Chapter Twenty
End of the Hunt Part II
JANUS
"See it yet?" Maui asked as they navigated through the never ending sea of humanity.
"Not yet." Janus said as they finally squeezed out of a crowd and into the heart of the marketplace. It was a good thing he had packed all of his weapons, mask and mercenary garb into a backpack. If he hadn't, the stuff might have all fallen out or be bumped off in the jostling he had just endured. Still, he had a foldable knife or two in his pockets just in case.
The place was buzzing with activity, stalls of all kinds set up everywhere in a somewhat haphazard manner. Stall owners shouted, voices overlapping to be heard over one another as people passed by. The marketplace smelled of an amalgamation of various prominent scents. There was the distinct smell of fresh fish mingled with olive oil, and the strong scent of rubber coming from the other side. And a million other things that bonded together to form a very unique but arguably unpleasant smell. For those who had lived here all their lives, it would have been a normal scent, but for foreigners, it could come as a rather an unpleasant experience as it did for Janus.
"There." Deirdre nodded at one of the many stalls.
Janus and Maui turned to see where she was indicating. Sure enough, this was the place they were looking for. A supply cart full of huge potatoes was sitting beside the stall's tent, and a man who had the outward trappings of a farmer stood lazily in front of his stall.
Walking up to the man, Janus addressed him. "Excuse me. Are you Roshne?"
The man looked at him curiously. "Are you…" He noticed Deirdre and Maui behind Janus, and curiosity turned to recognition and fear. "Wait, you lot are-"
"Listen." Janus gripped his arm. "We're not here to hurt anyone. George sent us. You know George, right?"
"George. Yes, yes." The man looked a little less alarmed.
"Roshne, we need your help." Janus said in a low voice. "George told us you can get us out of the city. Is that true?"
Roshne looked pensive, and then nodded cautiously. "My supply wagons. I sell my potatoes to other markets outside of Turnsheim."
"Then you can help us?"
"If George vouched for you, then yes, of course."
"Thank you." Janus deflated a little. "Now, how do we-"
"Janus!" Deirdre hissed. "We have incoming!"
He whirled round. Elsa's team hadn't given any signal, but sure enough, the enemies were approaching from all four sides, closing in with their weapons. At their head was Hansel, one half of the Witch Hunters.
Shit, he cursed as his mind worked hard to think of an escape. The marketplace was far too crowded, even though some locals were scurrying away at the sight of armed Molcorrans and clearing some space. Increasingly, more people began to scatter, and a wide space in the heart of the marketplace was cleared. The Blue Wolves closed in, muskets raised. The Warriors didn't have enough time to run. They were trapped.
"Well, look who it is?" Hansel said in a loud voice, unsheathing his sword which gleamed under the morning sunlight. "Is that the great Prometheus?"
"Hansel," Janus dropped his backpack in front of him, and pulled out his own katana in one swift motion. "What are you doing here in Turnsheim?"
"Got offered a job." The Witch Hunter said mildly. "Paid well, so I thought why not? My sister and I could use the extra cash. And what about you?" He eyed Janus' company. "Still protecting the League of Sorcerers? You've gone soft, my friend."
"Maybe." Janus glanced round at the rest of the Blue Wolves surrounding them. There's no way we can strike and get out unscathed, not with these many muskets pointed at us. Unless…
"I'll make you a deal." Janus said.
"Make me a deal?" Hansel snorted. "I'm not the one facing death here."
"I'll fight you, one on one." Janus said. "Just us both. If I win, we go free. If I lose, then we'll come quietly without a fight."
"Rubbish. Our orders are to-" One of the Blue Wolves said, but Hansel lifted a finger for silence. It was quite clear who was in charge.
"I have to admit, I'm intrigued." Hansel walked towards Janus, but stopped out of reach of a quick thrust of the katana. "You have a lot of confidence you will win, no? Banking the freedom of your friends on your skills?"
"Are you man enough to accept the challenge? Or are you going to turn down a fight in front of your new friends?" Janus asked, hoping the man would be influenced by his ego and pride.
"Technically my orders are to bring you all in, but hell, since you laid it down like that-" Hansel unsheathed a longsword from the scabbard on his hip. "Call me stupid, I guess I can't refuse a good duel." He nodded sharply at the Blue Wolves to step back and give them enough room to fight. "You will not interfere."
Good. Janus glanced sidelong at his own allies, who slowly backed away with unsettled looks on their faces. Now all I have to do is win.
The locals who were brave enough to remain gathered closer to witness events unfold. A sizeable crowd gathered in the marketplace, with a huge circular gap in the middle where the Blue Wolves were surrounding the Warriors. Hansel and Janus circled round, the bounty hunter and the mercenary prowling and stalking each other like two hungry tigers.
"The great Prometheus." Hansel dropped into a fencing stance. "The most feared mercenary in Bruvesqk. Let's see what you're made of."
"You asked." Janus was the first to move, thrusting his sword in a textbook lunge. He knew that Hansel would have enough time to counter the attack, but that was what he was counting on.
As expected, Hansel parried with ease, and returned a riposte with his own thin longsword. Janus faded sideways, grabbed Hansel's outstretched arm with his free hand and slammed the pommel of his katana against the bounty hunter's wrist.
The longsword was knocked out of Hansel's hand, but he quickly sprung back to put some distance between them before Janus could capitalise. The Witch Hunter drew two small knives from his bandoliers across his chest and whipped them at Janus in a criss-cross formation, and immediately began running forward as soon as the blades left his hands.
Janus leapt out of the knives' converging paths, and only just managed to bring his free hand up to block a running knee by Hansel. It was barely enough to stop him. The Witch Hunter used the distraction to twist and wrestle the katana out of Janus' hand and tossed it aside far out of reach.
That had given Janus enough time to regroup and counter with an attack of his own. He gave Hansel a head butt on the temple, and the latter staggered back in a slight daze. Janus sprung high off the ground, and drew his arm back, winding up for a crushing blow. He landed a downward arcing punch which would have theoretically shattered the bounty hunter's collarbone, but Hansel was fast. Almost as fast as Janus even.
The Witch Hunter grabbed Janus' arm as he descended, and with all his might swung him in the opposite direction. Janus, riding the momentum, gripped Hansel's arm even after he let go, dragging the bounty hunter down with him. The both of them went down in a heap, but Janus rolled out from beneath swiftly.
Out from the fold of his sleeve emerged a thin dagger which he shifted into an icepick grip. He slashed at Hansel, who had already gotten to his feet. His enemy produced a knife of his own, and the two blades clashed with an ear-piercing scream of steel meeting steel.
"Not bad, old boy." Hansel said as he leaned into the attack, grinding his knife harder against Janus' dagger. "You live up to your reputation and more still."
"Glad I didn't disappoint." Janus suddenly pulled back.
Hansel stumbled forward due to the lack of opposing force and Janus caught him with a clean uppercut on the jaw. With a quick spin of his body, Janus positioned himself with his back facing the stunned Witch Hunter, and drove his elbow backwards into the side of his cheek.
As he went down, Hansel returned with a slash of his knife across Janus' back, and he grunted in pain as blood was shed, stars crossing his vision briefly. Before he could hit the ground, the Witch Hunter rolled to his feet and got up, still brandishing the knife.
Janus ignored the stinging feeling across his back as he felt cold, unforgiving wind blow against his wound. It wasn't a deep cut, but it hurt all the same. Avoiding another sideways cut from Hansel, he felt the air go out of him as the quick-footed Witch Hunter slammed his shoulder into his chest with surprising speed.
The dagger fell out of Janus' hand, and he hit the ground, rolling so that he disengaged far enough from his opponent. But Hansel came on again relentlessly, moving with deadly speed, and threw himself on top of Janus.
He got to his knees, and parried a quick strike from Hansel with another small dagger that slid into his palm. The blades struck each other, and both hovered, neither man budging an inch.
"Game's over, then." Hansel grinned, pushing his knife hard. Since he had the advantage of height, the knife slowly sank down towards Janus.
"I don't think so." Janus glanced down.
Hansel followed his eyes, and saw that the mercenary had another small blade held just in front of his ribs. "Sly dog." Hansel said approvingly, impressed. His knife was inching closer to Janus, now hovering near his throat. "But that leaves us at a stalemate, don't you think?"
"I suppose."
"Leaving us right where we started. The Blue Wolves are still going to take you in."
"Are you so sure?" The blade moved just a little closer, almost pricking Hansel's side.
"Hmmn." Hansel said, his own knife near Janus' neck. "If you kill me, you know they'll be happy to gun you down. From one professional to another, we've both been playing these sort of games long enough to know the risks. Go on then, call my bluff."
"Don't tempt me. I'm considering it."
"Janus! Don't!" It was Elsa's voice, but it was distant and carried a hint of utmost urgency.
His hands still on his blades and defending himself, Janus' eyes flicked to the side where he saw Elsa, standing with Tracy and Jade beside Gretel. Obviously, they had surrendered without a fight, for there wasn't a scratch or wound on any of them.
"It's over." Elsa called out, briskly walking over to where Janus and Hansel had knives inches away from each other's skin. "Please. Put away the daggers."
"We can't give up now." Janus stared at her, still kneeling on the ground with both blades up.
"We can't risk anyone else dying. Please." She pleaded. "We can't afford to lose anyone else. Too much blood has been spilt already."
"Elsa, you can't seriously be giving up now." Incredulously, Janus looked at her sidelong. "You know what this means, if we surrender."
"I know." Elsa said, squatting beside Janus, not caring about the blades the two men were wielding at such dangerous proximity. "We will never be free."
"Is that what you want?" Janus asked.
She nodded, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Please."
Slowly, Janus withdrew the dagger at Hansel's side and gradually eased the force applied with his other dagger. Likewise, Hansel removed his own knife and Janus stood to his feet.
"A worthy opponent. You fight even better than they say. No hard feelings or anything, right?" Hansel clapped him amicably on the shoulder with no trace of hostility. "A pity we never worked together, eh? We could've made big bucks."
Janus gave him a wary nod and watched as he walked back to his sister.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Gretel berated her brother in annoyance. "You could have gotten yourself killed, damn it."
"But I didn't, did I?" He grinned at her as he sheathed his knife.
When he was sufficiently satisfied that the Witch Hunters weren't going suddenly attack, Janus turned his attention fully to Elsa. "Are you sure you want to surrender? There's no turning back from this."
Nodding again confidently, Elsa slipped her hand into his. "There's been enough fighting already."
He glanced round at the rest of the Warriors. Tracy, Jade, Maui and Deirdre, none of whom were protesting Elsa's decision. They were all in silent agreement that there was no way they could escape intact without someone getting hurt.
Elsa squeezed his hand. "Please."
"Alright." Janus dropped his dagger and hugged her, not caring that the throngs of locals and Blue Wolves were watching. "Are you hurt? Did she hurt you?" He shot a sharp stare at Gretel.
"No," Elsa said. "She helped me see reason. There's no point in risking any more of our lives. We've lost enough. We're at the end of the hunt."
Janus exhaled deeply as the Blue Wolves approached them. The months-long running spree against their enemies was over. They had lost. For now. He gritted his teeth. This is far from over.
Author's Commentary:
This is the end of the first act of the story. In retrospect, I'm currently penning the ending of the 5th novel and I have to say, this trilogy is turning out rather differently from what I originally planned in the beginning. This trilogy certainly has a darker tone than the first (Book 1-3), as you can probably already tell. The events of this trilogy (Book 4-6) is on a scale larger than anything that has ever happened in the Frozenverse before.
When I was planning for this novel, I knew I had to one-up myself, especially in the villains department. We first saw Kane as an eco-terrorist with a mercenary company at his command. And then we had Ingrid Grendstav and a brainwashed League of Sorcerers. Then to top off the trilogy, we had our biggest foe yet: Empress Eleanor and the Imperial Horde, accompanied by General Kane and Hans.
I knew I had to do something out of the box. So what if our heroes were fighting against a villain they didn't know even existed? At this point, the Warriors don't even know Lord Magnus and the Crimson Order have been pulling the strings of this continental war the entire time. So this entire novel was birthed out of the idea of "how can the Warriors defeat an enemy they don't know exists?" The concept was so intriguing to me, and I hope it'll develop well in the chapters to come. Slowly, the Warriors will be on a collision course with the Crimson Order.
Trust me when I say, you won't see this coming. I'm quite excited to share the next part of the story with all of you, so stay tuned.
As Janus said, this war, it's far from over.
