Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments by Tom Lloyd Read Free Book Online

changing all night – I can see that easy enough.’
    ‘You don’t see shit with that head o’ scrambled brains.’
    Anatin raised a hand and the small man fell silent, rubbing the side of his head and scowling.
    ‘How about you, Lynx? You’re looking for work and we’ve always got space for new blood.’
    ‘I don’t do mercenary work no more,’ Lynx said carefully. ‘Not the best at taking orders these days.’
    ‘You’d be in fine company with half o’ these pox-ridden mules then.’ Anatin laughed. ‘Don’t stop them needing to earn some coin. I hear you ain’t so welcome in town and we’re the only folk with work to offer.’
    ‘Still not interested.’
    ‘Tell him about the job,’ Kas urged rather tipsily, prodding Lynx in the shoulder and pointing at Anatin. ‘Not usual merc stuff.’
    ‘True, it’s a rescue,’ Anatin confirmed. ‘We’re heading there now, out Grasiel way. Some small-time landowner didn’t like getting no for an answer. We took some losses in our last job and could do with the numbers. You’ve seen action, Lynx, that much is clear. The young ’uns can sign on recruit wages, but experience and a mage-gun buys you a named man’s wage.’
    Lynx was quiet a moment. Grasiel stood at the heart of a region of interweaving river valleys, every landowner sat in their toy castle on a hillside and ruling over a tiny fiefdom. They spent half their time feuding with each other – it was places like that where he’d become sickened by mercenary work. Petty squabbles leading to stolen crops, poor folk burned out of their homes, or the brief skirmish between a few dozen pretend soldiers. A man of Lynx’s skills and few morals could make a good living there, but not Lynx. He had no illusions about settling down with a farm and a family, that just wasn’t in his nature, but there were still choices he had no intention of making.
    ‘Where you escorting her to?’
    ‘Chines. Father’s a merchant there. Used to do the trade routes through Grasiel, it’s where the baron saw his daughter. Barely fifteen, so I’m told, just a slip of something.’
    ‘Fifteen? Won’t be a virgin by the time he gets her back then.’
    Anatin shrugged. ‘Man’s no fool; I guess he’s just ignoring that bit. Wants his daughter home safe, is all – he’s not a nobleman anyway, so probably ain’t too bothered there.’
    ‘Chines, eh?’ Lynx paused. ‘Means you’ve got to round Shadows Deep. You’re not proposing to cross the ruins, right?’
    ‘No reason we should. Any soldiers come out after us, we ambush ’em before we have to cross Shadows Deep. Life’ll be pretty hard before I go anywhere near any ancient ruin. I’m no treasure hunter or errant knight and it’s not like any Militant Order patrols those valleys, no presence we couldn’t handle.’
    Lynx sighed and shook his head. He really did need to move on and his purse was light enough that he couldn’t just wait until a job crossed his path.
    ‘Fine, I’m in.’ He stood and gathered his bag. ‘Unless I change my mind when the drink’s worn off. See you in the morning.’
    As Kas hopped up beside him and took his arm, Anatin chuckled filthily.
    ‘I can live with hoping you’re in a good mood come morning, aye. We’re on the road an hour after dawn – ah, wait, one thing we got to do first. If you’re coming on as a named man, that is.’
    Lynx hesitated, old instincts kicking in as his hand itched for a weapon. ‘Which is?’ he said cautiously, making sure he could see the whole table of mercenaries.
    ‘We work out where you are in the order o’ cards,’ the commander said, nodding towards the white-haired woman, Estal. ‘Our seer assigns the cards to everyone in the company. Guessing Fashail will be, heh, something
under
the Knight of Sun given that’s Payl, but you’re a veteran so you might get a picture all o’ your own.’
    Estal reached out a hand to Lynx, who took it after a moment’s effort to relax his