Madison looked back at the three holding guns on the road, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
Barbara rolled her eyes. “I think that means you can stay.”
“Fabulous!” Madison said. “Shall we put on some tea?”
THE ALLEGHENY
The four Allegheny in the clearing wore animal skins and tall Old World boots. Each of them had bones braided into their hair. It made their heads look like a suitable habitation for a family of birds. Duncan wasn’t amused, however. He suspected the bones were of human origin, and three held long machetes, rusty from oxidation and blood.
The leader of the group held no weapon. She was a large, rounded woman who had a lattice of bones cascading down her back, each one laced together by strands of her raggedy hair. She sat on a log in the clearing, facing the blonde merc woman. Cecile was behind them, bound and gagged, with one arm held firmly by another merc, a strapping young man barely out of his teens.
The large Allegheny woman and the merc lady were clearly conversing, but they were too far away to determine what they were saying.
Duncan put down his binoculars and whispered to Pierre in French, “I don’t like taking on those mercs, but the Allegheny could kill Cecile any moment. We need to move in.”
Pierre nodded and took two of the men to the north, while Duncan approached from the east. When they were close enough to charge, Duncan and the four men with him found cover positions and aimed their rifles.
Duncan’s first shot missed the large Allegheny woman, but through his scope he could see another bullet knock her off her chair. The other Allegheny people dropped to the ground. Whether they had been downed by bullets or dropped of their own volition, it was hard to tell.
“On y va!” Duncan yelled and hurtled over the downed tree he was perched behind. He was jogging full tilt, but occasionally he would slow and look through his sight. The Allegheny were still down.
When his men had found positions surrounding the clearing, Duncan called out, “We want Cecile! Send her out and you can live.”
There was a burst of fire in his direction, so he dropped down. One of his men yelped in pain. Duncan looked to see the younger merc had found cover and was taking aim with a rifle. One of the Allegheny men also jumped up and ran into the forest after one of his men, screaming and swiping with a machete.
The machete-wielding Allegheny was easily dropped by two well-placed rounds, but the merc man kept firing. Another one of Duncan’s men cried out.
They charged farther inward, toward the clearing, suppressing the merc with a flurry of fire. The next time the merc popped his head up, Duncan was ready.
Duncan hit him squarely in his temple, sending him into a spasm on the ground. Only a brief moment later he lay still.
“C’est clair!” Pierre called out.
Duncan cautiously stood up and walked into the threshold of the clearing, scanning the surroundings carefully as he went.
The large Allegheny woman was bleeding out but alive, her back up against a tree. Another Allegheny man was breathing rapidly, but his intestines were seeping out of him onto the forest floor. Across from them was the blonde merc, lying down on her back with one hand behind her head, and the other hand with a pistol pointing at the cuffed and bound Cecile.
At first the merc wasn’t paying attention to them, but rather staring at the sky between the trees as if daydreaming, oblivious to the approaching assailants and the gruesome scene around her.
Then the merc abruptly sat up and looked around, her pistol still trained on Cecile. She said, “Okay, okay, you can unwet your pants now, whoever you are. No one else is going to shoot at you.”
She stood up all the way, pulling Cecile off the ground with her. She arranged Cecile into a tight headlock. Cecile looked filthy and tired, with bruises on her face, but her eyes maintained the stubborn vitality he remembered.
“Hi, I’m Rosalie,” the merc woman said with a southern twang, turning to Duncan and Pierre. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Rosalie ambled over to the other merc with Cecile in tow. She touched him with her foot. He didn’t move.
“Too bad,” Rosalie said, “Nice to look at, he was. A bit foolhardy, though. Oh well, I guess a new broom sweeps clean, but an old one like me knows where the dirt is. Now let’s see, where were we?” She ambled Cecile toward the Alleghany leader while still keeping her in headlock.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Duncan asked, keeping his rifle trained on Rosalie. “Look at the odds here, merc. It would be wise for you to give up.”
“I’m sorry mister, but we haven’t been formally introduced.”
“Duncan.”
“Duncan, I hear you. You all can do whatever your heart pleases. By all means, pull those triggers, but only as long as you’re willing to shred your charming mademoiselle here. You see, I’m a merc, sir, and I have a contract. I’m going to finish my business, now or if you kill me, when I’m darn well resurrected. Hopefully I will come back with better teeth.” She smiled, revealing a gap between her front teeth.
Duncan looked to Cecile, who shook her head slowly, a dark look in her eyes. Perhaps the merc would kill Cecile.
“She knows me so well,” Rosalie said, noticing the exchange between Cecile and Duncan. “Me and Cecile, we’re best of friends now!” Rosalie kissed Cecile on the back of her head.
Duncan would have to let the scene play out. They weren’t going anywhere, as long as his men had them surrounded.
Rosalie gradually made it over to the bleeding Allegheny leader, who had been watching the interaction with some disgust.
Rosalie felt at the ground and found a few stray pieces of paper that were speckled with blood and dirt. With Cecile still in tow, she brushed them off and examined them closely. “There you have it.”
Rosalie released her hold on Cecile, fully exposing herself to gunfire from his men. Cecile was surprised but not so surprised that she didn’t react. She rapidly moved away to stand next to Duncan.
“I don’t understand,” Duncan said. “Why would you release your hostage?”
“I wasn’t sure she signed. Looks like she did.” Rosalie waved the paper with a faint signature on the bottom. “So Cecile is no longer my responsibility. I fulfilled my contract.”
“So you’re saying…”
“You know, it’s really quite annoying. If you’d waited a wee bit longer we would’ve been long gone. Damien here wouldn’t be all blood and mush, but fair play. I get it.”
“So why shouldn’t we kill you right now?” Duncan asked.
“Because…” Rosalie was pulling something out of a pack on the ground. It was another document. “I’m going to sign a confidentiality agreement about what happened here. I won’t tell a soul, and this way, you don’t have my former clients coming back to finish the job.”
She handed the paper to Duncan, who took it and held it loosely in his hand.
Duncan pondered the proposal. It made some sense, but this irreverent merc was hard to figure. Who was to say she could be trusted?
“Is she serious?” Duncan looked over to Cecile, who was massaging her jaw after extricating her gag.
She spoke hoarsely. “Out c’est vrai. I actually think she will keep her word.”
“Sure as shit,” Rosalie confirmed.
Rosalie was already packing up her things, oblivious to the guns leveled at her. She even went through her merc colleagues’ pack and plundered a few items for her own. Then, when she was ready to leave, she put her hand out. “Well, you gonna sign or what?”