The murmuring of the rain outside the Golden Perch sounded like buzzing of angry bees. Thin curtains in front of the inn’s windows swayed lightly as the pitter-patter of raindrops kept tapping against the glass. Low murmur of mumbled conversations filled the common room. Faint, blurring light cast weak, grey shine upon a sleeping figure on a bed next to the wall in a dim back room.
It was early morning.
The sleeper sighed in her dreams, and a faint smile spread upon her face. But after a moment her mouth distorted into a grimace, and the cold, harsh expression was like a mask on her face.
When Hellrien woke up, she lied down for a long time with her eyes shut, trying not to think about reality. She was lulled into sweet dreams of a sunny place where there was peace and where she didn’t have scars, pain nor anxiety.
But vague memories about the brigand farm and the cage inevitably surfaced. She remembered how they had escaped, and how she had collapsed soon after they had reached the Great East Road. Her memories about Tara picking her up and lifting her on the back of her horse and the long journey back to Stock were very blurred and scarce, she had been half-unconscious from pain the whole time.
She didn’t want to remember the chaos that ensued when they finally arrived in Stock. Shouting. Questions. Hobbits. Bounders. Nosey townspeople. The innkeeper. The healer.
Then pain. Sound of scissors. Sharp pain on her side when a knife opened a purulent wound. Nauseating smell of puss and dead flesh. A bitter taste of some herbal medicine in her mouth – burning, acid vomit in her throat. Then anguished sweating, nightmares… and finally dark emptiness… sleep that brought rest and oblivion.
”As I said… ain’t looking great”, said Taraborn’s voice, somewhere nearby.
Hellrien opened her eyes and turned her head to the side. It took her a while before she recognized their faces – Taraborn, Taala, Eroforth and a middle-aged man she remembered meeting only in passing in the Dawnhall… Ealstan?
”Glad to see you’re still with us, Hellrien… you look like crap”, said Eroforth.
Hellrien didn’t respond, she just looked at them. A warm feeling filled her chest. She wanted to embrace them all and tell them how happy she was to see them here.
But restlessness was gnawing at her, and hateful thoughts about revenge filled her mind.
Taala leaned over her and saw it in her steely blue eyes.
”You’re right, Ero, she does look like crap… Hellrien, can you sit?” She glanced over at Tara. ”Has she had any healing?”
Hellrien sat up.
”Hellrien, it is Taala. Rest easy, Taraborn has told us of your circumstances. We are here to help you.”
”Best I could give 'er as soon as I 'ad a chance”, said Tara, ”an' whatever these 'alflings can do.”
”Here”, said Ero, offering Hellrien a small glass of brandy he was holding, a tankard of beer in his other hand, ”this will help. Well, won't hurt, anyway.”
Hellrien tossed it back. ”Have you taken them out already? The brigands?” she asked calmly.
Taala looked at Tara. ”You did all that you could, Tara. You took a beating yourself, you've left coin to pay for her board, and you were right to come back and tell us what happened. I still cannot get my thoughts around Cole's betrayal. I'll have his arse for this!”
”On our way there”, Ero answered to Hellrien’s question. ”Figured we'd check on you first.”
”And Cole... he's not dealt with yet?”
”I don't know the bastard! I were gonna beat on a brigand or two t' find out what 'e's up to.”
”Good... because I want to skin him myself. And the brigands too.” Hellrien hated the cold hardness of her own voice.
Taala looked conflicted. ”If Cole has betrayed us, he'll be dealt with, but I've known him a long time, this is not his way, he knows what his fate would be crossing us.”
”I still think 'e deserves a beatin'”, said Tara.
Hellrien startled.
”Where are my clothes? How long have I been here?”
”He will get more than a beating, Tara”, Taala said. ”That man has shared more than business dealings with me, I want to look in his eye when I ask him about this.”
”It been at least a week”, Tara responded to Hellrien. ”As fer yer clothes, ask the 'obbits.”
”But… my swords? Where are they?”
Taraborn shrugged, passing a belt with a sword attached. ”Jus' that one”, he stated simply.
”Give it to me!” Hellrien grasped the belt like she was afraid someone would snatch it away from her.
There was some commotion coming from the common room of the inn. A frightened voice was stammering: ”Errr... y-you again sir... I'm tellin' you the same as last time, I don't know have anyone big folk... aiiieee!”
”Look 'ere”, a harsh voice cut in, ”you halflings yap yap... there's been talk o' a woman in 'ere... yer healer has a loose tongue when 'e is on the cider!”
Ealstan glanced at the door, intrigued by the conversation he had overheard. ”Bah”, he said. ”I’ll see to this, I think.” Ealstan slipped out of the door.
The harsh, grating voice spoke again: ”Now, shall we start again yer little runt... where is she? Yer dun' want my boss payin' ya a visit wi' some o' the boys an' search fer her d'ya?”
”N-no…”
Hellrien wrapped her fingers around the steely hilt. Her expression turned dangerously self-assured. Her white teeth revealed like a beast’s teeth as her mouth distorted into a grimace.
They could hear a thud and thumping footsteps on the floorboards coming from the common room.
”Easy there”, Eroforth grinned. ”We've got this... sword or no sword, you stay put until the healers say you can move!”
”I am coming with you now.” Hellrien said it in an icy cold tone.
Sounds of fighting. A table tumbling down, plates and mugs crashing and clamoring on the floor. Gunderic Grubb, the barkeep, piped up in a squeaky voice: ”Get him out of here, oh my, there will be bother... as sure as eggs are eggs, there'll be bother!”
”Hellrien”, Ero started, then shrugged. ”Well, your call.” It was clear from his tone that he thought it to be a bad idea... but realized it was a pointless argument. ” I should've slipped something into her brandy”, he whispered to Taala, only half-joking.
Another loud thump from the common room. The whole tavern seemed to shake. ”Eh, dunno wha' yer beef is mister... lemme go, yer dun know who ya messin' wi!” It was the man with a grating voice. The voice seemed to startle Tara, who turned to look at the door.
”The bastard”, he muttered before hurrying out of the door. ”Bastard!”
”And tell that hobbit to bring me my clothes!” Hellrien shouted after Tara.
”What the blazes is going on out there?” Taala demanded, moving to protect Hellrien should something be coming into the room. Hellrien tossed the blanket aside and tried to stand up, but began to feel dizzy. She had to sit back down and close her eyes. She could hear dragging voices, then a door opening and closing again. Then it became quiet.
”Hellrien, we’ve got this”, Ero said. ”Just a bunch of bandits, and we're going there in force. You'll just slow us down. Stay here and rest up, eh?”
Hellrien stood up. Suddenly she looked bigger, taller and wider.
”Ero”, said Taala, looking around. ”I've a bad feeling about this. We need to get her out of here, what if there are others?”
”If I slow you down”, she said hoarsely, ”you can just leave me behind. But I won't. Now, can somebody get the hobbit to bring in my clothes?”
”Can you walk, Hellrien?” asked Taala.
”I can do a lot more than just walk, I assure you!”
Taala nodded and went out of the door to fetch her clothes.
”This isn’t smart, Hellrien”, said Ero. ”I’ll go see what’s happening out back.”
Taala came back with the clothes. ”I think we need to move her, even if just to another house”, she said to Ero as he was heading out.
Hellrien got dressed. She was feeling stiff and powerless. She started pacing around in the room like a wolf in a cage. All the time she kept closing and opening her right fist. Her muscles softened up. Her feet and torso were aching, but her hands were almost all right. She smiled menacingly upon this observation.
”Shall we wait until the others get back?” Taala attempted to calm her down. ”I'll check around, wait here, I'll only be outside the room.”
Hellrien barely heard her, or noticed her leaving the room. She kept pacing about the room as if in a trance. Her lips moved, uttering voiceless words. Soon she picked up the belt, unsheathed her sword and began to practice her fighting forms. Time lost all meaning. Suddenly she saw Taala standing on the doorway, staring at her, and snapped out of her trance.
”What’s happening?”
”Hellrien, I've an uneasy feeling. Lets get you to the others.”
They walked out of the side door of the tavern into the rainy morning. Hellrien followed Taala to the back of the Golden Perch, where a grassy slope descended into the murky river called simply The Water. Halfway down the slope the three Dawners had gathered around a third man, lying on the foot of a huge oak tree. Taraborn was holding up the man’s head with one hand, another hand held a dirk, it’s blade uncomfortably close to the man’s face. Taala stopped to keep watch of their rear. Hellrien walked down the slope to the others.
”I don' see why ya ain't talkin'... two... one...” Taraborn was saying, ”Well yer own fault, ain' it?” The dirk pushed down, slicing off the man’s ear. Tara dropped it onto the grass in his victim’s view. The man screamed in pain and pulled his hand from under him to grip where his ear had been, cursing profanities at Tara.
”I dun' know yer, yer cocksucker!”
Eroforth bent down, picked up the ear and pressed the bloody stump to the man’s mouth. The man wuffled and spat to try and cast it away.
”Kiss it goodbye”, Ero suggested. ”Won't be the last piece.... well, unless you start talking.”
He rose up and saw Hellrien walking towards them. ”Seems we've met a friend of yours, Hellrien!” He flicked the ear away into the long grass.
The man looked at her, blood pouring from where his ear had been, and his eyes widened with fear as he recognized her. Hellrien recognized him too. He was the man who had stood nearby laughing as the brigand woman and the redshirt had tortured her. She stared right back at him, expressionlessly.
”Eroforth”, said Ealstan, who had the brigand pinned down with his boot, and nodded towards a nice, stout stick nearby.
”Since he's not going to talk, Tara”, said Ero while he picked up the stick and tossed it over to Ealstan, ”let Hellrien have a go at him too...”
”He’s not talking?” said Hellrien.
”Oh, I have more planned... fingers... toes... genitals if 'e as them.” Tara chuckled. ”Let the lass have a go though.”
Ealstan caught the stick and held it like a golf club, readying it for a swing right into the brigand’s crotch. He then thought for a moment and held the stick out for Hellrien. Taraborn stood up and kicked the man in the ribs before giving Hellrien some room. Quietly she moved behind his head. The man panicked when Hellrien disappeared from his view.
”Nooo... get th'...” he howled, trying to turn his head to see where Hellrien went. He spat at Tara: ”Yer a fuckin’ madman… yer all dead... cocksuckers! The lot o' yer... me uncle’s in charge ... he'll gut yer an' strangle ya wi' ya own bloody guts…”
Eroforth chuckled. ”Oh, it's Hellrien here who's the mad one. Tara's the very model of compassion by comparison. You should've talked when you had the chance.”
”Some say I am”, said Tara. ”Some say I ain't. Who am I t' decide?”
Suddenly Hellrien pressed her boot down to his throat. ”Why are you not talking?” she asked in a somber, deadpan voice. ”Last chance.”
”Alrigh’! Alrigh’!” the man spluttered, his face turning pale. He had reached his breaking point. ”I'm ready ter deal, I walk an' I talk ... deal?”
”You talk and you walk”, Ealstan agreed.
”Maybe procreate too, assuming my associates left you with those parts still...” said Hellrien.
”Or limp, at least”, said Ero. ”Depends on how quickly you answer.”
”Lemme sit”, the brigand pleaded, straining from the pressure on his throat.
”Can hear you just fine from beneath my boot, lad”, said Ealstan.
Hellrien took her own boot away from his neck. A little later Ealstan retracted his. He took his axe from his back and leaned against it, a clear threat not to try anything. The brigand slowly sat up and rubbed his ear, trying to stop the blood from flowing.
”Well?” said Hellrien. ”We’re listening.”
”Gimme a rag”, he snarled.
”Answers before favors”, said Ero.
”Use your hood”, Hellrien suggested.
”You know Tara”, said Ero, ”he doesn't seem to be too good at listening yet. Maybe you should take off another ear?”
The brigand dabbed his ear with his hood. ”I wan' money, an' a horse”, he said. ”Wha' I go' yer wan' here, but I have ter leave th' Shire... so I wan' compensatin’…”
”You're not in a position to be asking for things, lad”, said Ealstan. ”You talk, we let you walk... you keep up with this, and I introduce your pretty little neck to my axe.”
”No horse and two legs is a lot better than no horse and no legs, just sayin'...” Hellrien said.
”Righ'...” said Tara, ”yer gonna tell us 'ow many o' yer blokes are at tha' camp, then yer gonna tell us why Cole is givin' ya weapons.”
”Cole!” The brigand laughed at Tara, revealing a set of crooked, pipeweed-stained teeth. ”Ha! Yer really are a bunch o' damn fools.”
”We aren't asking for opinions, we asked for information”, Hellrien said dryly.
”You think he needs his right hand over much?” Ealstan wondered.
”Then... yer need ter be talkin' ta someone in Michel Delving, lass”, the brigand said to Hellrien.
”Won't do his sex life much good if you remove that...” Ero quipped. Instinctively the brigand hid his hand behind his back.
”Who?” Hellrien pressed.
”Might use it t' pleasure 'imself but at this rate 'e won't be able t' do that so I doubt he need the 'and”, said Tara. The brigand was snarling.
”I'm singin' yer piece o' crap!”
”Someone hold his right arm against the tree”, said Ealstan. ”Where are the rest of your lot, and how many?”
”Camp's same as ever ... less the hapless buggers yer killed.”
”Gimme a bloody number”, said Tara.
All four took a threatening step towards the brigand, which panicked him. ”I'm talkin'!” he shrieked, holding his hand firmly behind him. ”Me uncle... me uncle done a deal...”
Hellrien sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. Suddenly she couldn’t care less who this worm’s uncle was, or who Colewulf had made deals with in Michel Delving to sell them out. That information they could carve out of Cole, together with a pound of his flesh!
”I'm bored now... is there any reason we can't just kill him right here and now? To hell with Cole and his crooked deals, we have all the information we need. The whereabouts of his friends.”
”No… no… I know things…”
”Then start talking”, Ealstan suggested. ”You tell me everything, and you have my word, you can walk away.”
”Get tha' bitch away from me”, the brigand pleaded, ”we tortured her an' addled her, she jus' dun die ... fuckin’ witch!”
”Tell us something useful, or I will simply just kill you, plain and simple”, said Hellrien.
”Twenty three…”
”Right, good”, said Ealstan. ”Anything else, sunshine?”
Taraborn raised an eyebrow. ”Twenty three? I don' think I saw 'alf that many. Ye need yer fingers t' count or should I take 'em?”
”There's twenty three, bout a dozen of them worth a damn, the rest are bloody women an' kids barely able ter swing a sword!”
”That all?” said Ealstan.
The brigand looked scared, but finding Ealstan the most reasonable he looked at him with puppy eyes. ”Twenty three, yer 'ave me word, a dozen can fight, the rest...” He shrugged. ”Yer know, tha' camps one o' many, an' when the word gets round... yer all dead.”
”That all we need?” Ealstan said, looking at the others.
Tara shrugged. ”I think so... anyone else wan' more?”
The brigand was brething heavily. His heart was pounding, his brow was sweating. ”Cole... he's th' sucker... me uncle'll tell ya... afore he kills ya!”
Eroforth shook his head. ”I'd say that's all we need... except bait. Since this is one of the guys who tortured you two.” He met the brigand’s eyes. ”Oh, and you'd better believe word will get around.” A slow grin. ”We're counting on it... You Don't Mess with the Dawn.”
”Twelve brigands, about as many camp followers, sounds about right for what I saw”, said Hellrien. ”Now… can we just let him walk? What makes us so sure he's not just going to run off to warn his buddies?”
Ealstan shrugged. ”I said he could walk... Hold his arms against the tree, he don't need hands to walk.”
The brigand tried to stand, looking afraid now. ”We had a deal ... an' I aint talkin' ter no one!"
”Well”, Ero said, ”Well, we need someone to carry the message to the other camps. Not to try this again. Simpler if it's this one...”
Taraborn shrugged and knelt down in front of the brigand and looked him dead in the eye before driving his dagger into his throat. The brigand gurgled, blood bubbling in his throat and stared into Taraborn’s face as the lights went out in his eyes.
”…or we could just kill him”, Ero concluded.
Ealstan sighed heavily. ”Not every problem can be solved by just stabbing it, you know.”
Taraborn stood up, wiping off the blade. The corpse slumped down on the ground like a sack of potatoes. ”Ye can't trust 'im as bait. 'e'll just yell a warnin'.”
Ealstan sighed and threw up his arms. ”Fine, waste the potential warning he would've made”, he muttered as he trudged back up the hill. Ero offered him a sympathetic look.
”Oh well”, said Hellrien, impatient for vengeance, ”let’s go then.”
”Looks like he's here alone”, said Taala, who had been keeping watch near the road on top of the slope. ”He give you anything? Time to feed the fish.”
”Well”, said Ero, ”he lent us an ear. Tara, let's toss this one into the stream. No sense upsetting the little folks, if they come this way. Or bring wolves down on them at night with the scent of blood.”
”Aye”, said Tara. ”Twenty three brigands, about a dozen fighters. There were two entrances to the camp. I say we make a feint at one, get them distracted while the rest o' us take the other.”
”Either of you two recognize him?” Taala asked.
”It’s a good notion”, Ero agreed with Tara. ”Even better if we do it at night. The confusion will keep 'em distracted longer. And a silhouette against firelight makes a nice target for archery.”
”You two know the camp, I reckon, you should lead this one Tara... Hellrien, don't take any risks, stay back”, Taala said. ”And get that piece of shit in the water.”
”Don't worry, I won't take any unnecessary risks... I just want to be involved”, said Hellrien.
”I'm not your mother lass, and I know you are not the sort to do aught stupid, fact you’re still standing is a testament to that. You owe Tara here your life, but that is what the Dawn means, we look out for one another, I'd expect no less of him.”
”A few hours gone midnight. Gives 'em time to go t' bed and be sleepin' fer sure. If we fightin' at night though keep the arrows t' a minimum, don't want yer t' hit me”, Tara smirked and looked down at the corpse. ”Alright then.” He grasped it by the leg, dragging it downhill towards the river and pushed it into The Water.
”Hope he don't bump into the Buckleberry”, Ealstan said dryly.
”Aye, he'd clog up the ferry”, Ero said. ”It'd be a Buckleberry jam.”
”He who would pun would pick a pocket”, said Ealstan.
Taraborn rolled his eyes at the bad pun. ”Shall we prepare t' go?”
”If we ride now we'll be there by midnight”, said Hellrien.
Eroforth checked his sword, his boots, and his hood. ”Alright, I’m prepared to go... let's not bring the horses too close... especially at night. They'll make noise. Think they'd let us park them at Woodhall, for a fee?”
”Sure”, said Taala.
The grim company walked up the slope towards where their horses were waiting in the yard of the Golden Perch. Their business was murder, and tonight they would ply their trade.
