Apprentice

by Nicholas Hale

  Everything about their behavior seemed to suggest the utmost confidence in the grip of fear they held the miners in. They would never think that one of the slaves would dare rise against them. Even if they did suspect foul play, they would first turn their gaze to the bags of gold that Holmwood had left. Those were untouched and that should be enough for the slavers.

  They waited for what seemed like a few hours. Azrael noticed Brock shooting worried looks in Gerzahn's direction.

  "I'm still worried—he hasn't woken up."

  Before he could ease Brock's fear, he suddenly heard a lot of cheering. For a moment, he was confused and thought that the slavers had seen them. But then he saw that the engineer had arrived from the tunnel.

  "There's nothing to worry about. We should head back under the mine carts," said Azrael. "They'll start moving as soon as the machine cart is fixed."

  Slowly, under the cover of the rocky outcrops on the sides of the cavern, they made their way around the engineer who had already begun tinkering with the machine cart.

  In a few minutes, they found themselves under the mine cart. Now all they had to do was wait.

  "Well, old man? What was wrong?" asked one of the slavers.

  "One of the gears seems to have fallen off. That's why I keep telling them—these machines need to be checked fortnightly and the worn-out parts replaced. Secret or not, these machines have to work unless you want to haul these carts back up by working the pump with your bare hands!"

  "We make the slaves work." He shrugged. "Your job to make the machines work."

  The engineer shook his head in frustration.

  "Go get Gerzahn. Time to leave," yelled one of the slavers.

  "Bastard's asleep," answered another.

  "Wake him up, then."

  Azrael held his breath as he heard the voices.

  "Tried to. Sleeping like a log, that one. The jar of wine is empty too. Seems to have had a good time."

  "Pfeh. Never figured him for a drunk," interjected one voice.

  "We need to be getting back now. We're going hunting tomorrow, and we're already late."

  "He's not waking up..."

  "Just toss him in the cart."

  "What about the papers?"

  "Toss them in too. They look important. Don't want him throwing a fit."

  "The gold?"

  "Of course the gold too, fool! We're not leaving that behind!"

  The carts slowly began moving into the tunnel as Azrael and Brock held on underneath. Once they were in the tunnel, they climbed into the mine cart.

  Azrael started gasping for breath the moment his feet touched the metal flooring. His heart hadn't raced this much since his days in the Deckan campaign.

  Chapter 65

  "I'm disappointed, Darius," said Dahl.

  Coran wished he were anywhere but here right now. The last thing he wanted to see was Dahl losing his temper.

  "You're disappointed? I've been saying from the start that we should go after the younger brother! If we had captured him first, then none of this would have happened!"

  "What sort of incompetent buffoons do you have working under you? They couldn't even catch a child!"

  "Incompetent? Two of my men are dead—eaten alive by rats—and another one looks like he caught the plague!"

  Plague? Coran had seen plague before. And this was nothing like plague.

  There was something unnaturally wrong with the man. His skin was sloughing away and his organs were dissolving—he had lost an eye, one of his kidneys, his cock, about twenty teeth.

  And he had long been driven insane by the pain alone.

  What was scarier was that his organs were failing in such an order as to keep him alive as long as possible—his heart was untouched.

  He looked pathetic. They should have killed him as soon as they found him, but for some reason, Darius thought they could get some information out of him. Coran found it hard to believe that the boy had done this. Even the worst torturer in existence wouldn't be able to make a man suffer with such...precision.

  "Do not raise your voice at me," said Dahl in a menacing tone.

  "I apologize," said Darius, holding up both his hands, thankfully reining in his temper.

  "Toskk has assured us that the egg is with the boy. He told us that he had it on him at the warehouse," said Dahl.

  "And we can trust his word?"

  "He is a broken man. Completely. It is not possible for him to lie to me at this point."

  "Hmm. That's good," said Darius.

  "We need to find the boy!" said Dahl with determination.

  "Just how do you expect me to find a little boy in the maddening crowds of Archon? Do you know how many street urchins there are in the city?"

  "Toskk has given me a full list of the hideouts that the two of them use. And all possible locations where we might find him."

  "That should be a good start," said Darius. "Give Adrianna the list, and she will see the locations searched."

  The female thief was standing next to them, looking as frightened as ever. Even Coran was finding it hard to resist the sheer aura that Dahl was giving off. Nadia and Darius were the only people in the room who still seemed at ease. Adrianna accepted a scroll from Dahl and scurried out of the room quickly.

  "We still have another matter to attend to," said Darius.

  Damn him, thought Coran. He hoped that he wouldn't anger Dahl any more. It was getting hard to even breathe in the room. Dahl didn't answer and instead stared at Darius with his hands folded.

  If the glare was meant to scare Darius, it had failed. In the same tone, Darius spoke.

  "Gnaeas—one of the guild-masters—has decided to take Renal's side despite several warnings. I didn't peg him down as a loyalist, but he needs to go. Coups can't last this long. The Ravenlord has remained neutral so far, but if the war goes on any longer, he will have to get involved. And I don't want that."

  "So?"

  "So I need at least two of your men," said Darius with some irritation.

  "Impossible. Surprise attacks are one thing. Using them in a battle is another matter. This Gnaeas, whoever he is, will be expecting an attack. I cannot lose even one of my men. We have a war to fight as well. Lord Izul wouldn't forgive me if I lost even one of our people in this meaningless guild war of yours!"

  "That wasn't the agreement," said Darius. "You give me the guild, and I give you Toskk. I upheld my end of the bargain!"

  "I don't give a damn about Toskk! I need the egg!"

  Both the men looked ready to rip each other's throats out. Coran readied himself in case they did. He didn't want to get caught in the crossfire if spells started flying around.

  "Would you really want my master involved in this?" asked Darius with a coldness that made Coran reevaluate whom he was more scared of.

  For the first time since Coran had seen him, Dahl's face lost some color. Master? The Ravenlord? No. It couldn't be... Coran was talking about someone else.

  "Pfeh. Nadia! Take Edwin with you and see this petty chore done with."

  With that, Dahl left the room. What the hell just happened? Did he see Darius actually intimidate a Summoner?

  "Did you see that?" asked Coran, looking at Nadia.

  "See what?"

  "He said 'Master'. Who was Darius talking about?"

  "Better that you not know," said Nadia, smiling. "Let's go."

  "Go where?" asked Coran, confused.

  "Before I set out on this stupid errand, I want to go look at the thief they have in the dungeon. The diseased one they found in the sewers. He won't last too long from what I hear, so I need to see quickly."

  "What the hell for?"

  "I've heard of debilitating spells that could do that to a living creature. My master Dahl doesn't think much of it. Probably because he's seen it many times before. I've only studied it, but I need to see it with my own eyes."

  "Again, what for?"

  Coran didn't really relish the thought of looking at hi
m. The description he got from some of the Ravens alone was enough to make his stomach turn. And it seemed he was getting worse by the minute since he had been brought to the guild-hall.

  "Diseases like that haven't been seen for thirty years! Not since the arch-demon Naxannor's fall at Azanar!" said Nadia, her voice dripping with excitement.

  Chapter 66

  Riven sat on the roof with his legs hanging off the side, holding a scroll in his hand.

  He wished he knew how to write better. Toskk had taught him how to read and write, but only a little.

  Riven hated writing. Most of the times he remembered whatever there was to remember, but sometimes it helped to keep a list. Especially when there were so many long and funny names involved.

  Riven crossed out another name from the list. Another one dead. A month ago, Riven would never have believed that killing was so easy.

  It took him a good bit of time—and coin from their savings. But Riven finally figured out what was going on.

  This thief called Darius made an alliance with the Summoners to get rid of Renal. It didn't work, however, and Renal had escaped and was now fighting against Darius. In short, there was a war going on between two factions in the Ravens.

  The surprising thing was that several of the higher-ranked lieutenants had decided to remain neutral. Well...it wasn't that surprising, considering they were facing the Summoners. Crazy mages who could summon scary demons to eat people alive.

  The first thing Riven had done was to quickly go to their largest hidden stash and get all the gold from there. It was dangerous walking around with so much gold, so Riven hid it in a safe place in the sewers. He only moved with fifty gold on him at any time.

  He had also shaved off the hair on his head, added a few scars to his face and ripped up all his clothes. Easier to get around looking like a beggar or street urchin.

  He would have liked to get the remaining gold from their other stashes as well, but the voice warned him not to. Riven knew the Ravens would be looking for him, and it was very likely that they had gotten the locations of the stash from Toskk.

  Once again he held back tears as he thought about Toskk. It saddened him, but he knew Toskk was still alive. They couldn't kill him. Not while they still didn't have the egg.

  And they would all suffer! How they would suffer for daring to touch his brother!

  After spreading some more coin around, Riven understood that several of the lieutenants actually didn't like the Summoners. Or Darius. They were just remaining neutral because they were afraid.

  In short, everyone who was neutral actually wanted to support Renal. But a few days ago, the guild-hall of a lieutenant named Gnaeas was completely ravaged by the Summoners and some of Darius's men. It was like Garvin's house again.

  Gnaeas's mistake had been to openly support Renal. The slaughter was meant to serve as a message to others who might want to take Renal's side. And it would have worked as Darius as intended, but for Riven.

  Instead of focusing his efforts on killing Darius's men, Riven turned his wrath upon the neutral lieutenants' guild-halls. Killing some of them was easy. All he had to do was slip his blood into their wine or their food. Some of them who were drunk he killed outright by stabbing them in the dark.

  The men he poisoned with his blood, however, he used to send messages to the lieutenants. Darius was after them, and he's going to kill all of them.

  The plan was to make Darius seem unstable by attacking neutrals. Make it look like he had unleashed the Summoners on all of them.

  Naturally Riven didn't have the ability to kill so many people. But his blood served a very dramatic purpose. The wounds inflicted on them looked unearthly and demonic—as if a Summoner had cursed them with some hellish disease.

  He only had to kill six people so far. All six were from powerful neutral lieutenants.

  The rest was handled with gold.

  He spread rumors through some of the serving boys in the taverns that Darius himself was a demon spawn. He brought the Summoners here, and their goal was to take over Archon and slowly start taking over all the Aegean Isles.

  It was amusing how much people liked rumors like that. Especially when accentuated with the effects of his blood. Renal too would soon make a move against Darius. There was a lot of anti-magic equipment being purchased in Archon right now. Some of it had to do with the fears of a Summoner take over, but Riven suspected a lot of it was being bought by Renal for his men.

  Renal wasn't stupid. He was one of the few men whom Riven had genuine respect for. At one time in his life, perhaps a year ago, Riven even looked up to the man.

  While spreading the rumors, Riven was also keeping an ear out for the effects they were having. More and more thieves were pressuring their lieutenants to side with Renal.

  But they hadn't completely tipped over yet. That was frustrating Riven.

  It was then that he realized killing these small no-name thieves wasn't enough.

  He needed a bigger name.

  Well...the next person he killed would ensure that every single Black Raven would be firmly allied against Darius. It would be tricky, but with enough planning, Riven felt it should be easy to pull off.

  Chapter 67

  Rennar got out of the warm bath, feeling as happy as he possibly could.

  And why not? He was two hundred thousand gold pieces richer. The third level had steady production, and despite what that fat fool Holmwood had to say, it was producing well beyond the expected yield of ore.

  And this was truly rich ore.

  Gerzahn brought back a sample of ore to assess each time he went down to the third level, and it turned out this was a grade better than the ore shipped officially. That ought to please Bancroft.

  Speaking of Bancroft, Rennar had yet to send word that his idiot foreman had misplaced the letter he sent. He hoped it was nothing important.

  Rennar reached for the robe after drying himself. It was with happy thoughts that he stepped into the bedroom.

  Aliana, his favorite mistress, would be waiting for him in his bed. Such a victory would have been something he would have liked to share with his wife, who, sadly, was in far-away Aegis. Aliana would have to do for now. She was one of the more intelligent mistresses he kept. Someone with whom he could keep a conversation going.

  But perhaps he would be able to visit his wife soon.

  Things had been going well. And from what Kirrel had told him, Artemis too had been driven out of Simea with a puny ragtag band in tow. Rennar himself had dug deep into the assassin Garren Winters' history, and from what he had found out, he could rest assured that Artemis was a dead man.

  Such was Winters' reputation.

  Once Artemis was dead, Rennar could take a trip to Aegis. Who would be left in command, though? That was a difficult question. Azrael had initially rubbed him the wrong way, but the boy was turning out to be cleverer than he had anticipated.

  In addition, some of the deals Rennar had forged with the Llothran family too were profitable. He had recently received a shipment of the best wine from Azrael's father with a letter thanking him for taking the boy under his wing. Apparently Azrael had only good things to say about Rennar when he had written home.

  There was that incident with arming the slaves that both Gerzahn and Yvain had complained about. But in spite of what they said, Rennar actually thought Azrael had handled the situation well. What were a few hundred spears if it meant the guards didn't need to do their work.

  There was no way the slaves could take the mine with so few arms. If it ever came to a rebellion, Rennar could send Khamis or his own guards to quell it in a day. More than anything else, the slaves were terrified of Khamis. Yvain was probably too stupid to see it, but he would do better to be more scared of hungry slaves than armed slaves. Any man with an ounce of common sense knew that.

  Perhaps leaving Azrael in command of Norvind would show that Rennar trusted the boy as well. It would send good signals to the Llothran family.
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  And the emperor. It would make Rennar look like a true leader to the emperor. His rivals back in the Aegean court were always spreading nasty rumors about how well he got along with the savage slaver nomads. He regarded Khamis as a son, but the boy still wasn't an Aegean. Azrael, however, was a second child of an illustrious Aegean family. It would put those ridiculous rumors to rest once and for all if news reached the court that Rennar was on good terms with Azrael.

  Such thoughts still on his mind, Rennar was truly surprised to find his chambers absent Aliana. Instead, the captain of his guard was waiting for him.

  "What the hell are you doing here? Where's Aliana?"

  "I had to send her home my lord. We have—"

  "You? You had to send her home?" asked Rennar, his good mood slowly evaporating.

  "If you would let me explain my lord governor. We have a visitor."

  "The Eoran emissaries? They aren't due back from Aegis for another two days, are they? Their ship—"

  "The treasurer is here, my lord," interrupted the captain.

  Rennar felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

  The treasurer. What was the third most powerful man in the Aegean empire doing here? Thoughts began racing in his mind. His knees went a little weak, but Rennar steeled himself. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

  But why would the treasurer be here, though? To inspect the mines? Rennar had ensured that all the documents meant to reach the treasurer were dispatched on time.

  "Where is he?" asked Rennar, wondering why the officious bastard hadn't sent notice well in advance.

  If he didn't send notice, then it was likely an inspection.

  "In your offices, my lord."

  "Keep him there. Make sure he is well attended to. I will be there as quickly as I can."

  "The castellan has already seen to his well-being. It looks like the treasurer traveled light. He only has the one chest for an overnight stay."

  Brilliant! An overnight stay meant he would leave tomorrow. It would mean no inspection.

  "How many men did he travel with?" asked Rennar, while changing into his good clothes.