Building a Criminal Empire

by Logan Jacobs

  “It’s always open,” I replied. “A dwarven vendor would never pass up a chance to make some coin, especially during a holiday when most people are on the streets.”

  “True,” Dar chuckled.

  We drove in silence for a few minutes until Dar tapped out his pipe on the side of the wagon.

  “I know we have the miners coming to our aid, but what’s our plan?” Dar asked as he slowed the horses to a trot since the streets were getting busy.

  “Right,” I cleared my throat. “We pretend to do our normal deal. We have a few barrels in the back, but mostly, we delay until the miners arrive.”

  “Then what?” Dar asked.

  “When the fighting starts, get on the wagon,” I said as I could smell the aroma of the market creeping closer. “I will deal with Hebal and make sure the miners have the rest handled. Then, once it’s over, we will hopefully have a dead dwarf, a magical necklace, and a new warehouse.”

  “New warehouse?” Dar questioned.

  “That’s part of the reason I wanted to meet in the alley,” I said. “Once Hebal is dead, we will take control of that warehouse, his grain, and his distilling equipment.”

  “Fuck,” Dar said as he clapped his knee. “That’ll make the distribution in the Dwarf District so easy, and you know how much I love easy.”

  “That and the fact that I’m working with the miners to give us safe passage during distribution,” I added. “That’s why ending Hebal is vital and why we need to work with the miners.”

  “I still don’t understand what’s in it for them?” Dar asked as he turned right down the road that led to the spice market. “Just Hebal?”

  “That and us,” I answered as I noticed the cloud of smoke hovering over the market. “He wants in, or he wants us out.”

  “We aren’t going out,” Dar said.

  “No,” I agreed. “So we have some negotiating to do.”

  “Damn,” Dar shook his head. “We’ve come a long way, my friend.”

  “That we have,” I replied.

  “But fuck, why do we keep finding ourselves surrounded by the dwarven spices?” Dar plugged his nose as we continued down the road and entered the market.

  “Easy lads, easy lads!” A vendor shouted at us. “Where are ya goin'?”

  “Droppin’ supplies for Hebal,” Dar answered as he pointed toward the warehouses.

  “Alright.” The vendor dismissed us with a wave.

  Then we ambled through the thin aisle in between all the tents and small fires the vendors made.

  “I can barely breathe in here,” Dar said as he covered his mouth. “Fuck.”

  “I know,” I said as my eyes began to water from the fumes. “It should be better near the alley.”

  “I fuckin’ hope,” Dar coughed. But as we rounded the last corner and started to drive down the alley, it was just as smoky and almost looked like we were in the middle of a cloud. “Where should I park this thing?”

  “Just past the sliding doors on the left,” I said as I squinted within the spicy haze. “See em?”

  “Yeah,” Dar coughed again. “The market is never this smoky, man.”

  “I know,” I agreed as I hopped down from the wagon even before Dar parked it.

  Was this Hebal’s doing?

  Was all of this smoke here to give him some advantage?

  I stood in the middle of the alley as Dar waited at the rear of the wagon five yards from me.

  The moon drifted in front of the sun as an elven horn rang out from the streets. Then the sky grew darker, and the festival officially began.

  Fuck.

  “It’s been an hour!” Dar shouted over to me.

  “I know,” I said as I moved my eyes back and forth to try to get a glimpse of the dwarf. I didn’t want the miners to arrive before he did.

  “Human!” Hebal’s voice boomed from somewhere around me, but I couldn’t see because of the smoke and now the dimming sun. “I hope you don’t mind the smoke too much.”

  “Hebal?” I called out. “Where the fuck are you?”

  “You’ll know soon enough,” Hebal replied. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this day.”

  “Where are you?” I called out again and continued to play along with his big reveal. But I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t see him or his goons. The miners could show up now at any second, and I wanted us to have the advantage, not Hebal.

  “I’ve changed my mind, lad,” Hebal began. “Our deal is over.”

  “And why’s that?” I asked.

  “I’ve decided that I can do it much better than you,” Hebal chuckled just as another elven horn sounded in the streets.

  “What’s that?” I asked as I continued to look in every direction for the fucker.

  Look up.

  The keys’ voice pulled at my heart.

  So, I did, and I could see Hebal’s silhouette above me on the roof of the warehouse. But what alarmed me the most was the glowing orb around his neck.

  “You found me,” Hebal chuckled. “I was hoping to surprise you.”

  “With what?” I asked. “C’mon Hebal, come down, and let’s finish up the drop-off.”

  “Have you not heard anything, human?” Hebal huffed. “I’m done with you.”

  “So,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”

  “What do ya think?” Hebal asked and then vanished from my view. He didn’t walk away or move; he just vanished like a phantom.

  What the fuck…

  “Wade?” Dar called for me. “Where the fuck are the miners?”

  “I dunno,” I panted as I unsheathed my blade and looked for another sign of where the dwarf went. “Hebal?”

  No response.

  “Fuck,” I hissed as I started to back up toward the wagon.

  Then, there was a flash of light, and before I could even react, I felt a fist slam into my face like a sledgehammer and sent me flying across the alley.

  “What the fuck was that?” Dar screamed.

  “The necklace,” I muttered as I lifted myself up on a knee. My jaw ached, and my brain felt scrambled from the attack.

  “I’m much more than you think I am, human!” Hebal’s voice bellowed just as the sliding doors to our right started to rise.

  If the miners were coming, now would be the time, but the only wagon I saw was Hebal’s that was blocking the exit to the alley.

  “I know you are,” I replied to Hebal’s ghost.

  But he didn’t respond. Instead, four of his goons walked out of the warehouse wielding axes.

  “This is for my nephew and his bride!” Hebal shouted, and another burst of light flashed in front of my face.

  Duck to your left.

  I obeyed the keys and felt a swoosh of wind pass over my head. Then I turned behind me and saw Hebal had tried to slice my head off with a blade, but he was now visible.

  It looked like the necklace could only provide a select amount of magic attacks, and he just used them up.

  For now.

  “How?” He muttered as he just stared at Dar.

  Dar unsheathed his blade and went to attack the dwarf, but the dwarf backhanded him away. Then he turned around to face me.

  But I didn’t wait long, I jumped onto my feet and unleashed a flurry of knife attacks he deflected away, but my last slash connected with his chest.

  “How?” he muttered again, and then he looked to his crew. “F-finish them!”

  Then the four axe goons moved toward me as Hebal moved behind them and gazed at the necklace.

  “Dar?” I looked over and saw Dar knocked out against the wall. It was just me versus five dwarves.

  Those weren’t good odds.

  So, I focused on the first one that snarled at me. The dwarf charged forward, bared his yellow teeth, and slashed his axe down toward my chest. I easily dodged him and went to stab him in the ribs, but he moved his axe over in time to stop me.

  Then I spit in his face, backhanded the dwarf, and kicke
d him in the chest. The dwarf stumbled back, but then another goon took his place and swiped at my head.

  I ducked down and slashed the dwarf’s heel and dropped him to the mud. I dodged his desperation attack and finished him with a slice across his throat.

  One down, four more to go, and the close confines of the alley were making it so that only one could really come at me at a time.

  It was probably the only reason I was still alive. Dwarves were much stronger than humans, and I’d gotten lucky so far.

  Where the fuck were the miners?

  Before I could rest, another goon came forward and twirled his axe in one hand. I guessed the movement was a distraction, and I was proven correct a moment later when he zipped a dagger right at me with an underhanded toss.

  “Argh!” The blade caught me in my shoulder, and I felt a searing pain rip through my arm and down to my toes.

  The dwarf charged with his axe to finish me, but instead, I sidestepped to my left and felt the air from his missed attack.

  His axe was stuck in the mud, and he was bent over trying to get it out, but he was too slow.

  I ran my blade from his neck all the way down his spine as if I were a butcher.

  The dwarf’s body went limp, and he flopped face first into the mud.

  Two down with three to go.

  “Boys, come on out!” Hebal shouted, and then five more goons came jogging out from the warehouse.

  Fuck.

  Eight more to go.

  My shoulder screamed for relief as I felt blood drip down my chest and stomach. I would die if I didn’t get any help soon.

  I looked over and saw Dar still knocked out against the wall, and the miners were nowhere in sight.

  “It’s over, Wade,” Hebal remarked. “Your time is done.”

  “I say when my time is done,” I snarled.

  “Whatever,” Hebal huffed as he nodded toward his men to attack.

  Soon all eight of them came up to me in the alley, and I swiped my blade around like a madman. Soon after, another dwarf slammed the back of his axe on my knee and sent an elbow into my throat.

  Then everything went black.

  I felt my body falling back until the muddy street caught me. All my breath left my lungs as my throat recoiled from the dwarf’s attack.

  I opened my eyes to see Hebal reach down, pick up my dagger, and toss it to the side. Then he picked me up by the throat and held me against the warehouse wall.

  “You stupid fuckin’ human,” Hebal spat. “You thought you could destroy me?”

  “Fuck … yo—”

  Hebal slapped me across the face.

  “I’m going to enjoy watching you die,” Hebal smirked. “Almost as much as I will enjoy making and selling whiskey throughout the entire realm.”

  I gripped onto his thick forearm to try to gain some leverage, but this time he head-butted me, and my vision went blurry for a second and then filled with multi-colored dots.

  Blood slithered down my face, dripped off the tip of my nose, and splashed onto the dwarf’s hand.

  Then my eyes moved to his necklace that dangled outside of his shirt and pulsated with blue light just like it did on Grodmick.

  “Stop fighting it, Wade,” Hebal squeezed my throat and cut off all my air. I only had a minute or so until I was dead.

  This was not how it was supposed to end.

  Not like this.

  Touch his necklace.

  The keys’ melodic voice echoed in my mind.

  I listened, I had nothing else to try, so I raised my arm and reached for the glowing stone.

  “Look at this, he wants my father's necklace,” Hebal chuckled. “This necklace only works for the Opalstone clan, human, good try.”

  Grodmick was Hebal’s father.

  Too bad.

  We are bigger than any clan or race, Wade.

  Inch by inch, my hand crawled closer to his neck. He probably thought I was trying to choke him out too, but I didn’t have the strength to do that, and he knew it.

  With my last bit of energy, I lunged my hand forward and gripped onto the glowing stone.

  “What the f--” Hebal started to say, but then there was nothing. No sound, no alley, no smoke, no Eclipse, no Hebal, just nothingness.

  Then an infinity of white light raced through my mind until things started to become clearer again.

  I was suddenly back in the alley being strangled, but everything and everyone else was frozen in place. Including Hebal, so I unwrapped his fingers around my throat and dropped to the ground.

  No one moved.

  I kept my hand on the necklace and removed it from around Hebal’s neck and put it around mine.

  Still, no one moved.

  Then I stepped over to one goon, took his axe out of his hand, and then walked back over behind Hebal. As I did, I started to feel the power slip until the bright, infinite light flashed in my face again.

  “--uck,” Hebal finished his sentence he started before the light flashed in my eyes.

  But now I was behind him with an axe.

  As soon as he turned around, I sent the axe through the top of his skull that burst open like a red bowl of noodles.

  “Fuck the Opalstones,” I growled as I tugged the axe free and released a spurt of blood down his face.

  Hebal collapsed lifeless at my feet.

  He was dead.

  Then I turned around to see his goons. Their eyes twitched, their mouths were wide open, and one even started to run away, but that didn’t matter.

  The miners finally pulled up and blocked both ends of the alley.

  “About fuckin’ time,” I muttered as I locked eyes with Lobrem, who stood atop his black wagon.

  Then I stepped over to Dar and dragged him inside the warehouse as Hebal’s goons finally realized what was going on.

  “Miners!” One dwarf yelled just as the eclipse turned the entire sky black.

  Then Lobrem moved his hand forward, and then multiple archers hopped down from the wagons on both ends of the alley.

  “Cover!” A Hebal goon shouted, but it was too late.

  The arrows ripped through Hebal’s crew like a scythe across overgrown grass. Blood splattered along the walls, and a pile of bodies formed in the middle of the alley.

  It was a fuckin’ massacre.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Dar gripped onto my leg.

  “Can you get to our wagon?” I asked as I pulled him to his feet.

  “Yeah … I …” He rubbed his head, looked around, and then widened his eyes at me. “How did you?”

  “Miners came.” I pushed him out of the warehouse and toward the wagon just as Lobrem and his crew approached the massacre.

  “About time,” I said as I shook Lobrem's hand.

  “You took an axe to the fooker?” Lobrem gestured toward Hebal. “Well done, lad.”

  “I thought you’d be here earlier,” I said as I pointed to the knife still in my shoulder.

  “You’ll live, human,” Lobrem chuckled. “We will clean this mess up to repay you for your service.”

  “Thank you,” I said as I knelt down and searched Hebal’s corpse until I found a set of keys. “I’m taking these.”

  “For?” Lobrem asked.

  “This warehouse is mine now,” I said as I winced in pain.

  “Along with that necklace?” Lobrem narrowed his eyes as he pointed to the stone dangling from my neck.

  “Yes,” I said as I could sense Lobrem thinking. “Also the bars of gold on the wagons. They were payment for a previous deal.”

  “Very well,” Lobrem snapped his fingers, and his crew began to drag the bodies toward the wagon on the opposite end of the alley and move the bags of coin from Hebal’s wagon into mine. “Don’ forget what we need to talk about, Wade.”

  “I won’t,” I said as I stood and shook his hand again. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

  “We will too,” Lobrem said as he turned and walked toward the black wagon.

&nbs
p; An elven horn echoed throughout the realm once more, and then the eclipse ended at the same time.

  It was over.

  Before I shut the warehouse door, I looked inside and saw hundreds of bags of grain and yeast stacked along the walls. Along with supplies, there were six massive metallic cylinders ready for distilling.

  We could provide alcohol to the entire realm from this warehouse alone.

  “Thanks, Hebal,” I said as I shut the warehouse door and turned to see the dwarf’s bloody body being dragged through the mud.

  “C ‘mon!” Dar waved me over from the top of our wagon. “We gotta go!”

  “Coming,” I said as I jogged over to the wagon and hopped on.

  “You good?” Dar asked with his pipe in his mouth and pointed to the knife stuck in my shoulder. “We need to get that outta you.”

  “I’m great, man.” I grinned as I made sure the necklace was secure around my neck. “Fucking great.”

  And this is just the beginning, Wade.

  End of book 3

  End Notes

  Thanks for reading Skulduggery 3! I’ll start working on book 4 when this hits 100 reviews, so please leave me a nice review here. Thank you!

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Logan Jacobs