Death and Taxes is the third in the Tales of The Lesser Evil and this is the twelfth and final chapter.
This is a fantasy series—not quite grimdark, but dark nevertheless—with complicated and believable characters doing their best to survive in a world simply indifferent to their existence.
To read an introduction to this novella, and the backcover blurb, click here.
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An Assumption of Honey
‘Here Khog, turn down here,’ Merie called ahead.
Jak took the lead horse’s harness and carefully led them off the main road, following a faint and barely visible trail.
They walked slowly, the horses picking their way across the grass. The bumps woke the children and they were helped down to walk the final stretch of the night’s journey.
Large boulders were interspersed with scrubby woodland and open glades. Bees hummed in the warmth and early butterflies fed on thousands of flowers. It was a beautiful spot.
The boulders were all rounded, worn and covered in lichen. Small lizards chased insects across the patterned surface and warmed themselves in the spring sunshine. Occasional deeply grooved graffiti in an alphabet unknown to Merie or Little Pepper was evidence others had used this area to camp for many years. Merie could not read, few could, but she knew what the letters of signs in Fea Little looked like. Little Pepper agreed that the words meant nothing to her and she could read and write in more than one script and language.
One boulder loomed larger than the others, the size of a small hill, deeply fissured and scarred. A stunted and wind twisted oak tree grew from a crack, splitting the rock in two. The tree had merged with the rock, both covered in moss and lichens and ferns. It was difficult to tell where one began and the other ended.
‘This is a good place to camp,’ Merie gestured to the wide clearing beside the rock. Other, smaller, boulders sheltered the spot from the prevailing westerly wind and the resulting calm air was warmly scented by the welcoming meadow flowers.
‘Here?’ Khog asked, eyes bright, looking around, clearly trying to work out where he would hide gold.
‘Yes, we set up here, then we’ll take a little walk to check on the water supply if you want to help?’
‘Oh, yes. Yes, I do. Let’s get this camp set up then.’
Merie glanced at Little Pepper, who had already started to rouse the children into action. She looked back at her and subtly nodded.
It did not take long to unhitch the horses, set up a small fire to cook on and arrange the blankets and stuffed mattress rolls for the tired children. There were still no clouds in the sky and they set up the large awning from the wagon; it would keep the sun off them just as well as it would rain.
Once this was done Merie picked up the water bags.
‘Khog, will you bring the horses, so they can have a drink?’
‘Certainly.’
‘Do you want me to help?’ Jak asked, starting to rise.
‘No, you stay here and get on with cooking breakfast, please. I think we should have some of the bacon and the last of the eggs.’
Jak nodded and went to the back of the wagon to get the food.
‘Where’s Ella?’ Khog asked as he started to follow Merie. She responded by looking around, as though she had not noticed Little Pepper had gone.
‘I expect she’s answering the call of nature. She’ll help Jak with breakfast and the children,’ she replied, looking back at him as they walked. The camp was quickly out of sight, hidden behind the rocks. ‘We’ll water the horses and fill these, then I’ll show you where the money is. We can move it on to the wagon later, once the children are settled.’
Khog nodded, grunting something unintelligible, hand subconsciously straying to the hilt of his shortsword.
Merie knew then that he would make his move as soon as she showed him the gold. She may not be able to read, but you did not need your letters to read a man—and she had seen glass windows which were less transparent than this particular one.
The horses drank their fill while the water bags were filled upstream. Merie laid them across the animal’s backs and started to lead the animals off at a slight angle. She was sure the gold would be where Luka had said it would be, but if she failed to find it, or it had been found by someone else, then they would still have Clark’s money and jewellery. It would not be the ridiculous fortune she and Luka had planned on leaving with, but it would be fortune still and more than enough. Far more.
She left the horses tied together, before passing between two rocks, the left shaped like an anvil and the right bearing only the slightest resemblance to a sundial gnomon. As soon as she was between them she started towards the next boulder. That was the last marker, line it up with the gap between the anvil and walk forward.
Another boulder, looking just like all the others.
Only, in theory, this one harboured gold the like of which songs were sung and tales shared over ale and a pipe.
‘There, Khog. That rock. Move the ferns aside and you should see a crack.’
He did as instructed and peered into the gloom, waiting for his eyes to adjust from the bright morning sunlight. He stretched both arms behind the screen of ferns and moss, groping in the dark.
‘It’s here!’ He laughed, withdrawing a small pottery container. It was heavy, despite its size.
In the stories, gold was always dug up in wooden chests or leather sacks. Merie remembered sitting in the basement with a bottle of wine, while Luka had explained this only worked for the stories as they did not have to contend with rot, or water, or rodents chewing. Pottery was strongest, lightest and would last the longest. He really had planned for everything. The thought and subsequent rush of emotion briefly took Merie by surprise, forcing her to pause, take a deep breath, refocus.
Khog broke the wax seal and pulled the tightly fitting lid off, before he laughed again, hand pulling out golden coins and holding them up to the light.
‘Oh, Merie. You weren’t lying, were you? Your stupid husband kept all the gold, all three pay wagons? It’s all here, isn’t it?’
‘He wasn’t stupid, Khog—and why would I lie?’ Merie somehow resisted the temptation to pull a knife, to continue to play along.
‘He was stupid. So are you. How you managed to pull it off, I don’t know, but I’m very grateful.’ He dropped the coins back into the container, a couple escaping, hitting rocks and making dull thuds as they bounced and rolled away. ‘I’m going to enjoy this.’
He drew his short sword and walked towards her, a big smile blooming on his face.
Merie made no move to draw her own knife, patient, waiting; follow the plan.
‘I’m going to kill your son. I might keep the others to sell when I get to Eastsea, but I might just kill them too. I might even make it quick, don’t worry. Ella, I might…’ He stopped and slowly dropped his sword, a puzzled expression appearing on his previously gleeful face. He reached around behind him, fingers stretching, spasming, trying to reach something.
There was a soft sound and he slipped to his knees.
‘What?’ He asked, then pitched forward into the warm grass, dirt and rocks, the hilts of two knives standing neat and equidistant, protruding from his back.
‘I haven’t had any target practice in days,’ Little Pepper said, hopping down lightly from the top of a boulder.
‘I did wonder why you hadn’t leapt to my aid.’
‘They weren’t exactly difficult throws, the sun, the wind, the elevation? Much too easy really, no challenge at all.’ She walked to Khog, who was still feebly trying to move, hands trying to claw the blades out from his back. ‘There’s no point Khog, I’ve hit both lungs. Easy shots. You’ll be drowning in your own blood soon enough but, for the sake of the noise…’ She picked up his short sword, ‘Fuck! This blade is pretty dull, I mean, really? There’s no excuse for that.’ She made a disgusted sound, planted her foot on his back, then slowly drove the point into the man’s neck, pushing down with all her weight, before letting go and leaving it upright, Khog pinned through his throat to the ground beneath.
‘Right. That’s that.’ Little Pepper retrieved her knives and wiped them on his clothes, before checking the edges. ‘Pol always said, “You’re only as sharp as your knife.” He was right you know?’
‘Yes. I remember him saying that. He was right.’
‘I miss him Merie, really miss him.’ She looked up, eyes suddenly glistening and voice catching, then paused, before whispering, ‘I’m barely holding it together. I have no idea how you are.’
‘I’m not, Little Pepper, I’m not. I’m just doing what needs to be done for the sake of the children. And you.’
‘Well,’ Little Pepper straightened her back and scrubbed her face with her sleeve, ‘in that case, I’ll just have to look after you too, won’t I?’
Merie nodded but said nothing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the leather mask that, until recently, her husband had worn, then crouched to Khog, squeezing it over his head and lacing it behind. Little Pepper dipped a hand into the jar and pulled out a handful of the coins, placing them in Khog’s pockets and beltpouch.
‘You go get the horses, I’ll sort this,’ she said and walked to the rock where the other jars were hidden and began to remove them, one by one.
Each jar was stamped with an image of bees and a straw skep. Anyone looking at the wax sealed pottery would assume it held honey. Luka really had thought of everything.
When Merie brought the four horses closer they were walked around, trampling the area, leaving tracks everywhere. Both Merie and Little Pepper led a pair each off in different directions, weaving false trails and creating a mess. To anyone well-versed in tracking the illusion would not hold, but Merie knew that to the untrained eyes of the Roadguard they would simply assume they had found the corpse of The Forester, robbed and killed by bandits or, more likely, his own gang. Once they realised the corpse belonged to Khog, a disliked member of the Roadguard with access to pay wagon routes and details, the blame would stick. The few coins that had escaped from the open pot they left where they had fallen, adding to the picture. It was as close to a perfect cover as they could swiftly construct.
The gold would take several trips back to the camp, also adding to the overall confusion of tracks.
Little Pepper frowned at her soft boots, raising a foot and inspecting it closely.
‘I’ll stop off at the stream, I don’t want him…’ she toed Khog’s body, ‘…staining my favourite boots.’
‘Okay, then let’s go eat breakfast. After we’ve eaten and the children are settled, we collect these,’ Merie gestured to the neat rows of containers. There were many more than she had thought there would be. She shook her head slightly and turned towards the camp. Plan everything, plan carefully and with detail, stick to the plan as best you can, but always be aware plans will change.
‘Yes,’ Little Pepper replied. ‘Let’s do this.’
‘Where’s that man, mummy?’ Hedda asked, sucking on the strip of dried meat she had been given while Jak finished the breakfast.
‘Khog was only coming so far with us Hedda. He’s gone home now, he has other things to do.’
‘I didn’t like him. He smelled funny. Was he a sausagesmith?’
Merie smiled, using her good hand to tousle her daughter’s hair.
‘No, but he wasn’t eating very much, was he? So maybe he is a sausage now?’ She surprised herself by laughing and the children joined in, the sound sparkling and joyful. Merie pulled Hedda closer.
‘Where’s Ella? I like her.’
‘Oh she’ll be here soon, she’s just finishing cleaning up a bit.’
‘I’m here,’ said Little Pepper, walking into camp, ‘but I’ve decided, I don’t like the name Ella any more—I think, with this being a new start, a new adventure, you should all call me Pepper now. What do you think?’
‘Pepper? Yes, that’s a good name,’ Merie replied, smiling. ‘Come on Pepper, get some breakfast, I bet you are hungry now?’
‘Oh yes, I’m starving. I could kill for some bacon…’
‘There’s some bacon, some eggs and sausages.’
Hedda laughed.
Many thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it. I am very glad of this opportunity to share this tale with you.
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Pepper and Hedda will return in the novella, A Clean Death, coming January 2024.