On Death's Honor

Chapter 20: Welcome to Canden

I wasn't sure if I should be pissed, annoyed, or grateful that my cover was blown before I even stepped foot into Canden's gates. On the bright side, they all figured I was a bounty hunter rather than a Circle freak.

On the downside, leaving everything back at my abandoned mines was all for nothing.

All of this was completely unnecessary, I thought with a frown, glancing down at my ankle. I trailed behind a group of soldiers, my ankle now effectively pissed and swollen, and I fought a wince with every step I took. I've always known that the more complex the plan, the greater chance that something was going to fail. I just never thought the plan of arriving to Canden as a beggar was that difficult.

I can't even pull off a simple task these days. I wondered if that was due to age or if it was because of the state my body was currently in. Maybe both. I was told that age wasn't supposed to be an issue for those who were Circle Bound - that it slowed, if not stopped, once a body hit full maturity. I certainly wasn't feeling like that were true.

"You ever meet an erla before, huntress?" called one of the soldiers up front - an older man in his fifties with balding hair and wrinkling skin. Yet he walked like a man half his age; confident, strong, and not at all dealing with aches and sores that sporadically flared out over his body. I felt my scowl deepen at this wonderful realization. He was old enough to have fought his fair share of battles.

He was also old enough to be my dad. So what gave?

"Erlas don't reveal who they are," I grumbled in response. "For all you know, I could be one."

The soldier next to me, a young man with a limp in his gait, grunted out a laugh.

"Piss pour erla you'd be," he said. "An erla would have made mincemeat out of that ugly back there."

"It's been a bit of a week," I retorted.

"You ain't no erla," stated another young soldier in front of me. "You wouldn't have killed that thing without a contract."

Right. Orik and I had settled with telling the men a half truth - that I was a bounty hunter that needed help, and Orik agreed to let me stay. When his son, Lanie, stumbled upon Adria's Dream out in the woods, I rushed in to help.

But apparently, those who were Circle Bound wouldn't have done that without a contract, first. These men weren't exactly wrong, but if the Circle found that someone turned down killing a specific evil due to lack of funds, there'd be hell to pay.

This was a little well fact us Bounded refused to let the common people in on, though.

"Don't let them hear you talk like that," I said, finally wiping my sword against the inside of my tunic. "They can be a bit sensitive."

"Ain't that the truth," the previous fellow snorted. The first soldier that had asked me the question laughed.

"So you have met one before?"

"'Course I have. You don't get to be a bounty hunter without pissing one or two off. Damn fuckers chase off all the decent contracts."

This was returned with another bout of laughs. Everyone must have been relieved that they didn't need to confront a thing that was able to shake the ground with its own roar for them to be this lighthearted early in the morning.

"How long will you be staying in Canden, huntress?"

"Dunno. Maybe up until this ankle heals." That was a lie, but I wasn't about to openly admit my intentions.

"You got money?" This was asked by a man to my left, someone that hadn't spoken up until now. I glared at him.

"I have a sword and a damn good swing. Shouldn't be that hard to get around here."