by Logan Jacobs
We ducked behind another tree and watched as the young elf waited nervously. Her eyes darted around her and landed on the trees, and then the grass, and then the bench next to the playground that was meant for parents to sit on as their children played.
As she traced patterns in the sand at her feet, a dark figure emerged from behind the playground and crossed toward her. Genevieve had her back turned and didn’t see the person approach. As they got closer, I could see a pale face partially obscured by a black hood. I couldn’t make out the figure’s facial features, but judging by their gait and build, it was probably a human man. He was clad in a black sweatshirt and dark jeans, and there was something about the way he casually strolled up to Genevieve with his hands in his pockets that didn’t rub me the right way.
This guy screamed “dangerous.”
“You’re late,” the man spoke. He had a gritty husky voice tinged with a slight Southern drawl. The man’s lip curled downward like a vulture when he talked and there was an obvious outline of a pistol tucked away in his waistband.
Genevieve nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the man. She leapt from her seat on the slide and spun around so that she was face to face with the mysterious figure. Her thin form backed up slightly as she kept a semi-safe distance between them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I got caught up studying for this big test--”
“I don’t care,” he growled as he inched toward her. “Do you have it?”
I forced my feet to stay planted in the earth next to the tree even though every bone in my body wanted me to sweep Genevieve away from this dangerous man. Now was not the time for my hero complex to take charge.
When the woman didn’t respond, the man took a step closer.
“The meeting time was midnight,” he continued as his dark eyes appraised her. “That means you get here at midnight, not two hours later.”
“I know,” she whispered so quietly I almost didn’t hear it. “It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” he threatened, “I’d hate for your school to find out how you paid off your loans, wouldn’t you?”
Genevieve swallowed hard as she stared at the sand in front of her sneakers, and the man let the pause hang in the air to assert his dominance. It was crystal clear who was in charge of this conversation and this situation.
I felt Maaren shiver beside me, and I turned to look at her. Her green eyes were fixated on Genevieve, and she had pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. Her eyebrows knitted themselves together, and I could tell she tried hard not to run over there and do something foolish.
“I’ll ask again. Do you have it?” the man asked gruffly, and my head swiveled back to watch them.
“Here,” Genevieve steadied her voice as she scrambled to pull the bag from her jacket pocket. “All six buds are there, just like you asked.”
“Good,” he snarled as he folded the bag into his shirt pocket. “Tomorrow, we’ll need ten. The bird is growing fast.”
“Ten!” Genevieve cried out. “Professor Limmer might be forgetful, but he’s not--”
Before she could say anything else, the man lunged across the distance between them in the blink of an eye and wrapped a thick hand around her throat. The young elf’s entire body went stiff with terror.
I was just about to give into my instincts, dash out there, and kick this guy’s ass, but then he released her from his grip with a growl. Genevieve hunched over and gasped for air.
“Yes, ten,” he barked. “Is that going to be an issue?”
“No,” she started, but then she straightened herself up and leveled out her voice. “It’s just that he might start to suspect something.”
“Well, then,” the man said, his tone dangerously low, “I guess you’ll have to figure out how to throw him off the trail.”
“H-how am I supposed to do that?” Genevieve stuttered.
“I don’t know,” the man replied, and then he leaned in closer to her. The elf’s body recoiled, but her feet stayed planted in the ground. “Mess with his papers, doctor his records, seduce him… Bash him over the head with a frying pan for all I care. Just do something.”
Genevieve nodded slowly. Satisfied, the man stepped back with a malicious smirk. His eyes raked over her shaking form, and I could tell that this guy took a distinct pleasure in causing the woman fear. Then, he began to walk away.
“Wait!” she called after him, just before he stepped onto the grass. “How much longer do I have to do this? Steal, I mean.”
“Until I say so,” he replied darkly and didn’t even bother to turn around. That made it all the more terrifying. “I’ll see you at midnight tomorrow. Don’t be late.”
And with that, he walked away as casually as you’d stroll down the street. Genevieve let out a soft sound that was somewhere between and a sigh and a sob, glanced around quickly, and then walked so quickly in the direction she’d come that it was almost a sprint.
“Maaren, follow her, bring her in,” Ariette ordered. “HC, you and I are on that guy’s tail. We’ve already caught him in the act, now we just need to make sure he doesn’t get away.”
Maaren nodded and slinked off into the darkness after Genevieve. The student may have been terrified for her life, but we could help her once she was in our custody. Once we had her, I was sure she’d cooperate. She sure as hell didn’t want to be doing this.
“Let’s go,” Ariette whispered in my ear. Her warm breath tickled my skin, and a shiver raced down my spine before she trotted off into the trees.
We could see the form of the man retreat just beyond the tree line and onto the sidewalk, and we followed him at a safe distance. He strolled casually down the sidewalk with his face tilted toward the moon, as if he was out on a Sunday stroll to enjoy the fresh air, and hadn’t just threatened a poor young woman. The man started to whistle as he walked, and the tune was haunting. It almost reminded me of the way violins play sadly whenever someone important died on a television show.
“Kal, can you track my location and do a pick up?” Maaren’s voice came over the comms system after a moment. “I’ve got her.”
“Sure thing, Hunter Blue,” the dwarf replied. Her words were garbled, as if she was chewing, and I just knew she was savoring the sandwich she’d been so over the moon about.
We walked down a street filled with closed shops and restaurants. Above the shops, the windows of the apartment spaces were dark. The world was asleep, and that made the already dangerous mission even more ominous. The man continued to whistle as he strolled down the street and peered into the windows of some of the shops. In front of one, he stuck a fingernail into his mouth to pick at something caught in his teeth before he continued onward.
Ariette and I crept along behind him, trying our damndest to stay out of sight. We used the cars that were parked up and down the street as cover, careful not to get too close and be caught in the reflection of one of the windows.
Abruptly, the man stopped and swiveled his head around to make sure that no one could see him. Ariette and I flattened ourselves against the concrete as he turned in our direction and then peeked through the driver’s window of an older sedan. When he was certain he was alone, the man ducked into an alleyway along the side of a restaurant with the name “Grandma’s Diner” written in darkened neon lights.
Quickly, Ariette and I dashed across the sidewalk and pressed ourselves against the brick wall of the diner. I slowly craned my neck until I could just barely see into the alleyway with my right eye.
The man had stopped in the middle, about ten feet down. The entire alley was littered with trash and old junk. He stood between an overflowing dumpster and a beat-up old couch that had probably been a soft shade of yellow in its prime, but was now a grossly faded tan. Then he shook his hands out to his sides and cracked his neck as if he was about to get into a physical fight.
The figure bent over to grasp onto the heavy metal lid of a manhole. As we watched, he pushed the lid to the side a
nd disappeared into the dark hole. After a moment, the sharp squeal of metal on concrete sounded as the manhole cover was pulled back into place. No human man should be strong enough to lift such a heavy covering like that. We were either dealing with somebody who wasn’t quite as human as we thought, or he had some sort of strength-altering magic. We really were dealing with some seriously powerful people here, and the prospect of fighting a strongman wasn’t very appealing.
Ariette and I stepped out from our hiding place and shared a nervous look before we strode into the alley.
Chapter 9
“Well, this is going to be pleasant,” Ariette said sarcastically as we stared at the thick iron circle. “Going into a waste-infested sewer isn’t exactly on my bucket list.”
“Don’t think about it,” I ordered as I bent over to lift the cover. “Like, seriously don’t think about it. The last thing I need is a sick elf as a partner.”
The elf squatted down to help me, and we lifted it from the entrance to the sewer as quietly as we possibly could.
A powerful, acrid smell smacked me in the face immediately, and I bit back a gag at the smell of human waste. The stink of the raw sewage mingled into the smell of sewer water that was full of rotten food, piss, and shit, and the combination created the most abominable smell on earth.
Ariette’s face went two shades paler as the smell hit her, and she swallowed hard. “Let’s go before we lose him,” she got out through gritted teeth.
I swung my legs into the hole and found the hard rod of a ladder just below me. Quickly, I grasped onto the upper bars with my hands and lowered myself into the stench. As I descended into the darkness, the smell only grew stronger, and I felt bile rise in my throat. I yanked my t-shirt up over my nose and forced my stomach to settle. Thankfully, my shirt still smelled like lemon detergent from the last time it was washed, and I focused on that scent instead of the aroma of this wonderful sewer. Still, the stench of waste and sewage was nearly overpowering to my senses. My eyes watered from the overwhelming chemical scent as it threatened to blind me.
It was only then that I realized the aromatherapy of the sewer was the least of my worries. The second I stepped off the ladder, I felt a cold sensation on my lower half, all the way up to my knees. I glanced down to see the murky, freezing cold liquid swirl around my shins, and just as quickly, I forced myself to look away and think of something else… anything else.
My mind shot to Ariette as she lay naked in my bed, just like the other day. That was a good thought, and one that was pleasant enough to keep my mind off the fact that I was literally wading around in shit.
My happy thoughts were interrupted by something shaped like a very, very small log as it struck the back of my calf. Even the thought of Ariette in my bed, with her perfect breasts smashed up against the sheet, was not enough to distract me from the thought of where that little log had come from. An image of a fat, hairy, grotesque troll squatted on a toilet entered my mind involuntarily, and I shivered in disgust.
“This is revolting,” Ariette whimpered as she dropped down into the water next to me. “Remind me to never, ever do this again.”
“Try not to think about it.” I gagged as I peered into the dark depths of the Jefferson City sewer system. “Now, where’d he go?”
I was sure the tunnel stretched far in both directions, but the street lamps above the manhole only let us see a few feet in any particular direction. To my right, there was an opening in the tunnel wall that led to another tunnel. There was no doubt in my mind that this place would be an uncrackable maze if I got lost.
Then, we heard soft splashes about thirty feet in front of us, and the water rippled back with the movement. Suddenly, a light flickered through the darkness, and Ariette and I held our breath. Fortunately, the light was facing away from our position, and I assumed it must have been the light of our target’s flashlight. He probably couldn’t see anything down here, either.
Ariette began to take a step toward the light, but I quickly stopped her by extending out my arm.
“He’ll hear the splash,” I whispered to the Fae.
She froze, and then my eyes fell on something on the sides of the tunnel.
Along the wall was a thick pipe that sat just above the water level. It only came out of the wall a few inches, but it was wide enough for a hand or foot to find its grip on. As quietly as I could, I held my breath, waded over to the pipe, and grabbed it. Then I tried to pull myself out of the water as silently as possible, and I stepped precariously onto the top of the pipe. My balance wasn’t the greatest, but I found that if I walked on all fours, the pipe was just wide enough for me to move on. Ariette caught on to what I was doing, silently pulled herself out of the water, and followed suit.
I felt the sluggish water drip down my legs and into the runoff below me with soft splashes, and I shivered at the thought of what was actually on my leg.
“Hey, Dirk, any action?” the man’s voice echoed from up ahead.
I looked up to see that he had stopped about twenty feet in front of us, and the light from his flashlight now bathed a new face in a sickly yellow glow. This new man, Dirk, I assumed, was heavyset with hip waders and a thick leather jacket that gave off a sheen in the light.
“Nah, not down here, Razor,” Dirk replied. His voice was gravelly and menacing. “I did catch a rat though. Fed it to Fluffy.”
“Nice, man,” our original suspect, Razor, replied. “Well, I’ll see ya later. Keep yer eyes peeled.”
“Yeah,” Dirk grunted in reply. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
Razor continued on his path forward and left Dirk behind. There was a small electric torch that was attached to the wall above him, and the circle of light it gave off was only a few feet in diameter.
I contemplated what to do as Ariette and I crawled forward. I wasn’t sure we should kill this guy, but we couldn’t let him see us. It would, however, be totally reasonable to knock him on his ass.
As we closed in on the man they called “Dirk,” I could just make out his face and figure in the yellow light. He was a very plump man, with a badly done goatee that protruded from his chin in thin wisps of gray and black hair. The rest of his pudgy face was clean shaven, and he wore a dark hoodie and jeans, similar to Razor. I turned to Ariette and put up one hand to tell her to wait there. Then, I inched down the wall toward my unsuspecting target. When I was close enough, I bounced my knees lightly as I judged the short distance between my target and myself. I was far enough away to still be concealed by the darkness, but Dirk wasn’t so lucky. His flashlight made him an easy target. I crouched down, propelled my legs downward, and leapt from the wall.
The second I landed on Dirk, I wrapped my legs around his thick trunk-like waist, and encircled his meaty neck with my forearms. He choked out airless gasps as he swung around and waved his arms wildly, but my grip was firm as I increased the pressure around his trachea. One of his big hands collided with the side of my head, but I pushed down the pain and ignored it. He smacked me hard a few times before he tried to disentangle my legs from his waist, but despite his attacks, I held onto him.
We whirled in a few more circles, stumbling but not falling, before his body started to go limp in my arms, and I used the momentum from Dirk’s circles to guide his heavy body over to the large pipe along the wall. As his body went completely lifeless, I felt Ariette tug us back into position, and then I released my grip and helped the Fae steady the man’s unconscious body.
We coiled the back of his shirt around one of the mounts that held the pipe to the wall and stepped away triumphantly. The man’s body hung limply from the mount, but he didn’t look like he was going anywhere, and he certainly wasn’t going to fall into the sewage and drown. More importantly, the sound of his splashing body wasn’t going to give us away.
“Nice job, HC,” Ariette whispered before she crawled forward again along the wall and continued to follow the yellow glow of Razor’s flashlight.
The heaviness of
my breath rang in my ears, and I felt like it echoed throughout the tunnels like a freight train. I forced myself to take a few slow inhales before I reoriented myself and followed Ariette’s dark silhouette. The balls of my feet and my fingers had started to ache from my precarious position on the pipe, but I just gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain.
If we got out of this, I definitely planned to indulge in some of Sal’s chocolate fudge cake the moment we got back to the guild. And probably a juicy steak. My mouth began to water at the mere image of the slab of meat, grilled to perfection and dripping with juices.
A bit of the disgusting sewage sloshed up on the side of the concrete tunnel, right onto my right hand. I bit back a grossed-out moan as I lifted my hand away from the offending liquid, and then I got another whiff of my knuckles and instantly wanted to puke.
Screw the steak. I really hoped Ekador would give me a giant reward for this one. No one should be subjected to something this gross.
More water sloshed up against the walls then, and I heard it make contact with one of my boots. Ariette froze in front of me as a rather large wave almost hit her square in the torso.
“The water didn’t move like this before,” I heard her hiss under her breath, quiet enough that Razor couldn’t hear.
“Maybe there’s a dump going on,” I whispered back. “Like some of the water was separated and now it’s mingling so it can get dumped at the sewage treatment plant.”
Suddenly, Razor’s yellow light flickered out. Ariette and I both froze and waited for it to come back on, but it didn’t.
The only things I saw were blackness and the even-darker outlines of Ariette and the water, and the only sounds I heard were the water sloshing up against the walls of the tunnel and my own heavy breathing. Even the plunk, plunk of Razor’s footsteps had gone deadly quiet.