Ascent of the Unwanted (The Chronicle of Unfortunate Heroes Book 1) by Nathan T. Boyce

The path lead to the house of the local blacksmith. Anything there was his along with the handsome amount of gold he was already given. All he had to do was take care of any complications, and clean the site up if anything looked askew. Uris didn’t care for the man, but it’s not like he would pass up any opportunity for getting ahead. 
    “So anyway, I told the man. Do you know what I told him? I told him he needed to-.” Uriss’s hand smashed into the woman’s throat. He squeezed, feeling her flesh crunch beneath his grip. She squirmed. They all squirmed. Even if he let go now, her windpipe was crushed to the point where she would not survive. He forced his hand to squeeze harder just to make sure. It was a merciful death now.
    He pulled his trousers up and headed out the door of the work shed.  Copper whores weren’t much to look at, but they did not care where they got the job done. He wasn’t much to look at either, so it’s not like he was slumming.
    Where was he? In the alley behind some two bit inn, he supposed. It’s not like the local authorities would care about the strumpet, but getting out of town would be best all things considered.
    He walked out into the main street and stopped, the smile couldn’t be contained. “What are you supposed to be?”
    The old midget rode the brute of a dog like a horse.  The little clown’s legs dangled down the pooch’s side like sausages in a butcher’s windows.
    “I am simply trying to get to a room to get some sleep, you buffoon.” The dwarf snapped.
    “Who you calling a buffoon?” Uriss cocked his hand back getting ready to put the little fella down for the night. A courtesy if you will.
    The little man’s hands waved in the air. “Why are you coming out of that alley?”
    “I just killed a wench, and need to get out of town without being seen. Good thing I got another job.” Why had he said that? Now the dwarf needed to die as well. A killing spree would get the law on him fast as crisp bacon into a fat boy’s tummy. Odd, Uriss wanted to move, but he stood pat.
    “Well, I guess we can’t help the wench, and I don’t need to perk the ears of any authorities on me. Is there going to be any more killing at the job you’re going to?” The little man said, his dog panting a noxious cloud of breath around him.
    “I dunno. There could be. I am supposed to clean an area of anything that could lead curious minds to ask questions.” Again, why is he answering this little munchkin of a creep?
    The midget’s hands waved again, this time more intricately. “You don’t want to kill anyone at that site. If anyone there is alive, you will figure out a way to take of the problem without any one dying. Is that clear?”
    “Uh….sure.” He didn’t really feel like killing anymore tonight anyways.
    Uriss turned and left the curious little man on the big dog. What a strange conversation. He got to his wagon and headed down to the fork in the road, and took it up to the local smithy’s residence. Pulling to the side, he fell asleep. No use getting there in the middle of the night. He needed to be able to see whatever he needed to clean up.
    He pulled into the clearing when the sun broke through the trees. Whoever did this mess was thorough. The embers still burned on the frames of the residence and the smithy. What had that bastard meant by anything here would be his? There was nothing left but ash and ruin. He prodded his horse to make a round of the clearing just in case, his wagon creaking behind.
    What was this? A bonnie little lass, dead on the ground with a paper clutched in her hand. Uriss presumed her father and brother were the two swinging from the tree. He pulled the paper from the girls hand and read the decree. Well, that pretty much took care of everything didn’t it.
    Uriss spiked the parchment onto the trunk of the tree where the poor fools hung, and inspected the little waif. Not dead after all, but whoever did this damn near killed