Mercenary kingmakers boo.., p.1
Mercenary (Kingmakers Book 3), page 1
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Author's Note
Other Works
Acknowledgments
Author Bio
Contact Info
Book Description
Mercenary
Kingmakers, Book 3
by
Jaye McKenna
Mercenary
Published by Mythe Weaver Press
Copyright © 2022 Jaye McKenna
All Rights Reserved
Cover Art by Chinchbug
Copyright © 2022 Chinchbug
All Rights Reserved
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Chapter One
Targh’s wooden practice blade traced a sharp line across Kai’s belly. “Dead! Dead! Dead!” he bellowed, slapping the flat of the blade hard against Kai’s ribs to emphasize each word.
Pain blossomed across Kai’s side, the padded practice armor affording none of its promised protection. The shock of the blow stole his breath, and his blade slipped from fingers suddenly gone numb. He looked about wildly for the sword. Before he could locate it, the weapon master kicked his feet out from under him, and he found himself flat on his back, still struggling to fill his lungs with humid, late-summer air.
“No, no, no!” Targh stood over him. “Eyes on opponent, skasha, always the eyes.” He spread his first two fingers and pointed to his own eyes and then to Kai’s before reaching down to give Kai a hand up. “Move feet. Always move feet. You freeze like frightened rabbit, enemy carve you up like one.”
That image was enough to send curls of nausea drifting through Kai’s gut. “Move my feet,” he mumbled dutifully as Targh hauled him up.
Sweat dripped into his eyes, and his long hair had come free of his ponytail. He swiped soaking black strands off of his face as he struggled to hold all of Targh’s instructions in his head. Last time, it was his grip that was the problem. This time, he’d been so focused on the grip that he’d forgotten about his feet.
Not that concentrating on his grip had been much help — the blade had still ended up on the ground, presumably somewhere behind him. He turned slowly, scanning the packed dirt of the practice field for the wooden sword.
Targh gave him no warning before kicking his feet out from under him again. “Dragon Mother save Targh,” the weapon master groaned, lifting his gaze briefly heavenward. “Eyes! Never, never take eyes off enemy. Enemy not sweet and gentle like Targh.”
Kai stared up at the sky, not in a hurry to get back on his feet for more abuse. Sweet and gentle were not the first things Targh’s appearance brought to mind. Ghost pale, with a shaved head, and eyes as colorless as a winter sky, the weapon master had to be six-five, at least, and his default expression was a fierce scowl. Biting his cheek to keep his observations to himself, Kai rolled to his side to see Targh throw his hands up in the air.
“You see?” Targh wasn’t looking at Kai; his attention was focused on someone behind him.
Witnesses. Great. Kai’s cheeks flamed.
“You want job as assistant weapon master, you show Targh how you teach poor skasha here. Spends more time on backside than whore.”
“I heard that,” Kai muttered, taking advantage of Targh’s distraction to catch his breath before rising to his feet.
“I’ll take over then, ai?”
Kai’s heart sank at the sound of that voice. He’d been hoping to keep his practice sessions with Targh a secret. Coryn had already seen him fail far too many times, and Kai’s ego couldn’t take much more. Once Coryn realized how truly hopeless he was, he’d be moving on to greener pastures, Kai was certain of it.
Still panting, Kai turned to see Coryn standing nearby, a neutral expression on his face.
“Dragon Mother’s luck be with you, skasha,” Targh said gravely, clapping a meaty hand on Kai’s shoulder with enough force to stagger him. “You beg for gentle Targh soon enough.” The weapon master handed his practice blade to Coryn, then headed off toward the fence. He turned, and leaned against it, beefy arms folded across his broad chest, eyes intent.
“Ready?” Coryn asked.
Kai shifted his attention warily back to Coryn. Was he mad? He didn’t look mad… but then, one never could tell what was going on behind those cool, ice-blue eyes. “Let me get my sword.” Kai started to turn to pick up his blade. Coryn’s eyes narrowed.
Eyes on opponent, skasha, always the eyes! Targh’s words rang in his mind, and Kai aborted the turn, choosing instead to back up until the blade was in front of him. He bent to pick it up, never taking his eyes off of Coryn.
“Better,” Coryn said. “Targh’s right. You need to stay focused on your opponent. The moment you look away, you’re dead.”
“If you were watching long enough to hear that, you already know I’ve perfected falling on my ass. Not sure you can improve on that.”
Coryn didn’t smile. Yeah, he was mad, all right. “We’ll see.” He backed up about twenty feet. “Show me what you’ve been learning. Come at me.” He waited, stance relaxed, wooden blade dangling loosely from his fingers.
“You… ah, you’re not wearing any armor,” Kai pointed out.
To his credit, Coryn didn’t laugh, though the corners of his mouth twitched. “Don’t think I’ll be needing it. Not today, anyway. Come on. Show me what Targh’s been teaching you.”
Kai tightened his grip on his blade and studied Coryn for a few moments. They’d only been lovers for a short time, but he knew exactly how much strength was packed into that small body. Physically, Coryn wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Targh; Kai had at least four inches and thirty pounds on him. But Coryn’s assassin training had given him some damned impressive moves, and almost superhuman speed. Any advantage Kai’s size gave him would be overshadowed by his complete lack of experience.
With a resigned sigh, Kai started forward, knowing he’d end up on his ass again no matter what he did.
Coryn didn’t even twitch until Kai had covered half the distance between them. When he did move, it was so fast Kai barely had time to register the blur of motion before the flat of Coryn’s blade slapped him in the ribs. Kai swung his blade wildly, certain Coryn was in front of him, but no, somehow he was behind him.
Before Kai could turn to face him, he was shoved off balance. His body hit the dirt with a dull thud that reverberated through his bones. Coryn stood over him, foot planted firmly on his chest, the dull point of his blade stroking Kai’s throat.
“Dead.” Coryn reached down to give Kai a hand up, his calloused grip warm and strong. “No offense to Targh, but he only knows one style of fighting, and right now, you don’t have the strength to carry it off.”
Flushing, Kai averted his eyes at the blunt assessment. He’d always thought he was fairly fit. Back home, he’d jogged regularly and lifted weights whenever his roommate could be persuaded to hit the gym. But in less than five minutes, Targh and Coryn had both wiped the floor with him, and now Coryn was all but calling him a weakling.
“I can teach you a style that’s better suited to you,” Coryn went on, oblivious to Kai’s inner turmoil. “Moves that take more agility than strength. Won’t be worth much against a man in armor, but I’m assuming you’re not planning on soldiering as a career?”
Kai swallowed. This was exactly the conversation he’d been trying to avoid. “I was… I thought…” He struggled to find the words that wouldn’t make him look like a complete failure, then gave up and blurted out, “I couldn’t save Adrian, all right? I promised I’d keep him safe, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t. Thought maybe if I learned how to fight…” He risked a glance up to see Coryn studying him with expressionless eyes. “You make it look a lot easier than it is.”
Silence. Then Coryn said softly, “Would’ve helped you. Only had to ask.”
Pity? That was almost worse than anger. “I…” Kai’s shoulders slumped, and he stared down at the ground. “I didn’t want you to see. I mean, I’m hopeless. I can’t do anything right here.” Or back home, but he wasn’t about to get into that with Coryn. If the guy hadn’t already guessed what a failure he was, Kai wasn’t going to be the one to enlighten him. “I just… I didn’t want you to watch me fuck up again.” Kai stared down at the ground, certain Coryn wasn’t going to want to have anything more to do with such a complete loser.
“Anybody ever teach you to fight before?” Coryn asked.
“No.” Kai had learned fighting the hard way, back in grade school, and not with a sword, but with his fists.
Which he’d recently discovered were no good against a man in armor trying to ram a couple of feet of sharpened steel through his body. He shuddered, pushing away the all-too-vivid memory of what that had felt like; not just pain, blood, and fear, but the certainty that he was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“Then why would you expect to be able to take down a trained warrior the first time you try?”
Kai didn’t have an answer for that, so he kept his mouth shut.
“You’re not a failure, Kai, you just didn’t grow up in this world. Things other people take for granted, you have to learn. It’d be the same for me, if I got dumped in your world.”
Kai’s spirits lifted at the words, and he risked a glance up. He didn’t see even a hint of pity in Coryn’s eyes, only determination.
Coryn flashed him a grin. “We’ll start at the beginning and work our way up. Blade work is like any other skilled trade — takes competent teaching and lots of practice. I can supply the teaching, but the practice is up to you. So no more talk about failure, ai?”
“Ai,” Kai said, some of the tension draining out of him.
Coryn took the blade from him, and they spent the rest of the session doing a series of stretching and balancing exercises that were nothing like Targh’s idea of a warm-up. In fact, the moves looked a lot like one of his mother’s yoga videos, but Kai kept that observation to himself. It was far better than taking more of those rib-bruising slaps or being knocked on his ass every few seconds.
Once they’d finished stretching, Coryn put a sword in his hand and showed him how to hold it. He didn’t just tell Kai what to do, he showed him, taking hold of his hand and positioning it, all the while explaining why each detail was important. When he was satisfied with Kai’s grip, he stood opposite Kai and raised his own blade. “Now you mirror my movements. I’ll go slow. Your focus right now is on your grip — that’s more important than mirroring me.”
Kai did as he was told. Coryn didn’t move quickly, but he was watching Kai’s every movement. Even when Kai didn’t mirror him perfectly, the only thing Coryn corrected was his grip.
When every muscle in Kai’s body was burning, and he was contemplating how much longer he could keep going, Coryn said, “That’s all for today. Hit the bath house and have a long soak if you want to be able to move in the morning.” He took Kai’s blade and jogged over to the fence, where Targh stood waiting.
Kai made his way to the bath house alone, hoping Coryn wasn’t too annoyed with him for asking Targh for help.
After a long soak, he headed back to the manor house belonging to Eredwyn, the mercenary wizard who had saved Kai’s life. Eredwyn was teaching Kai’s cousin Adrian how to do something he called weaving the mythe, which looked to Kai like nothing short of magic.
Though it had been weeks since he and Adrian had been dragged across the Veil Between Worlds by their evil-wizard-with-delusions-of-grandeur grandfather, Kai still found the whole situation pretty bizarre and unsettling.
And he still couldn’t shake the feeling that this place wasn’t real, that one day he’d wake up out of a coma or a fever dream…
Except it felt real. Too real.
A wave of homesickness washed over him as he trudged up the dirt road, thighs, shoulders, and abs burning from Targh’s abuse and Coryn’s grueling drill.
Granny must be out of her mind with worry.
And what about Mom and Dad? And Mal? What had Granny told them?
More worrying, what had she told the police? She’d been right there at the cabin. She must have been questioned. What could she possibly have said that anyone would believe? Magic just wasn’t a thing back home.
Kai tried to comfort himself with the thought that there would be nothing for the law to track. He and Adrian had literally vanished into thin air. And even if the cops did start searching, they’d be looking for Kai, not Granny. Especially if Granny had the sense to tell them Kai had been talking about getting Adrian away from his asshole dad.
Maybe Adrian was right when he said they’d be better off staying here. If they went back, Kai might well end up in jail. He would never be able to explain the truth; no one but Granny would believe their disappearance had been Raithe’s doing and not his.
* * *
The weapon master was grinning when Coryn reached him. “You teach before,” Targh observed in his broken, heavily accented Aeia. “Where you do this?”
“Vhalion,” Coryn said. No way Targh or his commander would be able to verify anything Coryn claimed had happened in the Westlands. “Worked for a merc outfit called the Falcons.” Which was true, though he wasn’t going to mention his position as weapon master had only been a cover for his true mission as a Guild spy.
Targh nodded, looking pleased. “Commander needs weapon master for new recruits. Want job, fight Targh.” He took one of the blades Coryn held in exchange for a set of practice armor. The weapon master, Coryn noted, wasn’t bothering with any protection for himself.
“Don’t think I’ll need this,” Coryn said, hanging the padded vest over the fence rail.
Targh smirked. “Targh not gentle.”
Coryn returned the smirk. “Didn’t ask for gentle.”
The fight wasn’t even close. Coryn’s small size and speed gave him a huge advantage over the muscle-bound weapon master. By the time he’d scored the three hits necessary to win the round, he’d barely broken a sweat. And Targh was grinning from ear to ear, despite the fact that he’d just lost the fight.
“Again?” Coryn asked, raising his blade.
Targh’s grin widened. “Ai, we go again, ishka.”
Coryn scowled at the nickname. Rio would have laughed his ass off if he’d heard it. “Not a mouse,” he muttered. “Not so little, either.”
“Not mouse,” Targh agreed, pale eyes twinkling. “But move like ice-mouse in mountains. Too fast for seeing. Or catching. Ishka.”
After two more rounds, a still grinning Targh conceded defeat. “Targh find new weapon master!” He clapped Coryn on the back hard enough to almost knock him over. “Sign contract, ai?”
“Ai.” Coryn’s gut twisted uncomfortably.
No one leaves the Guild.
Bajhan’s words echoed in his mind as he walked slowly toward the outbuilding where the practice gear was stored. If he had even half a brain, he’d have been gone days ago, the moment he’d been sure Kai and Adrian would be safe here. Unfortunately, his brain seemed to have migrated south and taken up residence between his legs. Despite the fact that staying here was the stupidest thing he could do, he’d used what little smarts he had left looking for excuses to stay at Kai’s side.
In his bed.
Already promised Kai he’d do as much.
They put the gear away and Coryn followed Targh to a small office in the admin building.
“Tanda! Targh find new weapon master!” Targh pushed Coryn toward the desk. “Sign contract, ai?”
The woman behind the desk rose with a grin. She was short and wiry, with grey-streaked brown hair and warm brown eyes. “You must have beaten Targh.”
“Not beat Targh, not get recruits past first battle,” Targh said.
Tanda looked Coryn over approvingly. “When I retired to the office, Targh swore he wouldn’t hire a replacement who couldn’t beat him.” Her wrists were as thick as his own, but the hand that clasped his arm in greeting was ink stained rather than sword calloused. She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a contract. “Do you need me to read it to you?” she asked.
“No, sir.” Coryn reached for the contract, thinking of all the reasons he’d found to stay here.
The relief in Kai’s eyes when he’d said he’d sign on with the Iceblades…
The way Kai touched him, with a fierce tenderness unlike anything he’d ever experienced…
The feeling of belonging that consumed him whenever he found himself in Kai’s arms…
He’d never had anything like that before, though he’d dreamed of finding it with Rio. After Rio had rejected him, he’d figured he’d spend the rest of his life alone. But only a short time later, he’d found himself tangled up with Kai, who made him feel more things more deeply than Rio ever had. The thought of leaving Kai was like a knife twisting in his heart.
