Fairy Tale Assassin - Chapter 4
Cursed Like Me
“How about letting me call you Ruby?” I asked suddenly.
Blanchette looked confused at my question. It was the morning of the next day when I finally tired of calling her by her given name. As she thought about it, I told her it was my nickname for only her after I reminded her of the problems during the night. Then, I laid on the charm. Well, what little I had.
“Thou are too pretty for such a long, cumbersome name. Thou hair shines red like the setting sun. Thou lookth like a gem. So, I giveth thee a name for only me to useth. It’ll be best for a new identity since you’re running away from that man.”
The woman’s face went red from embarrassment while I smiled at the fake Shakespeare lines I was throwing around.
Young girls are so fun to tease!
The reason for my push was more than my ego talking. This pretty woman didn’t look like a Blanchette. In my mind, such a name goes to an elderly widow with too many cats. Plus, forget about the idea that Red Riding Hood was a decent name. Way too much of a fairy tale story. Beyond that, I remembered the hunter saying others wanted her. She needed a unique, new identity.
As she considered my idea, I fell back into my own thoughts. According to Blanchette, Larry the Huntsman survived. Yeah, I did not know Larry was his name. And I couldn’t believe he got up again. She told me that her attacker hurried back to the camp once she started following me. Worse, I found out the huntsman worked for a guild with a contract to deliver Blanchette to a place called Emerald City. My jaw nearly hit the ground at the information.
Yes, the same Emerald City where the Wizard of Oz lives. Blanchette insisted he was a real wizard.
It was at this time; I finally stopped disregarding the idea I was in a world somehow based on fairy tales. They were wicked enough with Grimm’s heavy hand. As a grandpa, I told plenty of these stories to my kid and grandchildren, so I knew them well enough.
However, as Blanchette explained the world and herself, I realized the fairy tales and myths we all grew up with are nothing like I read. Instead, the people were worse than described in the Grimm stories. For example, Blanchette’s grandmother runs a brothel outside a tavern on the main road to Alsfeld. Worse, she sold the services of her granddaughter. How sick is that?
Yeah, the picture of a sweet old lady getting eaten by a wolf is a load of manure. Well, I wish it was true for Little Red Riding Hood’s sake; I guess. Her grandmother hired Larry as an escort for Blanchette to complete her deal with Emerald City. Ruby knew the brothel well. She grew up supporting the prostitutes working for her grandma after her mother died. Recently, the old hag started selling the services of Blanchette. While the woman hid the pain well, I could see the bitterness and hurt in Blanchette’s expression the more she talked about her ordeal. The look on her face made me angry at her situation. I guess the old grandpa inside hated the injustice of it all.
Larry the Hunter’s guild had a contract with brothels in Emerald City. Blanchette’s grandmother sold her to pay off a substantial debt. That someone would force Red Riding Hood to work in a whorehouse inside the same city where the Wizard of Oz lives shattered what brief illusions I had left. If she is correct, this world is rotten to the core. I had no doubt about it when I thought about my own run-ins with people so far. Therefore, I decided I would fix Ruby’s problem. That’s the reason I pushed for a name change as her first step.
“Covan, I accepteth the nameth!”
Her words brought me back to the present. With a smile, I thanked my new partner. The funny part was how happy she appeared. As we walked along, she started humming and making a song with her name. I got a sense that Blanchette followed me, then guided me because she carries a strong sense of gratitude for my help against Larry.
We walked along a wide path to Morum. She convinced me to go to the capital city after I learned it was in the general direction I was going. Plus, there are opportunities for us to join guilds who control everything related to economic activity.
As we walked along, I kept going over ways to survive in my head. It’s the primary reason I insist I’m not a commoner. Nobles, like the uberwealthy technology CEOs of my time, have the first right to grab and control anything good coming along. So, I intend to find a guild where I can put my twenty-first century skills to work. If I’m going to survive, I need money and power.
What are those skills? Well, I spent twenty years in a machine shop so I can make a hell of a lot of things from almost any type of metal, including weapons. Beyond that, my experience with design and tinkering came with me. If my guess is correct, this world is going to get an upgrade once I establish a place to call home.
The more we talked about things, I could see Ruby found my lack of knowledge strange. It forced me to come up with a backstory. Continuing with the theme I’m a lost noble, I simply told her I invented things which got me into trouble. Furthermore, I explained my escape took me across a vast distance from this unknown land, so I had no means of returning home. Strangely, the story somewhat mirrored my current situation.
Over most of the afternoon, the hunger pangs kept the two of us silent aside from finding the odd berry bush. Ruby knew how to forage from her time with her mother, so her wisdom came in handy when I tried to pick what I thought were blueberries. Instead, I found out bluish red berries contained a poison useful for witches to create a sleeping potion. From the description, I immediately thought about the tale of Sleeping Beauty. A nearby bush carried small black berries, which Ruby strongly discouraged me from touching.
“Tis death if the juice touchth thee blood,” she whispered.
From the reaction, I knew they reminded her of something painful. So, I silently pocketed a handful of the berries along with the sleeping type. Later, I added a handful of the belladonna berries I recognized from my survival training. The dark blue belladonna berries were one of the most toxic in my world. It’s not that I wanted poison berries for my diet. However, I figured they would come in handy if I needed poison for hunting. Eventually, I needed to use a bow, and I knew a poisoned arrow would save me a long walk. It reminded me of a show about Aboriginal hunters using poisons on their arrows and spears to kill their prey quickly.
As I thought about it, I naturally wondered about developing black powder and guns if they didn’t exist yet. When I asked Ruby about guns, I initially frowned since she told me they exist, but only a few nobles owned them. From the description, they appeared to use matchlocks for firing, which were nearly useless in the rain. Soon, a grin came to my face. I realized there was an opportunity to make inventions to get rich. Ruby asked me what I was smiling about. I shrugged, then cocked my head at the sound of running water. Moments later, we came to a creek. The clear water showed fish swimming below the narrow bridge.
“Time for dinner,” I told her.
After a feast of small fish strips cooked over the fire, along with berries and water, I finally found a comfortable place next to a large tree hollow. We caught the fish by using my cape. Letting it settle to the bottom of the creek, I slowly lifted it up to gather the fish that came swimming by. It wasn’t easy since we lost almost as many fish as we caught. But it is faster than trying to build a trap for them.
Making sure that our campsite was off the main trail a fair distance. I showed Ruby how to build a Dakota fire hole to keep the flames from being seen by travelers along the trail. The ground was soft, and my sickle worked well enough to make the hole. A survival instinct continuously stayed with me since both of us were basically unarmed with nothing more than a dagger and a sickle.
As night fell, my exhaustion came on fast. I pulled out the silver dagger that Ruby gave me with a question.
“Why did the hunter have this? It seems too expensive for his trade.”
The woman dropped her eyes.
“My grandmother gave me that before he took me away. She said it’s cursed like me.”
“And you gave it to me!” My voice went up a notch.
“Nay, it’s not liketh you thinkth,” her expression turned fearful. “It’s the only thing I hadst of value. I didn’t believeth you’d wanteth this body.”
Obviously, she’s got trust issues with how men have treated her. I tried to stop rolling my eyes and failed.
“First, you are a beautiful woman. So, of course, I’d want your body. But this is important. You’re more than a toy for a man. Never put yourself down like that. I just don’t jump a woman because I see her. Do you understand?”
Ruby blushed slightly before she nodded.
“Now, more importantly, what type of curse are you talking about?”
I kept trying to feel some type of magic on the weapon as I balanced it in my hand. Of course, I felt nothing but weight.
“I’m not sureth,” she replied. “Grandmother hath said t only works in the timeth of the moon. The huntsman tooketh from mine own container. He did look unsure about it but said he taketh as payment.”
“He’s a bastard that deserved what he got,” I growled.
The chuckle from Ruby made me look up, and she appeared pleased at my comment. Rolling over the dagger in my hand, I looked at the symbols in the pommel, but it didn’t make sense to me.
What curse during the moon?
Finally, I sighed and handed it to her. She looked hurt.
“No, it’s not as you think,” I quickly explained. “I’m giving to you because I want you to be protected if someone sneaks up on you and I’m not around. I don’t believe it’s cursed. You saw how it stabbed me, so it works. Do you understand? It means I trust you.”
After much hesitation, Ruby finally took the dagger. She stared at it while I laid down partially in the tree’s hollow. As my eyes closed and sleep overwhelmed me, I felt the woman snuggle against my back. An icy fear hit me at the thought she might use the dagger on me before quickly retreating.
Well, I’ve got to start somewhere!
~~~
As Ruby fell asleep, she considered the man in front of her. Covan didn’t treat her as she expected. Other men would take her, even beat her if unsatisfied, before rolling over to sleep. That was the reason she offered him the dagger instead of her body. He was a noble. She was a commoner and a whore. The kingdoms carried no laws to keep a noble from doing as he wanted with a commoner unattached to the land or a guild.
His green eyes watched her carefully, always observing, like he carried a tremendous weight on his shoulders. His story of coming from a land called America intrigued her. Of course, any commoner would find the idea of traveling with a noble hero remarkable and fascinating. At first, she thought he’d throw her away when he discovered her background and prostitution. Instead, Covan explained his obvious anger came from her mistreatment by her family.
I guess nobles could never understand selling everything for scraps of food.
While Ruby despised her grandmother for selling her to pay off a debt, she understood the practicality of the transaction. Commoners did what they could to survive. Maybe a noble could never understand, but she hoped Covan would keep her as a servant. His trust in handing the expensive dagger back to her gave her hope. Even if she’s as cursed at the weapon, Ruby vowed to help the thin man who trusted her. Even if it meant her life.
Chapter 5 Coming Soon - As always, the first 10 chapters are free reading. Become a subscriber to get every chapter.