A New Beginning: A Fantasy Adventure (The White Chronicles Book 1)

by J. E. Thompson

  “Well, well,” Don Kordo boomed out. “Plenty of people looking for work. The old beggar down the street is looking for work. What separates you from the rest?”

  “We know how to handle ourselves in a fight,” Vexx said. “I trained in the Magical Academy at Fallanden,” he added, snapping his fingers. A flame emerged, Don Kordo frowned disapprovingly, and Vexx dispelled it sheepishly.

  “Don’t do that again,” Don Kordo rumbled. “So you’re a mage, then. I don’t see those very often. Hmm…” his eyes flicked over to Shyola and Kaylin. “You two, I can find work for,” he said with a chortle. “But it wouldn’t be in the procuring business. You, though…” he blinked a few times, as if trying to figure Vexx out. “Just who the hell are you, anyway?”

  “Vexx White, dungeoneer for hire. These are my associates, Kaylin and Shyola. They’re dungeoneers, Don Kordo, and that’s the work we’re looking for.”

  “Hmm…Brundisio!” Don Kordo shouted, leaning back. A moment later, the door opened, the orc berserker squinting at the dungeoneers suspiciously.

  “Any trouble, boss?”

  “No trouble. That job tonight at Vestrual’s Lumber Company. You know, the one we had to scrap?”

  “Three man job, boss,” Brundisio said with a touch of fear. “Ole Arren’s out with the leg wound, and that means just me and the new guy Kallan. And you know how he—”

  “Never mind all that,” Don Kordo said, waving his hand dismissively. “Kallan can stay back. Take these three along with you. The job’s back on,” he said with a grin.

  “What job, exactly?” Vexx asked hesitantly. He wasn’t too keen about working with this Don Kordo character in the first place, but the good people of Cloudbury weren’t looking to hire him, so he had to take what he could get.

  I just don’t want to kill any innocents. I draw the line there. Shy wouldn’t mind, but Kaylin definitely would. We’ll back out if it comes to that.

  “Oh, don’t worry yourselves, dungeoneers,” the half-orc said. “This is a milk run. You might not know, given that you’re not from the slums around here, but there are all sorts of protection rackets and shady dealings going on with the lumber mills outside Cloudbury. It’s a big business here, and the guard looks away if you pass them a few coins. The thing is…we had a deal with Gallagher Lumber Emporium. I won’t bother you with the details, but they’ve been having some run-ins with thugs hired by Vestrual’s Lumber Company—and it’s time we put a stop to it.”

  “Great,” Vexx muttered. “A gang fight over lumber.”

  “Hey, don’t knock it,” Don Kordo rumbled. “Plenty of money in trees. Besides, most of the time, we guard against goblin raids. People love us then.”

  “Alright, well…” Vexx glanced at Shyola, who seemed indifferent, though she was studying a jewelled skull with an air of intense fascination, and then looked over at Kaylin. The elf kept her face carefully blank, but gave Vexx a slight nod. He sighed, nodding to himself as well. “We’re in.”

  “Course you are,” Don Kordo huffed. “It’s good money. Brundisio will show you the ropes. The job starts at dusk.”

  “Before all that, though,” Vexx said, reaching into his robes. Brundisio snarled. “Easy, easy, just trying to sell this,” Vexx added, then slowly placed Naruan’s collection of art on the table. “Can I interest you in some erotic dryad art?”

  The half-orc snorted. “Hell no. I deal in the real stuff out back,” he said, jerking a thumb back to an inn, just visible through a window. So that’s what those sounds were, Vexx thought to himself. “I don’t need this. Find someone else to peddle this to.”

  Vexx sighed. “Well, it was worth a shot. I’m told it can be very valuable to collectors.”

  “This look like an art gallery to you? Brundisio, take these three and tell them the plan. I’ve got a criminal enterprise to run here. Gary, tell me you found more than just these dungeoneers here—I got a wagon leaving at dusk for Oerchenbrach and I want more goods on it. Dump what you got, then get your grubby little fingers back out there!”

  43

  Throwing Axes

  Brundisio readied an axe, carefully targeting a mark he’d chipped into a tree in the forests outside Cloudbury. With a grunt, he threw it forward, watching it fly end over end before it buried itself in the wood.

  Kaylin clapped her hands together. “A fine throw!”

  Brundisio grinned as he walked over to the tree and with a grunt, he gripped the two throwing axes that were also lodged into it. A thin trickle of sap dribbled down from where they had landed.

  “I still don’t think you should practice on trees, though,” she added. “They’re living beings, you know.”

  He snorted, ripping one axe out and holstering it, then wrenching the second one out of the tree. “Who cares about trees? Besides, the logging companies all around here chop them down by the hundreds.”

  “There’s a purpose to it, though,” Kaylin said. “You make your buildings from them. Elves make their bows from trees as well. But this just causes damage to them for no end.”

  “There’s a purpose,” Brundisio grunted. “Practicing my throwing axes. There’s a fight on tonight, and your puny lives might depend on it. I figure you’ll be as useless as Kallan here.”

  “Hey!” Kallan whined in his nasally tone. The scrawny slum fighter had insisted in accompanying them to the forest, even after Brundisio had made it clear he wasn’t included in this job. Vexx was beginning to see why. Kallan might be as impressive a fighter as any, but he was already starting to grate on him. Besides, I doubt he’s nearly as good as he claims.

  “Don’t even start,” Brundisio growled. “I remember that last fight we were in with Ole Arren, trying to take over that warehouse. Barely light at all, and I know how terrible you humans are in the dark at the best of times, and then Arren takes a wild swing to the leg.”

  “That wasn’t me,” Kallan protested.

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure it was.” Brundisio paused. “But never mind that. Just practice like I’m doing, and be careful with your swings. You never know, the same thing might happen to you, and you might not be so forgiving as Ole Arren.”

  “Fine,” Kallan grunted, turning to slash sullenly the nearest tree with his huge broadsword, his swing sending bits of wood flying through the air. Kaylin frowned at the sight but said nothing.

  “Are you going to practice?” Brundisio asked, readying another throw.

  Vexx shrugged. “My fireballs might burn down the whole forest. Besides, using magic really wears a person out. I’ll be ready, have no fear.”

  Brundisio grunted, looking over at Shyola. “And you, succubus?”

  “Practice?” Shy laughed. “Darling, I have eons of practice. If I practiced draining a soul, why, I don’t know that I’d stop. And my whip?” She lunged forward, snapping it into existence, the reddish-orange magical whip slashed straight through a tree. It slid to the side, the rest of the group scrambling away as it tilted to the side and then collapsed on the ground. “Yes, it still works,” she added in the silence, the whip fizzling away into nonexistence.

  “Damn,” Brundisio said, eyebrows raised. “You should be your own logging company.”

  “Ah, but I prefer adventuring with a cute young Master instead,” she said, placing a delicate hand on Vexx’s shoulder. She grinned over at him. “For now, anyway…”

  The silence lingered.

  Kaylin coughed. “I’d like to try those throwing axes, if you don’t mind, Brundisio.”

  “Oh?” He shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” He twirled one around, handing it haft-first to the elf. “The tricky part is getting the axe head to land just where you want it, instead of it just bouncing off. Try that tree over there,” he said, pointing over.

  Kaylin gripped the throwing axe, grounding her feet, and nodded. “The one just to the left of Kallan?” she asked, as wood ships flew in the air from the scrawny fighter’s sword strokes.

  “Yes, the one I’ve been prac
ticing on. Try and hit the mark in the center.”

  “Got it,” Kaylin said, pulling it back, then flung it and excitedly fidgeted as it spun end over end. The axe head lodged with a solid thunk into Kallan’s head just as he reared back for another strike. For a long moment, there was a stunned silence. Then, Kallan toppled bonelessly into the ground.

  “Oh shit,” Vexx muttered.

  Brundisio let out a long sigh. “That’s a problem. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. Still…” he stepped forward, examining the corpse.

  “Whoops…” Kaylin whispered, shrugging her shoulders.

  “You’re a natural,” the orc said, kicking the fighter’s motionless leg. “Ah, I couldn’t stand him, anyway.” He looked up at the sky. “Another hour until dusk, maybe. He was supposed to guard our wagon down the road.”

  Vexx nodded. They’d taken a wagon the short distance outside of Cloudbury. It was walking distance, but Brundisio had pointed out that a quick getaway wagon was essential if the situation turned sour. And given our luck…

  Vexx cracked his fingers and strode forward. “You know, Brundisio, maybe I will get some practice in.”

  “Eh?”

  The dungeoneer kneeled beside the fallen slum fighter. He had a pallid complexion, even before his untimely death, and his face looked normal enough given the circumstances. There was just the small issue of the axe sticking out the back of his head. Vexx placed his hand above the man, pressing down with a surge of necromantic energies, and felt the corpse twitch under his hands and groan as it began to move.

  “Shit! What!” Brundisio stumbled backward. “Kallan, you thick-headed oaf, how did you survive that?”

  Shyola chuckled. “He’s not alive, silly, he’s undead. Vexx is a necromancer. He does this sort of thing all the time.”

  Brundisio stammered a series of orc curses, then shook his head. “Necromancy. It’s unnatural. You never mentioned that.”

  “People judge,” Vexx said, stepping back as Kallan clambered to his feet. The undead fighter blinked, one arm reaching back, fingers clawing at the axe head. “No, Zombie Kallan, don’t touch it.” Vexx looked at the others. “I’m still not entirely sure how it works, but I don’t want him to sever the connection,” he said, concentrating on the flickering yellow and green energies just visible between his hand and Zombie Kallan’s skull.

  “You mean I can’t get my axe back?” Brundisio asked after a moment.

  “You have two others,” Vexx pointed out, then looked Zombie Kallan in the face. “Look, be a good boy and look after the wagon. We’ll be by later tonight.”

  Zombie Kallan grunted something, then shambled off into the undergrowth, a branch snapping as the haft of the axe broke it.

  “He’ll be fine,” Vexx added. Probably.

  Brundisio sniffed, having apparently recovered from the death and undeath of his former companion. “I’ll be wanting that axe back later. But, for now…maybe we should end our little practicing session here.”

  44

  Vestrual’s Lumber Company

  The dungeoneers laid in wait just outside the clearing around Vestrual’s Lumber Company, watching as the lanterns of the night guards bobbed up and down as they continued their regular patrol. Vexx pulled his robes closer around him in an attempt to ward off the coolness of the air in the lower Lifeless Hills. He fidgeted, the chill mixed with the growing tension made him restless. He watched them in silence, and they seemed like a motley assortment of characters with no common uniform. Vexx crept over to Brundisio.

  “You’re sure they’re hired thugs?”

  “Oh, sure I’m sure,” the orc replied, pointing a long green finger toward one lantern. “I even know some of them. You see that orc there? We practically grew up together. He’s Thoran, and he’s been a Lowrie Boy since about ten. That fellow just past him is the same.”

  “A…what?”

  “A Lowrie Boy. Yeah, that’s the gang this lumber company hired. There’s about a dozen gangs in the slums, and Don Kordo…” Brundisio winced. “Well, let’s just say with Ole Arren wounded and Kallan put down, he doesn’t have a lot of foot soldiers left. Truth be told, this is probably our last chance to avoid being taken over by one of the bigger gangs. I hope you can handle yourselves.”

  “Sure,” Vexx said, “though we’re just dungeoneers for hire, you understand. So let me get this straight. We’re striking back for your lumber company, setting a few fires, maybe stealing some of their lumber if it looks like we can get away with it, for Don Kordo to make a bit of a profit on the side and boost his gang’s reputation.”

  “Right,” Brundisio nodded.

  “So we don’t need to kill them all.”

  The orc bared his fangs. “You see a way to do all that without killing them all?”

  Vexx pursed his lips. “I think…maybe I do. Think you can lure some of them off?”

  “What, me do all the heavy lifting here? Face all the risks?”

  “It’s that or fighting them head on.” Vexx gritted his teeth, already regretting taking on this assignment. Who knew the odds would be so heavily stacked against us? We have surprise on our side, at least. That might just be enough.

  “Gentlemen,” Shyola whispered from above. The dungeoneer and the orc gasped, then shifted aside as she dropped soundlessly from the tree above. “Sounds like you’re looking for a sneaky succubus to suck out some souls,” she purred. “I’m your woman. Let me at them.”

  Vexx cracked a smile. “Sure thing, Shy. Will you distract a few of them for us, Brundisio?”

  The orc nodded. “I’ll make some goblin calls. They’re always prowling around up here, and I’m sure they’ll take a look. Once I hear fighting down below or see a fire, I’ll kill my way through them.”

  Vexx nodded as the orc prowled his way through the underbrush. They waited in silence until he heard a few distant rattles and clacks that sounded like a patrol of goblins. A few of the lanterns jerked to the side, distant shouts emerging from the lumber building. After a moment, four more lights emerged from within.

  Vexx cursed. There are even more around? This is insane!

  “I’ll make my way closer,” Shyola said, creeping her way forward. The elf peeked her head up, ears sticking out through the undergrowth.

  “Vexx, where’s she going?” she asked.

  “She’s going to sneak up and take out some of the guards,” he whispered back. “Shush.”

  “I can do that! I’m sneaky too!” Kaylin hissed from a nearby bush. Vexx held a hand up as if to silence her, and saw a lantern twitch in the distance.

  “Did you hear that?” a voice asked.

  “Hear what?”

  The silence lingered for a minute as everyone remained motionless, with only distant goblin sounds and rustling, as some of the guards made their way up the nearest hills. Finally, the lantern moved aside.

  “Nothing, I guess,” the voice said, sounding a bit sheepish. If there was a reply, Vexx couldn’t hear it. He waited a while longer before turning to glare at Kaylin.

  “Not so loud,” he whispered.

  “Sorry. But Vexx, I can be sneaky! I’m an elf, we’re supposed to be good at that.”

  “Supposed to, but…” he sighed. “Fine, show me how sneaky you are. There are two guards on this side,” Vexx continued, pointing over at the lanterns nearby. “Shyola can take one down and you can get the other.”

  “Oh, I’ll be so silent about it,” Kaylin muttered. “Everyone’s going to know just how silent I am. Hey, where’s Shyola?”

  Vexx pointed over to where a dark shape was slowly sneaking behind one of the guards on patrol. Kaylin cursed, then hurried over toward the other one, branches snapping under her feet. Vexx sighed to himself. Even so, I have to admit that I would probably be even louder. I don’t really go much for sneaking. Vexx glanced over into the distance, where Brundisio must be leading a few of the Lowrie Boys away. Still, there’s no one better at setting fires. In and out, then back to Don Kordo. Cou
ldn’t be easier.

  45

  Sneaky Dungeoneers

  The first lantern swung wildly as a dark shape leaped forward, an accompanying burst of spectral energy radiating outward. The light from the lantern fell and extinguished itself on the ground, casting the surroundings back into blackness. Vexx strode forward, hearing slurping and cracking sounds mixed with Shyola’s moans of delight. He glanced up at the next lantern just as it fell, getting a glimpse of Kaylin behind an orc, her blade slicing across its neck. The orc guard staggered to the side, blood spurting out, and then they were left in darkness as well.

  Using his other senses more than his terrible night vision, Vexx almost bumped into Shyola, her burp breaking the silence. There were no other guards around, at least, though for all Vexx knew, a few could still be inside the lumber mill. Shy moaned again, louder this time, ignoring Vexx’s shushing.

  “Oh, the hopes and dreams of that one!” Shyola declared. “It’s so rare that you find a thug with aspirations like that! He wanted to be a singer, you know, to hit the nightclubs of Fallanden. But he never tried! He never tried, boys and girls, and that truly is a sad thing…it left such a deliciously poignant taste in my mouth. Mmm…but let that be a lesson to you, you young creatures. Pursue your dreams! He was thirty-eight and never truly admitted to others, much less himself, that singing was what he really wanted to do with his life. No, one thing led to another, and he just drifted along with the tides. From one gang to another, just a foot soldier, a thug to help satisfy other people’s dreams. He thought he was different, he did, as so many other souls do. Ah, anyway…it was good stuff. Cloudbury scum is a lot tastier than I would have imagined.”