by Eric Ugland
I tucked back behind the loveseat before they could see me, and listened as she walked out of the house.
Over and over in my head, I repeated what I’d heard. Their clubhouse is in the market district. Two blocks up from the Grand Bazaar, on the corner of Lavinious and Elm. I didn’t want to forget it.
Simon had another few drinks from his bottle, and hiccuped. I heard a glass break, and he cursed.
He trundled out of the office, using his hand to steady himself on the wall.
I waited for him to leave the library, and then jumped over the loveseat and walked to the door. I peeked around the corner, and saw Simon at the end of the hallway, bent over in a closet, banging things around. I walked out the front door, down the stairs, and then headed down the street like I had places to be and people to see.
Two blocks away, Lothar and Titus pulled up in a carriage, and motioned me aboard.
“Gents,” I said as I climbed the stairs, “we finally have something to go on.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
We went to pick up Matthew. Before they got too deep into talking about setting up surveillance on the Iron Silents clubhouse, I got Matthew to get me the address to the Rowland manor house. Then, I headed up to my apartment to shower and prep while I waited for nightfall.
The apartment was empty, which was nice. It was rare to have the place to myself. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I was just waiting with nothing to do. I mean, in a technical sense, I had nothing to do. I’m sure there were things I could figure out to do, given the number of things on the guild to-do list, but I was actually enjoying the moment of nothing. I went up to the roof deck and sat down in the little garden there, enjoying the sunshine on my face.
I pulled out a pouch — I was finally ready to look at what the Emperor had given me before his untimely death. My prize, as it were, for helping him out. Or, considering he’d perished prior to being able to use the information I gave him, for trying to help him.
There was a small wax sealed piece of parchment, a signet ring, and five favor coins.
I started with the wax-sealed parchment. Looking it over yielded nothing. The only thing on the outside was the Imperial seal in blue wax. And there was no way for me to even peek at the inside without breaking the wax seal. I sat there on the roof of my house, and I tried to remember exactly what the Emperor had said. Which wasn’t really working — there were so many memories from around that event that it all blended together just enough that I couldn’t be sure. I did know what the quest said, though:
Do The Right Thing
The Emperor has given you a legal document and a signet ring, but not given you instruction what to do with them. Do what you will.
Reward for success: Unknown
Quest cannot be refused.
I read over it quickly, and thought about what it could possibly mean. Having spoken to Valamir about the election, my first impulse was imagining I now held the Emperor’s votes. Maybe that’s what the paper said — that the bearer of this note is entitled to my votes. Maybe I held the fate of the Empire in my hands. Maybe I could nominate myself and vote myself in as Emperor. It would certainly make a few things easier in my life.
And yet, even if that’s what was written on the parchment, I couldn’t get beyond the initial fantasy phase. It just seemed like a bad idea. And not at all what I wanted to be doing with my life. I’d be a terrible Emperor. Even if having a personal chef would be delightful. Should I open it? Was it mine to open? It didn’t seem like I was supposed to open it, rather, that it was supposed to be given to someone. And if it was something to be given to someone else, I couldn’t open it without breaking the wax seal, and I wasn’t quite ready to do that. I decided not to open it.
I put the parchment back in the pouch, and pulled out the signet ring to give it a once over. It was a big ring, huge and unwieldy. Just thinking about having to wear the ring made me glad I wasn’t in line for the throne. But there didn’t seem to be anything special about it. I wasn’t getting any magical feelings holding it, and when I checked the identification using my innate sense (thank you guild), I just got back the boring details of the ring.
Imperial Signet Ring
Item Type: Unique
Item Class: Jewelry
Material: platinum, diamond, sapphire
Armor: n/a
Durability: Good
Weight: 1/3 pound
Requirements: n/a
Description: Made with the highest quality, the imperial signet ring feels old, heavy, and of immense value. On top is the imperial crest carved into the platinum and inlaid with sapphires and diamonds.
I put the ring in the pouch, and looked at the favor coins. They had the Imperial seal on one side, and the face of the Emperor, the former Emperor, on the other. Nothing else that special about them. I mean, apart from them being Imperial favor coins. Which, as far as I understood, meant I could use them to redeem a favor from the Empire. Or the Emperor. I wondered if it would be better for me to give the coins to the others. The Emperor had meant for me to give them to those who’d helped me, so Matthew, Titus, and Godfrey. That was probably the best thing to do. I mean, having five favor coins would be amazing, but I couldn’t think of a single favor I needed from the government, let alone five. Though, while sitting there under the setting sun, I started to realize I would probably regret not having them all when I needed them.
I went downstairs and into the Heavy Purse to get some dinner. A wall had already been blown out, and quite a bit of other demolition had taken place. But it was still reasonably clean around the bar, and that area was packed with guild members chowing down on something that looked meaty and spicy. Glatonese chili, I guessed.
Titus was behind the bar, leaning against a wall with his bowl of chili held up in his hands mere inches from his mouth. He was shoveling the food in. Matthew was at the bar, looking at a city map.
I sat down next to him.
“You have my address?” I asked.
He nodded without looking at me, and tapped a small square of paper sitting on the bar.
I put the favor coin on the bar, and slid it across.
“You don’t have to pay me for this—“ he started, but then he saw the coin, and did a straight up double-take. “What’s this?”
“Something I forgot to give you after I met the Emperor.”
He reached out for the coin reverently, but stopped short of touching it.
“Is this really for me?” he asked.
“It is,” I replied. “Things were just so hectic after—“
He put his hand up to silence me, then slowly grabbed the coin, held it up for inspection and nodded a few solemn times.
“Understood,” he said. “And thank you. You could just as easily have kept this to yourself.”
I didn’t want to admit that I’d had that thought, and, instead, put the other two on the bar.
“Godfrey and Titus,” I said.
Titus, as per usual, snatched his coin off the bar and disappeared it. It was a neat trick, and I had to wonder if there was some sort of bartender ability that allowed him such quick coin grabbing.
“I’ll hold onto this for Godfrey,” Matthew said, picking up the other coin with equal care to his own.
“Gents,” I said, “don’t wait up. I’ve got some burgling to do.”
“Can you believe we made him the head of this group?” Titus asked Matthew.
“I try not to think about it,” Matthew deadpanned back.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Klara suggested we take a carriage, but I didn’t want to. The night was too nice, and anyway I needed it to be a little later before I could actually pull off my heist. Unlike most days, the wind came up from the south, a little bulwark of warm air against the encroaching storms that threatened to come down from the mountains. Huge, heavy clouds covered the peaks to the north, but for the moment, at least, they kept away from the city.
The people in town wen
t about their last errands of the day, most rushing either home or to a late meal. Some people watched the two of us go by, but most were so involved in their own worlds they’d have no memory of us. We didn’t stick out that much, me and Klara.
I didn’t ask her to come, but I also didn’t ask her to let me go on my own. I just sort of accepted that I was going to have someone accompany me and watch my back. I knew from the start that I wasn’t going to let her come into the manor house with me, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have someone keeping watch outside.
We walked together in a comfortable silence. I could tell she was watching our environs carefully, like she was on alert, but it was a more subtle sort of surveillance than Mornax. Mornax always seemed on the verge of challenging everything, trying to fight any danger before it even had the chance to become a threat.
“Do you want to tell me where we’re going?” Klara asked when we got to a deserted stretch of street.
“The house of a man who used to be a mentor of mine,” I said. “But he ultimately turned out to be a traitor. He tried to kill me.”
“So this is a hit?”
“No, he’s dead.”
“So…”
“He had something valuable that I can trade to someone to get some information on our immortality problem.”
“Ah. Big item?”
“Difficult item. It’s very magical, and has no real safety switch.”
She nodded. “While you are inside, I will find heavy gloves.”
“I think we’ll be fine,” I said. “I transported in a leather pouch the first time I stole it, so I’m feeling reasonably confident I can do the same thing again.”
She just nodded again, and we kept walking.
But while the empty street had seemed fortunate at first, now it was starting to feel a little suspicious. We came around a gentle bend, and I was half expecting to find some form of enemy or monster waiting there for me. Nope. Just a square with people doing their thing. A small cart selling something spicy that tickled my nose. A mother yelling at her children to stop playing with wooden swords in the street. A man juggling a pile of books and a sack of food. Small reminders of the ordinary lives that took place around me every day.
Our ultimate destination was a neighborhood I’d yet to visit, a place wedged between the Imperial Palace grounds and Legion Home, which I’d been told not to visit under any circumstances unless I was accompanied by a Legionnaire. I doubted it would be wise to approach with someone who’d, at one point, been on the other side. Though, I mean, how would they know? But it was a non-issue, we weren’t going there. Hopefully. I wasn’t sure how firm the neighborhood boundaries were. I suppose we would find out.
Going through the admin district was a bit weird because there wasn’t much housing, so the place was dead. Not even the slight sound of people living in their homes. Just an eerie urban silence, sounds in the distance, but nothing up close.
I noticed Klara put her hand on her sword.
“Something up?” I asked.
“Something feels off,” she replied quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.
We were on a larger main street. I thought it might be safer to go on the roads less traveled.
“This way,” I said, pointing to the left, west.
Klara nodded, and went first.
Without saying anything, we both sped up, just a little.
Up the street, around a corner, and down another street. It felt like the buildings were getting closer, but, up ahead, there was some greenery. A little park in the middle of a block. For some reason, that helped me relax a little bit. I heard some of the night birds making noise. A little chirping.
But as we walked under the outstretched trees, I saw movement.
Klara had her sword out before I was knew what was going on.
Figures dropping out of the branches into our path.
I backed up behind her, and had Krakentooth in my right hand. My left already tingled with magic.
“Ah,” came a familiar voice from the park. “Our favorite friend from home.”
Arthur, leader of the Iron Silents, walked out of the shadows into the vague bits of streetlight that made it through the foliage.
“Arthur,” I said. “Not at all nice to see you again.”
“Still as impolite as ever.”
“We are enemies,” I said. “Makes sense to have a modicum of, well, whatever we have.”
“Chatting?”
“Or whatever. What can I help you with tonight?”
“You could die quickly, without a fuss.”
“Hmm, that’s a pickle. I’m a bit attached to living at the present moment.”
“We might be willing to let your lady friend go if—“
My lady friend lunged forward, and in the blink of the eye she’d shish-kabobbed the man standing in front of her, driving her sword right through the man’s heart. He died instantly.
“I think she can take care of herself,” I said.
“Oh, but can she take care of you?” Arthur asked with a sickening smile.
A sharp twang rang out from the darkness, and I felt something hit my side. Like a punch, but smaller.
I looked down and saw a crossbow bolt sticking out from the area around my kidneys.
I winced, and shook my head, doing my best to pretend the pain was neither there nor about to get worse.
“Nice,” I said through my clenched teeth.
“Remember that I gave you the chance to die easily,” Arthur said, walking away, “and I would have let the lady live. As it is, kill them. Painfully.”
Arthur strolled away down the street, while more figures started to emerge from the darkness.
Klara had kicked the corpse off her sword and was backing up towards me, keeping the approaching enemies in view as best she could.
“You might want to run for it,” she said quietly.
“I’ll be fine.”
“There is more enemies than I think we can take,” she said.
“I have some tricks,” I said, trying to ignore the throbbing pain coming from the bolt.
I took a breath and forced the pain away, tucking it far back in the hidden corners of my brain. I did a quick count, my head turning around. Eleven enemies, but no crossbows among them, meaning a twelfth was hiding somewhere in the dark. We were still in the street. Four men were coming from the north, four from the south, three from the park. One man lay dead on the ground. They had basic chainmail and leather armor on, no noticeable uniforms, and each had a shorter sword. They almost seemed lifted from some basic thug catalog.
Klara grabbed me with one hand and pivoted me so my back was towards the one direction no one was coming for us, putting our backs to the white marble government building. Our enemies held back, partially out of respect for Klara, but likely also because I was an unknown.
I didn’t recognize any of them. These were locals, maybe hired thugs, maybe something else. But it didn’t seem like they were actually IS members.
“Okay,” I said, “let’s play with these boys.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Magic flared from my hand as I cast Raise Dead on the corpse. It started moving a little, trembling. Two of the men looked at their former comrade and backed away.
“Necro,” one of the men said to his colleagues.
Another bolt shot out from the darkness, hitting me in the leg.
I stumbled, but kept my eyes locked on where the shot had come from. I knew it was risky, and likely a bit overkill, but I pulled a bunch of my mana together and threw a sticky fireball right at the spot. Nothing like an area effect spell to deal with someone hiding.
The flaming orb of magic tumbled through the air, and I caught sight of movement as my target made a run for it, trying to avoid getting caught in the middle of an inferno.
Klara, meanwhile, wasn’t waiting. She went on the attack, slashing out with her sword.
As soon as she did, however, the men from the so
uthern end of the street charged in.
I cast Darkness on myself, and was immediately enveloped in a comforting embrace of absolute black. Then for good measure, I cast Shadow Step, and slipped into another world.
The world slowed down, and I calmly limped over to the other side of the men to the south, hoping Klara would handle her opponents to the north.
One of the men was in the darkness already, yelling something.
I came out of the shadow realm right behind another, and jammed krakentooth down on the base of his neck.
His legs went to jelly, and he dropped to the ground. I’d severed his spinal cord.
But he took my dagger with me, my grip somehow not quite strong enough to keep the dagger in my hand.
I looked at my hand, unable to help myself. It was shaking. I was shaking.
A quick glance at my hit points was all I needed to know that I was in trouble. I had a pretty impressive bleeding debuff going, and I’d burned through a lot of mana already.
I started by ripping out both crossbow bolts, and then casting Heal Self, using up the bulk of my mana to just get the bleeding to stop.
The park was on fire, as was a man. He was trying to roll on the ground to put himself out, but the fire was just sticking to everything, so the more he rolled, the more he actually set on fire. Two of his compatriots had run to help him. The one other man coming from the park was trying to fight his previous comrade who had come back to life for a visit.
One man down at my feet, making odd noises, one in darkness.
Two men turned to face me, one with a black eye from some previous altercation. His black eye went wide as he realized I was behind him.
“He’s here!” he shouted, and he lunged forward with his sword.
I sidestepped his lunge, and used the crossbow bolt to stab into the man. I was aiming for his throat, but I got his shoulder.
He grunted, already changing his swing to angle it back towards me.