The Legend Of Black Eyes 167 Her True Identity

"No one's ever refused to work with me," she said in a tone I could only describe as bitterly disappointed.

"You're not offering a partnership," I said. "You want me to work for you, not with you."

"I saved your life," she said. "You owe me."

I smiled. Despite the increasing anger and frustration, I smiled.

"You decided to save my life," I said. "I never asked for it. I never even knew you existed."

"Yet I saved you. That alone guarantees my good intentions," she said, clenching her jaw even tighter. She approached me, pointing her index at my chest. Her nails were neatly trimmed, polished too. I could tell from the shiny torchlight reflection on them.

"Let's just call it a generous gesture," I said, grinning. "You saw two strangers in a dire situation. You had to do something about it. This either makes you chivalrous, or in need of a favor in return."

Osgar stepped on my foot then, silently asking me to behave. I brushed him off and looked the thief intently in the eyes.

"You're an amateur with superpowers," I said. "You think saving people will fill in that void inside of you?"

Crow's eyes narrowed. She was inches away from me then. I could see fat creases embellishing the flawless skin between her eyebrows. I straightened up, meeting her angry eyes with an insolent grin.

I held on during the staring contest quite remarkably. It seemed as though she wanted to tell me to back off. I could hear her teeth gritting. I could hear her breathing out quite vehemently. I grinned all along. Our eyes never wavered.

"Let me tell you what I think," I whispered to her. Osgar started shifting in his position. I don't think he expected this meeting to take this turn.

"You'd better make it quick," she huffed at me. "I'm about two breaths away from gouging your remaining eye off."

I snorted. "Three," I said then.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Three," I repeated. "I've been in this city for three days, and I already know one thing you don't."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"In three days, I managed to locate the man you want to steal from," I said.

Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. She kept her sight on me the whole time though.

"Pray tell me," she said, forcing a nervous smile. "Where might he be hiding then?"

"I think you know too," I said, keeping my insolent grin.

She either didn't expect this answer or didn't prepare herself for this possibility. Her jaw almost dropped to the floor. The finger she had jammed on my chest wavered a little.

"See, this is the thing that you don't know," I went on. "I knew what you knew. I even have found out more than I expected, like what Bodrick's darkest moment is. It helped me form quite the theory on him, his secrets, and in turn, you."

"Leave us," she yelled at the others.

They seemed to hesitate for a while before she repeated the order, a little louder and firmer this time. The torch holders put the flickering light sticks on the ground and shuffled back to whichever hole they'd come from.

Crow retrieved a torch and jammed it at Osgar. "Stay," she ordered.

I felt Osgar's piercing stares, but I didn't look at him.

"What did he tell you?" she hissed at me.

"Nothing!" Osgar squealed immediately after. She shot him a venomous stare.

"Nothing," I repeated a bit loudly to get the lady's attention. "Osgar never told me anything about you. In fact, he seemed hurt when you decided to contact me, not him. He got so mad he refused to even talk about how you first met."

She turned to me, swept a loose hairstrand from her forehead then rested her azure eyes on me. "Tell me about this interesting theory then," she said.

"It doesn't take much to get a man to speak in this city," I said. "Just give them enough booze, feed their ego, and they'll start talking. I bought a man some rounds two nights ago. We talked, one thing led to another, and he started telling me about this girl who lives in a mansion all by herself."

Crow's eyes didn't waver then, but I could tell something I said caught her attention. She was ignoring Osgar now, listening to the story I've concocted for her.

"The girl," I went on. "Never leaves her house unless she's with an escort of armored guards. It also appears that the guards wear a bear sigil, one that fits quite nicely with Lord Bodrick's."

"We all know this story," Crow said. She was growing restless. She started shifting her weight between her legs too often. She also played with the loose strands that escaped her bun. "Where are you going with this?" she asked.

"The girl with the escort," I said then started walking around Crow in circles. "Appeared not too long ago in a village south of here. The girl with the escort disappeared one night to explore the woods. It so happens that it was the same night we were attacked, the same night you saved us."

Crow looked incredulously at me. Her wide blue eyes fixed me with an expression of utter shock. Then she guffawed. She threw her head backwards and let her laughter echo in the empty warehouse.

"Are you comparing me to that scaredy cat?" she said in between fits. "The demons must have messed with your mind."

"Not quite," I said. I kept my voice calm, composed. "It also happens that the girl was asked to leave the village the night I was attacked on Bodrick's orders. The girl with the escort didn't make it to Merinsk until three days after they departed. They were supposed to make it in one day."

"Zedd," Crow interrupted. "Make it short." Her voice was steely now, threatening.  

"This all got me thinking," I said. "Why did this girl have a habit of appearing wherever the merchant robber appeared?"

"I don't know," Crow said. "Maybe she's a fan?"

"As a matter of a fact," I said, grinning. "I think she loves what you do Crow. That drunken guard also told me about the Webers, you see; tragic story, really." I stopped circling around the thief. I was standing behind her. I leaned closer to her right ear and whispered. "It's funny how you and Lady Bord.i.c.k senior have the same motives."

"A lot of people share my motives," Crow said, on the defensive.

"You seem to steal exclusively from Bodrick though," I retorted. "You're adamant on seeing the man go down. You must really hate him."

"I do," Crow admitted. "I hate that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but that doesn't justify your farfetched story."

"Not if I add in what I found out next," I said. Crow was about to interrupt me but I went on, spoke faster and louder than her.

"The Webers were punished for stealing from Bodrick. This is the official story anyway. I found out, after buying a couple of rounds to the guard who captured and delivered the Webers to Bodrick, that it was Lady Bodrick senior that stole the jewel. Bodrick knew of it, of course, but he decided to punish his darling daughter in an ingenious way."

Crow clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She didn't try to interrupt me anymore. She litstened to me, her eyes quivering, her back straight as an arrow. I kept circling around the amateur thief.

"He brought the family that stole from him to his mansion," I went on. "And he executed them in front of his daughter. Lady Bodrick senior was to remain in captivity, never allowed to leave without an escort."

"Touching story really," Crow said. "If it proves anything, it's that you wasted my time."

 "Well," I said. "I spent all the money I had on buying this guard a drink, the other some food and drinks, but I found out quite a lot. Just hear me out for the sake of the money I invested."

Crow let out an uninterested humph, but she kept listening.

 "I was curious to see why Bodrick's daughter, the girl who isn't allowed outside, came all the way to Sosalk. And she took the southern road at that. Something bugged me about the entire thing."

"What's wrong about n.o.ble ladies travelling?" Crow asked.

"This one can't travel," I said. "Unless for a very good reason."

"What might that be?" she asked.

"Well," I said, then stopped in front of her. "A depressed merchant I spoke to heard something from a guard, who knew someone, who worked as Lady Bodrick's escort. He told me that she was headed to some city near the border, to be wed.

"It's there that the n.o.ble and handsom son she was supposed to marry had an unfortunate accident. He was robbed by the merchant robber, in plain daylight. His guards tried to kill the seeping darkness when they chopped off their young lord's d.i.c.k."

"Unfortunate accident," Crow said.

"The lady's asked to come back to Merinsk, but she had to make a stop in Sosalk where her father and sister were. She had to meet with him urgently, for her father was cross." I looked at Osgar for the first time. He was listening intently to the story, piecing out the puzzle from his side too.

"Only, Lord Bodrick arrived to Sosalk one day 'after' Lady Bodrick," I went on, grinning at Crow. "I met the man. He had a son, but only one daughter, the one with the escort. So where was the sister? When you told me about Wanda though, everything fit."

"She is Lady Bodrick senior," Osgar said in a faint whisper.

"Meet Lady Beatrix Bodrick," I said. "The n.o.ble thief, ladies and gentlemen. She steals from her lord father, and gives to the poor. Helping one person at a time, for she cares oh so deeply for all of them!"

"Shut up!" Crow snarled at me. "Just shut it!"

"Hit a sensitive spot, have I?" I asked.

She hurled herself at me. We fell to the wet ground. I hit the ground first, and I rolled to the side, trying to get on top of my crazed attacker. We struggled on the ground like two piglets playing in mud. We fell from one side to the other, grunting, punching each other, our legs flailing, each one of us trying to gain the upper hand.

We exchanged blows and kicks. She screamed as I pulled her from her hair. I squealed when she kneed my nuts. I pulled her hair hard and I heard her head hit the ground before I turned my attention to my precious b.a.l.l.s.

We remained on the ground, breathless, dealing with our pain in silence. She was the first to stand. She headed toward me and put a hunting knife against my throat.

"No one can know who I am, no one!" she hissed. I looked her in the eyes and didn't struggle. I exposed my neck for her.

"What're you gonna do about it?" I asked.

Her hand was holding the knife firmly, steadily, but it barely touched my neck.

"You're not a killer, Crow," I said. "That's what you lack in your little team here. You want your precious plan to work out. You'll need a killer. You also need someone who can find things out without relying on your dark methods, on your secrecy."

I pushed the knife away and stood. I brushed the dirt off my clothes and looked down at her. She was still kneeling, processing what I'd just told her.

"You need me," I said. "But I don't need you. Don't get in my way, or your lord father will know who his nemesis really is."