The Roadside Scam

"You really do have some of the strangest friends."

I laughed at Zierra's remark and reined Iris in so we were riding side by side. "Nearly two hours of silent travel and you decide now to bring up my odd choice of friends?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "I was just thinking about the people I've met since coming here and realized I've met most of them through you and that they are all a little strange."

"They aren't all strange!" I defended and she gave me a rather unconvinced look.

"Soren is probably the most eccentric man I've met in my life and that is saying something considering my age."

"Yes but I warned you he was eccentric."

"Seamus is exceedingly excitable for a middle aged stable master. A human male of his age shouldn't be so spritely."

I shrugged. "He's happy and healthy! Is that so wrong?"

"Your bartender is an elven assassin with a secret ale recipe she refuses to share on threat of death and has a rather remarkable skill in medicine given that she has no formal training."

"Kari has had over one hundred years to perfect her ale so I'd be a little protective of the recipe too if I were here and she gained all her medical knowledge from patching Lyon and I up."

"Speaking of Lyon," she started and I groaned, letting go of my reins and leaning back. Zierra laughed at my dramatic antics. "Don't start with me, I'm making a point here."

"He's my best friend!"

"He has an unusually laid back and goofy nature for an assassin. You all do now that I think about it."

"You think I'm goofy?" I sat back up in my saddle, feining offense. "I will have you know that I can be incredibly serious."

Her smile fell to something different, something fonder. "Yes, I know Sapphyre. Don't mistake me, I like the way you and your friends are."

With a lack of a response I just smiled as we rode for few more miles before I could think of something else to say. "You left Jayde out."

She glanced at me, like she was checking to make sure I was okay. "That's because he's probably the most normal person in your life."

"He wants to be an assassin like me. How is that normal?"

"He looks up to you, of course he wants to do what you do for a living."

"Kari says he's going to be fine," my voice was quiet in an attempt to hide the emotion in it and I looked down at my hands, which fiddled with my reins. "His chest is almost healed and his breathing is back to normal. Kari has been keeping him asleep with herbs though to keep his pain to a minimun. Wounds given by Soulless can drive a person mad with the pain they cause."

I flinched as her hand rested on mine, ceasing their fidgetting, and I looked up to find that she hand moved her horse closer to mine. She gave me a sad smile. "You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened to him Sapphyre. He's probably the only reason Lyon and Malcolm made it out with the little injuries they had. He'll be really happy to know that when he wakes up."

Before I could say anything a comotion up the road caught my attention. Both of our heads snapped in the direction of a loud crash and we quickly shared a look before pushing our horses into a gallop to investigate. It was a up the road a bit and ended up being a merchant cart crash. The cart was on it's side and the horses had run a little ways into the surrounding forest. A flustered woman sat on the wreckage, cursing, but she jumped up at the sight of us.

"Please!" She ran up to me and placed a hand on my leg. "Please my wheel came off and my cart toppled over then my horses ran off! Could you help me?"

I looked between the woman and the wreckage a few times before giving her a friendly smile. "Of course we can. Let's take a look at the wheel together and I'll see if my friend here can round up your horses."

She jumped happily and ran back to her cart while Zierra and I dismounted and before we parted I grabbed her wrist. She looked confused and I pulled her closer to whisper in her ear. "This is a trap. I like to give the benifit of the doubt to civilians, but this is a common scam bandits run to rob people on the road. People are more inclined to stop for a pretty woman than a man so they use her as a decoy. The horses ran into the forest but keep your eyes and ears open. If you find any of her 'friends' then don't hesitate to take them out."

Her eyes darted back to the woman then she looked at me and raised a brow before smirking and giving my wrist a slight squeeze to signalize she understood. "She isn't that pretty," she winked before darting of into the woods.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her and put my friendly smile back on as I approached the woman. "Let's see if we can get this cart turned right side up, yeah?"

"It's a bit heavy," she sounded worried, like I wouldn't be able to lift it, and it might have even been what she was betting on. "Do you need help?" She added the last bit a little louder than necessary, likely meaning it was the cue for her friends to get ready.

I gave her a wink, which actually made her face grow a little red and she fidgeted with her jacket a little. "I think I'll manage."

The cart would have been to heavy for even a well fit man to lift but to me it was relatively light. I couldn't have her know that though so I pretended to struggle just slightly before carefully turning back over onto it's wheels. All four of them. I brushed my hands together to get the dirt and debris off of them with a chuckle. When I looked over at the woman her eyes were darting to and from the forest uneasily. "What's wrong? Did your friends not hear your cue?"

"What friends? I travel alone," she stammered and stumbled a few feet back from me.

"You do?" Zierra emerged from the tree with two horses in tow. The only signs of a struggle she had on her was a small splatter of blood on her cheek. "Might want to tell that to those guys I ran into in there," she jerked her thumb behind her, "because they sure thought you were all good friends."

"What did you do to them?" Her voice cracked in fear.

"Me?" Zierra laughed. "Well let's just say they won't be joining you for your next scam."

She tried to bolt but I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back and pinning her to the side of the cart. "Going somewhere?"

"Please don't kill me," she cried. "I really am a merchant, they hired me to be a part of their scams in exchange for a small cut of the earnings and them sparring my life."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

She reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace that she had tucked away and on it was the mark of the merchant guild, allowing her entrance into gated cities. "You'll find my certificate allowing me to sell weapons and jewlery inside the cart."

I looked to Zierra who sighed and nodded. "We might as well let her go. Those bandits weren't incredibly strong and seemed like they came from a small group, I mean there was only three of them. I don't think they'll reach out to her again."

I released her and took a few steps back. "Hitch your horses and get out of here. And if those bandits try to threaten you or contact you again then tell them that they'll leave you alone unless they want me to come after the rest of them."

Zierra and I mounted our horses and before we rode off the woman stopped me one more time. "But I don't know who you are?"

I gave her a devilish grin and watched a look of fear cross her face as my eyes went black. "The Mistress of Death."