Building a Criminal Empire

by Logan Jacobs

  Fifteen yards.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself!” Fallor hissed. “How fucking dare you, Ava!”

  Ten yards.

  “The best thing to happen to the guild?” Fallor scoffed. “And then it hit me, my uncle must’ve just lost his mind toward the end.”

  I stopped in front of him at five yards.

  “I mean … thank the Ancients he still had the sense to put me in charge,” Fallor said as he opened his stance toward me. “Imagine if he really made you the guild leader … where would we be, Ava?”

  I didn’t answer him.

  All I could think about was Adrian’s face in my dream.

  “That’s what I thought,” Fallor sneered. “We’d be a lost organization with no code, no hope, no vision, and probably dead.”

  Penny stepped next to me as I listened.

  “Of course you don’t care about that,” Fallor snapped. “I’m his real fucking family, Ava, remember that!”

  I clicked my tongue and sprinted toward Fallor. Then he unsheathed two long blades and readied himself for my attack.

  So, I slammed my daggers against his crossed swords over his face in defense. Then we both struggled against each other's strength and looked at each other in the eye.

  I could smell the fucking coffee he had earlier that morning.

  “The great Ava …” Fallor ground his teeth as he held me off with all of his might. “Let’s see just how much of Adrian’s training you remember.”

  He pushed his arms up and out and broke the position we were in. Then he swung one blade in front of the other as he did a half spin. I deflected both of his attacks away and rolled to the side.

  Without hesitation, Penny entered the fray and lunged right, then left, and ducked low to avoid one of Fallor’s swords. Then she went to stab him in the gut, but he deflected her blade with his spiked sleeve along his arm.

  “Fuck,” Penny panicked as her blade was stuck in between a few of the jagged spikes.

  Fallor took the opportunity and swiped his blade down toward Penny, but she was too agile and back flipped out of the way. But now she was without her main blade.

  “You left our guild of professionals for what?” Fallor scoffed as he tossed Penny’s blade behind him toward the small house. “Some gang of poor misfits?”

  It was my turn again.

  I lunged forward, swiped with the blade in my right, blocked, then the blade in my left, blocked again.

  I ducked beneath his sword, then jumped over the other.

  Penny closed in with her smaller dagger, rolled, and tried to go after his leg, but he caught her with his foot and kicked the red-head in the face.

  There was a gap, so I took it and elbowed the fucker in the face, but he didn’t stumble. Instead, he slashed with his spiked arm and caught my back with his fist as I dove to the side.

  I got back to my feet, nodded at Penny, who wiped the blood off her nose, and then we both sprinted at Fallor again.

  Two of us would eventually wear down his defenses. Penny and I were both agile and quick, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

  Fallor continued to deflect and swipe away our attacks as if they were pestering flies. One after the other, he deflected and moved with the wind in any way he wanted.

  Then another lull came upon us, and I used the opportunity to catch my breath.

  Fallor just aimed his blade into the air toward the sun.

  I moved my eyes to look and saw a small black speck move across the glowing orb of light.

  The elven festival had officially begun.

  “You like to fight in the dark?” Fallor asked as he repositioned himself with one blade aimed at me, and the other at Penny.

  I didn’t give a shit about his comments, so I ignored his words, lowered my head, and lunged toward his throat.

  Just like Penny’s blade, his spiked arm shield caught my first blade, and it stuck in place.

  He tried to swipe at my waist with his sword, but I let go of my stuck blade and bent like a tree in a windstorm.

  His sword passed right across my face.

  I dropped onto the ground, front kicked him in the chest and sent him staggering backward.

  Penny was already in the air at the same time and sent her small blade into his exposed shoulder and then kicked him again in the gut.

  “Argh!” Fallor whined as he dropped to a knee and swiped at Penny with his sword, and she easily dodged it, but now she had no more weapons. One of her blades was near the house; the other was stuck inside Fallor’s flesh.

  I used the distraction from Penny to get to my feet, reach for one of the throwing daggers I stored along my leg, and zipped one right at Fallor's neck.

  At the last second, he raised his spiked shield on his arm and deflected the dagger away, but I think it cut him at the same time.

  Penny sent another kick into his chest and dropped him on his back.

  So, I ran as fast as I could and tried to get over him, but he rolled to the side while slicing his sword at my legs. I dodged the attack, but he eventually got back to his feet.

  Blood dripped down his arm from the blade in his shoulder, and the combination of my throwing dagger and the knife stuck in his arm broke his spiked shield and forced him to drop one of his swords since his right arm was unusable.

  At the same time, the sky turned darker by the second, and I heard the deep growl of elven horns echoing in the distance.

  “Even if you kill me, so what?” Fallor spat into the dirt. “You’ll have every other assassin on your tail, Ava. Is it worth it?”

  Was it?

  That was the question that haunted my mind these days.

  I didn’t answer at first. I just made one more move.

  I ran low this time to draw his attack, and as soon as he did, I spun, pulled out my dagger from his spiked shield, and then upper-cut him with the same blade right in his chest.

  He looked at me, and I looked at him with my hand coated in his red blood.

  He dropped his sword, collapsed onto his knees, and I moved with him to the ground. Then he fell onto his back and gasped for air.

  All the while, I kept my blade where it was.

  His heart.

  “Yes,” I breathed as I pushed my dagger in further. “Freedom is worth it.”

  Fallor’s eyes blinked at me, and then he looked up into the sky that was nothing but a dark shadow.

  “The …” Fallor croaked. “The realm leader of the Assassin’s Guild knows what you’ve done, Ava … not only does he know, but …”

  Fallor lifted a trembling hand toward Penny.

  “Your guild leader … she … she … is coming after you, too.” A streak of blood ran down Fallor’s chin as he coughed. “Even from the grave, I will hunt you down until you pay for what you've done.”

  I looked up at Penny, whose red hair danced within the black sky behind her.

  “So be it,” I said as I pulled out my blade and then sliced the fucker's throat open. Then a fine red mist sprayed across my chest and dripped down my cloak like red teardrops.

  It was over.

  We destroyed my guild.

  Fallor was dead.

  “He was right,” Penny said as she bent down and pulled out the dagger from his shoulder. “But we already knew that, didn’t we?”

  I stood over the dead halfling and sheathed my blades.

  Then Adrian’s face returned, and the dream replayed in my mind.

  Speak to those who chase you.

  “No,” I said as I glanced at Adrian’s home. “I know what I have to do.”

  Chapter 22

  Once we left Penny and Ava behind at the cottage, we returned to the stables that night and dropped Skam off. The dwarf was just going to stay the night there so he could help Cimarra and Selius with anything related to the Eclipse Festival.

  Then Dar and I loaded up Azure and smuggled him across town to our new apartment. The dragon was the last thing magical or illegal we had in th
e stables, so it was a priority to get him out of there.

  Now, there was only one thing left to do.

  Kill Hebal.

  But first, we had to tell him where the meetup was happening.

  That morning, Dar and I loaded up a few barrels to look the part hopped into the wagon, and then traveled toward the Dwarf District.

  The roads were still clear, and it looked like we were out and about before anyone else, but there was a buzz in the air and a thick feeling within the wind that I couldn’t describe.

  Maybe it was magic for the festival?

  Or maybe it was just my nerves.

  Either way, the realm was ready to “celebrate” the Eclipse Festival, and we were finally ready to put an end to the fucking thorn in our side.

  “Wilimar is meetin’ us in the alley?” Dar said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and steered the wagon.

  “Either he or Olly will be there to meet us,” I replied. “They will either confirm that Hebal is inside where he should be or that he stood us up again, and then we’ll have to improvise.”

  “For once, I’d love to not improvise,” Dar said as he smirked.

  “Me too, pal.” I nodded. “He should be right where we want him. Hebal is trying to play this smart, too.”

  “Bastard,” Dar scoffed and then looked at me like he wanted to say something else.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What do ya think his necklace can do?” Dar said as he licked his lips.

  “I dunno,” I said as I pictured Grodmick’s haggard face in the cell underneath Hebal’s store. There was a lot of mystery surrounding that dwarf, and Hebal had something to do with it all. “It’s powerful, though.”

  “I wonder why the keys led us to it now, ya know?” Dar scratched his head. “We’ve known Hebal longer than we’ve had the keys, they could’ve just told us to kill Hebal first and get the necklace, ya know?”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “I think the keys are well aware of what they are doing, and we just met them at the right time.”

  “Hmm,” Dar hummed in thought. “I mean, the necklace isn’t even something one of our keys can open … so why would we even need it?”

  “Again,” I said as I clapped Dar on the shoulder. “I dunno.”

  “Damn,” Dar hissed. “I wish we did.”

  “Me too,” I said with a smirk. “All I know is that everything they’ve given us or led us to has helped our cause and getting the necklace coincides with when we need to kill the fucking dwarf.”

  “Do ya think the keys are connected with the …” Dar started to slow the wagon as we turned down the cobblestone street. “Ancient Lords?”

  “You’ve got quite the imagination, friend,” I chuckled. “We will just have to wait and see, won’t we?”

  “Fuck, I hate waiting, man,” Dar said as he steered the wagon to the side of the road, parked it a few yards away from Hebal’s, and then nodded toward the alley across the street. “There’s Wilimar.”

  “I see em,” I responded as I hopped off the wagon and landed in some soft mud near the curb. “Hopefully, he has good news.”

  As Dar and I crossed the street, a few dwarves finished putting up the last few orange and black streamers for the festival. Then Wilimar peeked his mousey face around the edge of the alley, saw us, and then vanished behind the wall again.

  “What you got for us, kid?” I asked as soon as we rounded the corner and saw the halfling leaning on the wall.

  “The real question is, what do ya got for me, Wade?” Wilimar held out his tiny hand toward me.

  “First,” I said as I clinked the coin pouch at my side. “Is our dwarf inside his store?”

  “He is,” Wilimar said with a nod. “Now, my ten coppers.”

  “Well done,” I said as I pulled out ten copper and handed them over to him, but before he could pull his hand away, I held it. “Stay close. I may need you again soon, okay?”

  “Alright,” Wilimar said as he narrowed his eyes. “Where do I find ya then?”

  “You remember the bakery you and Olly stole from?” I asked as I squeezed his clenched hand.

  “I do,” Wilimar replied.

  “That’s where I’ll be,” I said as I let his hand go. “Now, go on home, your mother is probably ready to kill you.”

  “That’s no joke, Wade, no joke at all,” Wilimar stuffed the coins into his pocket. “See ya around.”

  “Get outta here,” Dar tousled the kid’s hair as he jogged out of the alley and then down the street.

  “Looks like we got some good news for once,” I said as I nodded toward Hebal’s. “The fucker is inside.”

  “Then what’re we waitin’ for?” Dar said as he started to walk across the street.

  “Nothin’,” I said as I followed the halfling and then knocked on the aged shop door. “Last time we’ll ever have to do that, eh?”

  “Let’s hope,” Dar muttered as Hebal appeared from his office.

  He wore a red flannel work shirt, grey trousers, and brown work boots. The dwarf stepped over to the door, unlocked it, and then opened it for us both.

  The bell chimed above our heads as we walked in.

  “Mornin’ Hebal,” I said as I extended my hand to his. “Your guard still on vacation?”

  “Naw, lad,” Hebal shook my hand and then Dar’s. “He's with the other boys, waiting to hear where we’ll be picking up your whiskey.”

  “Good,” I said as I noticed the necklace around his fat neck again and could feel some force tug at my gut. “So, did you handle your personal business, then?”

  “Aye,” Hebal said as he stepped over to the counter and rested his elbow on it. “Everything is taken care of, now, we can resume our original agreement.”

  “That’s good to hear,” I replied. “Well, let’s not waste any more time, especially since there is an elven festival happening today.”

  “Aye,” Hebal grunted. “I was wonderin’ if this would even be possible with the elves around.”

  “Anything is possible, friend,” I said with a smirk.

  “So, where are we meetin’ this time?” Hebal asked. “And when?”

  “You know the spice market?” I questioned.

  “Of course,” Hebal said as he wiped the corner of his lips with a finger.

  “Well,” I cleared my throat. “Behind the market is two warehouses that I assume are abandoned. But you may know better than me. Are they?”

  “Uh …” Hebal pretended to think as he scratched his beard. “I believe they are.”

  “That’s what I thought,” I began. “In between those two warehouses is an alley just wide enough for our wagons. That’s where we’ll be doin’ the delivery today.”

  “No miners’ hall?” Hebal asked.

  “No, no,” I answered. “We don’t have a delivery to make to them today, but I wanted to make sure we still got you your whiskey this week. And I got my money.”

  “Aye,” Hebal muttered as his eyes dropped to the counter for a second before he moved them back onto me. “When?”

  “An hour.” I stepped closer to him. “I want to make sure we finish this before too many elves come around, you understand?”

  “I think I can make that work,” Hebal sniffed and rubbed his round nose with the back of his hand.

  “You think?” I questioned. “No, you know it’ll work.”

  “Aye,” Hebal said with a nod. “That’s what I meant, Wade.”

  “Good,” I said as I clapped my hands together. “We will see you there in an hour … actually a little less than that now.”

  “Okay,” Hebal said as he started to move toward the door. “Thank you for understanding my situation and for being patient.”

  “Not a worry, partner,” I said as I clapped him on the shoulder. “I value our relationship too much to just throw it away.”

  “Aye,” Hebal said as he clapped me on my shoulder and squeezed.

  I wanted to head-butt the fucker into the ground.
/>
  “Oh, speaking of value,” I said as Hebal opened the door for me, and the bell chimed above my head. “You’ll have double the coin, right? Consider it your late fee.”

  “Aye,” Hebal grunted. “Don’t worry about that.”

  “Good.” I waved over my shoulder as both Dar and I walked out of the store for the last time.

  Our plan was now in motion.

  “What now?” Dar asked as we walked back toward the wagon.

  “Let’s just watch for a second,” I said as I pulled myself up onto the wagon and raised my hood over my head.

  A few minutes passed as we watched the store from afar, but then the door opened at out came a smaller dwarf who looked both ways and then jogged further down the street.

  “There’s his runner,” I said. “Let’s give them a few minutes to let the crew already in the alley know what’s going on.”

  “Got it,” Dar said as he dropped the reins, took out his pipe, and lit it. “The miners know where to go?”

  “They do,” I replied. “I told them to come just a little late to make sure they trap Hebal in the alley.”

  “Got it,” Dar said as he puffed on his pipe. “Do you think we can trust em?”

  “The miners?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Dar said as he looked at me through a cloud of smoke over his face.

  “For now,” I answered. “We are helping them end their biggest threat, and in return, we get a bakery and no more competition.”

  “For now,” Dar repeated.

  “What I’m hoping for is that Hebal and his goons put up a good fight,” I said. “Weaken the muscle of the miners before we talk about our whiskey with them.”

  “For leverage?” Dar guessed.

  “Exactly,” I said. “They don’t know how many people we have working for us or anything like that.”

  “True,” Dar added. “But we know little about them either.”

  “Also true,” I said. “I--”

  “Get a move on, halfling!” An elven voice shouted from the street corner. “We will need this road cleared, and you’re in the way.”

  “Fine, fine!” Dar waved toward the elven guard and steered the horses onto the road.

  “Fucker,” I sneered. “It’s okay, we can head to the spice market now.”

  “Got it,” Dar said as we started to drive toward the market. “I wonder if it’s even open today?”