City of Daggers (The Iron Teeth Book 2)

by Scott Straughan

  Blacknail groaned; he didn’t think that was very likely. Experience had taught him that if there was trouble around, Saeter would inevitably drag him into the middle of it. He would be very surprised if they didn’t end up in a fight or fleeing for their lives.

  “Fine, do what you want then, old fool,” the barkeep told him.

  “I always do,” Saeter replied.

  The two men began talking about the details and other things that Blacknail didn’t find very interesting. He scanned the inside of the tavern, but nothing caught his attention. Luckily, Saeter finished up his conversation after only a few minutes.

  “Come on, Blacknail,” the old scout said as he walked away, back toward the door.

  Blacknail followed his master, but before he reached the door, he turned back toward all the men and women who were throwing him dark looks. There was no way he was going to let some grubby-looking, tribeless humans look down on him. The hobgoblin straightened his back and met their gazes. His face was hiden behind his mask, but that was frightening enough. Most of the locals looked away, but one or two glared back. The hobgoblin let his hand drop to the hilt of his sword, and he growled in their direction. Suddenly, no one was meeting his gaze.

  Blacknail grinned wickedly from behind his mask. None of these smelly humans dared to challenge him! The hobgoblin skipped happily outside, and the door swung shut behind him. Ha, of course no one dared confront him; he was far too scary for weaklings like these!

  “Stop wasting time,” Saeter grunted as he looked impatiently back at Blacknail.

  “I’m right-ss behind you,” the hobgoblin replied.

  Saeter shook his head disdainfully and then proceeded to walk down the street. Blacknail smiled as he sauntered over to his master. What were they doing again? Oh right, they were tracking down ghouls…

  “Why are we-ss doing this? I don’t want to go near-ss any foul black bloods,” Blacknail asked with disgust.

  Some of his memories from when he’d been a mere goblin had grown fuzzy, but he still remembered Herad’s fight against the ghoul things perfectly. He was unlikely to ever forget it, so he didn’t really need or want any new memories of ghouls. They wouldn’t be good memories.

  “I wasn’t planning on confronting any ghouls today. I just want you to sniff around and see if there are actually any around,” his master answered.

  “Bah, why are we-ss even doing that?” Blacknail asked.

  “Because we can,” Saeter grunted in reply. His reply didn’t really answer Blacknail’s question.

  “I don’t do a lot of things I could-ss, usually because you won’t let me. ‘Don’t steal that’ or ‘don’t stab thems’ you tell me, and those things sound like much more fun than ghoul-stalking.”

  “I meant we’re doing it because no one else but us can. Remember when I told you about cities and how they can fall apart?” Saeter asked.

  “No,” Blacknail replied.

  Saeter sighed again. “It was like an hour ago! Daggerpoint is like an animal, remember?”

  “Oh right-ss, but we’re not killing anyone right now, so we’re not hurting the city or stopping pastries from being made,” Blacknail countered.

  “We may not be hurting the city, but the ghouls certainly are. They’re a sickness, and if left alone, they’ll kill the city,” Saeter replied.

  “…and then-ss all the pastries and tasty treats will be gone.” Blacknail sighed in defeat. Of course they were the only ones who could do this. Everyone else in the city was apparently useless and stupid! How had all these humans survived without him around to save them constantly? It was a mystery.

  “Right. Anyway, we’re here now. Most of the disappearances have happened on this street. Sniff around, and see if you can smell any ghouls.” Saeter stopped walking and stood in the middle of the empty street.

  Blacknail reluctantly nodded and did as he was told. He leaned over and began to smell random cobblestones. When he didn’t detect anything that way, he moved over to the edge of the street and sniffed the barrels and alley entrances there.

  “I smell nothing,” Blacknail told Saeter after several minutes of wandering.

  “Keep trying,” Saeter grunted in reply.

  The hobgoblin sighed and started over again. After several boring minutes of smelling the same untainted, but still foul, scent of humans, he decided to wander down into the nearby alleys. His master didn’t seem like he was going to let Blacknail stop anytime soon, so he walked over to the nearest backstreet entrance. It was a fairly tight alley with two rough-looking houses on either side of it. The hobgoblin walked into the shadows and idly began sniffing random things. Then he froze and started sniffing one spot again. Saeter noticed the hobgoblin’s sudden fascination with a broken piece of board.

  “Did you find their trail?” he asked eagerly.

  “No,” Blacknail replied as he sniffed the piece of wood some more.

  “Then what in all the hells are you doing?” Saeter shouted in frustration.

  “I smell familiar people-ss.”

  “Who?” Saeter asked curiously.

  “Two of the men-ss who serve the mage Avorlus,” Blacknail answered.

  “They probably live around here,” Saeter remarked dismissively.

  “They bled here, and so did someone else. If they hunt-ss other men here, it would explain why their base reeks so much of human blood,” Blacknail mused to himself.

  “What!” Saeter exclaimed in alarm. “You should have mentioned that before!”

  “All mages smell of blood, just usually only-ss their own,” Blacknail replied with a shrug.

  “Come on, we’re going.” Saeter suddenly growled and spun around.

  “What about-ss the ghouls?” Blacknail asked in disbelief.

  “There are no ghouls!” a furious Saeter replied as he began stomping back out into the street. “This might actually be much worse.”

  Blacknail let out a defeated grunt as he followed his master. Of course as soon as he was resigned to having to fight a pack of ghouls, he was told the situation was actually somehow worse. Did Saeter ever deliver good news? Why did Blacknail follow him around again?

  “Are we going toward the worse things or away-ss from them?” he asked his master with morbid curiosity. Ghouls were more than dangerous enough for Blacknail, so he really hoped they were heading away from danger. He knew his master too well to believe that though. Saeter had some odd, and more than a little crazy, ideas about what could be considered fun.

  Saeter grunted in reply. “Away. We’re headed back to see Herad.”

  Blacknail felt a wave of relief wash over him at his master’s words. Somehow, against all odds, Saeter had started to actually make sense! It must be Blacknail’s lucky day.

  “Good,” the hobgoblin replied cheerfully. He then followed Saeter into a nearby alley.

  As the pair walked into the shadowy passage, Blacknail heard something from behind him. He spun around just in time to see two men enter the alleyway behind them and draw their blades. Blacknail hissed loudly in alarm as he reached for his own sword.

  “This better not be another group of street kids…” Blacknail’s master turned around to see what had alarmed the hobgoblin and stopped talking when he noticed the two men. “I’m thinking you two aren’t here to welcome us to the neighborhood,” Saeter remarked as he studied the pair.

  “You’ve been sniffing around where you don’t belong, so now you’re dead meat,” the leader replied.

  “That’s a bad idea; we’re part of Herad’s gang, and she takes attacks against her people personally,” Saeter explained threateningly.

  “That never works,” Blacknail muttered darkly.

  “Well, then we won’t tell her about this,” the closer assailant told Saeter with cruel humor.

  “See, it didn’t work! It never does,” Blacknail pointed out irritably.

  Saeter turned and gave him an annoyed look. “What should I have said, then? Do you want to take over the
negotiations?”

  “Let’s just kill them. They don’t look so tough! The one in the front is too skinny, and the one in the back looks slow and stupid,” the hobgoblin replied.

  “What did you just say about me, you little bastard?” the farther of the thugs asked angrily. Blacknail sighed and shook his head. Human ears sure were pathetic if they couldn’t even hear someone talking from that short of a distance away.

  “Let’s kill these assholes, quick,” one of the thugs told the other.

  His companion nodded, and both of them pulled a vial out of their coats. Blacknail’s eyes went wide as he watched them chug the contents. Everyone kept telling him that Vessels were rare, but that didn’t really seem to be the case…

  “See, this is why you try to talk first,” Saeter told the hobgoblin irritably.

  Blacknail grunted vaguely in reply as his master turned to face their attackers. Saeter’s face twisted into a grimace as he considered them. He looked as if he’d swallowed something unpleasant.

  “So I was right. You two work for Avorlus,” he commented darkly.

  “How the fuck—” Before the dark-haried one could say more, his companion shut him up by punching him in the shoulder and giving him a cold glare.

  It was the perfect opportunity to hit them with a surprise attack, so Blacknail stealthy reached into one of his pouches for ammo. His fingers frantically searched the inside of the bag, but he didn’t feel any stones. Oh right, he’d thrown them all at the pack of little thieves that had ambushed them. He’d forgotten to retrieve them because Saeter had started lecturing him.

  “Dog teeth,” Blacknail muttered to himself.

  If there had been only one Vessel, Blacknail could probably have fought him off, and if he’d been alone, he could have just run for it. With Saeter here, and with two Vessels as his opponents, he didn’t know what to do.

  Chapter 30

  Since he had no ranged weapons available, Blacknail drew his sword. Meanwhile, Saeter reached into his coat and took out a pouch of his own. The old scout threw a quick glance at the alleyway behind them. The hobgoblin saw the movement and knew what Saeter wanted to know.

  “There are only two of them. I hear no one behind us,” he told his master. Saeter nodded and turned back to watch the pair of thugs who were approaching. He eyed the two men warily.

  “We’re running. Follow me,” he whispered a second later. Blacknail’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. That was not what he had expected Saeter to say.

  “They’ll be fast-ss runners,” he warned his master. Blacknail really hoped his master had a plan. Normally he was all for running away from danger, but he wasn’t sure Saeter was fast enough to escape.

  “Now!” His master grunted a second later as he started running. Instantly, Blacknail turned and sprinted away as well. He shoved his sword back into its sheath. Within a few short seconds, he pulled ahead of the old scout.

  “Blasted cowards. Don’t let them escape!” one of the Vessels yelled from behind them.

  The pounding of heavy footsteps reached Blacknail’s ears as the two thugs gave chase. The hobgoblin looked over his shoulder and winced when he saw how fast their pursuers were running down the alley toward them. The men were moving at a pace a non-boosted human would have a very hard time matching. They would catch up within seconds. Blacknail could increase his own pace, but Saeter probably couldn’t. Desperately, the hobgoblin searched his pouches for something useful as he ran. If only he had been a mage, then he could have used magic or something against them! One of Blacknail’s hands came to rest against his coin pouch, and he let out a resigned sigh as an annoying idea occurred to him. The hobgoblin quickly reached inside, scooped coins into his hand, and whipped them back at their pursuers.

  “Eat-ss this, pinkies!” Blacknail yelled as the swarm of glittering projectiles flew through the air. The two Vessels barely had time to react before the coins showered over them. They both raised their hands to protect their faces, but not in time to stop the first few projectiles.

  “Fuck,” one of them swore as a coin smashed into his forehead and drew blood. He stumbled and slowed momentarily to wipe the blood from his face. The second pursuer winced in pain as a coin bounced off his kneecap, and he slowed as well. Behind his mask, Blacknail smirked smugly at them.

  Idly, he wondered if this counted as charity. The two thugs had certainly needed the money, thrown at their ugly faces, more than he had. He would have to ask Saeter later, after they finished running for their lives.

  Just ahead of Blacknail, Saeter rounded a corner and momentarily disappeared out of sight. When the hobgoblin caught up, he noticed his master was emptying the pouch he’d been holding onto the ground. It had been full of little spiky pieces of metal.

  “Keep running,” Saeter told him as he finished and picked up speed again.

  “I never stopped! You’re-ss the slow one, you run!” Blacknail hissed back.

  “Bah, whatever.” Saeter grunted in reply, and the annoyed hobgoblin had to suppress an urge to kick his master in the ass.

  The two of them only managed to run a short distance before their pursuers rounded the corner as well. The thugs were moving very quickly, and thus, they didn’t have time to notice the presents Saeter had left behind for them.

  “Ugh, bloody hells! My foot,” one of them screamed as he stepped on a spike. The other man instantly looked down, and his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.

  “Fuck, caltrops!” he exclaimed.

  The first man stumbled and quickly hopped out of the way. He was limping, and his face was scrunched in pain, so he was clearly no longer in any shape to continue the chase. However, the second man had been warned. He was managing to awkwardly hop across the caltrops without stepping on any, so Blacknail picked up a rock off the alley floor and hurled it at his face. The thug was looking down at his own feet, so he didn’t see it coming at all. There was a thud as the heavy stone bounced off the side of his head. He stumbled and stepped on a caltrop. As the hobgoblin watched, the man’s leg gave out and he tipped over sideways to land on his side. As he hit the ground, several more spikes were driven into his body.

  “Damn you to all the hells forever!” the man screamed shrilly in pain. Ouch, Blacknail was fairly sure that guy was no longer a problem either. Maybe he should go back there and finish them off…

  “It’s not worth it, keep running,” Saeter suddenly remarked between heavy breaths. The old scout had clearly understood the hobgoblin’s hesitation and body language. Blacknail sighed in regret and continued running. He’d been hoping to at least go back and get his coins, and he wouldn’t have said no to having some fun with the two men who’d attacked them.

  The pair burst out of the alley and onto one of the main streets. Without slowing, Saeter led Blacknail right into the middle of the crowds. Men and women pressed against the hobgoblin from all sides, but he ignored them. Several minutes later, after it was clear no one was still following them, Saeter slowed down to a walk and moved off to the side of the road. He was huffing and breathing heavily. His face was red and looked exhausted, but the hobgoblin had barely broken a sweat. All this easy city living was clearly making Saeter weak.

  “I think we lost them,” the gray-haired scout told Blacknail. “Now we need to get back and have a talk with Herad though.”

  It didn’t take them long to reach Herad’s compound. They passed the guards and stepped inside without a problem. Blacknail eyed his master warily as he walked. Saeter seemed to be growing more and more animated the closer they got to Herad, and that made the hobgoblin nervous. When he got to the entrance to Herad’s room, Saeter burst through and the door slammed into the wall behind him with a loud crash. His eyes burned with rage as he stomped into the chamber on the other side.

  Blacknail stayed out in the hallway and cowered behind the two startled-looking guards that Saeter had blown past. All three of them gave each other shocked looks and then peered wide-eyed through the doorwa
y to see what happened next.

  Herad looked up from her desk. There was a look halfway between annoyance and amusement on her face. She was also reaching under her desk for something that was probably a weapon, but she relaxed and smirked when she recognized Saeter.

  “Down boy,” she ordered him loudly.

  Saeter stopped a few feet from her desk and grimaced as he realized he’d unintentionally obeyed her. Herad smiled mockingly at him.

  “Good boy,” she remarked as her eyes glittered with amusement.

  Saeter’s scowl deepened. He didn’t look happy. However, Blacknail let out a relieved breath. It didn’t seem like they were going to fight. So his master would probably live.

  Saeter grunted. “I’m not a dog.”

  “Then don’t act like one, old man. Knock on the door before you enter, and don’t slam it,” she told him condescendingly.

  Blacknail could hear Saeter grinding his teeth as he tried to hold in his anger. Luckily, this just seemed to amuse Herad.

  “I’m here because there’s something you need to know,” he said a few seconds later. One of Herad’s eyebrows rose as she gave Saeter an unsurprised look.

  “Well, I didn’t think you stormed in here to invite me to dinner, so please go on and tell me what bug has gotten up your butt this time,” she remarked disdainfully as she leaned back in her chair.

  “Avorlus is a blood mage,” Saeter announced gravely.

  The old scout met Herad’s eyes and stared her down. Herad’s mouth opened slightly, and she looked momentarily lost for words. Blacknail had no idea what a blood mage was, but it sure sounded serious!

  “Well… that certainly makes sense and is useful to know. How exactly did you figure this out?” Herad calmly asked after a moment or two of thought.

  “That’s it? I just revealed there’s blood mage in our midst, and that’s all you have to say?” Saeter growled angrily.

  “What is it you expect me to say?”

  “I expect you to do something about it!”