by P. G. Thomas
“Big ones!”
“BG, can you get a map of the docks?”
After the great battle had ended, Jedimac had stayed in Alron for several years, as he knew the territory battle in the Bright Coast would be bloody. During that time, Tiny and Zack had become close friends when the large thief had found a small wife, which resulted in their young children spending a great deal of time together. Tiny enjoyed being around the shorter Zack, as he never looked down on the large thief, and he always treated his family with respect.
As Tiny walked back into the office, Zack politely smiled, knowing the man sitting behind the desk would never understand the reference, “You should pay more attention to your Jedi Master, learning how to read people better.” After he had finished his drink, he walked over to Tiny who had the map unfolded.
“Zack, boss ain’t dissin you. He’s just a quiet type.”
“Well, since actions speak louder than words, let see if he can yell. If the Big Guy tells you where they’re doing their dirty business, will you double his reward.”
The temporary guild leader spoke one word, “Done.”
“That’s loud enough for me,” and then Zack moved beside the non-diminutive thief, identifying the location of the drug house, explaining what he knew. When done, he turned back to Corackas, “If you don’t honor your deal with my friend, sleep with one eye open.”
“I always do.”
As Zack shimmered, going out of focus, Tiny held open the door for the timber wolf. “Boss, we gots to move tonight.”
“Tiny, after you tell me what he said, I will make the necessary arrangements.”
“Boss, if in we donts go tonight, the gold be gone.”
*******
The second sun was setting when Lauren walked out onto the patio without her staff. After taking several deep breaths, she issued her Earth Bond: nobody will visit the New Age Academy of Insight. Seek Earth Daughters.
At that exact moment, even though Zymse never felt the sting of Lauren’s anger, Logan felt the sting of Zymse hand when he slapped him awake.
*******
The next morning, Zack waited until Steve had left the table before he told them of his previous day. “Got lucky and found their cookhouse.”
“What can we do about it?” asked Lauren.
“Already taken care of, Dudette. The thief guilds were looking for it, so now they found it. Well, one of them.”
“What?” exclaimed Lauren, Ryan, and Eric in unison.
Zack pushed away his plate, “Look, if we had shut it down, it might seem—unnatural. Since the guilds have been looking for it, trust me, they’ll be boasting about closing it down. So like Mirror Boy would say, no eyes are on us.”
After the meal, Zack took to the air to watch the stronghold, and while Ryan with Eric headed out to watch Zymse, they only saw what the magic mirrors reflected, as Zymse anger pacing in front of his empty academy was obvious.
Steve shook his head, “Damn kids.”
Inside the house, Lauren paced, as both groups of guardians watched in silence.
*******
Logan was unsure of what time it was when the man in the black veil pulled the hood from his head. His screaming obscenities were quickly ended when the iron mask was placed over his face, trapping his angered words.
Inspecting the tattoos on Logan’s arms, Zymse turned to the other two men in the room. “Increase the dosage and whippings, as you need to break him and soon.” Then he opened a portal, which he stepped into.
*******
As the suns began to set, the Black Watch squad instructed to observe the old guild saw numerous guards taking up positions, and with great caution, they worked their way to the secret door. When all was clear, the smallest literate thief ran to the secret panel, gained access, and began his ascent to the upper meeting room. When at the top, he heard the Darkpaye words from the other side of the wall.
“Where is—”
“He took his own life because he was overextended with the bank.”
“As am I and you know how they treat those who default on loans.”
“Worse than Zymse treats rebellious slaves!”
“He may not have had a family, but I do. We are all ruined, and I warned you all about being so greedy.”
“MOST OF MY PROPERTIES ARE ASHES. I had to dodge the bank investigators three times today, and right now, they sit across from my house.”
“Shut up all of you. This is what we are going to do. We will borrow the gold from our wives, telling them how we are going to purchase the burnt lots, clear and resell them when the ships land. As most of the houses here are small, we should be able to start a bidding war by selling larger properties. They will believe us.”
“If they find out?”
“It will buy us some time, but in the meantime, we still need the vote to happen. We will negotiate a delayed bribe, I mean, a commission with the Councilors.”
“How do we clean up the properties?”
“I will go to a slave merchant to acquire the labor. There is no way we can afford the prices those damn guilds are charging. I will go talk to the bank in a few days, so do not worry as I will smooth this out.”
*******
Late into the night, when a portal opened in the partially burnt building that once housed the strays, Zymse watched the six cages pushed into it. He called out to his guards, instructing them to take the trollmare infected strays to the four corners of the Bright Coast and to set them free. He then smiled at the two ferocious trollmares in the other cages, headed into his house, knowing that soon he would have a thousand lined up to receive his brands of protection
*******
It was quiet at the house the next day since Gayne with Mirtza were both absent, and Zack was once again observing the fortress. Even though Ryan with Eric had gone to observe Zymse, Steve already knew what they would report that night. The image in the mirror showed the man in black, standing in front of his academy pulling back the covers of two caged trollmares. Then from inside the study, he heard Jasmine pleading with Lauren to wait for Mother to heal, and with their arguments increasing, he continued to watch the mirrors. When he heard the call of the evening meal, he walked out to the dining room, “Does anybody want to tell me what’s happening?”
“What do you mean?” asked Ryan.
“Zymse said he captured two trollmares in the Bright Coast last night,” replied Eric.
“Yeah, like that’s possible,” replied Steve, “because I saw the lie in his eyes, and it’s only slightly different than the one in all of your eyes. Who’s going to be the first to talk?”
When a portal opened in the front room, John with his Earth Guards stepped through, “Most of the Bastards are beginning to heal.”
“Where’s Logan?” asked Lauren.
“He was never there.”
Before she could continue, Jaykil slapped his elongated sword on his chest.
“What’s your problem?” asked Lauren.
The six blood wolves rushed into the house, as the Granite Guardians pulled on their mithril armor, and on all of the swords, she could see the blue runes glowing.
“Trollmares is my guess,” replied Steve. “Zymse has most likely released some to generate fear.”
“Good, we can handle those.” Lauren then looked to the Granite Guardians, “Where are the closest?”
“Earth Mother,” Jasmine pleaded, “You cannot go to fight the terrible beasts!”
“You’re wrong. Jaykil, where are they?”
All of the Guardian slowly rotated, and after huddling together, they pointed in four directions. Breax answered, “Earth Mother Ironhouse, the beasts are far and near.”
Grasping the staff, Lauren concentrated on the horrific terrors. Mother you had damn well better hear my words, and show me what I want to see. “Where are the trollmare obscenities?” With an image of the Bright Coast forming in her mind, she saw the terror in the children’s words, who prayed for help.
“Since there are only a few of them out there, we can handle them. Jaykil, Breax, you’re with me,” and then she pointed to the other four bald Guardians, “There are some in this end of town, so they belong to you. One is near Mother’s forest, so I’ll go after it. Ryan, Eric, Zack, there are more at the extreme north end of the Bright Coast, so they belong to you.”
“How the hell are we going to find them?” asked Eric.
“Follow the screams,” Lauren said before turning to John. “Can you do anything?”
I don’t know. John shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe?”
As Lauren pulled off her bracelet, she dropped a cork through it, creating the necessary portal.
Dax Steelfire stomped his foot, “With you, all Granite will go! Our mission it is.”
“No, your mission is to reunite me with my daughters, and to do that, we need to stop Zymse. That means we need to kill those trollmares, and you four stand the best chance. NOW GO!”
Jasmine called out, “Silmon, Jacping. Go with Granite, and guide them to the terror screams. Oxron, you shall guide the Champion, Rage Heart, and Legend Absent.”
As Lauren stepped through the portal, followed by Jasmine and the two Ironhouse Guardians, her last command before the portal closed was simple: “Hide or destroy the bodies so that nobody will talk.”
The remaining dwarf warriors took their blood wolves back to the stable, pulled on their mithril armor, and then raced down the darkening streets, as they followed the growing intensity of the blue runes and the ears of their Earth Guard guides.
Accepting the fast horse amulets that Gayne handed them, Eric, Ryan, Zack, and Oxron went to the stables where they made their magical mounts appear, heading north on the winding streets. John, followed by his Earth Guards, went up to his room to get his second cloak.
*******
Scanning the notes from the night runners, the third one gave Jedimac a shudder of excitement, as it spoke of the Darkpaye meeting in his old guild and of their financial strain. He quickly penned notes to all of the guilds, arranging an emergency meeting late that night. His smile increased after he reviewed the update from Corackas, as the fourth sun had set.
*******
After John had pulled on his second cloak, he created the complicated representation of Schorl Tourmaline in his mind, seeing the individual chemicals: Aluminum, borite, iron, hydroxide, oxygen, sodium, and silicon. When he had visualized a model of its atomic structure, he sent it to the cloak, tasking the magic to find the valueless gemstone designed to give birth to the deadly beasts.
*******
Grabbing a handful of sea salt, Zymse pushed it into the fresh wounds on Logan’s back to wake him, hearing the muffled screams from inside the mask. “Enjoying your stay, Bastard?” Examining Logan’s eyes and tattoos, which were becoming darker, he smiled. “You will be ready to talk soon.” As he left the room, the crack of the whip found flesh.
*******
Stepping out of the portal into the forest, Lauren immediately headed to the road. When all had caught up to her, she handed Jasmine an amulet and platinum ring. The Earth Guard captain materialized the coach without asking, mounted the driver’s seat, as Lauren opened the door, allowing the two unsaddled blood wolf mounted warriors to leap into it. As the coach was speeding away, she was still pulling the door closed.
Jasmine’s ears swiveled from front to back, trying to isolate the origin of the distant screams, but the echoes in the stone and wooden canyons of the Bright Coast caused confusing and overlapping sounds. Racing the carriage down the main street heading north, she occasionally slowed down at major intersections to listen, and upon hearing distinct screams of horror, she quickly forced the team of magical horses to turn the corner. For over an hour, they worked their way through the confusing streets. As they traveled, Lauren watched the Darkpaye residents. While some were running in the same direction they traveled, others ran in the opposite. When the carriage came to an abrupt halt, Lauren saw a substantial group of armed men who had formed a large circle around a trollmare, and behind them, screaming Calicon servants who wanted to be elsewhere.
Before she opened the carriage door, she unleashed an Earth Bond with her staff. “This never happened. Leave.” As the assembled crowd turned their backs, the trollmare advanced on the smallest. When Lauren pushed open the door, Jaykil with Breax leaped out of the carriage on their blood wolves, capturing the attention of the trollmare instantly. Even though it was the smallest they had seen. Barely larger than a small wolf, its body was covered in scales, and its mouth was filled with vicious teeth.
Jaykil, wondering if there were more, turned to Breax, “Brother, yours to kill it is.”
The second Guardian shook his head, “More wait for we should.”
Lauren stomped her foot, “Kill the damn thing, now!”
Breax looked to his Guardian brother, “Share?”
“We cannot let it live.” Dismounting from his wolf, walking up to the menacing beast, when Jaykil extended his arm, the angry teeth quickly latched onto it. Then, with his other hand, he pushed down on its nose so that it could not let go. Even though it tried to shake the arm free from the dwarf, Jaykil never moved. Breax, grasping his great ax, in a single motion severed the head, and when the jaws released, the head fell to the ground.
Breax turned to Lauren and Jasmine, “Even though beasts they may be, they are a small threat.”
“Drag it inside,” began Lauren, “and we’ll find a place to dump it.”
*******
John sent the magic into the night, telling it to find the compound called Schorl Tourmaline, but not wanting to waste any magic, he confined the search to the boundaries of the Bright Coast. Almost immediately, he saw an image form in his mind of four green dots running through the populated areas. Tasking the magic again, he commanded it to subtract one neutron from each of the first three elements in the complex mineral, adding them to the last. While uncertain what the new substance would be, he knew it would not be the enchanted compound, which had the pyro-electrical properties, hoping the spelled gold destined to deliver nightmares would never wake.
*******
Oxron, Ryan, Eric, with Zack had raced to the northern end of the Bright Coast. When his sensitive deer ears picked up the distant screams, he slowed his magical mount, leading the others in the desired direction. He cut across streets, backtracked, altered his course until the echoes were fewer, then headed north on the straightest path he could find. When the screams no longer bounced off the buildings, he headed east. After traveling for twenty minutes, they came to an alley where a trollmare had an unknown number of people trapped, and in front, mixed residents who had come to either investigate or fight ran in every direction.
As their horses skidded to a stop, the sheath holding the demi-mortal sword fell into Eric’s hand. Then, with his long reach, he brought the bright metal of quick death out into the dark night. Raising it overhead, a gigantic bolt of lightning raced skyward, which arched before falling back to the ground, turning the snarling beast into a pile of black ash.
Ryan turned to Oxron, “Where’s the next one?”
His deer ears swiveled from side to side, “All else is quiet.”
Chapter 19
With most having stayed out late the night before, Gayne was not surprised to see only John and Steve joining him for the morning meal.
“What’re they up to, Kid?”
“How would I know? I just returned!”
Steve reached for a plate of fried meats. “They made a move against Zymse, and now he is going to be pissed,”
“I know that because I was here for it. Are you going to keep talking in circles, or can you be more linear?”
“Something is wrong, Kid. I can feel it in my gut,” Steve paused. “Logan wasn’t in Alron?”
Before John could answer, Mirtza, Eric, with Zack entered from the patio door, and Lauren with Ryan entered from the front hall.
The concern on Lauren’s fac
e was understandable, “If Logan isn’t in Alron, where is he?”
I don’t know.
“The last time we saw him was after the earthquake,” advised Eric.
“Dude is probably still north of the river helping people out,” suggested Zack, “or maybe he found somebody that needed some personal attention.”
“No, he wouldn’t stay away for four days,” advised Ryan. “If anything, he would’ve come back here, or at a minimum, told us he was going to Alron.”
“Zack, can you see if you can find his trail where we last saw him?” asked Lauren.
“No problem, Dudette. Want to go with me, nerd boy?”
John’s eyebrows arched up. “Nerd boy?”
“They’re still called that back home, aren’t they? Or did you all have a revolution and take over?”
Lauren stomped her foot. “John, just go with him. Eric, Ryan, Mirtza, go to the vote and stop it, but…just stop it. I don’t care how.”
“She might not, but I do,” began Steve. “We don’t need any eyes on us.”
Ryan nodded, “I’ll find a way.”
“Great,” declared Steve, “We’re sending a rage storm into a pressure cooker. Do me a favor, Kid. Think about your daughters before you do anything…” Stupid.
“I’ll be—I’ll find a way.”
“Sure,” replied Steve, “but I still want to know what you Kids did? “
Lauren sat down at the table, “We didn’t do anything, other than stop Zymse from growing stronger. I would suggest you all eat quickly because in ten minutes, Gayne is going to tell the house staff to clean this table off.”
*******
“Why are we meeting?”
“Why are you asking me? I thought you called it?”
When a secret door in the old guild opened, Jedimac, wearing a black mask over his face, stepped out. “I called it.”
Before any could draw their weapons, they heard several concealed panels slide open—loud enough to get their attention, and on the table where the property conspirators had gathered, one single cross bolt landed. “You will have to excuse me, my Darkpaye language skills are lacking, like your…wealth options. You seem to have a problem. Me? I like to solve problems. So here is what we shall do.” The leader of the Black Watch walked over to the table, pulling out five pieces of paper. “Each will sign and I can—confirm? Is that the right word? Well, it will work. Each is contract legal—sorry, a legal contract that your bank will—embrace? Damn, your words are hard to speak.”