Partners
by
R. Brian Campbell
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Motionless. Listening. No sound but my own breathing. I cautiously slid my toes along the foot of my bed, from one side to the other. Nothing. Finally, I sat up and looked. I fell back to the mattress in relief. Thank the Gods, she’s not here. Wherever that crazy, irritating feline was, at least Salem wasn’t here. I never imagined that it could feel so good to wake up alone in bed.
Well, as good as it feels to have this time to myself, I’d best face the day. I sat up, swung my feet to the floor and quickly dressed before I could change my mind and crawl back into bed. Then I went into the kitchen and began making breakfast.
Bart was usually up before me, so it was no surprise that he wasn’t here. And Salem, I would rather not think about Salem, but I guess I’d better. After all, she was my new partner.
Partners! I laughed dryly. How in Hades did she manage to convince me to enter into a partnership with her? Actually, when I think about it, I don’t remember agreeing to anything. She just assumed that I agreed and acted accordingly. At least we have no clients right now, so we haven’t had to put our partnership to the test. But that’s just a temporary respite, which could change at any time.
“SIR GARTH!” Bart burst into the house in a state of panic. “COME QUICK! HELP!”
I leapt to my feet, knocking over my chair. I grabbed Bart by the shoulders, halting him in his tracks. “Hold on, boy. Calm down. What is the problem?”
“Sh-sh-she i-i-is wh-wh-wh-” Bart sputtered.
“Whoa, son. Bring it down a notch. I assume you are talking about Salem. What has she got up to now?”
Bart took a couple of deep, slow breaths, then started again. “She’s with a client. She’s working a business deal.”
“SHE’S WHAT?” I let go of Bart’s shoulders and yanked on my boots. I snatched my sword belt off a hook as I swung the door open. “Tell me on the way. Come on.”
Bart ran to keep up. “We were in the office when some merchants came in. Apparently their caravan was attacked by a flock of harpies, who stole two large chests of gems and jewelry. Salem has already told them that we could help them, no problem. They are now haggling over the price.”
“She wouldn’t dare.”
“Sorry, Sir. I couldn’t stop her.”
“Not your fault, Bart,” I assured him. “I should have stuck her in a sack and drowned her, the moment she came up with this partner idea.”
We tore into my office to find Salem sitting at my desk, talking to two men in fine silk tunics, a giant of a man in leathers standing behind them.
“As I was saying,” Salem continued, as if we weren’t there, “this is a fairly easy job, so the price will be 150 gold pieces.”
“Hold on there,” I interrupted. “My new partner is speaking out of turn. As the senior partner in this business, I can assure you that we will do the job, but the price is 300 gold, plus another 300 for expenses.”
“Wait a minute,” One merchant complained. “Your partner just advised us that this wouldn’t be a difficult job, and that the price would be very reasonable. Your price is considerably more than what she offered us.”
“As I said, my… uh… partner, spoke out of turn.” I glared at Salem. “She is very new to the business and is not aware of what a job like this entails. As the founding adventurer in this business, I have the final say in all business deals.” I glared at Salem again. She responded with an indifferent and unrepentant gaze. “Frankly, she had no business discussing the job without me present. I apologize for any misunderstanding, and I understand if you wanted to take your business elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” The second merchant sputtered. “How dare-”
The huge man who had been standing behind the merchants strode forward and pressed his massive torso into me, forcing me back. “Let me deal with this. You had better honour your partner’s offer, little man.”
I looked him up and down. He was a full head taller than me. Must have had to duck to get through the doorway, he was almost scraping the ceiling. He was nearly twice as wide as me, too, some of it still muscle. He looked to be military trained, but life of guarding caravans, easy living, and good food had softened him. Now he was more bully than soldier. I responded. “Or what?”
The man-mountain growled. “Or I’ll-”
I hit him hard as I could in his soft belly, then, as he doubled over, came up under his chin with double-clasped fists, laying him out, half in, half out of my doorway. Lucky the door hadn’t closed all the way, or he might have broken it.
I turned to the merchants. “Now where were we? Oh yeah, your jewels. Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal. We’ll do the job for 500 gold; 300 up front.”
The merchants were still staring at their fallen guard. One recovered first. “How about 300 gold? That’s twice what your associate offered.”
“400. Take it or leave it.”
“Agreed. 400 it is,” The merchant responded.
I sat on the corner of my desk. “Now that the fee is settled, fill me in on what I just agreed to. From what I understand, a flock of harpies stole some chests of gems and jewelry from you.”
“Correct,” The merchant agreed. “I am Beryl and this is my partner, Malachite. We deal in the finest jewelry in the land from Butternut Kingdom to Moonglow Kingdom. We were in the process of taking a shipment to the Starflower Kingdom, when six harpies fell upon our caravan, tore the roofs off two of our carriages and took our two biggest chests of gems. Our guards could do nothing to stop them.”
I glanced over at the large man, still unconscious in my doorway. “That doesn’t surprise me.” I looked back at the merchants. “My name is Garth, and I am the owner and senior adventurer of this business. I promise you that we will get your jewels back. Any information you can give me will help in the process. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“They seemed to know exactly where to look,” Malachite offered. “They went straight to the carriages carrying the largest and most valuable of the jewels, and ignored the smaller ones completely.”
I nodded. “Harpies can smell jewelry. As ugly as they are, they are vain creatures, who are attracted to beautiful things. Chests of fine jewelry would attract them like crows to carrion. Can you tell me where the attack occurred and which direction they flew afterwards?”
“Ah yes,” Beryl said, nodding. “In fact, I anticipated your question and marked a map, which I brought with me.” He removed a parchment from beneath his robes, and rolled it out on the table. I turned and leaned over it, as he ran his finger along the markings on the map. We were travelling along King’s Trade Road, here, when the harpies dropped out of the clouds. They ripped the roofs off the carriages, grabbed the chests, and flew this way, towards this line of mountains.”
“Of course, Pluto’s Teeth, mountain range.” I shook my head, considering the landscape in that area. “Where else? A great place to roost, if you can fly. A horror to travel through, if you can’t. You’re lucky we negotiated the price before you told me that little tidbit.” I glared at Salem again. She ignored me.
Malachite looked worried. “Will you be able to help us?”
I smiled, grimly. “Yes. It won’t be easy, but we can help you. I would like at least 200 gold pieces, upfront, though. For expenses.”
Malachite set a heavy sack on my desk and counted out the gold pieces. “Three hundred up front is what you initially asked for, so 300 is what you shall receive.”
“Where will I find you when I retrieve your gems?”
“We can’t continue without them,” Beryl responded. “And our coaches need repair. We will be staying at one of your local inns. I’m sure you will have no trouble finding us.” Their guard was just beginning to revive, and Beryl kicked his leg, in passing. “Come along, Jorge. You have had enough of a break.” Jorge stumbled to his feet and followed them, sullenly.
I watched them walk away, then turned to face Salem and Bart.
Salem was ecstatic. “Great job bumping up the price for that job. I told you that we make a great team.”
“WHAT IN HADES DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?” I stormed. “YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO NEGOTIATE ANY DEALS WITH CLIENTS. THIS IS MY BUSINESS. MINE!”
The smile dropped from Salem’s face, but instead of looking abashed, she became angry. “How dare you speak to me that way! I got us that job. You weren’t here, and I made sure that we didn’t lose the client. And between us we got 400 gold pieces. That’s 100 gold each, with 100 left for expenses. You should be thanking me.”
“THANKING YOU?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “On my own, I probably could have got 800 gold pieces from them, which would be closer to the proper price. The 400 we get for this job will barely cover expenses. As for the job, I would have been happier if I had missed them. Chasing harpies through Pluto’s Teeth could very well get us all killed. And you want me to thank you? Well, thanks for nothing.”
Salem huffed. “That’s gratitude for you. I don’t see what the big deal is. Hunting some birds through some hills. I kill and eat birds all the time.”
“Birds? These birds are likely to have you for a snack, and me and Bart for dessert,” I countered. “Harpies, in case you weren’t aware, are vengeful spirit women, between twice and thrice the weight of the average man, with talons like scimitars, and large beak-like mouths, with sharp fangs and jaws that can snap a man’s arm like a twig. And you have set us up to fight at least six of them in a location more suited to winged creatures than those walking. And you expect gratitude. I’ll tell you right now, this partnership is not working for me.”
“Do you want me to leave?” She demanded.
“Uh uh.” I responded. “You got us into this. You can stay and get us out of it. But you had better learn to listen to orders. I am in charge here.”
“If you say so.” She flopped down in my chair.
“AND GET OUT OF MY CHAIR!”
“Whatever.” She casually slid out of my chair, glided around the desk, and curled up in the client’s chair.
I circled to my side of the desk, but did not sit down. I ignored Salem and spoke to Bart. “The only weapon we have against harpies is Elven silver. We can take our silver short swords and mail, but if they get that close, I doubt that they will be enough to stop them. Harpies are very fast and powerful, and will likely slap our swords aside and tear through our mail before they feel the effects of the silver. We need to fight them from a distance, if we hope to survive.”
“Short bows or crossbows?” Bart asked.
“Accuracy and power are important, so crossbows are best. But I doubt that the harpies will give us much time to reload. Check how many silver heads we have for the bolts, then go see Max, the armourer. Order as many silver heads as we need to get up to eighteen, and have Max make us three double crossbows. Do you think you can handle a double bow?”
Bart nodded, “Yes, Sir. I can do it.”
“Good. Tell Max that I’ll be dropping by to pay him and add a couple special items to the list. We will also need the slings and silver projectiles. At least a dozen. Get more from Max if you need to. Got it?”
“I suppose that the third double crossbow is for me,” Salem commented, gazing at me with smoldering eyes.
I matched her stare. “I know that you can use one, and I thought it would help even the odds. Is there a problem?”
She stretched slowly before responding, then glared into my eyes again. “Just one thing. I get the impression that you plan to be flinging silver all over the place. In case you’ve forgotten, partner, due to my nature, I’m also allergic to silver.”
“That has crossed my mind.” I held her gaze. I would not back down to this fickle feline. “While Bart is at the armorer’s, I plan to visit Amanwych to get a few specialty items. While I’m there, I’ll see if he has anything that can help with your…uh…allergy. How does that sound?”
Salem made a sound deep in her throat that sounded like a low growl. “I’m supposed to trust that sorcerer with my life?”
“Really?” I scoffed. “This coming from the changeling daughter of a witch?”
She growled again. “Let’s just say that he and Mother are not on the best terms.”
This time I laughed outright. “Salem. Your mother is not on the best terms with many people, yourself included. Or me, for that matter.”
“Still…” Salem curled up in the chair and sulked.
“Still, I have no time for arguments. Bart is going to the armoury to check our supplies, then on to see the armourer. I’m off to see Amanwych. You can join one of us, or you can stay here. It doesn’t much matter to me. But do NOT make any deals with MY clients!”
“Fine, I’ll help Bart.” She unfolded herself from the chair.
Bart, who had wisely said nothing throughout our exchange, merely shrugged. I left them to work it out and headed out the door.
—————————————————
As I entered Amanwych’s temple, I concentrated on keeping my breathing normal and consciously relaxing the tense muscles along my shoulders and neck. No matter how many times I dealt with the wizard, it never seemed to get any easier. I’ve faced armed soldiers, dragons, ogres, trolls, vampires and more, but simply entering this place still loosened my bowels uncomfortably. I gazed around the dim, candlelit interior of the temple until I saw Amanwych’s dark form gliding towards me.
“Garth the Adventurer,” Amanwych’s voice boomed like distant thunder. “How may I be of service today?”
“Greetings Amanwych,” I tried to keep my voice from trembling. “I have a couple of requests, one of which may seem…well…a bit unusual.”
Amanwych smiled, exposing his sharp, crooked teeth. “I have ceased being surprised by your requests. Much you do is rather unusual. In fact, rumour has it that you have taken a cat as a partner.”
“Hmph!” I grumbled. “As much as I would prefer to avoid that topic, my new…uh…partner, is the reason I am here. She has saddled me with the job of rescuing two chests of gems from a flock of harpies.”
Amanwych made a gruff gurgling sound that I recognized as him laughing. “Trust a cat to have you chasing a flock of birds. Let me guess. You want me to make up some of those silver dust filled orbs that you designed. Am I correct?”
“A half dozen, if you could,” I agreed, then added. “But, since my, uh, partner is a magical creature-”
“You want to know if I have something that could counter the effects of silver on magic users.”
“Exactly,” I responded. “Is such a thing possible?”
“Indeed. I have just the thing.” He turned and glided over to a shelf, opened a wooden box, and removed what appeared to be a deep purple opal, strung on a short leather thong. He brought it over and set it on the counter before me.
I gingerly picked it up and looked it over. It didn’t appear to have any magical properties. “Are you certain this will work?”
The room temperature dropped several degrees, as Amanwych frowned, but returned to normal nearly as rapidly as it had dropped. “It disturbs me that, after all this time, you still don’t trust my items to work. But I suppose that it is a fair request, in this case. Naturally, I cannot counter the effects of silver with magic. The orb itself is glass. The ingredients are natural herbs and minerals that, combined, have the effect of temporarily blocking the effects of silver on a magic user. It begins to work when the magic user ties the thong around their neck, with the orb in direct contact with exposed skin. When worn by a magic user, it will begin to glow. As the effects wear off, the glow will dim. When it goes dark, the effect has worn off. The more the user is in direct contact with silver, or actively uses magic, the faster it wears out. I know it works, because it is what I use when working with silver, such as when I make your silver filled orbs. Since your magic user is a shape changer, the effect should last longer than it does for me, as it will only be affected when she actually changes, not when she is one form or the other. But I cannot be certain of this, as I have never tested it on a shape changer.”
I nodded, as I looked at the orb in my hand. Then a thought occurred to me that made me smile. “I can’t wait to tell Salem that she will have to wear a collar. I’m almost tempted to put a bell on it.”
“The same thought occurred to me,” Amanwych responded, making that dry rattling in his throat. He put the orb in a small pouch and handed it to me. “I can have the orbs ready for you by tomorrow morning. The price for everything will be 150 gold pieces.”
I counted out the gold. “Thank you, Amanwych. I’ll see you in the morning.” I turned to leave.
“One more thing, Garth the Adventurer.” I turned back to Amanwych. “You may or may not be aware of this, but harpies are usually ruled over by a sort of flock mistress. She is called Celaeno, and she will be older, bigger, and likely the most deadly of the flock. She will also hold back revealing herself until the opportune moment. Beware.”
I swallowed a couple times before responding. “Thank you for the warning, Amanwych. See you in the morning.”
————————————
Max the Armourer was expecting me when I got there. “Hello, Garth. I’ve started work on the double crossbows, and should have them down by tomorrow morning. Bart said that you had some special orders. What did you have in mind?”
“Hello Max. I have two items in mind. The first is a battle axe, but a bit out of the ordinary. I want the shaft to be iron oak, and as long as I am tall. The head should be Elven silver, single bladed, but at least double width. Can you do that?” Max nodded and I continued. “The second weapon I need is a pike, but in this case, shorter than usual. It is for Bart, and he will need to be able to carry it comfortably on his back when he is not using it, so I’d say the shaft should be maybe a head taller than he is, also of iron oak. The head should be as long as my forearm, with a crosspiece, all of Elven silver. I would like both items, along with the crossbows, for tomorrow morning. Is this possible?”
“It is a bit of a rush, but I can do it, Garth,” Max affirmed. “But it will cost you 150 gold pieces.”
“No problem, Max.” I hefted the sack, with the remaining gold pieces, onto his workbench. “See you in the morning.”
—————————————-
“You don’t seriously expect me to wear that,” Salem snarled, glaring at the orb and thong.
I merely shrugged. “Amanwych guarantees that it will protect you from the effects of silver, as long as the orb is glowing.”
“It’s not glowing now.”
“It begins to glow when you put it on,” I advised her. “It has to be touching your skin.”
“A collar,” She hissed. “You want me to wear a collar. I’m surprised that you didn’t attach a bell.”
I turned away from her and covered my mouth, so she wouldn’t see my smile. “The thought never crossed my mind.”
“I won’t wear it.”
“Fine,” I told her. “You find your own way to protect yourself from the silver.”
Bart said nothing throughout the exchange, and kept his features expressionless.
Salem hesitated. “Okay, I’ll wear it. But you owe me.”
“Actually, you owe me,” I reported. “150 gold pieces. But don’t worry. I’ll take it out of your share.”
“What?”
I smiled. “After all, you were the one who negotiated this deal. Better get some rest. We are going bird hunting at first light.”
—————————————
At first light, the three of us were up, dressed, fed, and on our way. We stopped at Max’s shop and Amanwych’s temple for our supplies, and headed out of town, Bart and I riding our horses, leading two rented mules behind us, while Salem, in cat form, rode on my shoulder. We followed King’s Trade Road back towards the location where the harpies attacked the convoy. From there, we veered towards Pluto’s Teeth mountains. We stopped at a stand of trees outside the mountain range and tied the horses and mules near a stream, and continued on foot.
Bart and I struggled over rocks, outcroppings and other obstructions, as Salem leapt casually from one rock to the next. Since Salem refused to return to human form, I was forced to carry her crossbow, quiver of quarrels and other supplies. What a great partnership this was.
We had been struggling over the rocks for what seemed like forever, when we spied the first dark shape soaring overhead. From this distance, it looked like a huge eagle or condor, but I knew better. Then we saw a second one, then a third. I clambered to the most level and stable patch of rock I could find, then dumped Salem’s crossbow and supplies on the ground.
“Handle your own weapons,” I advised her, unshouldering my crossbow, drawing back the strings, and settling the quarrels in place. “I have more important things to do now. Like staying alive.”
Salem leapt from a boulder to the rocky surface, landing in human form and picking up the crossbow and quiver.
“Better put your collar on, kitty,” I called. Salem favoured me with a dark glare, but removed the leather thong from its bag and strung it around her neck. The purple orb began to glow, first softly, but increasing to the point where it was difficult to look at directly. Salem began loading her crossbow, and I returned my attention to mine. Bart was quietly loading his.
A double crossbow is, essentially, two bows attached to the same crosspiece, with all the working parts matched on each side. When you aim one of the bows, the matching bow is on the opposite side. You simply flip it over to fire the second. To keep the second quarrel from falling out, or firing accidentally, a metal hook crosses the quarrel, locking it in place. To fire your second shot, you must first unhook it. I locked both in place, for safety’s sake, as I watched the sky. There were now five large forms wheeling in the sky overhead. Where was the sixth? And where was Celaeno?
The five harpies began to circle lower and lower, closing the distance between us with every round. No longer just dark shapes, I could now gauge how large they were, much larger than any bird I had ever seen, and larger than most men, as well. They were feathered from wings, down their backs, across their lower bodies and legs, up to their feet, which ended in wickedly curved talons, the size of large daggers or short scimitars. In addition to long wings, they also had long, thin arms that ended in talons, only slightly smaller than the ones on their feet. They had vaguely female upper bodies, with large, heavy breasts, and rounded, birdlike bellies. Their heads had long, flowing hair and dark eyes with no whites. They had large, hooked, beaklike noses, and their mouths were huge and stretched, like a strange combination between frog and alligator jaws, with rows of sharp, inwardly curved teeth. They continued circling until they hovered right over us. Then they dived, dropping out of the sky, talons outstretched.
“Fire at will,” I called, aiming my crossbow at one of the diving harpies.
“Don’t tell me how to kill a bird,” Salem retorted, aiming and firing in one motion. The quarrel drove into the harpy’s lower jaw at an angle and straight through her brain until the silver tip erupted from the back of her head. The dive turned into a freefall.
By fluke or bad luck, Bart and I targeted the same harpy, my quarrel tearing into her throat, while Bart’s sunk into her side, under her right armpit. Another dive transformed into a loose limbed fall.
The last three harpies stopped diving and swooped at us from different angles. I flipped my crossbow around, unhooked the quarrel, and brought it back to my shoulder. I tracked one of the harpies swooping past me and fired. The quarrel hit a wing bone, shattering it, and sending the creature tumbling to the ground. I moved in to finish her off.
“Garth! Down!” I dropped to the ground and felt a rush of air overhead, as something sharp and strong tore through my hardened leather jerkin and hooked onto my Elven silver-mail, breaking links and dragging me along the ground. Suddenly, I stopped moving and dropped to the ground, a heavy weight landing on top of me.
I pushed against the weight and dragged myself free, to find myself crawling out from under a dead harpy, a crossbow quarrel in her forehead. Salem was standing a short distance away cradling an empty crossbow and looking uncharacteristically concerned. Behind her, Bart was rushing towards me yelling. “Sir Garth! Sir Garth!”
“Bart! Look out!” A harpy was bearing down on him, and there was nothing I could do.
Salem spun, dropped her crossbow and leapt. She bounded off Bart’s shoulder in cat form, and launched herself at the harpy’s face, claws tearing at her eyes. She climbed over the bird-woman’s head, claws tearing hair and scalp, then spun around, becoming human and using her added weight to force the creature to land. The harpy was reaching back with her lean arms, talons ready to tear Salem off her back.
I pulled one of the glass projectiles out of my pouch. No time to use the sling. “Salem! Jump!” I threw the glass bubble.
Salem dove off the creature’s back, transforming to cat form, and scrambling up a rock face, as the glass bubble burst and the harpy was coated with a combination of silver dust and tree sap. The combination stuck to her, sapping her strength and burning her body. She crumpled to the ground, unleashing a horrible, tortured, and all too human scream.
I was unstrapping the axe from my back, to end the harpy’s suffering, when Bart screamed. “Sir! Look out!”
I spun around to see the harpy whose wings I had clipped, reaching for me with sharp talons. I backed away, desperately trying to free my axe, when a bolt from Bart’s crossbow plunged into her huge mouth and tore out the back of her head. She stumbled forward another step, before dropping to her knees, eyes going dim. My axe came free and I spun it around, unnecessarily severing the creature’s head. As she collapsed on the stone, I severed the head of the other harpy.
“Well looks like we’re done here,” Salem commented. “All we need to do is gather up the gems and take them back to our employer.”
“Not so fast,” I admonished. “We’ve only killed five harpies. Beryl and Malachite said that there were six.”
Salem shrugged. “Maybe they miscounted.”
“In my experience, it usually turns out that there are more enemy than expected. Not less. So we’d best keep our eyes open.”
Salem was still unconcerned. “Fine, so maybe there are one or two more. We’ve kill five. How hard can a couple more be?”
“I never ask that question. I rarely like the answer.” I removed my tattered jerkin, examined the damage, and tossed it aside. My Elven mail was also damaged, as was the flesh beneath it, but nothing could be done about either of those at the moment. My leather breaches and legs were also in rough shape, from being dragged along the stone, but both would survive.
“Sir, you’re bleeding,” Bart exclaimed.
“I know. I’ll survive.”
“Let me tend your wounds,” He insisted.
“No time.” I found my crossbow, unfortunately shattered. I threw it aside with an oath.
“Take mine,” Salem offered. “I’m going to scout ahead.” She became a cat and leapt onto a high boulder.
“Be careful not to change back and forth too often,” I warned. “That orb is nowhere near as bright as it was when you first put it on. You don’t want it to go dark at an inopportune moment.”
The cat nodded, turned and disappeared among the rocks. Bart and I picked up our supplies and followed.
“Sir? Are you sure you don’t want me to tend those wounds,” Bart asked again. “They look pretty bad.”
“I’ve had worse,” I assured him. But I wasn’t sure that was true. They were beginning to ache. A lot. Too late to worry about that now. We needed to catch up with Salem.
As it turned out, I shouldn’t have worried about that. We found Salem in human form, lying prone on a ledge, overlooking a small valley. She held her finger to her lips and motioned for us to join her. We quietly set down our gear and crawled alongside her. At the centre of a valley, next to a small pond, was what appeared to be a very large nest. Inside the nest, I could see the chests we were sent to retrieve, both open, with assorted gems and jewelry scattered about the nest.
“There’s our prize, partner,” Salem whispered.
“Looks like a trap,” I advised her.
“My thoughts exactly. How should we proceed?”
My jaw dropped open. It was all I could do to keep my voice low. “You’re asking me?”
She shrugged. “Well, after all, you are the senior partner.”
I contemplated the problem for a moment. Then I motioned Salem and Bart to move back from the outcropping. Then I whispered my plan. “Bart, I want you to stay here, crossbow ready, while I go down there to check out that nest. Be ready, I fully expect to be attacked.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“What do you want me to do?” Salem asked.
I looked at her. “You are our secret weapon. I want you to prowl the high ground and back us up. Be prepared for the unexpected, anything I haven’t anticipated. Can I count on you?”
“You can.” She smiled, then became a cat, disappearing into the shadows.
I turned to Bart. “I’m leaving both crossbows with you, so you have four shots without having to reload.”
“What will you use?”
“I have these.” I showed him the glass balls filled with silver dust. “And my axe. I’ll be fine with you and Salem watching over me.”
“Be careful, Sir.”
I smiled. “If I was careful, I wouldn’t be in this line of work.” I turned and headed down into the valley.
I stopped at the edge of the valley, looking at the nest in the middle of the clearing. The moment I took the next step, I would be out in the open, an easy target for an attack from above. I stepped away from the cliff face and began to cross the open area.
My nerves were on edge. Every step took me closer to the nest, father from safety. I knew that there would be more harpies, but where were they?
“Sir! Look out!” A shadow covered me as the harpy dropped from the sky. I was spinning to defend myself, when I saw the first shaft from Bart’s crossbow strike the harpy’s back. A second quarrel soon followed. The harpy was dead weight, and I dodged to get out of its way.
“Garth! The nest.” Salem’s voice rang out, and I turned to see another harpy burst out of the side of the nest. Seven. There were at least seven harpies. She was almost on top of me. I threw the glass bubble straight in her face and grabbed for a second one, as I sidestepped the creature. She stumbled by me, screeching. I hit her with a second ball, just as Bart’s quarrel hit her.
“Bart! Behind you!”
I turned to see another harpy, much bigger than the others, descending on Bart. He fired the crossbow, but it appeared to have no effect on the creature.
“YOU KILLED ALL OF MY BROOD. NOW I’LL KILL ONE OF YOURS.”
Celaeno! She was grasping him in her talons, even as I loaded a glass ball in my sling. I spun and released it. It struck the harpy in the lower body, the sticky silver dust spreading across her belly and legs. Celaeno still held Bart, but seemed unable to fly away with him. She hovered in the air suspended over the cliff, Bart in her talons.
Then Salem sprang from the rocks above, leaping as a cat, landing as a human, full on Celaeno’s back. Salem wrapped an arm around the creature’s neck and squeezed. Harpy, Bart and Salem, began to slowly descend, the speed increasing the lower it got to the ground.
“LET GO OF ME, YOU PESKY FELINE.” Celaeno reached back for her, hand talons outstretched.
They were hovering just a bit over my head when I closed the gap, glass projectile in my sling, arm spinning, when I noticed Salem’s neck.
“Salem! Jump free. The orb has gone dark.”
“Launch that weapon.” She ordered. “If I let go, she will take off with Bart.”
“But, the silver-”
“LAUNCH IT, NOW!”
I released the projectile. The glass bubble struck Celaeno, high in the chest and the silver dust splattered over her face and head. She released Bart, who hit the ground in a practiced roll. Salem released Celaeno’s neck and the harpy dragged her free and threw her. Salem fell limply to the ground, with none of her usual catlike grace. I unstrapped my long axe and brought it around, striking the huge beast on the side, cutting into her. She was still flying and attempting to get away, when Bart sunk his pike deep into her chest.
“PUNY MORTALS,” Celaeno snarled. “YOU CAN’T KILL ME.”
“Maybe not. But we can sure hurt you.” I swung my axe again, carving another gash in her side.
In spite of her wounds, Celaeno managed to rise out of reach, turn, and fly away. I watched her until she faded into the distance.
When I looked back, Bart was already at Salem’s side. I quickly joined him. She was unconscious, but breathing. She looked flushed and felt feverish. I looked around. “Bart, get some cloth, tear up your shirt if necessary, soak it in the pond, and bring it here.”
“Yes, Sir.” Bart was tearing his shirt off, even as he ran to the water. He was back in an instant, the torn shirt soaked and dripping.
I washed the sticky combination of tree sap and silver from Salem, hoping that it would help. I also cleaned the gashes Celaeno’s talons had made along her ribs. Bart applied healing ointment. As I cleaned off the last of the mixture, applied Aloe Vera sap to the worst of the burns, and wiped cool water over her face, Salem’s eyes blinked open.
“So this is what I get for taking a nap? You decide to give the cat a bath?”
Bart and I both started laughing, more from relief than any other reason. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist,” I responded. “Great work, partner.”
Salem sat up, shakily. “Well, what did you expect? I told you I could handle a flock of birds.”
After Bart had cleaned my wounds, and I checked and cleaned his, I stood up and scanned the contents of the gigantic nest. “So, partner, would you happen to have any bright ideas about how we are going to transport these all these gems back to where the mules and horses are?”
———————————
Beryl and Malachite were ecstatic to have their gems back. So happy, in fact, that they decided to give me 200 more gold, instead of the 100 we had agreed on. However, I hadn’t seen Salem since we got back, and I was beginning to worry.
Then she showed up at my office, arm in arm with a gangly young man, with an unruly shock of orangy-red hair. “Hello Garth. Sorry for not coming around sooner, but I had some personal business to deal with.”
“I can see that,” I said, smiling.
Salem squeezed the young man’s waist. “Apparently, my mother has had a change of heart. She said that she will accept me seeing Rolf, and wants me to move back in. And, to be honest, I don’t think our partnership is going to work.”
“I’m happy for you, Salem,” I responded, standing up and walking around my desk. “Although I am in agreement about our partnership not working, it actually worked better than I originally expected. And there is no one I would rather have watching my back in a fight.”
“Thank you, Garth. I feel the same. We have our differences, but we did alright.”
“And on that subject,” I reached into my desk drawer and lifted a sack out, which I handed to Salem. “Here is your share from our one job. One hundred gold pieces. You earned it.”
Snalem took the money, hesitantly. “Are you sure? What about expenses? I thought you said I didn’t charge enough.”
I shrugged. “They paid extra. It happens sometimes.”
Salem hefted the sack and smiled. “It was good working with you, Garth the Adventurer. Take care of yourself.” She and Rolf turned and ambled out the door, holding each other.
“You too. Salem.” I smiled as I watched them leave, gazed out the empty doorway for a moment, then returned to my paperwork.