The Husband Poisoning Society, Chapter 32

We fled Duke Xander’s office, knowing that guards would be incoming. Duke Xander would tell them where we were going. We had no time and few options. 

“So, we storm the long house and demand the antidote?” Amy asked. 

“Assuming that they have an antidote.” Lynn said, teeth clenched. 

“There’s always an antidote.” I said. 

“And then what shall we do?”  Fiona asked. “Leon remains in the castle, and Duke Xander will know that we must go there next.”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.” I said. “Right now, our only goal is to get that antidote.”

“You realize that only Vincent and I are skilled combatants?” Fiona said.

I nodded, “I also realize that I had a vision, and am at my weakest. But what choice do we have?”

“I do not like this.” Fiona said.

“I wouldn’t expect anyone to like this. But unless we want to stand around while Leon dies, this is what we have to do.”

Silence.

Then Lynn spoke. “Let’s move out.”

= = =

We knocked on the door to the longhouse. The door opened and Sven Haroldson stared at us, mouth hanging open. 

“You can’t be here. I’ve been looking for you all night. And Laila! What are you doing, stupid girl?”

Fiona leveled a flintlock pistol at Sven’s head. “We can talk inside.”

Sven jolted and took a step back. Fiona stepped forward, and step by step, she followed him into the longhouse. We followed them inside. Magnus looked up from a table. Five other men stood in the room, as did six women- including Ada. 

“Laila! What is happening?” Ada asked.

“Be silent, woman!” Sven snapped. 

Fiona drew a second flintlock. None of the men moved. 

I coughed and spread my arms. “Ladies and thugs, may I have your attention? You have poisoned our duke. And we are here to demand the antidote. Hand it over, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Husband, what did you do?” Ada asked. 

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Sven said.

“I wasn’t asking if you poisoned him. We already know that you did. So we can skip the part where you deny it. Let’s move onto the part where you tell us that you won’t give us the antidote. We’re on a deadline here.”

“It sounds to me like your duke is going to die then.” Sven said, crossing his arms.

I huffed and shifted my weight on my cane. “I don’t think you understand your situation. We are wanted for murder. Our duke is dying. And we are trapped in Hyperborean territory. We don’t have time to play nice.”

Sven chuckled, “It sounds to me like you have a problem.”

I shook my head. “These aren’t our problems. They’re yours. Vincent? Cut his balls off. We can question Magnus instead.” 

Vincent drew out a wide bladed dagger. He looked at Sven and sighed.

“You wouldn’t stoop to torture.” Sven said.

“Unlike you?” I said. 

Vincent stepped over to Lynn, “Baroness? Would you like to do the honors? Leon is your fiance after all.”

Lynn grinned, barring teeth. “Oh yes. I can do that.”

“You think I’ll let you castrate me?”

“It is your choice how we deal with you.” Fiona said. “The dagger or the gun. Choose.”

Nobody moved. Sven shifted his gaze between Fiona and Lynn.

“Not used to having your fate in the hands of two women, are you?” I asked. 

Sven didn’t answer.

“Time’s up.” I said. “Lynn. Would you, please?”

Lynn to a step forward. One of the men in the back drew a sword. Fiona fired a pistol, and the man collapsed. Fiona dropped the pistol and drew another. 

Sven turned to stare at the fallen man. He looked back at me with wide eyes. 

“The antidote.” I said.

“How do you know I have one?” Sven asked.

“I don’t, but if there’s no antidote, then you’re going to die holding your severed manhood.”

Sven shuddered. And then his shoulders sagged. “Fine. It’s in my belt pouch.”

I nodded. “Let’s see it. Slowly. You don’t want to acquire any new holes after all.”

Sven reached into his belt pouch and produced a vial. He held it with his thumb and index finger, dangling it. “Now let’s talk. You wouldn’t want me to drop it, would you?”

I looked down at the dirt floor. I didn’t think the vial would break if he dropped it. But I didn’t want to take any chances.

“You’re playing with your life there, Sven.” I said. 

“You can’t kill me now. I might drop the vial.” Sven grinned.

Fiona shifted and fired again. Another Hyperborean crumpled to the ground. Fiona dropped that pistol and drew a fourth pistol.

“Indeed. We cannot kill you.” Fiona said. “But I have a total of six pistols. And you are running out of friends.”

Sven didn’t answer. I watched as his eyes flicked back and forth. 

“You know, that vial probably won’t break from a fall onto dirt. It might be safer for us to just kill you and let the vial fall.” I looked at Fiona as I spoke.

“I concur.” Fiona said.

“Fine. Fine” Sven held out his hand. I limped forward.

“If harm comes to her, what happens to you shall be much worse.” Fiona said. 

Sven glanced at Fiona and then back at me. I held out my hand and waited. Sven hesitated and then placed the vial in my hand. 

We had the antidote. Probably. I looked at the vial. It had no label, and contained a milky liquid. I limped back to the group and handed the vial to Amy.

“Lover? Can you verify that this is what we need?”

Amy nodded and closed her eyes, hands clasped around the vial. After a moment, she opened her eyes and nodded.

“This is the vial. So we have what we need, don’t we? We should hurry. Won’t they increase the guard around Leon’s cell?”

“You have no chance. War will come to Ys.” Sven said, a grin cracking across his face.

I turned back to face the group. “Amy is right, we should hurry.”

The door behind us burst inward. A Hyperborean in chainmail stepped through the opening. Fiona spun and fired both pistols. The shots hit between the man’s eyes and he buckled forward. Vincent stepped to the side and the body landed flat, face first. Vincent then stepped over the body and closed the door, dropping a bar across it. 

Sven darted forward, and found that Fiona had already drawn her last two pistols. 

“You’re trapped now. They’ve found you. You’ll never leave here alive.”

“You’ve never seen my dearest fight, have you?” Amy asked as she bent down. 

Amy scooped up the pistols from the ground. Vincent took one of the pistols and began to reload the weapon. 

“Come out and surrender, or we will burn the longhouse to the ground!” A voice yelled from outside.

I laughed, “Sounds to me like we all have a problem.”