanding to be let go, only succeeding in irritating Jaeger further. He gave him another sharp cuff around his ear and told him to shut up if he knew what was good for him.

  “What are you doing?” Regina demanded. “Leave the child alone.”

  “You want me to let him go?” Jaeger asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yes. Leave him be,” Regina said, folding her arms across her chest.

  “Very well. But before I do I suggest you check your purse.”

  She brought her hand to her coat pocket and her face paled. Jaeger gave him another cuff, and the cowering boy took the purse out of his sleeve and handed it back.

  “Sorry, Miss,” the boy said insincerely.

  Jaeger lifted him so that his feet were no longer touching the ground. “Stealing. That's a whipping offence, boy.” He turned to Regina. “What do you want done with him? Give him to the magistrate?”

  The boy turned white and started kicking and struggling, but couldn't break Jaeger's firm grip. Regina exchanged a look with Briggs. The magistrate could sentence him to anything from ten lashes with a birch to compulsive enlistment in the Royal Army as a drummer boy.

  “Maybe if he apologizes like he means it, we might give him a second chance,” Regina said.

  Jaeger looked disgusted. “When a little thief gets away with thieving, you end up with a grown thief dangling from the gallows. Perhaps ten lashes will teach him to keep his fingers to himself and set him on the road to an honest living.”

  “We don't have time for this,” Regina decided. “The purse is recovered and no harm done. Let him go. I've given you your orders for today. Go and carry them out, and we'll meet at the East Gate at six tomorrow.”

  Jaeger said nothing, but dropped the boy, who fell onto the muddy road, jumped up like he was on a spring, and ran away without another word.

  “That's all the thanks you'll get from scoundrels,” Jaeger spat, turned his back and left.

  “Do you think we'll have problems?” Regina asked.

  “The Eressian army prides itself on strict discipline. They use corporal punishment. I think Jaeger will obey orders.”

  “I don't like him,” Regina said. “And I don't like working with people I don't know.”

  Briggs stamped his boots to warm up a little. “With this job may those we do, and the Mother and the Child, help us.”

  5 THE FOX AND HOUNDS

  AT dawn six mercenaries gathered at the East Gate. Regina was pleased that Briggs had managed to recruit her top three choices, all of whom she had all worked with before. Summers, the tall dark man, towered over Jackson and Eleven, who both had the brown hair and pale skin of women from the Merrovigian Empire’s northern provinces. They were good and efficient soldiers. Jaeger arrived punctually, his gear in excellent condition, all the supplies he'd been allocated to find duly assembled. The pale sun started to brighten the horizon. Briggs did a final tally, and they set out on the Eastern Road. Outside the gates, familiar large structures menaced, the gallows, towards which the city guards were taking a line of the condemned. A priest, walking alongside, giving all a quick blessing, eyed the hangman preparing the first nooses. Regina spurred her horse quickly by.

  The morning was cool. Cold still clung in the air even as the sun rose higher in the sky. The muddy road would only deteriorate with horses and carts passing as the frost melted to slush. Regina signaled for the team to keep up a pace certain to gain them their first stop by nightfall. Border Town had sprung up after the war at the new frontier between the Empires. It sat at the point where the Merrovigian and Eressian borders met, i
n the highly disputed territory of Nassay-Beden, not quite belonging to either. The grandest of its buildings were rough wooden structures hastily cobbled together with rusty nails and plastered up to look pretty on the outside, much like its prostitutes.

  Pella was ten days from Border Town by a road through thick forests and mountains, renowned for ambushes from robbers. However, for the first part of the journey the road across the plains near Border Town was relatively safe, and they made good time. Lead clouds covered the ever heavy sky.

  Regina’s trousers were still damp. The laundress had done her best washing them overnight, leaving them close to the fire to dry, complaining about the haste Regina was forcing her to, but she had jingled Regina’s coins happily in her apron pocket. Regina had seen worse, living in rain soaked clothing for days until she almost didn’t notice the discomfort. Nevertheless something nagged that she was going to pay for this later. It was chilblains you had to worry about, up in the snows of the pass. Budding, taking weeks to fade. It was the demon’s work to fight holding a saber in your fingers with chilblains weeping. “The weather's turning,” she said.

  “And nothing we can do about it,” Jaeger replied, “except get to The Fox and Hounds on time.” He gave his horse a nudge.

  Around mid-day they were still on the plain and starting to catch up with a Gypsy caravan. From a distance they heard vague shouts and curses, until the reason for the commotion became clear. Despite its large wheels, one of the colourful floral wagons was mired in the mud. Three men were pushing from behind. At the front another pulled the reins of the horses, urging. Regina made her greeting an offer of help, but before anyone could answer Jaeger and Summers had jumped from their horses and were helping to push. The wagon rocked. Its lurch forward onto firmer ground was so sudden that it left Summers flat on his face in the mud.

  One of the gypsies helped him up. A bowl of water was quickly brought out of one of the caravans to clean him. A burly gypsy shook Jaeger's hand.

  “Thanks. The ice has come much too early this year. We were meant to be through the pass long before frost showed its teeth.”

  “The ice will soon set in and you won't have to worry about the mud.”

  “Mud's the least of our worries. A push and a shove gets the wagons moving. A horse slipping in frozen ruts, a broken leg, and we have to abandon one of our homes.”

  “There'll be snow tomorrow,” said the woman attending Summers. “Talk of wolves in the pass. Too late going through this year.”

  “There's been no mention of wolves in the Guild. They’ve been through here all summer,” Jaeger said. “There haven't been wolves in these parts since way before the war.”

  “We'll see,” the gypsy woman said.

  The mercenaries remounted their horses, bade their farewells and headed onwards, outpacing the gypsies and their wagons.

  An hour after nightfall they arrived at The Fox and Hounds, bustling with life, several large parties of merchants having already arrived. The mercenaries left their horses at the stable and entered the large main room of the inn, filled with traders and soldiers. A fire crackled loudly in the hearth while the temperature fell rapidly outside. Waitresses ran to and fro bringing food and drink. The others struggled to find an empty table while Briggs went to speak to the innkeeper about rooms. They finally got to sit down as another party left. A waitress wiped their table and took orders.

  Regina took her drink as soon as the waitress put it in front of her, and sipped, and sipped the warmth of the room, and the cold chased away. The gypsies were right, she thought, it would soon be snowing. When Briggs came back, he was rubbing his hands.

  “Good news and bad. Which do you want first?”

  “The bad,” Jaeger said.

  “No, the good,” Regina said, shooting Jaeger a glance as he took a long draw from his drink.

  “We managed to get the last rooms.” He paused for a moment. “Bad news is there are only two. One for the soldiers, and one for the officers.”

  A rumble of complaint came from Summers, Jackson and Eleven, but swiftly died as the food arrived. They tucked in, sleeping arrangements pushed from their thoughts.

  They talked about their recent jobs. Jackson and Eleven had been escorting merchants in the west. Jaeger signalled the waitress to bring another round of double cognacs.

  “How are things on the Western Road?” Jaeger enquired.

  “More robbers, starting to form into gangs, large ones. And some lone highwaymen still,” Jackson replied.

  “There's only two shots in those pistols,” Jaeger said.

  “Most would rather not take the risk,” Eleven said, “when they’re making a living.”

  “Also they’ve got muskets, and the muskets have bayonets and they know how to use them, don’t they,” Jackson added. It wasn’t a question. Most robbers were former soldiers.

  “The roads are getting worse every season,” Summers said. “These days, neither Empire can guarantee safe passage for merchants.”

  “The snow's coming early,” Briggs commented, changing the subject.

  “I've crossed the Ugarri Pass before,” Jaeger said, from behind his cup. “If snow falls, it'll be closed until spring. And if the snow catches us there, may the Mother and Child help us.”

  The others mumbled their agreement. Jaeger got up, and walked towards the other side of the dining room, engaging what looked like an Eressian merchant in conversation. Evening drew towards night as the room gradually began to empty and companies headed to their rooms. First the traders and merchants, planning to start early to cover as much ground as possible in daylight. Next the mercenaries, finishing their drinks, a challenging day's travel ahead.

  Regina entered the room and her face fell. The small room had nothing but a double bed in the middle. Jaeger's leather travel bag was already at the bottom right side of the bed. He took off his blue coat and folded it over his bag, then sat on the bed and took off his boots. He put the boots outside the door for a serving boy to shine, then got into bed and pulled up the blankets.

  “What are you doing?” Regina asked.

  “Why? Do you have a preference for this side?” he replied.

  It wasn't the first time that she'd had to share a bed at an inn with a fellow soldier, but in the past it'd always been someone she'd already fought cheek by jowl with. She didn't know or trust Jaeger. She didn't much like him. And, in truth, she'd also always made sure she bunked with Merrovigians. She had left the war behind, made her own peace with the Eressians. But sometimes those weary days of battle, the fear of what the next dawn would bring, the bitterness when the enemy killed dear friends– She wondered if Jaeger could be haunted the same. Possibly. He lifted himself up on his elbow and looked at her.

  “I sleep like this as a courtesy. To you, Fitzwaters.”

  “Thank you?”

  “In a nice warm inn, I’m usually down to underwear. Or less. Would you rather that?”

  “You flatter yourself.”

  “Are you afraid of me, Captain?” Jaeger asked, with a sardonic smile.

  Regina looked at him. No. He was a good foot taller, physically stronger, not to be underestimated in a fight. But men of his size were usually slow and apt to underestimate her speed, strength and knowledge of pressure points. She had beaten many. It wasn’t fear. It was revulsion. The same as if having to share a bed with a farm animal, she was tempted to tell him. She narrowed her eyes.

  “I hope you don't snore,” she said. She hung her blue coat on a nail on the wall and put her boots outside next to Jaeger's. Then she got into bed, turned her back to Jaeger and wrapped herself in the blankets.

  “You neither,” said Jaeger and blew out the candle. “Sleep tight.”

  6 SNOW

  REGINA woke at the first cock's crow. It was still dark out, but Jaeger was up, quickly washing and shaving by dim candlelight. Regina could see the crisscross of thin white scars on his back. The Eressian army rarely punished an officer with the lash. How
had he warranted flogging? For what unreliability? For sure, he used the water all up, leaving none for her. Pig.

  There was a soft knock on the door. Jaeger quickly put his shirt on and let in a young boy carrying a large jug of water, steaming hot. Jaeger took it and put it down on the table, dressed swiftly and turned to Regina.

  “Time to wake up, Captain, hot water,” he said, and left the room.

  Regina quickly got herself ready and made her way down to the dining hall to find the rest of the team already there. She took Briggs aside while the others breakfasted.

  “Everything's good and ready, Captain,” Briggs said. “Kapitan Jaeger came down earlier and took care of it. Equipment checked, muskets, powder. We went through the maps together. I guess that's what they call Eressian efficiency. He sent me to pay the bill. Here's the receipt.”

  Regina took it with a growing sense of annoyance.

  “Did he get any sleep?” Briggs asked.

  “Not my sense of humor before breakfast, Sergeant.”

  “The Kapitan is the opposite,” Briggs said, smiling slightly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He said he hadn't slept at all. He said he couldn't help himself. Ravaged you all night. Entranced.”

  Regina raised an eyebrow.

  “I asked if he wanted his nose re-broken. He gave me a pat on the back and laughed about what a good man I was.”

  “You are a good man, Briggs. Eressian humor.”

  “They're not known for it, Captain. Now, breakfast!”

  After eating, Briggs and Summers went to buy herb for their pipes and Jackson and Eleven re-checked the saddlebags. Jaeger approached Regina.

  “May I have a word, Captain?” he asked.

  “What's the matter?” Regina asked.

  “There's a group of merchants taking the same road as us. They're planning on going through the Ugarri pass, then turning east to Korthi as the road forks. They've asked if they can travel with us, for a fee.”