Diamond Bonds (12 page)

Di reveals the last of the pages with great amusement.  “He drew you with a scowl on your face, Jem.  That’s kind of accurate!”

Jem snatches it and is ready to rip it to pieces, but looking it over one more time, she can’t help but crack a smile.  “The idiot got one thing right, huh?”

Di laughs and nods.  Jem grabs her bag and retrieves her emerald necklace.  “At least I got to keep something of Andrea’s,” she says while slipping it on.

“Ugh, you’re going to flaunt that?” Di groans.

The pair takes notice of a growing crowd noise from outside.  “Apparently not,” Jem mutters as she removes the necklace and wraps it around her forearm, hiding it beneath her sleeve.

Di looks to her guardian in confusion.  “What is-”

Jem cuts her off with a finger held up in silence.  “Stay here,” she whispers as she leaves the room and heads toward the front of the small clinic.

As she turns the corner, she bumps into Era, who was hurrying back toward her.  “Oh, sorry Jem!” he apologizes as he grabs her arms and turns her around.  “Maybe you should stay back in the exam room.”

Jem glances at him suspiciously, but as the noise grows she begins to figure it out.  “Ah, so the welcome wagon’s finally here, eh?”

Era grimaces as they hear the front door open.  He turns and takes a defensive position in the narrow hallway, shoving his hand into the pouch at his waist.  Soon enough, three husky individuals walk around the corner.  Though unarmed, they do their best to act intimidating.

“So it’s true,” one mumbles as he turns to his companion.  “Mayor, sir, what should we do?”

The older man squeezes through his two guards and glares at Jem.  He points past Era and shouts, “You’re not welcome here,
Allerian.
  Get out of our town!”

While Era plays the role of bodyguard to Jem, she crosses her arms in defiance.  “Oops, I didn’t realize I wasn’t welcome!  I wouldn’t have stayed if I’d known,” she says, her words dripping with sarcasm.

The mayor narrows his eyes as he gazes at Jem and then Era, sizing them up.  The exam room door behind the pair opens as Di slides out.  After looking all three of them over, he orders, “Just get out of here before you bring trouble on yourself.”

“Seems it’s too late for that,” Jem banters.  “Or is that crowd going to nicely create a path when I leave?”

“Let’s just say you have three minutes to exit the building before we allow the crowd to come in after you,” the mayor growls as the three turn and leave.  When they open the door, the cries from the crowd outside stream in.  It sounds like the entire town is outside waiting.

Era scratches the back of his head.  “I don’t think we should go out the front door.”

Jem gives him a shove.  “Thanks for your infinite wisdom.  Now go get your stuff.  We might not have three minutes.”

Era scurries back to his room as the doctor comes around the corner.  “I’m most sorry, but once the people heard there was an Allerian here, there was nothing I could do.”

“And just how did they know an Allerian was here?” Jem asks with a sly grin.

“I treated your friend and let you stay here well into the morning,” he replies, his words laced with disdain.  “You’d best not frown on my generosity.”

“Yes, thank you for your
excellent
hospitality,” Jem sneers.  “Funny you have such problems with Allerians, and yet you took an Allerian’s money without remorse.”

“Just get out!” the doctor huffs before leaving to join the crowd.

Jem sighs as Di approaches from behind.  “Jem, why are they so…?”

The Allerian places her hand on the girl’s head.  “The real world is tough sometimes.  You probably don’t see anything like this at school, huh?”  Di shakes her head and hugs Jem as she explains, “Some of these towns were affected by the war in some major way.  Maybe there was a battle here, or it’s possible they had some beloved local killed in action.  Either way, it’s just another town to add to my blacklist.”

For a fraction of a second, Di sees sadness in Jem’s eyes as she says all this, but it quickly disappears as the Allerian offers her classic, reassuring grin.  “Come on!  Let’s ditch this dirty town.”

Era comes out of his room, his bag slung over his shoulder. “We can get out through my window.  No sign of the mob that direction.”

“Move out!” Jem shouts, shoving Di back towards Era’s room.

As the trio hurries through the back alleys, the sound of the crowd at the clinic dies away.  Di watches Jem as she skillfully ducks from wall to wall, choosing her path carefully so as to remain unseen.  The young girl wonders how many times the Allerian has had to sneak out of a situation like that.

Jem’s words echo in Di’s mind.  She’s long known about the war that ended when she was only six years old, but there’s always been a mystery to Allerians.  Jem had skillfully avoided Di’s interrogation when they first met, and Di burns with curiosity about the foreigner’s past.  She’s so lost in thought she barely even notices as the buildings clear out, leading way to a brightly-lit forest.

Jem breaks the silence by abruptly smacking Era in back of the head.

“Ow!” he cries out.  “What’s the big idea!?”

Jem plants her finger on his nose.  “You still haven’t explained your little prank this morning.  Don’t think I buy for a second you were trying to cheer us up.  You were up to something!”

Era averts his eyes while rubbing the back of his head.  “I’m not sure how to say it, but…”

A rustle of leaves from a nearby bush reveals the gang isn’t alone.  Boldly emerging is none other than Fire, her arm bandaged and in a cloth sling, seemingly in a non-confrontational stance.

“You!?” Jem shouts as she unsheathes her dagger and shoves Di back.  “Era, this is her!  The one who poisoned you!”

“O-Oh!  This is her?” he responds uncomfortably while doing his best to look surprised.

His relaxed response doesn’t go unnoticed, nor does Fire’s stance.  Glancing back and forth between the two, Jem barks at Era, “What’s going on?”

“You haven’t told her?” Fire asks with amusement.

Keeping her dagger ready, Jem glares at her partner.  “You haven’t told me
what?
”

“And now I see
why
he didn’t tell you,” Fire says, still amused.  “Good to know who’s in charge of this little band.”

“Shut up!” Jem shouts.  “You have exactly thirty seconds to explain yourself before I stab you!”

“It’s okay, Jem.  We’re on good terms,” Era eases, bracing himself for physical punishment.  “We met last night.”

Jem looks at her partner in stunned disbelief.  “L-Last night?  You went out last night!?”

“To hunt her down!” Era explains.  “I was going to beat her up, make her explain herself… but then it got complicated!  This other guy jumped in the middle of our fight, and he was about to kill her.  So then I saved her life, and I-”

“I had the situation completely under control,” Fire interrupts.  “The idiot here jumped in before I took my opportunity to strike, is all.”

Era waves it off.  “Sure, we can go with that.  Either way, I ended up fighting off the other mercenary and helping her recover.”

Disbelief washes over Jem’s face as the two recount the previous evening’s activities, bickering over the details like old friends.

Era turns his attention back to his two companions.  “So anyway, after I beat back this crazy root-controlling guy- oh Di!  I have to ask you about him later.  But either way, Fire here… her name is Fire, by the way.  Cool name if you ask me!”  Collecting his thoughts, he slows himself and continues, “Anyway, Fire was unconscious, so I started carrying her back to town.  My plan was for her to recover in the medical clinic, but she woke up and tried to
attack
me.”

“I woke up to you
carrying
me.  What did you think I would do?”

Era laughs.  “Guess it’s a good thing I tossed all your weapons.”

Fire grits her teeth.  “Most of those were
tools
.  And besides, don’t you want to hire me?”

“WHAT!?” Jem screams.  “Are you saying you
befriended
and then tried to
hire
the bounty hunter who’s hunting us!?”

“A-Actually, it turns out she’s an assassin,” Era quietly corrects.

Di jumps back as Jem’s eye twitches.  Fire adds, “And, to be clear, there is no
befriending
happening here.”

Jem smacks Era repeatedly in the shoulder.  “Idiot!  Moron!  What are you
thinking?
”

“It makes sense!” he argues, rubbing his arm.  “She’s injured, so she’s out of the hunt.  Di’s worth money if we get her home, so now Fire will
help
us rather than telling all her friends where we are.”

Fire places her good hand on her hip, already bored from the conversation.  “So are we doing this or not?  Because I’m not interested in dragging it out.”

“We are
not
doing this!” Jem insists as she jabs her dagger toward Fire.  “We’re tying you up and leaving you behind.”

“Just try it,” Fire dares with a challenging glare.

“Wait, Jem,” Era argues.  “Look, I don’t think they were lying about the two million bounty. 
Two million!
  Do you think Fire’s going to be the last assassin we see?”

“T-Two million?” Di stammers.

“Each,” Fire corrects.

“Six million venni?” Jem mutters to herself as she lowers her dagger.  “But… But Era, we can’t let her come with us!  If we’re worth that much, she’ll backstab us the first moment she gets.”

“Ah, I see what’s going on here,” Fire interrupts.  “You enjoy being the queen bee of your little hive here, and you don’t want another queen entering the picture.  But as I see it, you don’t have a say.  The moron here is the one who’s hiring me for his share of the reward money.  I assume it’s fifty percent?”

“Actually, it’s thirty-five percent,” Era sheepishly admits.  “I give Jem some of my share for her tutelage.”

Fire gawks.  “For
tutelage?
”  When Era offers a shrug, she grumbles, “Fine, I’ll do it for thirty-five.  Girl’s worth six million to the military, so we should be able to hold out for a million from a town like Canterin.”

Di starts to object, but Jem jumps in.  “Wait, the
military
placed the bounty on us?”

“Yep!  Turns out I was right all along,” Era beams.

“You
knew!?
”

“O-Oh yeah,” he admits, “that other assassin guy mentioned it during our fight.”

“He’s just a bounty hunter,” Fire needlessly corrects.  “So let me see if I fully grasp the situation.  You two,” she points at Jem and Era, “don’t seem special, so my guess is you’re chump thieves who stumbled into this entire deal.  You ended up with the girl, who’s a VIP to the crown, and you kidnapped her-”

“
Saved
her,” Era corrects.

“Well, you unwittingly ‘saved’ her from the
Valvoran military
,” she stresses.  “You really poked the hornet’s nest, you know?  Commander Galen himself placed the bounty on your heads.  Sounded like he personally saw you in action.”

Jem rubs her temple as her head spins.  “Ugh, this is bad.”

“So now you’re taking the girl back home, thinking all the while you’re doing a good deed for a small reward,” Fire continues.  “In reality, you’re in far, far deeper than you can possibly imagine.”  With a cocky smirk, she asks, “Still think you can go it alone?”

“Jem,” Era interjects, “I know it’s risky inviting her along with us, but isn’t it just as risky to
not
have her protecting us?  There could be ten, twenty, a hundred professional hunters chasing us down right now.  We need to do something!”

“Well, what good is
she
in a fight?” Jem asks.  “Her arm is broken, so there’s no way she could-”

Fire steps forward, kicks the knife from Jem’s hand, spins around her, and grapples her neck with her good arm.  Jem starts to fight back, but Fire just shoves her into Era.  “There’s plenty I can do in a fight,” she says.

Jem rubs her neck.  “I
hate
this girl,” she mutters to Era.  “Fine, come along, take Era’s money.  You’re going to scout for us too, I hope?”

“I’ll be scouting, that’s a given.  But first, a few rules,” she declares as she holds a hand up and starts counting fingers.  “Number one, no more towns.  Number two, no more roads.  And number three, no more fires. You three are like a herd of horses romping along, leaving a trail a mile wide for someone to track.”

Jem manages to muster a smile.  “Sure, anything you say!  You’re the expert.”

Fire sizes Jem up and, with a smirk, says, “Just head west.  I’ll keep an eye on the path ahead.  Try to keep up.”

Without waiting for a response, Fire dashes into the foliage.  As she retreats, Di can barely hear her footsteps disappear into the distance.  The way she moves is different from anything she’d seen before.  “S-So are we actually teaming up with her?” she squeaks.